40 Days of Surrender

SurrenderAs a follow-up to 40 Days to Feeling Good, my dear friend Caroline and I have decided to kick off 40 Days of Surrender, and we want to invite all of YOU to join in with us! Basically the goal of this process (for me, at least) is to learn to loosen my grip on the things that I can’t control (which is most things). To stop trying to force and manipulate and endlessly overthink life and to instead just go with the flow. To stop doubting my every action and instead own it, without fear. To release those things in my life that are not healthy or joyful or positive or life-giving and to make space for the things that ARE. And to surrender my will completely to God’s and trust Him, really TRUST Him, with the steering wheel of my life. It’s exhausting trying to always control every single little thing and I don’t want to do it anymore. By surrendering to God and trusting the process and His timing and the perfect rhythm of my life…everything happens when it should, why it should, how it should. So who’s ready to begin? The goal of this is to invite a friend or friends to join in with you, so invite anyone you want to embark upon this journey with. For 40 days, Caroline and I send each other constant reminders throughout the day and it has turned into such a joyful and affirming process for both of us. I highly encourage you to do the same. Or just consider me your partner in crime in this venture! Either way…here’s to #40DaysOfSurrender! Let’s do this!!! 

41 Responses to “ 40 Days of Surrender ”

  1. Erica Jackson
    May 25, 2015

    Such a beautiful timing to start this, may God have his way!!

  2. Ivwananji
    May 26, 2015

    I also want to surrender

  3. Sheri
    May 26, 2015

    Love this idea. I so need to do this. And this is the much needed time to do it.

  4. Sheri
    May 26, 2015

    I am in!

  5. Lala
    May 26, 2015

    Count me in!

  6. Joan
    May 26, 2015

    I would love to give this a try, I am in.

  7. Suzanne
    May 26, 2015

    I’m in! Perfect timing for this!

  8. Ziyanda Maku
    May 26, 2015

    I’m in. need this.

  9. Sandra
    May 26, 2015

    Let’s do it!!

  10. kimmi
    May 26, 2015

    I neeeeeeeeed to do this !!!!!!

  11. May 26, 2015

    I would love to try this I am in.

  12. Amy
    May 26, 2015

    I am in. Going to journal all my entries. Give it to God!

  13. Alisha
    May 26, 2015

    Do you surrender something new each day?

  14. Karissa
    May 27, 2015

    I’m in!

  15. May 28, 2015

    I need 365 days… but humor helps me deal with it… See? 55minutedrive.blogspot.com

  16. Ashley
    May 29, 2015

    I am so in.

  17. May 30, 2015

    Me too! Maybe one of the mistakes people with not-easy lives do is to over analyze and overthink … Because we expect to solve problems, and many times, control what is out of our control. That’s currently my mistake, but I hope after this 40 days I can say “that used to be my mistake”. Thank you, Mandy~

  18. Sandy
    May 31, 2015

    I feel the same way Mandy. Days when I try to take control of everything I feel so exhausted and tired by the end of the day only to realize that my strength lies in total surrender and in that moment u just know that God is in control and all your worries seem so small and you feel strength in surrendering. Thank you for staying true to yourself 🙂

  19. Beverley Owoses
    June 4, 2015

    I’m in

  20. Amber A.
    June 4, 2015

    I’m in great idea!!!!!!!

  21. Kristie
    June 4, 2015

    How do I participate?

  22. mattie
    June 4, 2015

    oh ,girl ,I sure could have used this for the last 12 days .I have had emotional ups and downs like you wouldn’t believe.I am not sure why it is so hard for me to TRUST G-d with my life ,anyone for that matter. Maybe its a control thing ,we feel WE need to be in control of the situation when we are most deff.. NOT ,never were!!! tha’ts the shocker .lol. this was sooooo needed .great timing ,as usual. have a blessed day.

  23. Kristie
    June 4, 2015

    How do I join

  24. Carolyn Farmer
    June 4, 2015

    I really need to do this right now

  25. June 4, 2015

    SURRENDER…I’M IN ON THIS ONE!! No other way to experience HIS perfect will for ME!

  26. Emmie
    June 4, 2015

    I’m reading this at the perfect time–I’ve been white knuckling things this entire year. The more out of control things seem, the more I try to control everything. But, I’m taking on this challenge starting now. 40 days of letting go and surrendering. Sounds freeing!

  27. Jackie
    June 4, 2015

    I am on board with you

  28. Kelly
    June 5, 2015

    This sounds wonderful. I am all for this.

  29. Gretchen G.
    June 8, 2015

    Oh what perfect timing! This past week I have had the quote “Focus on what you have control of….” Taped onto my desk. God has been working on my heart to surrender to His will. Count me in!!!!

  30. Jen De Chavez
    June 9, 2015

    Once you surrender everything to Him, happiness and contentment follows. For He has better plans for your life than what you have for yourself..
    Salute Mandy Hale for all the wisdom she shares in every single women.

  31. Nadia
    June 10, 2015

    Perfect timing! I’m in and soooooo ready for this!

  32. Johnnie Kaye
    June 11, 2015

    I’m in!!!

  33. Wondering
    June 12, 2015

    I know this is so true: about the surrender. And oh how I try. But then it happens (and it happens all-too-often): you go on Facebook (and I am thinking I should probably avoid it), for example, and you see all of the posts of people having babies, or getting married…and what are you posting? Yeah, I write devotionals because of the Lord and our relationship…but then I see those posts and my heart is once again tempted into envy, discouragement, wondering when it will be “my turn”, sometimes just squeezed so much I don’t know how to deal with it as the days keep going by…does anyone ever feel like that? I HATE ENVY (the 10th commandment: maybe because God knew that this would be one of the hardest things NOT to do and so wanted for it to be the last one read/heard?)…and at LEAST I don’t covet my neighbor’s donkey(!)…but sometimes I want to literally remove myself from the world so that I don’t have to see all of those things like people having babies, people getting married, people buying homes…just so that I WON’T dishonor God by envying. It’s so hard to surrender when you are tired out by working all of the time — and working in a job where you are constantly attending to others’ needs. Maybe I am just ultra spoiled or selfish(?)…and I do try to focus on others and their needs…but it just hurts as I get older and don’t seem to be falling into the same “pattern” as those getting what I see as “good gifts” of home, family, etc. I KNOW all of the verses about not fixing our eyes on earthly things, not loving the world, not…not…not…but sometimes it just gets too hard NOT to while you are wondering when something wonderful to post on Facebook will happen for you. ) : Sorry, obviously I just went on Facebook, and now needed to share with some who may understand. What do you do? How should I feel? What do I DO with all of these thoughts and feelings that seem to be being justified more and more as days go by? I just want to see that God has some special things for me as well. Is that wrong? O.k., enough from me. Thanks for listening.

    • Allison
      October 10, 2015

      I have had to deactivate my Facebook account on more than one occasion for that very same reason. I’m happy for my family and friends…getting engaged, getting married, having babies, buying a beautiful new home, going on vacations. BUT sometimes (more often than not) I feel jealous and bitter…and then I start feeling sorry for myself and sometimes even getting mad at God that none of that has happened to me. I confided this to a couple of family members one time., family members who are sometimes the very ones enjoying all of the wonderful blessings I previously mentioned, and they didn’t understand. But why should they? They’ve never been in my situation…they have the spouse, children, nice home, etc. It’s not their fault. It’s frustrating, but it’s not their fault. I can’t expect them to understand something they have never experienced and the neat thing is that I don’t need them to understand to validate my feelings. I have to do what’s best for me and my sanity! And if that means being one of the few people on the face of the earth who doesn’t have a Facebook account, so be it! Ignorance truly is bliss in this situation. If I’m not constantly seeing posts and pictures about others enjoying the things that I want, I save myself a lot of heartache! Hope that helps!

  34. sharonfarrer
    June 18, 2015

    I’ve recently finished a book on “letting go” in life. In the process if that read I was in traffic and ‘re as mixed that every time I got cut off by someone I was getting angry, it was eating my lunch! I decided then and there that this was destructive to my walk with Christ. So I started saying out loud, I’m so glad I don’t need to be first. With each incident, and there were plenty, I spoke it again. It changed my whole perspective and my “in car” experiences! I’m with you in the surrender! When we lay anything down earnestly, God can and will pick it up and use it…. if we ask Him to!

  35. sharonfarrer
    June 22, 2015

    Why do women struggle so with letting go and letting God have full reign? I’ve just finished a great book confirming that I am learning to let go and let God do his thing more fully in me. For me, letting go always means change. I’ve known LOTS of change and much has been painfully difficult. I’ve even felt that the change at times, was the result of my poor choices as if God were punishing me. However, I have come to see that these painful changes are making me into the woman God needs me to be in order to use me in the next phase of my life. Do I see that phase defined before me? Absolutely not! Can’t see a thing! However, I do know that my position is to be one of complete surrender. No using my mind to figure anything out. Waiting in quiet surrender to hear his still, small voice say, now let’s go here and do this thing! I join the team to surrender MYSELF in order for God to do his work in me. One day, one moment, one surrendered step at a time!

  36. Tammy Piazza
    June 26, 2015

    I’m in. I desperately need help with this!

  37. Judy
    June 26, 2015

    I need this and i’m in!

  38. Ruth
    June 26, 2015

    Perfect timing.I am in

  39. eliejore
    July 4, 2015

    I’m in and I’m willing to surrender..

  40. July 18, 2015

    Is it too late to start this? I believe internally I am a control freak, always wanting to know how this is and how it will work out. I do it even with God and I know He doesn’t like it because He does things on His timing and I ought to learn to appreciate that.

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Something wonderful is on the horizon
Life doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. In Mandy’s upcoming book, Turn Toward the Sun: Releasing What If and Embracing What Is, you’ll find encouragement to live in the moment, sit with your experiences, and trust God with the unknown.
Preorder from Baker Book House for 40% off and free shipping!*
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Something wonderful is on the horizon
Turn Toward the Sun CoverLife doesn’t always look the way we want it to look. In Mandy’s upcoming book, Turn Toward the Sun: Releasing What If and Embracing What Is, you’ll find encouragement to live in the moment, sit with your experiences, and trust God with the unknown.
Preorder from Baker Book House for 40% off and free shipping!*
*US shipping only