Surrender the Resistance - iBelieve Truth - November 28, 2023
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever been in a situation where you were digging in your heels and refusing to do something you just didn’t want to, but it ended up being the very thing that would change your entire life?
After I had lost my husband to cancer and gotten remarried we had an opportunity to move to another state. I had always dreamed of moving out of Utah, having adventures, and experiencing other parts of the country, but this was not what I had in mind.
My stepson lived in WA and it would have been beneficial for us to move so that we could be a complete family. We were flying my stepson back and forth between Salt Lake and Seattle but it just wasn’t sustainable. It was taxing on all of us.
I knew that if we moved it would ease tension on our hearts and our bank account but I just couldn’t fathom making the decision. I worried about my grieving boys and how it would affect them to move away from family, creating another loss. My heart wasn’t ready.
But one snowy night, my husband and I were praying about what we should do and I had a moment of clarity. The Lord revealed that I had been resisting His plan, and although I didn’t understand it, I needed to obey and move. At that moment I surrendered it to God and told him I would move. In that divine moment, a massive weight lifted off of me. I couldn’t see a perfectly laid out plan of how it would all work logistically but I trusted that God would work out the details. And He did. Six months later we were settled in our new home in Washington. God had parted the red sea of the unknowns and planted us right where we needed to be. I can see now, seven years later how brilliant God’s plan was but it took me surrendering it all to see His hand and perfectly laid out plan.
It is easy to resist God’s best for us because we don’t understand the circumstances, or we can’t see clearly how things will work out. It is hard to surrender our most precious treasures and know that He will take delicate care of them.
We have many examples in the Bible of God using confusing or challenging circumstances to take His people where they were supposed to be. We can see the good character of God shining in the words of scripture that prove his trustworthiness over and over.
If you are struggling with a rock and hard place circumstance, allow yourself to step out of your own ideals and perhaps glance at it from a grander perspective. Could this be the one thing that God wants to use to bring you closer to Him or to place you right where you are supposed to be?
Sometimes it is not clear. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But if our hearts are aligned with God in all that we do and weaved into all of our life decisions we can trust that He has us cradled in His hands with only our good in mind, even if we can’t see it.
Take some time today to surrender your circumstances and allow the peace of God to reign over your fleshly feelings that can so easily steer us away. Allow God to speak to those closed-off places so that He can reveal His best plan for you. Give God all glory as you surrender and trust in our almighty God. He is trustworthy.
Dear Jesus,
I am caught in a challenging place that doesn’t make sense. I have resistance in my heart and I don’t know what to do. Lord, I want what you have for me but I am afraid of the unknown. Lord, in this moment I surrender all of my resistance to anything that you are calling me to. I declare my trust in your almighty hand and know and believe that you have what is best for me. I surrender my fear, my impatience, my misunderstanding, and my selfishness. Please give me clarity on the road you want me to take and show me where you want me. I will do what you ask Lord, even if it is scary. I trust your perfect character and believe that you have great things for me.
In your precious name,
Amen
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Jantine Doornbos
Heidi Vegh is a writer, speaker, and ministry leader based in Western Washington. A remarried mother of four, she is navigating blended family life after losing her first husband to cancer in 2013. Through her writing and speaking, Heidi encourages those who have experienced loss, offering hope and practical guidance for the journey toward healing and renewed life.
She is the author of The Hard Journey to the Good: A Widow’s Journey from Loss to New Life, a heartfelt account of grief, faith, and rebuilding after devastating loss, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
You can find Heidi at her website mrsheidivegh.com where she shares devotionals and reflections on grief, healing, motherhood, faith, and the beauty and complexity of blended family life through her monthly newsletter. She holds a degree in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University and serves as Ministry Director at her local church, where she is passionate about helping women grow in faith and experience the transforming love of Jesus.
You can find her on Instagram @mrsheidivegh and SubStack: https://substack.com/
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If you've been feeling tired, overwhelmed, depleted, or just quietly wondering where God is in the middle of a very full life — this episode is for you. And honestly? It might be for me too, because I'm recording this in one of those seasons myself.
Today we're doing something a little different. Instead of going deep in a passage, we're talking about what to do when deep feels like too much — when you need less, not more. Specifically, I'm walking you through one of my favorite practices for weary seasons: handwriting scripture.
Not typing it. Not scrolling past it. Actually writing it out, slowly, in your own hand — because something happens in your brain when you do that. The words land differently. They go deeper. And over time, they become part of that personal library of God's voice that the Holy Spirit can pull from when you need it most. That's what Psalm 119:11 means when it says I have hidden your word in my heart — it's scripture moving into your long-term memory, where it lives and stays even when you haven't opened your Bible in weeks.
I'm sharing the five verses I wrote out for myself today — and why each one hit me fresh even though I've known some of them for years. This episode is part of our How to Study the Bible Podcast, a show that brings life back to reading the Bible and helps you understand even the hardest parts of Scripture. If this episode helps you know and love God more, be sure to follow the How to Study the Bible Podcast on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode!
