Open Palms: A New Year of Surrendering to the Lord

Welcome to Woman In The Word 2026 edition! If you're familiar with my posts, you probably know that I talk a lot about surrendering to the Lord, mainly because that's the thing I've struggled to do the most. Yet, it has been the most life-changing part of my journey back to God.

It's not uncommon for us to believe we're in the driver's seat of our lives. We're taught at an early age to take responsibility, to map out our future, to have goals and to pursue them. And while all of these things are good, our effort is only half of the picture.

Whether you grow up believing in God or not, we are all created by God for specific purposes. We are born on this earth at a specific time in a specific place to specific parents. And the things we will accomplish or face, the people we'll meet along the way, our setbacks and setups, none of them are coincidences. There is a bigger picture we cannot see nor are we taught to see it or seek it. Even in Christian households, seeking God's plan and purpose for your life might not be a topic of conversation.

My dad was a Godly man, but he was also a hard-working, logical man. We had so many conversations about God, but we never once discussed what God's plan for me might be. We never talked about surrender or seeking God's will. We talked about what I wanted to do in life and made a plan to help me accomplish it. And so, I carried the perspective of control into my adulthood. Whatever I set out to do, I could accomplish by my own effort if I planned well enough, researched enough, worked hard enough. And I did work hard and I did accomplish so much, including my dream of becoming an author. But there are some things in life you cannot control, no matter how hard you work.

When you are confronted with the thing you can't control, you find yourself on a long journey of fighting the truth, fighting yourself and your false ideology until you finally reach surrender. In my case, the thing I can't control also happens to be the thing I want most--a Godly marriage--which has made it the hardest thing to surrender. But learning how to surrender what I want most to the Lord has shown me the beauty of surrendering not just the thing I can't control, but everything.

This new year, I'm unsubscribing from striving, planning, ambition, and goal-setting. And I am subscribing to surrender.

Surrendering to the Lord doesn't mean you don't have any plans or goals. It means the Lord is the one guiding you. He is the one telling you which opportunity to say yes to. He creates new goals for you. He opens new doors for you. He gives you new ideas and desires. He will help you discern the right thing, the right one, and the right time. And I can say from personal experience that when the Lord is the one leading, life is so much more enjoyable, peaceful, purposeful, fulfilling, and yes, even romantic.

For me, my process of surrender began with my love life, but it has expanded into my career, my friendships, my boundaries, my everything. When you slow down, throw out your to-do list, and open your palms to the Lord, He will remove what needs to be removed and place what needs to be placed. He will reveal new purposes for you and write a new to-do list for you.

Godly Swaps In My Surrender Season

In Dating...

Striving --> Recognizing

There are opportunities to meet someone everyday. But in surrendering to the Lord, I no longer seek out potential. I let God weave romance naturally into my life through unexpected encounters. What's so beautiful and romantic about letting God write your love story is you're just living your life and then poof, something sweet, cute, or fun happens. And I'm always like "Thank you, God, for that moment."

I picture Him reading the Book of Emily, the one He's already written, and just smiling. He's probably thinking, "Oh, I've been waiting for this part" or "See, I knew she'd like that/ him."

God is just as excited to give us good gifts as we are to receive them. And what makes those encounters so good for me is, I didn't plan them or work for them. With open palms, I let God give me what He wishes to give me, and I let Him take whoever is not meant to stay, while recognizing who He chooses to keep around.

In Work & Life...

My Yes --> God's Yes

Open palm surrender doesn't just apply to dating. In my career, I've tossed out my to-do list and am letting God lead me and use my gift of writing in the way He chooses. Surrender in this area has led me to realize I no longer desire to write fiction (at least, right now). For many years, fiction has been an esacpe for me. Right now, I'm called to be present--present with the Lord and within my own life. I don't want to escape anymore. I want to live, and I want to let God lead.

Losing my desire for something I once loved doesn't hurt the way I thought it would. It is replaced with a passion for a higher calling.

I never knew this feeling was possible--this freedom and this fulfillment. But when God says yes, you can feel it. When God says yes, you get excited.

I'm bringing the same surrender into my church involvement. Not every opportunity is the right one for me. Just like not every good man is my man. God has a specific path for each of us. The thing that's bringing me the most excitement in my life right now is seeing where God is taking me. I came into 2026 with no plans and God has already added amazing things to my calendar, including a way for me to get involved at church and a mission trip to Greece.

God will do amazing things for you if you open your palms and let Him remove and replace.

He will remove and replace those plans, those goals, that relationship, that job, that struggle, and those false beliefs. He will refine you into the woman of God you are called to be, the woman of God who is equipped to have everything she's ever wanted and more than she ever knew to ask for. That is my wish for you, as well as, myself.

This is the year of surrender, the year I let God lead, the year I give up my pen to His holy hand. This is the year I sit back, wait on the Lord, and watch Him do what He does best--create something beautiful.

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A Final Note

Surrendering means giving up control, not stewardship. I want to close this post with a recent revelation.

When you get closer to God through surrender to His will and the Holy Spirit, it's important to be mindful of those who try to pull you back to the person, the temperament, or the way of life that you are trying to leave in the past. Sometimes those people are the ones closest to you. Sometimes they are your own family. Sometimes God calls us to set boundaries to protect what He is trying to create.

In Toxic Family Dynamics...

Unconditional Tolerance --> Holy Stewardship of Self

For many reasons, I have tolerated certain behavior, because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. God calls us to love unconditionally, which led me to recite scripture to myself to convince myself to stay in toxic relationships. The same scriptures were also used against me by the toxic party in question to convince me that unconditional love and honor actually means unconditional tolerance. This is the year we release that lie.

We are responsible for stewarding ourselves and our relationship with the Lord.

If the Lord is offering you peace, healing, and hope, why allow someone else to thrust you back into chaos, anger, anxiety, or sadness?

God does not ask His children to be the punching bags for the broken people of this world. He asks us to pray for them and love them, not to tolerate them. And sometimes the only way to love someone is to love them from a distance.

Don't let anyone take you back to your Egypt. Don't let anyone take you back to your bondage. God is your freedom. God is your Father, your future. And you are His dwelling place. Protect the house of the Lord. Protect yourself by being a good steward of the company you keep.