One of my favorite lines from the book project I’m working on:
“I can’t lead my children to a life of surrender if I’m not walking in surrender myself.”
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
That word DAILY gets me.
Because surrender usually isn’t one big dramatic moment. It’s the quiet, ordinary choices no one sees.
It’s surrendering the need to control the outcome.
The urge to force change.
The frustration when our kids don’t respond the way we hoped.
The pride that wants to be right.
The fear that whispers we have to hold everything together ourselves.
But something I’m reminding myself of all the time:
Surrender isn’t something we teach our kids from a distance;
it’s something we model by living it ourselves.
We often want to teach our children to trust God, obey Him, and walk closely with Him, but they will learn just as much from watching how we respond when life feels hard.
Our surrender gives them a picture of what trusting God actually looks like.
And the best part? Jesus never asks us to surrender alone. He calls us to follow Him there.