Hi Friends!

It’s the third week of our series, “The Surrendered Life.” Last week, I received this powerful email from Chrystal about Surrender Principle #2, which is: I can choose to live by faith, rather than rush to follow my feelings.

She gave me permission to share this note and she hopes that it will encourage you:

Barb, while I was on a break at work, I started reading your email on Surrender Principle #2. Then, after work, I volunteer at our local food pantry. While I was at the food pantry, I received a text message from my fiancé. Let me tell you, the steam was coming out of my head! I had big feelings! The text message said that his youngest son’s mom’s car broke down. He let her use a car that he doesn’t really drive. I didn’t like the idea, and my emotions were running wild. I began to think of your email: I needed to talk to God. I decided not to act on my feelings but have faith in God and our relationship. I choose to look at the bigger picture rather than my feelings. Thank you so much for the email!

I love this! God knew the encouragement Chrystal needed and let’s celebrate her decision to pause to check in with God first instead of following her fire-up feelings. You can do this, too!

Here’s this week’s Surrender Principle #3 from my Surrendered Bible study:

I can always let go and give my problems to God.

Did you know that anytime you’re overwhelmed, you can stop and give your problems to God? Sounds so easy, but we forget! Once there’s a problem, most of us believe it is up to us to hunker down and stay with it until it’s resolved.

Yet some problems start out one size and then grow bigger. And we’re still in there thinking we can handle it when we can’t. We become overwhelmed and discouraged.

Once our hearts start racing and we begin to panic, that’s the sure sign it’s time to pause and say, “Wait, I don’t have to carry this on my own. I can stop and give it to God!”

Here’s one of my all-time favorite verses: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. -1 Peter 5:7 NLT

God never runs out of room in His arms to hold what’s too heavy for us. Even better, there’s no timeframe on this verse. We can do it as often as needed! I love the premise that at any time, we can declare a new start for our attitude, our perspective, or our choice to live God’s way rather than ours.

At any time, you can let go of speaking to others in negativity and choose words that reflect God’s grace and love.

At any time, you can let go of nagging or helicoptering and choose to allow other adults to be responsible for their decisions.

At any time, you can let go of fear and focus on God’s blessings and promises.

What a blessing it is that we can start over at any time because God’s faithfulness and mercy are always available, at any moment!

This means you are never stuck in a bad day, and best of all, you never have to feel hopeless in a difficult situation.

INTRODUCING THE BAD DAY TURN AROUND PRAYER

If you need to start your day over, prayer is the best way to reset your heart and mind. In my life, I realized that having a “Bad Day Turn Around” Prayer was helpful. Now, I’m sharing that prayer with you.

There are fill-in-the-blank sections so you can personalize it for your situation. If you engage with this exercise and it helps, hit reply and share that with me.

Even if you don’t need this Bad-Day-Turn-Around prayer now, keep this handy for a day when you do need it. You can take a screenshot of the prayer. If you know someone who needs this Bad-Day-Turn-Around prayer, you can forward this email to her!

I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Did you need this prayer? Comment “turnaround” and I’ll know that this devotion resonated with you! Also, what songs or Bible verses help you turn around a bad day? Tell me about it!