Don’t scroll away on this one… this took me a few long days, a lot of thinking, and even more prayer to write. This one… this one hit me.

Surrender and submission. Two movements… but one life fully yielded.

I was sitting the other day, talking to a friend, and somewhere in that conversation I felt prompted to ask myself… what actually is the difference between surrender and submission?

It felt like such an obvious question. One of those things we say so often as Christians that we almost stop thinking about it.

But when I really sat with it… I had to pause. I had to bow my head a little and quietly say, Lord… forgive me.

Because if I’m honest… I don’t struggle with surrender as much as I struggle with submission. Surrender… I can do.

That moment. That prayer. That place where I say, God is in control. Where I let go… at least in words, at least in intention.

But staying there? Keeping that posture? That’s where I feel the tension. Do you feel that too?

I’ve had those moments… where something inside me shifts. Where the grip loosens.
Where control starts slipping.
Where my heart whispers what my lips are almost too afraid to say: “God… I give this to You.”

That moment is surrender.

And it is sacred. It’s definitely the first move. It’s the moment you stop striving. The moment you release what you’ve been trying to carry, fix, protect, or control. It’s deeply personal. Quiet. Sometimes tearful. It’s where you finally admit: I can’t do this on my own.

“Lord, I let go.”
“Lord, I can’t carry this anymore.”
“Lord… Your will, not mine.”

We see it so clearly in Jesus in The Gospel of Luke 22:42:

“Not my will, but Yours be done.”

In that moment, Jesus opens His hand. He releases His will into the Father’s. That is surrender.

But here is what I didn’t fully understand before…

Surrender, as powerful as it is… is not the full story. Because surrender is a moment.

And moments, even the most sacred ones, do pass. If I’m honest, I’ve opened my hands in prayer… and then slowly closed them again in fear.

I’ve surrendered things at night… and picked them right back up the next morning. I’ve said, “God, I trust You”… and then quietly tried to manage the outcome again when things didn’t move the way I hoped.

This is not because I don’t love Him… or because I don’t believe He has me. But because surrender, on its own, doesn’t yet establish a posture, so that’s where submission comes in.

Submission… is keeping the hand open. It’s not a moment.
It’s a decision you make… and then keep making. Submission is that quiet, steady place where you say:

“I have already given this to You… and I’m not taking it back.”

Yeah it’s incredible uncomfortable. Especially when nothing changes immediately. Everything in you wants to grab control again.

Scripture says in James 4:7:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God.” And I’m starting to realise… that’s not a once-off instruction. That’s a lifestyle.

Submission is choosing, daily: not to take it back, not to override His timing
not to rewrite His way. It’s the discipline of staying surrendered.

Like the example of Jesus… The prayer was surrender.
But the cross… that was submission.

Because it’s one thing to say, “God, I give this to You.” It’s another thing to actually live like I have. So to me, the real struggle isn’t surrender. It’s staying surrendered.

Because life doesn’t always shift immediately. Sometimes the waiting stretches. Sometimes the silence lingers.
Sometimes the emotions come back stronger than before.

And my hands want to close again… they mostly do and I spent many days in ‘wandering’ before I see. And when I see it’s almost always a ‘Lord forgive me’ moment.

Because submission isn’t emotional. It’s intentional.

Like I should just already say: Even now… I will trust You.
Even here… I will stay yielded.
Even without answers… I won’t take this back.

Submission, I’m learning, is trust… that refuses to grab control again. It’s not weakness. It’s actually strength under authority.

It’s choosing to remain open-handed, even when life feels uncertain. It’s saying:

God, I trust Your order more than my urgency. I trust Your wisdom more than my understanding. I trust Your timing more than my need for answers. Like it says in 1 Peter 5:6:

“Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand…”

Submission is not about being overpowered. It’s about choosing to stay under His covering.

And maybe this is the simplest way I can say it now, after sitting with it for days: Surrender gives it to God.
Submission leaves it with Him.

Surrender opens the hand.
Submission keeps it open.

So maybe the question today isn’t only: What do I need to surrender?

Because sometimes we think we are waiting on God… while God is waiting on us
to remain in the place we already laid things down.

And there is something so deeply peaceful… about finally staying there. Just… trusting.
And maybe… just maybe… that is where real peace begins.

Love

V.L.