What God Wants to Tell You in the Surrender Novena

Denise Jelinek shares five lessons she has learned while praying the Surrender Novena.

Have you heard of the Surrender Novena?

Jesus revealed this nine-day prayer to Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo, who‌ was friends with Padre Pio.

When we pray the Surrender Novena, we ask God to help us turn our troubles over to Him so that we don’t worry or seek to solve them through human means alone.

Over six months ago, this novena came into my life, and I’ve hardly missed a day praying it since. Through this practice, the Lord has revealed the areas of my life where He wants me to surrender and where I’m gripping tightly and not trusting Him.

Each time I pray this novena, God gives me a lesson in surrender, and I want to share a few of those with you.

Worry causes confusion.

On the first day of the novena, the Lord asks, “Why do you confuse yourself by worrying?”

Did you know that the effect of worry is confusion? Isn’t it fascinating how the Lord reveals that the confusion we feel is because of our worry and that only when we surrender to Him can we gain the clarity we seek?

To get what we REALLY want, we must surrender.

On Day 1, Jesus also says, “every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.”

This reminds me that what I DO want is for things to turn out the way God wants them, which allows me to let go of the way I think things “should be.” It reminds me that I don’t know better than the Lord and He’s the one who really knows the deepest desires of my heart.

null

What surrender is NOT.

On Day 2, He says surrender doesn’t mean “to be upset or to lose hope” or to give him our worries, expecting Him to “change … worry to prayer.”

Instead, He tells us that surrender means to ask Him to take care of whatever is troubling us.

I love how our Lord says it is “deeply against” surrender “to worry and be nervous” and “to desire to think about the consequences of anything.”

If you are like me, NOT thinking of the "consequences of anything" is a new practice for my plan-ahead-stay-organized-think-through-the-options-be-prepared brain.

When I start to think about the consequences of something, it’s a cue to me that I'm not surrendering and that I’m trying to do life or tackle a difficult situation on my own.

Jesus is always preparing me.

On Day 5, Jesus says, “when I must lead you on a path different from the one you see, I will prepare you.” Now I know that when unexpected things happen, I can see God’s hand in it and how He had been preparing me for it.

To surrender, I must guard against agitation.

On Day 6, Jesus offers a sobering warning:

Oh, how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative.

Recognizing when I feel unsettled or agitated and returning to peace through surrender is a skill worth practicing so that I can stay in God’s will and receive His protection.

Click to tweet:
Each time I pray this novena, God gives me a lesson in surrender, and I want to share a few of those with you. #CatholicMom

As we practice this short but rich novena, the Lord reveals not only how He wants to have a relationship with us and take care of us, but also how we can live in His will during our time on Earth.

Learn how to add the Surrender Novena to your life.

null