2010 September 30 » PWOC International Blog

Total Surrender

Sep 302010

Submitted by Yadira Call, West Region, VP

As I have prayed over what to share, one area of my life that the Lord brought to mind was Total Surrender. In John 15:4 I am reminded, when I remain in God then I am depending on Him. When I am surrendering to Christ then He becomes my constant source of strength as a Christian. There are two events in my life that I would like to share that have challenged me to daily surrender to Christ.

When in high school my father led a ministry for two years. This ministry caused my family’s life to be shaken to the core, causing physical and spiritual damage. During that time I couldn’t depend on my father, who was consumed with ministry, and my mom had fallen into a depression. I had youth pastors that loved and encouraged me in God’s Word. They helped me to trust God during those hard times. That was my first experience with surrendering to God my situation.

John 15:2 showed me that the pruning process hurts and can be difficult but necessary to grow as a Christian. I didn’t completely allow myself to surrender my hurts to God during that time. So, I tried to control my life and told God I would never serve as a leader in church because of what I had gone through. But God in His grace would bring me to a place of surrendering.

I was in college and studying to attend medical school and do medical missions. I thought I was doing God’s will for my life. Then I met my husband, a man who loves Lord and has been called by God to serve as a pastor! Despite the calling he had on his life, I had told God I would never be a leader in a church setting, EVER! Daniel challenged me to seek God and HIS direction for my life.

Over the next year God brought me to a different place of surrender. I began to see that I was living independently apart from God. John 15:5 showed me that when I choose not to surrender to God, I can do nothing. I wasn’t depending on God in any area of my life but rather depending on what I could control. God was letting me see the lack of surrender in my life for a second time.

I’m still learning to surrender daily to God. Despite my imperfections, God continues to pursue me and asks me to daily recognize that my life needs to be in total TRUST (of my circumstances), SURRENDER (my desire, will, agenda), and DEPENDENCY (my expectations) on Him.

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The West Region update is published on the fourth Thursday of each month. Submit comments or suggestions to westpresident@pwoc.org

Where is God Working

regional review

Sep 302010

Submitted by Leona Tatum, West Region President

Since becoming the West Region President, I see God constantly moving in our region. Early in my term I felt God moving me to look at the installations in which we currently had PWOC chapters and then to look and see where we were not.

As I began to do this God allowed me to see that there were still many installations that did not have PWOC chapters and in some cases when I would call to inquire, I was surprised when I would hear someone say that they had never heard of PWOC. I have to tell you in the beginning it was very overwhelming as I was trying to understand what God was doing.

Now, I have to say that my plan was to contact everyone and then start sending out information packets because I wanted others to know and experience the love that can be found when “Daughters of God” come together to worship, study, pray and cry. Yet, over the last few months I noticed that this has slowed down in a lot of ways. Times that I wanted to work on this I found myself having to do other things; and would not be able to move towards this goal, yet I knew that God was in the midst of this work. A wonderful thing that started happening during this time was that God divinely positioned women in some of the places in With every location God showed me , I thought it meant I needed to pursue it. However, then God would send someone to me that would be moving to that location.

I have to say that while there are many more locations to inquire about, I have learned in this season that when we allow God to show us where He is working, it doesn’t always mean that He needs us to DO anything. He just wants us to know that He is moving in His time and in His way. So, if you, like I, started this journey thinking of all the things you needed or wanted to get done, and felt that things were moving slow, please be encouraged. Know that God is working at His pace and in His way. He sometimes just wants to remind us that all we have to do is to be available to His leading.

The theme that God gave me for the West is Women Positioned for Prayer and I can truly see that as we pray God is adding not just installations but to those who love Him. God is truly raising up women that will “Shine In the Light of His Glory”.

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The West region update is published on the fourth Thursday of every month. Submit comments or suggestions to: WestPresident@pwoc.org