You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21 NLT
Surrendering your story to God means trading the tremendous burden and stress of writing your own script, trying to work out the wrinkles and weight of it, for the freedom of letting God control your mixed past, your anxious present, and your hopeful future. We so often grip our life plans tightly, afraid that if we hold too lightly, we will lose control and God will cause us to miss out. But in the truest way, surrendering our stories releases the heavy weight of past regrets, relieves the confusion and frustration from present concerns, and switches the anxious pressure of hopes for the future to anticipation.
The problem with the past is regret. Regret tries to act as the narrator of your story. It attempts to convince you that the mess you made of things in the past is more massive than God’s mercy. It wants to get you stranded in shame and sorrow. But God doesn’t measure your future by your past.
Peter is proof. He loved Jesus, but he was impulsive and often took over the writing of his story. When times got hard, Peter got scared and denied even knowing Jesus – not once, but three times. Jesus knew him so well. He told Peter that before the rooster crowed to signal morning, Peter would do that exact thing. When Peter heard the rooster crow, his heart crumbled and he wept with bitter regret.
Jesus died and Peter fled in fear. He felt like a failure. He went back to what he knew in his life before Jesus and went fishing. But Jesus understood it all. He loved Peter more than Peter could comprehend. Jesus did not leave Peter in his regret. The resurrected Jesus met him on the shore where Peter was fishing. He cooked breakfast for Peter, ate with him, and had a conversation with him, giving Peter a chance to reaffirm his love. Jesus completely restored Peter and gave him the assignment of feeding his spiritual sheep. Peter’s failure did not disqualify him from being used by Jesus. Neither does yours.
Surrendering your past and future story to Jesus is the path to being used by God. You do it by leaving regret and moving to repentance. Regret looks backward and replays the pain. It leaves you paralyzed. But repentance looks upward. It brings your failures to the cross and accepts God's forgiveness. Your surrendered story becomes a powerful tool for God to use.
- What part of my story do I still allow shame and regret to dominate? Where is God calling me to surrender my story and humbly let Him use it to help others? Will I allow Him to use it?