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My dear friend, Today, I want to visit step # 3, "I have decided to turn my will and my life over to God as I ask Him for the power to Come Clean," and see how does one do that. How do we get to the point in our lives that we give up-surrender to God? The concept sounds very simple yet the leap of faith that it takes to do it is enormous. I remember clearly that July 1, 1990 when I got on my knees as I saw my little baby, whom God had used to transform my world, walk off my ranch crying as she looked back at her daddy. It must have been so hard for that innocent four year old wondering why her mommy was dragging her away from the dad she loved. It was heart wrenching for me. As I wept out of control I wondered where I was to go from there. What had happened to my life? How could I do this to my baby? Why? Why seemed to be the perpetual question with no answer in sight. At that moment in my life, the most difficult thing for me to deal with was the fact that everyone idolized me. Everyone wanted so bad to be like me. They saw that I lived in a multi-million dollar ranch, had a home on the ocean, one in Vail, a fleet of airplanes, a million dollar in cars and any women I desired. Was this not the life that we all yearn for? I could not make sense of the fact that the world thought I was the luckiest man on earth-and I just wanted to DIE! People often comment that God did an amazing miracle in my life. True, yet it is also true that saving Jorge was probably the easiest thing Jesus ever accomplished. Let me explain: When I gave my life to Christ that July morning I did not hear an audible voice saying, "Jorge surrender!" I did not feel the Holy Spirit convicting me to surrender! I did not even recognize any supernatural divine intervention. All I did was come to the point where I wanted to die. I had simply come to the point where I had all the world had to offer and I was more miserable than the days when my family was going hungry, but we were together. In reality I just ran out of option. But then I remember my karate instructor telling me that when I came to the place I was so tired that I could not go on, there was this man named Jesus who could give me 'a rest' the world could not. "Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'" (Matthew 11:28) What an amazing God! He has promised that when we get tired of carrying all of our heavy burdens, He is there waiting to give us rest. The promise is there! The desire to provide it is there! So, why are we who call ourselves Christians burdened daily? The answer to me is very simple: We do not surrender! We come to the throne of grace, we ask God to intervene and help us, and then we get up and take the burden with us. We do not surrender the burden and ask Him to take care of it. Surrendering means, most of all, coming to the realization that on our own we have gotten 'no where', and we cannot get there on our own. We come to the place where we have no choice but to come to our Christ-the one who died such a horrific death just for us-and ask Him to help us. But we must know that when we do this He does not need our help. My friend let us together come to the Throne of Grace and submit our will to Him who can 'do exceeding abundantly more than we ask or think!' Finally, keep in mind, this is not a one shot deal, surrendering is something we must do daily.
Love,
Jorge Valdes, Ph.D.
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