A friend sat on the porch, coffee growing cold in her hands. At fifty-six, her life felt unsettled. Her children were grown, her career had ended, and the quiet stretched long and uncertain. She asked me, “What now?” She confessed that she had been asking God the same thing.
I knew she had always pursued God’s will with purpose—motherhood, ministry, work—but now, she felt adrift. She wondered if she had missed something. We prayed and agreed to continue praying and talking together.
About a week later, she called me and told me this story.
“Beth, God responded to my prayer, my cry for help. I was walking in the woods near my home, enjoying the outdoors like most evenings. The trees caught my attention – their bare branches stark against the sky. I realized then that they don’t fight the seasons of life – they surrender to them.”
She continued, “In that moment, I heard God say, ‘Your purpose is not a single calling, but a continual surrender.'”
During Lent, we walk with Jesus toward the cross, and nowhere do we see surrender more clearly than in Gethsemane.
Jesus prays, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39
Jesus models perfect submission in His agony—not resignation, but trust.
My friend and I had a great chat. She realized she didn’t need a grand plan—just faithfulness in this season. Loving the people before her, serving where God led, trusting Him for what was next. She had found the secret to rest in Jesus, learning to abide, believing, and trusting.
Lent invites us into this same surrender. Like Jesus, we bring our desires, our uncertainties, even our suffering before the Father, and we pray with open hands: Not my will, but Yours be done. For in that surrender, we find peace.
Prayer
God, You who in love leads us through every season of life,
Give us the grace to surrender our desires to Your perfect will.
Help us to pray as Jesus did —
Not my will but Yours be done.
May we trust You in all circumstances, in joy and grief,
In certainty and uncertainty, in good times and bad.
Shape our hearts to follow where You lead,
Help us to respond rightly to Your Invitation —
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened —
May we rest in You —
For Your glory and our good.
Amen.
