“Sneaux” Much Freedom in Surrender

January 21, 2025- the date of a once-in-a-lifetime, historic snow event in a large part of the south, including the New Orleans area. NINE inches of “sneaux” (as we like to spell it in NOLA) at my house transformed what would have otherwise been a gloomy, rainy day into a winter wonderland. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe it! I’d been fortunate enough to have seen snow many times in the past, as my parents and I used to go snow skiing when I was in middle school and healthy, but I’ve never before seen my house and neighborhood blanketed like this. There was something so magical about seeing these familiar streets blanketed in such beauty. This might never happen again in my lifetime!

Work wise, it was certainly a less productive day for me. Don’t worry- I will catch up on the work, but I couldn’t help but stare out of the window mesmerized, watching the beautiful snow come down for hours. I was completely captivated by God’s majesty, and that’s more important than anything else I could’ve been doing. He wanted me to enjoy this gift and experience His magnificence through it. And enjoy it I did.

To give a little background, things have been pretty rough for me lately. I do my best to keep a smile on my face, but the muscular pain and vomiting have been horrible, and I’ve found myself upset quite often. I’m in a tough spot medically, and I’ve recently gotten challenging news that has been difficult to digest. The last few months have been intense to say the least. Thank God for the gift of redemptive suffering, as none of what I’m going through has to be wasted! Amen. Thank God also that the here-and-now isn’t it- we are created for more than this. We were created for eternal union with Him. Those truths help me to surrender and help me to keep a better perspective even when things are tough.

Today was a really beautiful day, though. The pain was really bad when I got up this morning, but my heart was filled with joy to see it snowing. I decided to go outside in the snow even though walking in snow makes the muscular pain worse. I was absolutely captivated by the beauty out there, so I ended up strolling around my neighborhood despite the increase in pain. My heart was on fire with JOY. I haven’t been on vacation in over 21 years due to this illness, but today it felt like I was elsewhere.

This is an unprecedented snow event for sure, but the thing that strikes me the most about today is how joyful I’ve been all day despite the current pain and the hard things going on in my life right now. This is totally a testament to God’s grace and how He’s been working on my heart and helping me to surrender. Many years ago I didn’t think it was possible for me to get to a place of experiencing this much joy in the midst of so much physical pain, yet here I am today, joyful, smiling and praising God for His invitation to surrender to Him. All the glory is His, and surrender was a huge key to arriving here. I’m seeing the interior fruits of surrender, and I see His majesty as much in my disposition of heart today as I do in the beautiful, historic winter wonderland of my neighborhood right now. The fact is that I couldn’t have made either of those things happen- I couldn’t make it snow, and I couldn’t get my heart there on my own. No way could I surrender without His grace. Granted, the surrender part did (and does!) require my choice and cooperation, but it’s certainly not me who got my heart to be able to experience such joy today- it’s all Him.

Surrender seems so painful and downright impossible at first, and it would be without God’s grace and help. But clinging onto control doesn’t work anyway, and that’s actually a recipe for misery. God is inviting us to surrender to Him in order to make our lives easier and more joy-filled. And it works! He wants good for us, and His goodness is greater than anything life dishes out in this fallen world.

Because of God’s invitation to surrender, my heart had the space and freedom to experience so much joy in His majesty today. As counterintuitive as it might seem, surrendering to God really does provide an interior freedom that nothing else does. My life isn’t going at all like planned, but God is brining good out of this mess, and spiritually there is a new definition of “everything will be alright.” Surrendering doesn’t mean throwing in the towel or giving up- I’m still actively pursuing health treatments and hope for physical healing. It means that my heart is no longer confined. I don’t need certain criteria (i.e. regaining my health) to be met in order for me to experience joy. If that doesn’t showcase God’s majesty, I don’t know what does! The glory is all His.

Thank you God for the gift of yourself- your majesty, might, power, and goodness. Thank you for providing ways when we don’t see any. Thank you for the beauty in this world. We praise you for your ability to bring good out of any trial. And thank you for always walking with us as we surrender to You.

Let it sneaux!

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