Catalyst Lesson 1
Living a radical life is not dependant on me: brainstorming and deciding how to be radical. A radical life is absolute surrender & obedience to Christ.
Notes from Andy Stanley at Catalyst.
This statement hit me as I realized I have been trying to brainstorm and bring inspiration and a ‘radical life’ to myself. The statement brought a sense of relief as the burden of my striving fell to the ground. It’s not about me. My only part is that of obedience and listening. Waiting is active and while a brainstorm or time of reflection can be useful in sensing God’s direction and gaining clarity, I must remember that my place is within God’s Kingdom, I am HIS. This means I can stop striving and instead remain watchful for His guiding and then simply obey. There will still be work, but the burden is no longer on me. It is on HIM and HE is GOD. He holds true and meaningful life.
Does this resonate with you? Do you struggle with this (surrender and not taking the burden/trying to control) as I do?
You’re at catalyst…that’s an amazing conference.
I think we all do, in a sense. Not necessarily in complete surrender i think its more in balance. God does plant dreams and ambition in us, and sometimes we forget the source of inspiration more so then total submission. Recognizing the source is what lead Moses to confront the ruler of Egypt, David to defeat the Philistines, and others to do great things in his name. Guess its all dependent no the “me” if the me is within God, then surrender has already taken place, if the” me” its outside of God then who is me really?
wow – great question Justin.
“Guess its all dependent on the “me†if the me is within God, then surrender has already taken place, if the†me†its outside of God then who is me really?”
I just took a Theology class and we talked about what it means to be created in God’s image and one aspect of being His creation is that we are dependent on Him and receive our meaning, our “me” from Him.
I so needed to read this right now
I think we all struggle with surrender to some degree 
If it was easy to have faith, deny ourselves take up our cross and follow HIM we would all do it. Following Him is about surrender, and surrender is tough because so often we let our human nature side take over 
It takes daily drawing near to HIM to make surrender something that comes more naturally 
I am so glad we serve a God who is patient and loves us unconditionally no matter what—He is waiting for us to surrender so that He can bless us even more with all He has for us. Thanks for sharing girl 
“I am so glad we serve a God who is patient and loves us unconditionally no matter what”
me too, thanks Mary!