There comes a point in our walk as Christians when we begin to wonder whether we are still on the right path or slowly drifting away from God. Sometimes, it happens when we face difficult circumstances or carry desires that remain unanswered. We often say, “I surrender it to God,” but what does true surrender really look like when the things we struggle to release involve our future, finances, dreams, habits, past, and even the little comforts we turn to when life becomes overwhelming?

I recently went through the 10 Days of Surrender devotion. I originally created this devotional as a guided journey of prayer, fasting, reflection, and accountability. It is designed for two or more people to go through together, because I believe that we can be powerful when we have people who encourage us, pray with us, and lovingly remind us of what we are learning.

And as I went through each day, God showed me that surrender was about much more than fasting from food.

Surrendering My Desires, Pride, and Anxiety

One of the things that became especially clear to me was how much anxiety I was carrying about the future. Since we started planning for our upcoming wedding, I have found myself thinking about so many things that still need to be accomplished. There are things I want to buy before I get married, especially knowing that I will be leaving my job. I think about the money we need for our life after the wedding, and whether I will be able to save enough for our starting fund.

Sometimes, underneath all those practical concerns is another thought: “Have I accomplished enough?” I sometimes feel like I haven’t mastered anything. My salary is only around minimum wage. I worry that I might become a burden and simply have to live off my husband.

These thoughts can easily turn into anxiety because I want to know that everything will be okay before I even get there. But surrender reminded me that trusting God also means releasing my need to have everything figured out.
Romans 12:1 gives us the picture of offering ourselves to God: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” Surrender isn’t simply giving God the things we don’t want anymore. Sometimes, surrender means placing before Him the things we desperately want to control: our plans, our timeline, our definition of success, our financial worries, and even our future.

I had to ask myself: Do I actually trust God with my future, or do I only trust Him when I already know how everything will work out?

Surrendering My Need for Self-Gratification

For me, surrender also meant looking at the small things I run to whenever I feel stressed, overwhelmed, or out of control. Food is one of them. I love comfort food, especially KFC chicken and sweets. Eating them when I’m stressed gives me temporary satisfaction. For a moment, I don’t have to think about whatever is bothering me. But the comfort doesn’t last.

The same is true with other habits. I have found myself doomscrolling on social media or playing games on my phone for hours. Lately, instead of walking home from work, I would take a TNVS because I wanted to get home early. But ironically, getting home early didn’t necessarily mean I became more productive. I would get home, pick up my phone, scroll, play games, and continue until it was almost time to sleep.

I realized that I was sometimes trying to escape the feeling that I couldn’t control everything by filling my time with things that gave me immediate satisfaction. The devotional reminded me of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:27, where he speaks about disciplining his body and bringing it under control. That made me realize that self-denial isn’t about punishing myself. It is about learning that I don’t have to obey every desire I have.

Not every craving needs to be satisfied, not every notification needs my attention, and not every uncomfortable feeling needs an escape. Sometimes, I simply need to sit with the discomfort and bring it to God.

Surrendering My Past

Another thing I realized during these ten days was how much space my past can still occupy in my mind. There are moments when something triggers a memory, and suddenly I find myself reliving situations that happened years ago. Sometimes I imagine different versions of what could have happened. I think about what I could have said differently, how I could have responded, or how the situation might have turned out if things had happened another way.

I replay conversations and rewrite scenarios in my head as if I could somehow go back and change the ending. But I can’t.

One of the devotional days focused on Philippians 3:13–14, where Paul speaks about forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward toward what lies ahead.

For me, that doesn’t mean pretending the past didn’t happen or that painful experiences suddenly stop being painful. It means I don’t have to keep living in a version of the past that I can no longer change.

I can acknowledge what happened. I can learn from it. I can grieve what needed to be grieved. And then I can surrender it. God does not need me to rewrite my past before He can lead me into my future.

Surrender Is Not Just About Food

When I first thought about fasting, it was easy to think about food. What can I eat? What should I avoid? How long should I fast? But as I went through these ten days, I realized that fasting can reveal something deeper. It can expose the things we use to satisfy ourselves, distract ourselves, comfort ourselves, or regain a sense of control.

For me, surrender looked like examining my relationship with food, my phone, entertainment, my time, my ambitions, my anxiety, and my past. It made me ask a difficult but necessary question: What am I holding on to that God is asking me to release?

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Sometimes surrender looks like doing less. Sometimes it looks like putting the phone down. Sometimes it means resisting the urge to escape. Sometimes it means stopping the endless “what ifs” in our minds. And sometimes it simply means being still long enough to remember that God is God, and I am not.

We Don’t Have to Walk Through It Alone

One of the things I intentionally included in the 10 Days of Surrender guide is an accountability component. The guide was created for two or more people to go through together. I won’t share the progress or personal experiences of the people who went through it with me because their stories are theirs to tell. But I can say that having other people walk alongside you made the journey meaningful.

There were opportunities to check in, encourage one another, pray together, and be reminded that we were not doing this alone. Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 says, “Two are better than one… For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.”

There is something beautiful about surrendering together, because sometimes we need someone who can encourage us to keep going, remind us why we started, and pray with us when we feel like giving up. Sometimes, we simply need someone beside us while we bring the things we cannot carry to God.

What I Learned After Ten Days

I don’t think ten days magically solved everything. I still have responsibilities, financial concerns, desires, and moments when I want comfort food, reach for my phone, or find myself thinking about the past. But I think I understand surrender a little differently now.

Surrender is not a one-time decision. It is a daily practice of returning what I keep trying to take back from God. I surrender my plans, and then I worry about them again. I surrender my desires, and then they come back. I surrender my past, and then a memory comes. So I surrender them again.

Maybe that is part of what it means to walk with God, not that we never struggle with the same things again, but that we learn to bring them back to Him every time. Perhaps the goal was never to reach a point where I have nothing left to surrender. Perhaps the goal is to become more willing to open my hands.

Take the 10-Day Journey

I created 10 Days of Surrender because I wanted to create a simple space where people could intentionally pause, pray, fast, examine their hearts, and draw closer to God, not alone, but with someone else.

If there is something you’ve been holding tightly, your plans, desires, habits, worries, your past, or even your need for control, I encourage you to take some time and ask God, “Lord, what are You asking me to surrender?”

You don’t have to begin with everything. Just begin with honesty. Find someone you can journey with, set aside these ten days, and give yourself permission to slow down and listen.

Maybe this is your invitation to open your hearts, too.