I Give Up

Recently a friend of mine got away for a personal retreat. During her reflections and journaling and while contending with various emotions, she wrote the following thoughts and allowed me to share them here.

I give up! I can’t do it anymore.
I give up!
I give up.
I give up.

I GIVE UP, spoken in moments of powerlessness and hopelessness are words that simultaneously communicate despair and the surprising, paradoxical potential to give birth to new hope, new freedom, restored connection to God and others. I give up can become some of the most powerful, life-transforming words I can speak. Spoken from the pit, I give up, can lift me to life.
If. . . .

I give up:
 Self-sufficiency
 Doing it my way.
 The critical and condemning voices in my head.
 The old coping strategies that no longer work.
 The law that condemns without hope.
 The lies that tell me I am separated from God by my badness, even Jesus’ death and resurrection cannot atone for.
 The old ways of protecting myself which have become bars between me and others who would love me.
 My false illusion that I can control others.
 My false illusion that I can control the world.
 My false gods in which I place my trust—power, money, approval, ______, ____.
 My prideful arrogance that says I don’t need anyone.
 My sinful attempts to escape truth.
 My denial.
 M y avoidance.
 My isolation.
 My misplaced judgment of myself and others that keeps me separated from Life and love.
 Desire for recognition.
 Family patterns that have become burdensome chains separating me from meaningful connection with others.
 Fears, founded and unfounded that keep me in bondage to addictions
 Mistrust in everyone.
 Fear-based procrastination.
 Laziness-based procrastination.
 Blame.
 Unrealistic expectations of perfection in myself and others.
 My anxiety and panic.
 My paralyzing fear of acknowledging mistakes and sin.
 My life in surrender to my Lord, God and Savior , the creator, sustainer, redeemer and transformer of Life.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Mt. 11:29