Once when I was going through a very difficult time, a Christian friend said, “you’ve got to give it completely to God.” At the time, it actually aggravated me because I saw his advice as a pious cliche. I saw it that way, because I wanted to fix the problem on my own instead of totally surrendering to God’s will. Surrender is hard, but when we surrender to God, we are in the best place we can be. When we are at our lowest point, when we are at the end of our rope, when we have no one to turn to, we are then so very near to God. We may feel all alone and in despair, but that is when we can receive His power. The apostle Paul carried some physical problem with him for a long, long time. He pleaded with the Lord to take it away, but Jesus told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul the realized, “For when I’m weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
