Learning to surrender and follow His invitation into deeper intimacy
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.”
— Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)
We all make plans, don’t we?
We have ideas about where our lives are heading, what the next few years might look like, and how we intend to get there. Sometimes those plans are carefully considered, prayed over, and financially calculated. We feel reasonably confident that we know what lies ahead.
But sometimes God has something entirely different in mind.
And sometimes, we don’t recognize what He is doing until we look back and see how gently, patiently, and persistently He has been leading us.
That’s certainly been my experience over the past twelve months.
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A Growing Hunger for God
About a year ago, I began experiencing an overwhelming desire to draw closer to God. I wanted to know Him more intimately. Not simply to know more about Him, but to know Him. To recognize His voice more clearly, to become increasingly sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and to live in deeper fellowship with Him.
I spoke to Him regularly about this longing.
And gradually, I sensed the Lord encouraging me to make some changes.
I needed to create more space for Him. To step away from some of the busyness that had filled my days and reduce my hours at work.
Now, that might sound straightforward, but for me it wasn’t!
I have worked for many years, and my work is not simply a source of income. It is meaningful. I love what I do, and I work alongside some truly wonderful, passionate people.
Reducing my hours meant letting go of some financial security and making adjustments to a life that had become very familiar.
I wrestled with it. I calculated. I reconsidered.
But ultimately, I obeyed.
I didn’t fully understand where God was leading me. I simply knew that I wanted more of Him.
A Prayer of Complete Surrender
About six months later, something significant happened.
For some time, the Holy Spirit had been drawing me toward a deeper place of surrender. It wasn’t sudden. It had been building quietly within me until one day I found myself praying something that felt both frightening and wonderfully freeing.
“All of me, God. I pierce my own ear and give my life to You as a bondservant. Nothing held back. Use me, Lord.”
I was drawing on the Old Testament picture of a servant who willingly chose to remain with his master, symbolized by the piercing of his ear (Exodus 21:5–6).
It was my way of expressing complete, voluntary surrender to the Lord I love.
And strangely enough, speaking those words aloud brought such relief.
I had offered Him everything.
Not just the parts of my life that were easy to surrender. Not just my ministry, my gifts, or my spare time.
Everything.
But I was soon to discover that surrendering our lives to God and understanding where He is leading us are two very different things!
Once again, I sensed Him prompting me to reduce my working hours.
And once again, out came the budget!
I spent hours trying to make the numbers work, wondering how we would manage financially and whether I was being sensible.
Isn’t it interesting how we can sincerely place our lives in God’s hands and then immediately begin trying to work out all the details ourselves?
Nevertheless, I took another step of obedience.
Come Away With Me
Then came an invitation that I couldn’t shake.
“Come away with Me.”
Over and over, those words settled in my spirit.
I didn’t fully understand them.
Was God calling me to spend more time in prayer? To step further away from the demands of work? Was He preparing me for something new?
I didn’t know.
But I knew the invitation was deeply personal.
He was calling me closer.
Looking back now, I wonder whether I had been so focused on what God might want me to do that I hadn’t fully understood His invitation simply to be with Him.
There is a difference, isn’t there?
We can become so occupied with serving God that we forget the extraordinary privilege of sitting in His presence, listening, loving Him, and allowing Him to minister to us.
And perhaps, sometimes, He lovingly rearranges our lives to make room for the very intimacy we have been asking Him for.
When the Old Season No Longer Fits
Meanwhile, my health had become increasingly challenging.
There were days when I wondered how much I could continue to manage. I even found myself questioning whether God could still use me in the way I had hoped.
Yet I continued trying to make everything work.
I reduced my hours. Adjusted my responsibilities. Reconsidered what was manageable. Made another change, and then another.
It was almost as though my current season was becoming smaller and smaller, and I was desperately trying to squeeze everything into the space that remained.
But I hadn’t recognized what was happening.
I was still thinking about how to remain where I was, while the Lord seemed to be preparing me to leave.
Retirement wasn’t part of my immediate plan.
In fact, I had expected to continue working for some time yet.
I have a good job. A great job, actually. I am surrounded by people I respect and admire, and I genuinely love being part of the team.
Why would I want to leave?
But sometimes we hold tightly to a season because it is familiar. We know the people, the routines, the expectations. We understand our place and our purpose.
There is comfort in that familiarity.
And even when God is gently leading us toward something new, we can find ourselves trying to hold on to what we know.
Not necessarily because we are unwilling to obey, but because we haven’t yet recognized that the season is changing.
When the Invitation Finally Made Sense
And then, almost before I realized what was happening, the decision became clear.
It was time to retire.
Not in another few years.
Now.
And suddenly, those words the Lord had been speaking into my spirit made sense.
“Come away with Me.”
For months, I had heard His invitation without fully understanding what it meant. I knew He was drawing me closer, but I hadn’t recognized just how much my life was about to change.
Now I understood.
I had spent so much time trying to make my working life fit into an ever-decreasing space, when all along the Lord had been lovingly inviting me to make more room for Him.
So, with a mixture of sadness, uncertainty, and fear and trembling, I tendered my resignation.
I will miss my colleagues and the work I have loved. This has been a precious season of my life, and I am deeply grateful for it.
But as I finally let go, something beautiful happened.
The striving stopped.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, settled over my spirit.
I didn’t suddenly have all the answers. I didn’t know exactly what the next season would look like.
But I no longer needed to.
The Invitation Is Still the Same
Sometimes we wonder whether we are too old, too tired, or perhaps no longer able to serve God in the ways we once did.
We look at our limitations and wonder whether our most fruitful years are behind us.
But Moses was eighty when God sent him to Pharaoh. His age did not prevent God from working through him.
And perhaps God has new things ahead for me too.
Perhaps He will open doors into ministry that I haven’t even imagined. Perhaps there will be opportunities to encourage others, share His Word, or serve Him in entirely different ways.
I simply don’t know.
And that’s okay.
Because I am coming to understand something far more important than knowing what I will do next.
God has called me first and foremost to Himself.
I am reminded of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38–42.
Martha was busy preparing and serving, while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words.
Martha’s desire to serve wasn’t wrong. But in the midst of all her activity, she had become distracted and anxious about everything that needed to be done.
And Jesus gently reminded her that only one thing was necessary. Mary had chosen what was better, and it would not be taken away from her.
I wonder how often we find ourselves doing the same.
We become so busy with the responsibilities of life, even the good and worthwhile things, that time in His presence can become something we try to fit into whatever space remains.
Yet Jesus invites us to something more precious.
To sit at His feet.
To listen.
To simply be with Him.
And perhaps that is what the Lord has been teaching me throughout this past year.
I had been asking Him for greater intimacy, while still trying to hold together all the demands of a busy life.
But His invitation remained the same.
“Come away with Me.”
Not because He needed me to accomplish something extraordinary.
Not because there was a new assignment waiting that I needed to prepare for.
But because He loves me, and He desires fellowship with me.
I began this journey twelve months ago with an overwhelming desire to know God more intimately. I asked Him to draw me closer, and little by little, He has been leading me into a place where I can give Him more of myself.
I don’t know what the coming years will hold. But I do know who I want to be at the center of them.
Jesus.
Not simply as part of my day, fitted around everything else, but as the very center of my life.
I want to choose, each day, to come away with Him. To spend time in His presence. To listen to His voice. To know Him more deeply and allow the Holy Spirit to continue transforming my heart.
And whatever flows from that relationship, I leave in His hands.
Perhaps you, too, have been sensing that gentle invitation from the Lord.
Maybe He isn’t asking you to change your job, retire, or make some dramatic adjustment to your circumstances.
Perhaps He is simply inviting you to make room for Him right where you are.
To put aside the distractions, the endless demands, and even the good things that can occupy so much of our attention.
To come away with Him.
Not because there is something you need to accomplish.
But because He loves you, and He desires fellowship with you.
I began this journey asking God for more of Him.
And now, as I step into this unexpected new season, my prayer remains the same.
More of You, Lord. More of Your presence in my life. More of You.
“Come away with Me.”
Yes, Lord.
Every day.
A Moment to Reflect
Is there an area of your life where you are trying to hold on to what is familiar, even as you sense the Lord inviting you to trust Him more deeply?
Perhaps today is an opportunity to bring that uncertainty into His presence. Not demanding all the answers, but allowing Him to remind you that you are deeply loved, and that your life remains precious to Him in every season.
🙏 A Prayer of Surrender
Father God,
Thank You for Your patient and gentle love, and for continually drawing us closer to You. Forgive us for the times we become so caught up in the busyness of life, even in doing good things, that we neglect the precious gift of simply being in Your presence.
Lord, teach us to surrender our plans, our expectations, and our need to know what lies ahead. Help us to recognize Your voice and respond to the gentle leading of Your Holy Spirit, even when we don’t fully understand where You are taking us.
Give us hearts like Mary’s, willing to sit at the feet of Jesus, to listen, to learn, and to delight in being with Him.
May our greatest desire never be what we can accomplish for You, but to know You more deeply, to love You more fully, and to make You the center of our lives.
Whatever the next season holds, may we choose, each and every day, to come away with You.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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You don’t need to share anything deeply personal, but I’d love to hear how God has been showing up in your life.
And if this message encouraged you, please consider sharing it with someone who may need it.
Until next time, remember:
Right now is always the best time to begin with God.
God bless.
Sandy
All Bible Sources are from the New International Version (NIV)
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