Total Surrender

Total Surrender

Peace and joy to you dear Heartdwellers, this is Mother Elisabeth, and after prayers this morning I heard Blessed Mother Mary say very clearly and distinctly, "My Son needs your total surrender." I thought "yikes", Lord what do you want from me!" Here I am in the middle of nowhere, with no indoor plumbing, filthy dirty, dealing with mountain rats, having given up my business, sold all my property, gave away money, belongings, beautiful, new furniture, etc, etc. Left my daughter, and from the time she was born, we have been joined at the hips, we did everything together. Also, left my adorable, husky puppy who was the apple of my eye, to be obedient to You, Lord and pick up my cross and follow You.

Immediately, I caught myself from my pity party and from sliding into the pit I was digging, and told the devil, "I reject you Satan, get out of my head!" and asked Holy Spirit to control my thoughts. That is how quickly and easily the enemy can slip into our minds if we are not careful to continually keep our thoughts on Jesus, on holy things and on Heaven above. Just then, Philippians 4:6-7 popped into my head, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I felt a prompting to go to Heartdwellers.org website and pulled a Rhema and got.....are you ready for this, "Total surrender for us, the contemplative life means also a joyous and ardent response to His call to the most intimate union with Him by totally abandoning ourselves into His Hands, yielding totally to His every movement of love, giving Him supreme freedom over us to express His love as He pleases, with no thought of self, desiring with ardent desire all the pain and delight involved in that union. It also means: to be a willing prisoner of His love, a willing victim of His wounded love, a living holocaust, and even if He cuts us to pieces, to cry out, "Every piece is Yours."

I thought, "Oh Blessed Mother, you are good." How spot on that Rhema was to mine and many others present state of mind. Mother Mary continued, "My daughter, you are relying too much on your own wisdom and not enough on my Son's. You have not given Him your whole heart. You all still have earthly attachments that need to be abandoned. Practice forgetfulness of self and your earthly family ties and you will win the greatest treasure of all and that is the Heart of your King, your God.

"My dear children, let nothing hold you back from the total surrender of your heart to God's Will. This requires practice, sacrifice and daily devotion to prayer and meditation. When you entrust your heart, freedom, and entire self to my Son, you will open up a flood gate of blessings. When you commit yourselves to His service now, and not wait until you believe it is the right time or after you retire from your job, God will honor this commitment. God created you and your heart for Him alone and He should rule and reign in it.

"Scripture says in Proverbs 23:26, "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in My ways." Your Master did not say lend or borrow your heart, He said, "Give me your heart."

"My children the giving of all of your heart is key to becoming transformed into the image of my Son." And that was the end of Our Lady's message.

As I was pondering all that Blessed Mother had said, I remembered that yesterday I felt led to watch "The Hiding Place" based on the true story of Corrie ten Boom and her family. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it. The words from the Rhema "total surrender" states, we are to be "a living holocaust" and that is exactly what Corrie and her family became for the Lord. They gave it all up for the love of God by helping many Jews escape from the Nazis during the Holocaust in World War II. They also housed many Jewish people during the Nazi occupation of Holland. When a Jewish man, who was an informer for the Nazis, betrayed the ten Boom family, they were all rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Corrie's Father, Casper, at 84 years old, was given the opportunity to stay in his home, but he chose to do the Lord's will and go with the rest of his family. He died 10 days after the arrest. Betsie, Corrie's sister, was given several visions by the Lord of what was to come, and Corrie fulfilled all that the Lord foretold through her sister. Betsie would continually pray for their German captors and tormentors, and she and Corrie would hold Bible studies in their cramped living quarters because the guards did not want to come in there due to the infestation of lice and fleas.

Corrie ten Boom was released 12 days after Betsie had died, due to a clerical error on her paperwork. She was scheduled to be sent to the gas chamber one week after her release because of her age. Before Betsie died, she told Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still."

Revisiting Corrie's true story and how deep their love for God was and how they gave Him all, even when the ten Boom's were cut to pieces, it puts my trivial issues to shame. This family showed solidarity in Christ's love and was obedient to our Lord unto death. Corrie's ability to forgive her former tormentors was only accomplished, she said, through God's grace.

Heartdweller family, we must embrace this passionate and fervent love for our God into the depths of our hearts and souls, and to always do His Will, especially during these end times. Let us all be busy about His work. For we are stronger together through our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you dear ones.