When God asks You to Surrender Something You Love
It can be difficult when God calls you to surrender something you love. It may be a career, a relationship, a location, a business, or an unhelpful habit. Because it’s something you love, you may be confused, doubtful, or unsure. I am sharing my story of when God called me to surrender my successful career to begin something new. I had no idea what He had waiting for me on the other side of obedience, but I stepped out in faith anyway. And you can too!
My Purpose in Sharing This Story of Surrender
I want to encourage you that it’s necessary to feel and simmer in ALL the emotions when you are going through a difficult season. When God asks you to surrender something you love, you may feel a mixture of emotions- surprise, confusion, disbelief, sadness, grief, or even anger. Because these emotions can sometimes be negative, you might question how deep your roots are in Christ during this time period.
You might wrestle with some of these questions. Am I an unfaithful Christian if I am questioning God? Am I not righteous because I feel sad or angry about losing this thing or relationship? How deep are my roots if I am struggling to discern what to do next?
Because of this, I want you to know that it is possible to stay deeply rooted in Christ AND to feel ALL the emotions (positive and negative) at the same time.
Staying rooted requires us to go to God with our emotions and seek Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It also means that we can’t allow our emotions to make our decisions. Rather, we must commit to abiding in the Lord until we have clarity.
By sharing my story openly and authentically, I hope you will be encouraged to do the same with your storms. You never know whose life you will impact by sharing yours! Your stories are part of your legacy.
When the Storm Began
My storm actually began about 18 months before God asked me to surrender the career and leadership position that I loved. It’s like I woke up one day, and the vision for my business disappeared.
Have you ever been visionless before?
I haven’t always been. For the first six years of my business, I had a crystal clear vision to go to the top ranking of National Sales Director of my direct sales company. I also truly felt like God was calling me to do so. My number one strength, according to Gallup StrengthFinders is Futuristic. This means I am “inspired by the future and what could be. I energize others with my visions of the future.”
My strong vision propelled me to become a career-car-driving Sales Director (a top leader ranking in the top 1%) in a multi-billion dollar cosmetics direct sales company. I was living my dream job. Not only was I paying my family more than my career as a Registered Dietitian, but I was also living a life of flexibility. I was blessed with a thriving team of 130+ women to lead and mentor, and driving my 3rd Career Car-the famous Pink Cadillac.
From the outside, everything seemed to be great. However, inside, things were changing within me. I still cannot explain it, but for some reason, I could not envision my business anymore. It’s like one day, I woke up, and my vision was completely gone. I had zero desire to move up the career path, earn more “things,” or achieve another goal.
I want to mention that I didn’t lack vision because of burnout, exhaustion, or lack of healthy family/life/business boundaries. During my entire career, I had never bought into the “hustle” mentality that is common in the business world. Thanks to my incredible coaches and mentors, I truly learned how to build a successful business with peace in my home and family. (I now coach other entrepreneurs to do the same! Check out my Coaching Programs HERE.)
At first, I wondered if it was postpartum depression since the timing was right after having our fourth baby. I chalked up my lack of passion and vision to postpartum blues or exhaustion. I embraced that I was going through a “valley season.” However, I was determined to persevere no matter what.
And so that is what I did- for another 18 months.
The Restlessness For Something More
But I started to have a restlessness within me- there was an aching in my soul for something more. Now looking back, I can clearly see that God erased my vision and desires so that I could be fully available when He called me to begin our family company- Legacy Roots, Co.
As a top leader in my company, I was fully aware that “where there is no vision, the people perish.” And I knew that my team would begin to “perish” if I couldn’t get a clear vision for the future.
So for 18 months, I asked the Lord to give me the vision I so desperately needed. I was no longer exercising my futuristic strength of “energizing others about the future” because I lacked vision and clarity. I began to withdraw from my team because I felt so cloudy.
This was unlike me because I had always been passionate about this business. These women that I led had become a part of our family! And my leadership position was my vehicle for impacting the world. I refused to give up or walk away unless the Lord was crystal clear on my next steps. The only thing that would make me give up this career that I loved was if God was 100% clear.
Even though I was visionless for what seemed like forever, I continued to work out of discipline- leading out of my commitment to my team. Each day was a grind, but God was deepening my roots through this process.
I knew the only way to receive the vision that I so desperately needed from God was to go deeper with Him.
Fast forward 18 months later
I had been praying for a vision for so long, and I felt stuck. This is what I journaled on April 1, 2021:
“So what do you do when your heart is no longer in the very thing you have poured your life into? When you have turned away from so many other opportunities to fix your eyes and mind on this one thing? And now, your heart no longer beats for it. What do you do when the passion is gone? Almost like the fire has been put out? My mind is foggy, the motivation is low, and the vision is unclear.”
Have you been in this place before?
Friend, I’m here to tell you that sometimes our passion dwindles because we aren’t doing the very thing God is calling us to do.
If you are in this place right now, I want to encourage you to seek the Lord for His vision for your ministry, business, family, or work. Pray for a renewed vision and passion. Take an active role through prayer.
And let’s be clear. I wasn’t passively visionless. I had taken an active role in the “waiting process.”
For those 18 months, I had committed to seeking God’s will. I prayed fervently in my daily quiet time and made it a priority to take monthly and quarterly silent retreats. (Click here to read my blog post about how silence has deepened my roots in Christ).
Each day for those 18 months, I grew my roots deeper in my relationship with Christ, devoured scripture, and tuned in to His voice.
Yet, there was no real answer to what I should do.
Sometimes the waiting seasons are so long. Yet, I learned that God is holding us, comforting us, and waiting to reveal more as He transforms us in the waiting seasons.
FINALLY. God spoke to me. “Surrender.”
Has the Lord ever spoken to you about something so clearly that it took your breath away?
One month later, on April 26, 2021, I was sitting in my favorite grey POÄNG chair from IKEA in the corner of our bedroom. It was a pretty typical Monday morning. I was wrapped in a cozy blanket, coffee in hand, Bible on my lap, and eyes closed- resting in God’s presence.
As I was praying, God spoke to me with a vision.
He gave me a vivid picture in my mind of a calendar, and at the top, it read: “August.”
The Holy Spirit gave me the discernment to instantly know what He was speaking to me about (Click HERE to read our blog post about How to Discern God’s Will).
He was asking me to surrender my beloved leadership position in only 4 months- that August.
This wasn’t just surrendering a position.
God was asking me to give up a career that I truly loved, along with a HUGE dream and desire of becoming a National Sales Director- at the top of the company. He was asking me to give up a career I built from the ground up, a team that felt like family, and something I believed I would lead for the rest of my career.
Really God? After a year and a half of asking, searching, pondering, and wondering, this wasn’t the answer I was expecting. What He was really asking me to do was to step away from something I deeply loved.
And because it was something I loved so much, it became one of the most difficult “Yes, Lord” moments of my life.
However, I had instant faith that He had something planned for me that would be beyond my imagination or expectations!
And since that day of surrendering my career to Him, I continued to wake up and say, “Yes, Lord.” And He continued to give me little glimpses of the future again!
I am also thankful that He did not call me to give up my direct sales business entirely. I am grateful to continue serving my clients even though I am no longer in a top leadership position.
How I emotionally navigated this season
I want to share how God helped me emotionally navigate this season of surrender. I know you have been in these moments too! Sometimes it feels like a roller coaster. Each day has its highs, lows, attacks from the enemy, and victories to celebrate. How we choose to navigate storms in life says a lot about how deep, wide, and developed our root system is.
Show me a person’s response to life, and I’ll show you the depth of their root system.
There are good days and hard days. To give you a peek inside, the following are select entries from my journal in the days and weeks following God’s call of surrender on my life.
As you read my journal entries, I want to encourage you to journal your thoughts and prayers about the current situation, storm, or waiting season you are going through. Journaling will help you to look back and see God’s movement and faithfulness.
May 2, 2021
“I know that God is up to something so BIG. I can feel it deep within me and over me, under me–all around me. He is with me– He is with me. It’s almost like I’m trying to stay caught up to God- He is moving at such an accelerated pace.
He has been downloading ideas to me nonstop- and when there are times that I don’t have a pen/paper available to take notes (like the middle of the night, for example)- He has been faithful to hold on to the idea and bring it back to when I’m ready to receive.
He is challenging me to grow and to build faster than ever before and with SO much PEACE! God is the CEO- and I’m His obeying servant– continuously saying ‘Yes, Lord. Here I am. Send me.’”
The grieving process of surrendering something I loved was intense, and yet it transformed me. It deepened my roots.
Here is my journal entry two months after the surrender on July 1, 2021:
Many days, I would feel a spiritual attack, and it was only because of being rooted in Christ that I was able to recognize it right away and stand strong.
June 11, 2021, entry
“Every day, the enemy attacks, and every day I am prepared for battle. He whispers lies like, “you are giving up everything for nothing.” “Who are you to think you can start a business from scratch?”
And each time he tries to feed me the lie – I remember God’s words to me, “Deepen the roots of my people.” He has placed this call upon my life. And I know for certain He has asked me to do it.”
It’s important that when you are facing attacks from the enemy (after God has called you to surrender something), you stand firm in WHY He has called you to do so. If you don’t have clarity on the “why,” then lean into the decision that obedience to God is your only option.
The Temptation to Not Surrender
Two weeks before God asked me to give up my Sales Director position and team, Chris received a call from his work that his position was being eliminated.
So we were faced with a decision.
A big one.
Do I still move forward with stepping down from directorship? Or do I trust what the Lord called me to do?
God Never Leaves Us When He Asks Us to Surrender Something We Love
In fact, He reassured me that He was with me by continuing to speak to me through others. It has been such a beautiful couple of months where so many of our friends, family, and even the women I led in my business affirmed God’s calling over me.
And so, I have come to a place of deep trust in the goodness of God toward us, and we want His will more than anything.
I had been praying that if I ever stepped down, it was because I am running TO something that God is calling me, NOT running away from something. And even amidst Christian’s layoff, I had complete clarity and felt compelled to run toward our calling of building Legacy Roots, Co.
Obedience is my only option.
To surrender my life is to gain my life. And who am I to decide what my future is? Who am I to cling to a future that I have created? It is much sweeter to surrender it all to Him than to cling to it with dear life without His blessing.
As of August 1, 2021, Chris and I decided to go ALL in on our company- Legacy Roots Co.!
The Lord has made it abundantly clear that He has cleared the path and made a way.
Today, we are embracing the calling, and we are ready for however He wants to use us! We stepped into the unknown, yet it feels so comfortable because He is fully in it. When you are walking in the Lord’s will, there truly is nothing to fear. He is with us, and He will guide us. He is a good, good Father, and His ways are higher than ours.
Your reflection questions:
1) What storms have you gone through that strengthened your root system?
2) What is something you love that God may be asking you to surrender right now?
3) How will you obey Him despite what you feel?
