120 - Empowered by Surrender

Click here to read the episode highlights.    The "Living with Heart" Podcast is brought to you by Chip Dodd Resources (www.chipdodd.com) and The Voice of the Heart Center (vothcenter.com). You can connect with Dr. Chip Dodd at [email protected]. Contact Bryan Barley for coaching at [email protected].    Be sure to subscribe to Dr Chip Dodd’s new Substack. He will be sharing two to three articles a week. The topics focus on healthy relationship, personal growth, and leadership. Dr. Dodd shares content two to three times a week. To subscribe, use the link above or go to chipdodd.com.   Surrender: What surrender does not mean. It does not mean defeat, as in you have been beaten. It does not mean that you are through defeat establishing a peace treaty, as in you remain sovereign over your country, which is yourself. It does not mean that you are giving up benefits and have to tolerate abuse.   What surrender does mean It literally means, “to render over, or give way, for one’s own benefit” It is a relinquishing of my attempt to control what I cannot control; from that standpoint, the “defeat” is the relinquishing of pride, denial of need for help, or actions that make my life unmanageable Recovery from any kind of addiction has surrender as a key beneficial step:  A person first admits that they cannot control “life,” but they wish to live life Surrender occurs when we seek a path, person, or process that can do this for us   surrender: “I cannot; therefore, I surrender to what God and others can do for me what I cannot do for myself”   God and surrender Actions of surrender imply that a person is “rendering over” “giving back” or “returning” something that was taken from someone them or someone else. In emotional and spiritual surrender, we, as humans, are “giving back” to God what we “took” from Him.  We “stole” our hearts from God; we took our feelings, needs, desire, longings and hope and refused the dependency upon God that these inherent characteristics require.    We are created dependent, but will we remain vulnerable to using that dependency well or refuse to depend?   Surrender really is “re-depending” on God as the Source of primary connection, presence, and fulfillment.    We were born dependent and created to develop resilience in life and living through dependence.  God gave us: Fear - so that we would ask for help Hurt - so that we would seek healing Sadness - to resolve loss through grief   When we surrender, we are returning to how God made us, with the ability to be:  connected to Him present with Him fulfilled by Him  This allows us to experience all the relational wonder that life has to offer. But we must be “good at dependency.” We must start with knowing our feelings and using them as they can be used for our benefit.   Click here to continue reading the episode highlights.