"Surrendering Control: Ep 6: A Journey to Faith and Freedom"

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Music.

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host,

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Connie Morris, where truth speaks, healing begins, and every word is rooted in faith.

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Before we begin, let us go before the Lord in prayer.

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Father God, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for every listener,

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every heart, and every home represented.

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We invite your presence into this space. As we begin, we stand on the words

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of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4.10.

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And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,

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Lord.

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Today we echo that same prayer. Bless us indeed.

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Bless every woman listening. Bless her mind, her body, her relationships,

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her dreams, and her destiny.

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Let your blessing not only surround her, but transform her.

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Enlarge our coast. Stretch us beyond what we thought was possible.

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Expand our influence, our impact, and the reach of this message.

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Not for our glory, but for yours.

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Let your hand be with us. Go before us in every conversation.

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Guide our words, anoint our purpose, and let every episode carry your truth with clarity and power.

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Keep us from evil that it may not grieve us.

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Shield us from harm, from cycles of sorrow, from spiritual attack and emotional heaviness.

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Cover us in your grace so we rise in strength, not in grief,

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in wholeness, not in wounds.

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And just as you granted Jabez what he requested, Lord, grant it unto us.

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Let this podcast be a wellspring of truth, a refuge for healing,

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and a launchpad for purpose. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

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Hello, and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman's Podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we are continuing our series of When God Wants to Talk.

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Today is episode six, Surrendering Control.

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Our foundational scripture, and probably there's many more, but the main one is.

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1 Peter 5, 7. It says, all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

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When God calls us in the stillness of the night, it often shines a light on

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things we hold too tightly, our plans, our fears, and our worries, even our dreams.

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You know, when I think about that, I just want to pause right here because many

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times in the night dreams or

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in the night hours, that's when everything is quiet, everything is still.

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And that's when we really begin to think or wonder or maybe even worry,

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what does tomorrow hold for me?

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And that's when God may show up and maybe tell us to stop worrying.

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Surrender, surrender control, cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you.

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And that's that personal time when he walks in the room and tells us to let

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go of our plans, let go of our fears, let go of our worries,

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let go of our dreams, how we thought things may work out.

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Because that's when he shows up and tells us that what we thought was his plans,

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maybe are not his plans, and that we may be holding those things too tightly.

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So he invites us to surrender control and to trust him completely.

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This can be a difficult lesson because surrender feels like we are losing control,

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but in God's hands, surrender is not loss, it's freedom.

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You know, as you know, as.

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I don't know how to say this. You know, when you're a new Christian,

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things happen one, two, three.

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Sometimes you get the blessing of the Lord and things are just rolling right along.

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But as you're a mature Christian, things seem to take a little bit longer.

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Can I get an amen for that?

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But as we begin to mature, God begins to take away some things that we hold so tightly.

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For instance, when you have your child and they first learn how to ride a bike,

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first you have on the training wheels.

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You know, then you maybe lift those training wheels up a little bit.

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He knows they're there, but he, so he doesn't, he count on them,

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but not as much as when he was younger.

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And then on that one day, when you say no more training wheels,

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then he starts out a little slow, a little steady, but then he realized that

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he or she doesn't really need those training wheels.

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A lot of times we as Christians, we have training wheels on,

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you know, we don't realize we have those training wheels on until God began

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to remove things out of our way.

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Things that we may call as security.

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We count on our job when God tells us that he's our provider.

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You know, we count on maybe the pastor too much.

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And when God says, I need you to hear my voice and go, but we can't hear his

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voice because we're too busy trying to hear the pastor's voice.

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Nothing wrong with following your pastor, but sometimes we maybe override our

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pastors, our God's voice, because we can't hear over God's voice because we

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have the pastor too high on a pedestal.

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You know, we honor our pastors, but we don't worship our pastors.

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Only God is the one that deserves to worship.

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So when God gives us an opportunity, when he steps into the room and he tells us to let go.

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That, and he speaks directly to your heart. I remember that time I was sharing

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with you working that crazy job, and I remember getting up, and I didn't hear

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nothing about, Lord, can I just quit this job? I know I prayed for it.

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I know I thank you for this job, but as you can see, this job is taken away

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from that thing that you have asked me to do. It's interfering with it.

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And he says, yes, you can quit this job. At the time when he said that,

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It wasn't like there was a job the next day that I had.

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I had to really trust him that he was gonna be that provider.

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But before he even, when he said that,

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I said, I want to do it. And then in the morning, just a whisper.

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He says, I have a ram in the bush for you.

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And so I just picked up the Bible and figure out where did God say that? Who did he say that to?

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And why did he say that to that person?

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And remember, the story is of Abraham. When Abraham was asked to crucify or kill his only son,

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and as he was obedient, as he He got up in the morning as he heard the voice

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and he obeyed the voice and he went to a place he did not know.

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And as he walked up the mountain to do what he was going to do was kill his son.

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All of a sudden, as he tied up his son and did what he was going to do because

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he was obedient to God and like the oddest thing to do, it was suddenly there

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was rush in the bush, a rustling in the bush.

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And then a voice from God that says, do not touch that son. Do not kill your son.

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You see how that voice in the time of trouble was so important.

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Remember, he practiced hearing God's voice when he wasn't stressed.

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So when it was a time with that moment where he really needed to hear God's

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voice, guess what? He heard it clearly.

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And he also heard in the bush a ram that was waiting to be sacrificed.

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There's a lot to that story, but just for the sake of when God wants to talk,

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I want to pause there because it says here in 1 Peter, like I said earlier.

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It says, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

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Do you think that Abraham cast his anxiety on God because he cared for him?

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He had to as he was on that journey to a place he did not know to kill his only

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son as unto God for obedience.

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Right? So what do we hold so tightly to our chest that if God asks us to let

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that go, will we do that? So what are we holding on so tightly?

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Holding on until control can wear us down, can leave us anxious,

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exhausted, and distant from God.

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Yet his word reminds us, come to me all ye who are weary and burdened,

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and I will give you rest, Matthew 11, 23.

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Surrendering to God allows him to carry the weight we were never meant to carry.

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Consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, faced with the cross.

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He prayed, not my will, but yours be done, in Luke 22, 42.

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In the ultimate act of surrender, Jesus placed his trust in the Father's plan,

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even when it was painful.

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Like Jesus, we are called to release our grip on our lives and trust God's perfect will.

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We are called to release our grip

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on God's, on our life, and trust in His perfect will. Let's go deeper.

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The question I want to hold to you is what are you holding on to?

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Reflect on what you're afraid to let go. Is the decision, a relationship,

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a plan, or a fear of the unknown? Surrender begins by identifying what's keeping

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you from fully trusting God.

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And so I just want to pause here for a moment.

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And, you know, for a while, I remember that was so powerful when he whispered that to me in prayer.

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And even though I was working a lot of hours, I still managed to get up and

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just seek God's face about what to do next.

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And when he said, I had a ram in the bush for you, didn't know what that was.

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And then things were happening positive.

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And he says, that's not it.

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That's not it. So I still have not received that reward that God has promised me.

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But what that did when I released that job to him, when I released that worry

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to him, like, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know I can't keep doing

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this. You ever had that feeling?

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I know this is not it. But many people will stay in a job working,

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it's a song, nine to five or maybe nine to nine, because they're so,

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they won't, they say, I can't, I don't know what I'll do if I let this job go.

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You know, there's a Bible scripture said in the, I think it's Malachi 3.10,

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said if you give, bring your tithes and offering into the house,

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he said he'll rebuke the devourer for his namesake, right?

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So that means that if you're doing what you're supposed to do with your money,

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then you're not living off of your money.

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You're living off of God's protection, living off of his provision, right?

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And so that means you don't have to depend on the guy at the job to do that.

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I remember that too. That was so powerful.

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Thank you, Holy Ghost. I remember because the job was, you have to keep track of everything.

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The job was one of those jobs that you were kind of like your own consultant

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and you can have a lot of hours one week and no hours, no week,

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you know, and so you're, and you can, it was just an odd feeling to be.

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In that position. And I remember the guy's name, I won't say his name on the air.

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And he says, and I heard the Lord, I was sitting in the car as I was calculating

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the hours to make sure I had enough for that week.

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And the Lord told me that was one time he says, such and such is not your provider.

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So that's the one time he said that. And I think he said it in such a firm voice

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that it was like he was upset. Now we know the voice of God.

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God has, if we think about it, if we can get upset.

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You know, God can get upset. So let's not play like he's always happy.

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God can get upset, right?

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And he said in such a firm way, loving, firm way that this person was not your provider.

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And that really shook me because I was trying to make A equal B equal C.

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And it was just an odd feeling because I felt odd doing it. But then I realized

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that what was I holding onto?

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Am I trying to be God for me? Or am I really going to let God be my provider?

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You know, that was kind of a long story to go a long ways, but what are you holding on to?

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Number two, surrender brings peace. When you release your burdens to God,

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you make room for his peace to fill your heart.

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Philippians 4, 6-7 reminds us that his peace will guard our hearts and mind

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when we bring our concerns to him in prayer.

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And you know, if you are out there and you don't have peace,

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when you surrender your burdens to God, it brings peace.

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It just takes that heavy burden off of you. It's like carrying a big old backpack

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full of weight that you're not really meant to carry, right?

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God says surrender brings peace. And he said, when you do that,

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you bring your concern to him, then he will give you this perfect peace.

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So remember, what are you holding on to? And remember that surrender brings peace.

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Number three, trust in his care. God doesn't ask for surrender to take something

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from you, but to give you something better.

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His rest, his guidance, and his provision.

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Trust that he cares deeply for you and knows what's best.

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So how would you, there's a point How would you know what's best if you never

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really trust? That's what I was going to say.

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But how would you know? How would you know, though?

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You know, the question is, at some point in your Christian life, you will have to let go.

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You will have to come to that crossroad, same way that Jesus did.

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Jesus says, if there's another way, can I take the shortcut?

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And then he said, no, let your will be done. And then he followed through what had to be done.

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But that was even Jesus at that crossroad. So there's always this point where

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it gets really bad, where you wish there was a shortcut.

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We all come to that point in our life where we have to surrender,

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we have to trust, and we have to let go.

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Let's go on with the scripture. Proverbs 16, 3, it says, Commit to the Lord

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whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

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How many know that our plans, they're good, but when you submit them to God, they become better.

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True peace comes from entrusting your plans to God and not controlling the outcome.

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We try to control the outcome, but you know we can't. We try our best to want. We got a plan.

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We got a plan, and that plan never comes to fruition because we do not control

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the outcome because we did not get the plan originally. It's God's plan from the beginning.

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Remember, he's the author and the finisher of our faith.

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So he starts it and he finishes it. But here we come, little old humans trying

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to mix in the middle and try to figure out how to bring this together.

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No, you know, get out of the way. Get out of the way.

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Proverbs 16, 9 also reads, it says, in their hearts, human plans their course,

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but God establishes their steps.

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So he still has a, God is so good. He knows our human ways.

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And he says, the humans in their hearts, they're still going to get in my way,

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but I am going to establish their steps.

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Our control is so limited, but God's sovereignty is limitless.

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We have to learn to let God do God's stuff in our lives and not to be such, so controlling.

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And I know I used to be that way, but it gave, I think it probably gave me high blood pressure.

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I used to have high blood pressure because I wanted everything to work out perfect

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and you working it out, trying to make it perfect and it still don't work out

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and you do it again and try to work out perfect and it doesn't work out,

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I let it go and the blood pressure went too.

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I said, hey, it's easier to live this way. Whatever will be, will be.

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Come on, whatever will be, will be. I wake up, I'm breathing,

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Lord God, what's your plan for me today?

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I'm not gonna stress it. You know, if it goes this way, I'm not going to stress.

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If it goes left or right, I'm not going to stress it.

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Exodus 14, 14, I love this. It says, the Lord will fight for you.

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Only need, you only, you need only to be still.

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The Lord will fight for you. You only need to be still.

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Surrender is not passivity. It's an act of faith that allows God to work on your behalf.

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Our pastor preached on that pretty much for three months. So this 1414,

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the Lord will fight for you.

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You only need to be still.

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So what can you do? What are some action steps for you,

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to surrender. What are some action steps for you to surrender?

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We understand to go deeper, you need to kind of figure out what are you holding on to.

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Surrender brings peace, trust

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in God's care. Some people even try to hold on. It reminds me of vanity.

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It's a lady at work I just met and she says she gets Botox treatment.

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Beautiful, beautiful black lady.

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So I get Botox treatments and all this stuff. Sometimes we want to hold on to beauty.

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Aging is a bad thing. Sometimes we want to hold on.

00:17:43.619 --> 00:17:46.719
Some people are getting, I don't know what those call when you want to have

00:17:46.719 --> 00:17:50.219
the big butt, you know, you want to, you're holding on to vanity.

00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.859
There's stories of people who go all the way to different, out of the country

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to have this fat replacement so you can have a big butt.

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I don't know what all that stuff is about. That's vanity.

00:18:03.479 --> 00:18:08.899
If you read your Bible, you know that Solomon was the richest man in the whole

00:18:08.899 --> 00:18:15.199
wide world, and he learned that it was nothing but vanity. You know, vanity.

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He had everything, and he realized it was nothing but vanity.

00:18:20.639 --> 00:18:22.959
You can't take it with you. We

00:18:22.959 --> 00:18:27.519
can't take it with you. Let's continue our series when God wants to talk.

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Sometimes he wants us to release some things. Some action steps we can do, though.

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We can have a prayer for release. So you can pray a simple prayer of surrender.

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Name the specific thing you're holding on so tight and then give it to God.

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You know, just give it to Him. Say, hey, I got to let this go.

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Some things we do, we become hoarders. So I remember if I buy something new, I give it away.

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If I haven't wore it in about three to six months, I only think I will wear it. So I give it away.

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I still got some purging to do. I just thought about that right now.

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One example is, Lord, I release my fear about the future into your hands,

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and I trust you to guide me.

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Just a simple prayer, you know, a simple prayer.

00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:13.659
I have my son, he called me random, and he says, Mom, I was just thinking that

00:19:13.659 --> 00:19:15.139
it's time for you to retire.

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I'm thinking, like, he's sitting in his home thinking about when I should retire.

00:19:19.939 --> 00:19:21.539
And I said, okay, thank you, son.

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Now, once I do that, which I tried it already, it didn't work for me.

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So once I do that, what should I do? come live with you and sit on your couch

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all day since you want me to retire, since that's something that you are so interested in me doing.

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That's not what I'm going to do, son. So stop thinking about me.

00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.939
I said, why don't you retire and tell me how you like it? And then we can have that talk again.

00:19:45.637 --> 00:19:50.517
Another thing about some action steps is create a let-go list. How about that?

00:19:50.817 --> 00:19:54.157
Write down some things you feel God is asking you to release.

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Then symbolically let them go by tearing the list or placing it in your Bible as a sign of surrender.

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How about making that list and seeing what is it physical, is it mental, is it spiritual?

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If it's physical, the best way to let those things go is to give them away to

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somebody who can use it. You know, you can say, you know what,

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I have 12 coats. Only you can wear one at a time.

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And sometime in the season, I only wear three of these coats.

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So I'm going to give the other nine away.

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That's a way of letting go, right? Or if you have some regret or some,

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you know, people get angry and they don't know how to let go.

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How do you let that go? Just let it go.

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Write scriptures, write a decree about it and find a way to let that go.

00:20:38.257 --> 00:20:44.097
And then you can practice daily surrender. each morning, ask God to take control of your day.

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Say, not my will, but yours be done.

00:20:48.377 --> 00:20:52.537
And so some ways we just got to practice letting go. And another way of practice

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letting go is don't hold on to everything, right?

00:20:55.077 --> 00:21:00.157
So you don't create a hoarder list where you have to always have a release time.

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Like you know that, dang, I always hold on to that. I'm not going to hold on to that anymore.

00:21:05.217 --> 00:21:10.837
So practice a way of not being a hoarder of things, spiritual things, physical things.

00:21:10.997 --> 00:21:15.317
Just get into a habit of just always releasing it before you go to bed.

00:21:15.377 --> 00:21:19.817
So you don't have to have a little hoarder list to go to or to release.

00:21:20.377 --> 00:21:24.417
It's such a way to live free. So you can pray for release.

00:21:24.577 --> 00:21:28.757
You can create a let go list. You can practice a daily surrender.

00:21:28.917 --> 00:21:32.437
Or my new list is practice letting go all the time.

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Don't be a magnet to stuff. Don't be a magnet to gossip. Don't be a magnet to negativity.

00:21:39.657 --> 00:21:45.517
Just be an anti. Push it away every time it tries to come towards you.

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Let's pray. Father, I come to you with open hands and I release everything I've

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been holding on to so, so tightly.

00:21:53.437 --> 00:21:59.977
Today, my fears, take my fears, my plans, and my need for control. Place them with your.

00:22:00.743 --> 00:22:05.423
Replace them with your peace and your purpose. Teach me to trust you fully,

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knowing that you care for me and work all things for my good.

00:22:09.563 --> 00:22:15.563
I surrender to you, Lord, and I choose to rest in your care. In Jesus' name, amen.

00:22:16.023 --> 00:22:23.063
The challenge for the week is this week, each time you feel anxious or tempted

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to take control, pause and pray.

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Lord, I give this to you. I think if you make this a daily habit,

00:22:30.283 --> 00:22:33.663
then you will live a life of surrender.

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So when God wants to talk to you, He will have free access to you because you're

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not full of a whole bunch of stuff, right?

00:22:43.983 --> 00:22:49.343
Write down how it feels to release these burdens and reflect on any way you

00:22:49.343 --> 00:22:54.163
see God's hands working in your situation.

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And how does it feel just to be free? who the Son has set free is free indeed.

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And God desires that we walk in freedom.

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And freedom is when we surrender control and we let God do what He wants to do in our life.

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And so when God wants to talk to you and He tells you to let that go, let it go.

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Walk in that freedom. So this is Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:23:19.403 --> 00:23:23.023
I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm so glad that you have joined me on this

00:23:23.023 --> 00:23:28.623
spiritual ride of letting go and surrendering everything to God.

00:23:28.863 --> 00:23:35.903
If this episode has really blessed you, make sure you subscribe and share with

00:23:35.903 --> 00:23:37.303
someone who needs it most.

00:23:37.583 --> 00:23:39.763
Until next time, God bless you.

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Bye. As we close this episode of the Diary of a Black Woman podcast,

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we declare the word of the Lord from Jeremiah 29 11.

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I speak this over every listener. You will rise again.

00:23:53.103 --> 00:23:57.863
You will recover what was lost, and you will walk boldly into what God has prepared

00:23:57.863 --> 00:24:01.343
with no shame, no fear, and no apology.

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May every broken place become a place of breakthrough. May every delay become divine preparation.

00:24:08.663 --> 00:24:14.243
And may the fire of God stir up every gift lying dormant within you.

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This is more than a podcast.

00:24:16.163 --> 00:24:20.303
This is a call to arms. We're not just healing. We're rising.

00:24:20.603 --> 00:24:25.643
We're not just telling stories. We're building an army of women walking in truth,

00:24:25.803 --> 00:24:30.703
in power, and in purpose. This has been the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with

00:24:30.703 --> 00:24:32.003
your host, Connie Morris.

00:24:32.283 --> 00:24:38.123
Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone God is calling higher.

00:24:38.523 --> 00:24:46.483
Visit www.diaryofablackwomanllc.com to stay connected, get resources,

00:24:46.723 --> 00:24:50.023
and join the movement. And I'll see you on the next episode,

00:24:50.023 --> 00:24:52.963
because God's not finished, and neither are we.

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Music.