What would you do if you saw Jesus today?

My daughter and I were out on a walk one morning this week with our puppy.  She turns to me and asks me this question: "Mom, what would you do if you saw Jesus today? Like say, He was just around the corner and you met Him?"  She always asks the most poignant questions, the ones that have me digging deep.  This one took me by surprise and caused tears to prick my eyes. So I said to her: "I would fall on my knees before Him."  The answer surprised her and she wanted to know why.   "He's Holy."  I answer.  "And the more I surrender to Him the more I see His holiness."   We chat some more, she tells me she would hug Him, and she calls Him her friend.  I love that she loves the one who called her into being.  And I love that she thinks of Him as friend.  And I know in that moment, she watches.  She sees how I walk my faith out and what I say needs to line up with what I do.  

It's IN and THROUGH all the moments of surrender that bring me closer to His Majesty.  There are times when circumstances teach us we really are not in control of anything but our own response.  You know the ones I mean.  These past few months I have faced a number of them: death of a loved one, a health diagnosis, the loss of a beloved family pet, emergency surgery of a spouse, insomnia - it's been a rough ride these past few months.  I am learning to surrender more and more.  It's not the first thing I think to do, it doesn't come naturally.  It takes action to surrender it to His care, this action produces a peace that is firmly implanted deep in my soul. Then I see it - I see Him in all His holiness and majesty.  By His wounds I am healed and in my brokenness before Him I know how big He truly is.  When I embrace the surrender I can lean into the promises of His word.  The passage that is in my heart in the morning and provides rest for my soul at night right now is  Romans 8:37 - 39: "37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.".  

Jesus surrendered it all at the cross.  When the sky darkened, when the ground shook, when the veil was torn in two - He surrendered to the will of His Father.  It was finished.  It was hard, oh so difficult but He surrendered.  He didn't allow Satan the distinct pleasure of a foothold.  Each day is about surrender, it's about allowing Him to invade and it's about resisting the temptation to allow Satan a foothold.  The surrender needs to be found in ALL areas of my life, my children, my marriage, my church, and deep in my soul when I choose His will over mine.

I explain this to my daughter, who is at the tender age of 13.  Her faith will be tested, there will be times of trouble but Jesus has made us conquerors.  The more I live the more I need Him and the more I need to surrender and when I do, I just want to fall on my knees before Him - in awe of how Holy He is.   She gives me that smile of hers, the one I love best after a moving conversation.

I've been singing it in my head since then:  I surrender ALL, ALL to Jesus, I surrender......  I love how God speaks to me through these children of mine.