Surrender

Last week Kevin and I were honored to welcome my niece Angela and her husband Marcus into our new home during their visit to Baltimore. A couple of nights ago, I was sitting in our living room, sharing some personal struggles regarding our family finances and those of the pantry. We are blessed with many food donations, incredible volunteers, and a couple of regular, faithful monetary donors. I told Angela that I am so thankful for all of these things, but that I still worry about the fact we need a truck and a larger building to continue to serve God and our community.

Marcus and Angela

Angela listened intently to what I had to say and then with bold confidence gave me one word of advice.

SURRENDER

I nodded in agreement, knowing what I had to do. I also realized that this is not a one-time decision to surrender things in my life to God. It would need to be done on a regular, sometimes daily basis.

Angela and I have always been close. We grew up together and we still enjoy talking about our favorite hobbies like music, movies, and TV shows. Angela was a flower girl at my first wedding, (my first husband Tim who has been deceased since 2006), and on May 8, 2021, she was my maid of honor when I married my husband Kevin.

Left to Right-Kevin (Groom), Melody (myself, Bride), Angela (Maid of Honor), Allison (friend-Bridesmaid), and our daughter Stephanie (Bridesmaid)

Angela shared two personal stories with me.

“I was single until I was age 45. When I was 44 I got COVID and had to isolate myself. I had plenty of time to spend with the Lord and I realized that I may never meet my husband and get married. So that would be sacrificing a lot of things.

I was like ‘OK Lord. I surrender. If You don’t ever want me to get married, I’m okay with that.’ Within five (5) days or so, I found the man that I was going to marry online on a Christian dating website. So within that same week, I found my husband.”

“An opportunity opened up for me to record some songs I had written in a studio while I was on a trip with my husband to Maryland, the state I am from originally. I didn’t have enough time to fundraise. I only had about two weeks. I did mention it to my small church group of ladies. One lady kindly gave me $50 toward it.

Our personal finances would not be able to cover recording and our vacation as well. In less than 2 weeks before we left I had a conversation with my husband about it and again, I surrendered the situation to God.

I knew I would not have time to do any additional fundraising, plus get ready for our trip.

I thought to myself, ‘I wish God would just miraculously provide it so I wouldn’t even have to ask anyone for help.’ We were on our way to see my best friend to help watch her kids for a couple of hours that day. Within about 5 hours of that conversation, my best friend’s husband said he was going to give us $500.

Back in January of 2023, about 15 months ago, we did her husband a favor. He sells solar, but was unable to be at his tent one day, so we worked my friend’s husband’s tent. We handed out maybe 5 to 7 pieces of literature to people that day. It was cold being outdoors. We stood out in the frigid temperatures all day. 

From us covering his space that day, it took that long to get one of the leads to come through, and then that day he said “Yeah, one of the leads came through and if you want, we can have the money for you in time for your vacation.” We received the $500 a day before we left for vacation. I was able to record three (3) tracks for my Christian album. I plan to record more as the money comes in.”

It’s not easy to surrender things in your life. It allows you to decide who is really in control. You or God? The times I struggle to yield and totally surrender something that is stressful or causing me anxiety, I stop and think, “If I continue on this road, do I expect any positive results?” Normally, the answer is “no.” But when I surrender the situation to the Lord, I am free from what happens and totally place my trust in His plans. I then have His peace to know He has never failed me. Also, I am usually blown away to see how God shows up and multiplies the answer to my needs in ways I could never imagine.

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