Whether you know it or not, this March is National Nutrition Month!
So, here at Learning To Live, there’s gonna be content rolling out centered on–not physical nutrition, but rather–SPIRITUAL nutrition!
Let’s dive in!
For those of you who don’t know who Betty Stam is, she was a missionary to China right around the time the Communist Party began to take control of the country.
One of the things that Betty Stam is known for (besides being a missionary to China), is a prayer she wrote in her diary before she answered the call to China.
This is her prayer:
Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Thy will for my life. I give up myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me now and seal me with Thy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ. Amen.
-Betty Stam-
The Prayer’s Impact On Me
Several months ago, I was struggling with something that I sensed the Lord calling me to do.
Yet, I didn’t want to do it because it didn’t truly align with my desires, plans, and preferences.
As I struggled and grappled with this inner battle in my soul, I began to feel sickened and weakened by my wicked heart stubbornly focusing on what self wanted rather than what the Spirit of God was gently nudging me to surrender to.
It was the hardest, ugliest battle I ever faced with myself.
It reminds me of something Ellen White wrote:
The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle; but the soul must submit to God before it can be renewed in holiness.
(Steps To Christ pg. 43)
In the midst of the battle, the Lord then gave me something that encouraged me to gain the victory over what the old self wanted and humbly, trustfully yield to what He wanted.
And that something was Betty Stam’s prayer.
Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Thy will for my life. I give up myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me now and seal me with Thy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ. Amen.
-Betty Stam-
I read that prayer and tearfully claimed for myself and the situation I was struggling with.
After I fully surrendered to the Lord my hopes, purposes, and preferences, a peace that passed all understanding swept over my heart (Philippians 4;7).
The victory of Jesus had won at that moment.
What About You?
Are you also struggling too, dear reader?
Do you feel like God is calling you to surrender something, or to surrender to wherever His is guiding you to?
And yet…you sense your self is saying “No” and wanting to stubbornly resist?
Friend, I’ve personally experienced the peaceful, strengthening nutrition in my heart when I surrendered to God’s call.
And your heart will discover the same reality as well when you yield the weak, sick stubbornness in your soul to Him!
Would you like to surrender today?
If so, then I wanna encourage you to pray the same prayer that I prayed from the diary of Betty Stam:
Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Thy will for my life. I give up myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me now and seal me with Thy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ. Amen.
-Betty Stam-
Amen! Maranatha!