Test Time: Lessons in Surrendering the “Small Stuff”
Who would have thought that a short appointment at the DMV would lead to a week full of frustration—and ultimately a lesson in surrender?
I entered our local driver license examiners office that Monday morning along with my seventeen-year-old son, who was finally ready to get his driver’s license. He had spent the last six months practicing, making great leaps in both his confidence and skills. I knew he could do this.
I also needed him to do this. Our family was on the cusp of several changes that made it crucial for my son to have the ability to drive himself. Plus, I was looking forward to a new season of freedom.
When the examiner announced, “You did not pass,” I felt my heart sink.
My son tends to get test anxiety, which was exacerbated by driving with someone he had just met for the first time. After that initial setback, we went over areas for improvement and how he could calm his nerves. The next day, we went in for him to try again—no go. The same thing happened on the third attempt.
Everything was set for him to take the test one more time the following day, but I had a pessimistic attitude. What if he fails again? How are we going to make our new schedules work? Am I going to be the chauffeur forever? I felt my hopes and plans begin to dissipate.
Yet in my agitated spirit, another question rose to the surface: have I surrendered this situation to God?
An Ongoing Process
In the secular world, the word surrender is generally used in terms of military battles or turning something over to government control. Merriam-Webster includes two simplified definitions for the word: 1) to give over to the power, control, or possession of another especially by force, and 2) to give oneself over to something.1
In Christianity, surrender means that we give power, control, and possession of our entire life to Jesus, though it has nothing to do with force. Jesus invites us to follow Him, and when we accept that invitation, we willingly secede control. In Romans 10:9, Paul describes how to be saved: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” By saying that Jesus is Lord, we acknowledge He has authority over this world and over our lives, and we choose to submit to His will.
But as anyone who’s been a Christ follower for more than a day knows, surrender is an ongoing process. Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself,take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Notice the word daily. Surrendering isn’t a one and done event for a Christian. It’s a laying down of our our wants, our desires, our rights—each day, hour, minute, and second—to follow Jesus.
The Example of Abraham
One of the most famous examples of surrender in the Bible is that of Abraham in Genesis 22. When God called out to Abraham, he responded, “Here I am.”
But then God asked him to sacrifice Isaac—the son Abraham and Sarah had waited years for. How would Abraham respond?
We don’t get to see what Abraham was thinking and feeling, but Scripture tells us that “Abraham got up early in the morning” to go do what God had instructed him to do (Gen. 22:3). Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, then tied up Isaac and placed him on the altar. With knife in hand, he was ready to do the unthinkable, trusting that God was somehow going to make things alright in the end (Heb. 11:17–19). And when the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham, he was listening yet again: “Here I am.”
This is the story proclaimed from pulpits and recited in Sunday school rooms to show us what it’s like to surrender someone or something we love to the Lord. We hold up Abraham as this amazing man of faith, willing to put God first in his heart and life. And he was.
Yet when we turn back the pages, we see this wasn’t the only time Abraham chose to surrender to God. Scripture includes other examples where Abraham had to trust where God was leading him.
In Genesis 11:27–12:4, Abraham (called Abram at the time) surrendered his home, his country of origin, his culture, and his extended family. Later, he surrendered the choice of land to his nephew, Lot (13:8–12).
Abraham surrendered the spoils of victory after winning a major battle against several powerful kings, giving one-tenth to Melchizedek and refusing to keep the rest (14:17–24). He surrendered his physical body when he followed God’s instructions to be circumcised (17:23–27). He surrendered Ishmael, his son with Hagar, trusting that God would do as He promised and provide an heir through Sarah. And he surrendered his time and possessions to practice hospitality to the three strangers the Lord sent his way in Genesis 18.
All of these “smaller” instances of surrender were preparing Abraham for that big moment in Genesis 22. Would he be willing to give back to God his son, his only son whom he loved? The miracle baby who was the fulfillment of God’s promise? Would he continue to put his trust in God?
Abraham’s answer: “Here I am.”
Surrendering the Small Things
When I think back over my life, I can clearly pinpoint areas of “big” surrender. The night at age nineteen when I surrendered my life to Jesus. When I accepted that I might not get married. When my heart longed for a child, but month after month my womb was empty. When my mom was dying of brain cancer. When my son was diagnosed with ADHD, then autism, then FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder).
Each of these moments required me to stop holding on to control, to my hopes and plans, and sometimes to my love for someone else. I had to make room for God to work out His perfect plan.
Yet what about all the small moments of surrender? These are just as important, even though they don’t register as large in my memories. Letting go of my schedule, my to-do list, my hope for the day. They might seem a blip on the timeline of life, but when you stack each choice to say yes to God and no to self on top of one another, they add up to a heart that’s willing to say, “Here I am,” no matter the Lord’s request.
Often we find ourselves holding on so tightly to one thing that we develop tunnel vision, the inability to see the big picture—God’s picture. Our death grip on whatever we want ends up choking the life out of us. It’s in the letting go—the surrender of that situation, person, or desire to the Lord—that we find peace, we find freedom, and we find life.
When we can finally say as Mary, “let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV), we can experience the plan God has for us—something we miss if we choose not to surrender to Him. And as we continually choose to surrender in the small, everyday parts of life, God prepares our hearts to say, “Yes, Lord,” when something bigger comes our way.
Not My Will
In the larger scheme of things, that week of DMV visits falls in the “smaller” category. Yet this small thing taught me big lessons. Yes, I thought a driver’s license for my son was necessary, and I had my own plans. But what was really needed was for me to surrender those plans to the Lord and not cling to my own will.
Several times that week, I physically held my hands up in the air and said, “Here, Lord. Take my son, his life, his future. Take my own plans and desires. None of it belongs to me; it’s all Yours.” I had to be willing to say, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours be done.”
“Lord, I surrender my hopes and plans.”
Not my will.
“I accept that the freedom I desired for both myself and my son might not be what’s best right now.”
Not my will.
“Maybe my son needs more time.”
Not my will.
“Maybe it’s better that I drive him to his job and classes.”
Not my will.
“Maybe You’re trying to teach him (and me!) more patience and You have a reason for wanting me to spend more time in the car.”
Not my will.
“Lord, I’m willing to give up what I thought was needed and am ready to accept Your plan for us.”
Your will be done.
And after four days of emotional ups and downs and coming to the place where I was ready to be the driver for a while longer, my son passed his test. While it was the same outcome I had wanted at the beginning of the week, by its end, my heart was in a completely different place.
Be a 100 Percenter
Surrender is not a partial process. God wants us to give Him our entire life—driving tests and all. We must be a 100 percenter, like Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says—devoting 100 percent of our life to Jesus Christ. Nothing held back. Everything given to Him.
Since the DMV incident, I’ve had countless more opportunities to surrender. Even while writing this post, something happened to make my heart unsettled. In the midst of asking God how to move forward, I realized I hadn’t surrendered the situation to Him. I had to literally stop in the middle of writing to ask His forgiveness and once again put my plans and desires on the altar and say, “Lord, this belongs to You.”
As you consider the need to surrender in your own life, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Do I make decisions quickly (even small ones), or do I take time to stop and ask God what He wants me to do?
- Do I turn the situation over and over in my mind, fretting about what may or may not happen, or am I able to leave the result in God’s hands and have a peaceful spirit?
- When I think about the future, am I at peace no matter how things turn out, or will I only be happy with a certain outcome?
- Am I willing to be a 100 percenter, devoting every area of my life to God, or am I holding something back?
What is God asking you to let go of today? May you and I strive to cultivate the habit of surrendering to Him in the smaller parts of life that pop up each day so that when the “Isaac moments” happen, we are ready to respond, “Here I am.”
1 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Kid’s Definition: surrender,” accessed April 14, 2025, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surrender.
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