The Surrender Prayer

Prayer, simply put, is conversation with God. When I first started dating Andrea (my wife now), she narrated a simple prayer to me. At first, I scoffed at it. I ignored it. However, the prayer she had narrated to me kept echoing in my head every day since then. It was nagging me! Was it because the prayer was too simple, or was it because I was too proud to accept this particular prayer? In hindsight, I think it was a combination of the two.

Today, both of us say this prayer before we start our day. We say it when there is a tricky moment that confronts us. We say it when others ask us to pray for them or even when they don’t :). We say it before we retire for the night (more as a thanksgiving prayer). Andrea calls it ‘The Surrender Prayer’. It’s a simple prayer. It does not take more than 5 minutes every day. And the beauty is that it can be said by anybody, from any religious background who believes in God. The framework of the prayer is as follows:

Dear Lord,
I / We ACCEPT…..,
I / We FORGIVE completely…..,
I / We SURRENDER….,
I / We are in deep GRATITUDE….and
May each word that I / we speak be the words that YOU WANT ME/US TO SPEAK.

That’s it. That’s the framework of The Surrender Prayer. This is our daily prayer. It’s not a Christian prayer, a Hindu prayer or a Muslim prayer. It’s a universal prayer. It is your personal conversation with God.

So as an example, just to demonstrate what your prayer can be, it could be as follows…

Dear Lord, My Maker, O Universe….

I ACCEPT your plan for me today. I am off to work and there are some challenging assignments that I have to deal with; some important deadlines to be met. Help me to meet those deadlines. At the end of the day, even if I don’t meet the deadlines, I will not be disappointed as I know that there are no negatives ever in your plan for me and that you will help me to come back stronger tomorrow.

I FORGIVE completely all those who have hurt me…I FORGIVE the doctor who prescribed the wrong medicines for my condition…. I FORGIVE my abusive and drunken spouse…Bless me and give me the strength to stay focused and get on with life because I know that you will grant each of them the wisdom to realize their wrong doings.

I SURRENDER the pain in my lower back to you. It does not allow me to function properly at times. However, I know that you will take care of the pain for me. I also SURRENDER my anxieties, sorrows, fears and financial problems to you because I know that you will take care of them and guide me through each of these challenging moments.

I am in deep GRATITUDE for everything dear Lord! Firstly, for giving me another day to live, to breathe the air, to stretch my arms, to look out of the window and see the trees and the sky, to listen to the birds, to smell the earth, to walk and talk. Between yesterday and today, in the space of a few hours, many thousands didn’t get the same opportunity to see another day. But you gave me the chance to experience your everlasting miracle called life for another day. I humbly thank you and am in deep GRATITUDE to you.

And, as I go about my day today, let every word that leaves my mouth be the words that YOU WANT ME TO SPEAK. Help me, through the words that I speak, to heal, not hurt. And in case I do hurt somebody with my words, please grant me your wisdom to rectify the hurt caused to that person.

This prayer, my dear friends, has completely changed our life. We ACCEPT his plan for us everyday. Honestly, we don’t have a choice but to ACCEPT, knowing fully well that HE will take care of it in HIS time as per HIS unique plan for each of us individually and for both of us collectively. When somebody has knowingly or unknowingly hurt us, we FORGIVE them completely in our conversation with the Lord. The Lord forgives us, everyday and every time we err. So why shouldn’t we? Experience the power of forgiveness for yourselves. We might not be able to do that ‘in person’ straightaway, but by forgiving them in your conversation with God, you get it ‘out of your system’ and prepare yourself for the moment when you will one day truly forgive that person. And who are we to sit in judgment anyway? Honestly, however brilliant, intelligent, competent or worldly wise we might think we are, only the Lord can judge perfectly. When there is stress, pain or confusion in our life, it disappears immediately because we SURRENDER our stress and pain to the Lord. Who better to SURRENDER to? Who better to help us overcome, than the Lord? And when something momentous and positive happens to us, which leaves us completely ecstatic, we celebrate and ‘go over the moon’ with our feet firmly planted on the ground by telling the Lord that we are in deep GRATITUDE to him for creating that magic for us.

The Surrender Prayer has helped us grow as individuals and as a couple. It has brought us closer to each other and to God. It has happened because we keep God at the centre of everything that we do.It’s been the biggest positive of my life thus far and will continue to be the biggest positive everyday. And, here I must thank Andrea for teaching me the same; rather must thank the Lord, who through Andrea, has taught me this prayer.If you want to experience the magic of ‘surrendering’ in your life, start by saying this prayer. Say it in your own words and in your own language. I’m sure quite a few of you are already doing it. If that ‘miracle’ that you are waiting for does not occur in your life, tell me about it and we’ll talk about it a little more. But at the same time, if that miracle does happen, tell the whole world about it :)
Please feel free to share this prayer with anyone you wish to. Also, please feel free to write in with any questions or feedback to ivanrodrigues777@yahoo.com

God bless.

Ivan Rodrigues