I never leave my home without a destination, a route for how I’ll get there, and a playlist or audiobook loaded up before I buckle my seatbelt.
I like to have a plan.
I like to know what’s going to happen and be able to prepare for every contingency.
I can be flexible with the plan, but I still want to have it.
As I navigate this trilogy ending and wonder what God has planned for me next, I am drawn back again and again to the call to surrender. Surrender my career, my next story, my time, and trust God with it all.
I’m reminded of this quote from The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis:
“[God] therefore wants [humans] to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. […] Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead. […] To be sure, [God] wants men to think of the Future too — just so much as is necessary for now planning the acts of justice or charity which will probably be their duty tomorrow. The duty of planning the morrow’s work is today’s duty.”
So I am working hard to enjoy the present, and only think about “what’s next” as far as what must be prepared for “tomorrow” work, which in this season, means doing what is needed to make sure The Revenge of Venus is ready for release by September 7, 2027.
In this past year alone I’ve had many dreams be born and then die off only to be made new as Jesus takes me through cycles of surrender. It’s like He is tilling up the soil of my soul, preparing for something new to spring forth.
With every prayer, asking Jesus to show me what to do next, I keep hearing the same gentle invitation—“Surrender a little more”—and I know just what He’s referring to.
Jesus may have the wheel but I still have a map. I’m still trying to predict the next turn and plot my way to the destination.
But He wants me to throw out the map. He made the road; He knows where He is going. I can find rest, peace, freedom in that, but I have to let go of control, of having a map, of knowing the full plan.
Jesus never gets lost. He always arrives just on time.
I’m learning still to enjoy the ride and let Him drive. To soak in the sunset, to feel the wind in my hair, to watch the cosmos dance.
“Surrender a little more, and just follow where I lead.”