During Advent, one of my favorite online stores had a big sale and I knew there was one piece of art my home needed right now. A digital download print I had my eyes for some time that read, Let God Surprise You.
Over the last few years, I’ve asked Jesus to come surprise me in all the different areas of my life: my creative pursuits and passions, my job, friendships, dating and especially in my vocation. It is almost as if asking Jesus to come surprise me is a way of more deeply surrendering my will to his.
For me, praying this way helps me get out of Jesus’ way and grow in trust for all that he has for more life.
What does it look like to let God surprise us in 2021, especially in dating and being single?
On some level, I think it might look a bit different for each of us. However, here are some practical ways of what it can look like, as well as what that has looked like in my own life.
The Prayer of Abandonment
The first time I came across this prayer was after I completed the Spiritual Exercises for the first time. My priest friend who led me on retreat thought this might be a helpful prayer practice to add to help me “get (and stay!) out of Jesus’ way,” as he described it. Apparently, he knew my stubborn nature too well!
Over the last few years, this has become one of the prayers I say in my car as I drive my ten minute commute to the parish I work at. Whenever I pray this prayer, I imagine myself coming before God the Father as a little girl. I crawl up into his lap and dump everything on my mind and in my heart onto him.
It reminds me how much I need to let go of in my life and give to God. I need those reminders about how little control I have over my life circumstances and what not. When I abandon myself more fully to Jesus, I give him access to move more deeply in my life.
Ask Jesus to increase your trust
This is a simple, yet perhaps easily overlooked little prayer or disposition of the heart. Make a habit of asking Jesus to come increase your trust in him.
Ask Jesus in what areas you need to trust him more deeply. Are there certain areas of your life or in your heart you need deeper trust? Ask Jesus, tell him about it. This is a prayer he will always answer because it is a good prayer for us. Jesus desires that we trust him more, so when we ask for it, he wishes to fill us with more trust to him.
The Litany of Trust
Written by a Sister of Life, this prayer was shared with me by a close friend. The repetitive utterances of both “deliver me Jesus” and “Jesus, I trust in you” are such a comfort when life feels difficult, scary, or overwhelming.
I have found in my own life, it can be most difficult to trust Jesus when it feels like life circumstances are outside of our control. This includes things like dating, relationships, and marriage. We can only do our part of showing up and putting ourselves out there. However, at the end of the day, there is much in those scenarios that is outside of our control.
This litany reminds me that I am always seen and known by Jesus, even if I do not always feel that way.
We believe that our God is a God of surprises. This truth is constantly revealed to us through the story of Sacred Scripture.
Where has God surprised you before in your life? Where do you need him to come surprise you as we begin this new year in 2021?
