The Art of Surrendering: How to Embrace Freedom in Everyday Life

I bought a new car

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I unexpectedly bought a new car recently, even though I wasn't prepared to buy one.

On Thanksgiving day, when my children and I were leaving to visit our family and friends for the holiday, my old car refused to start.

I tried several times but to no avail. I took it as a sign that perhaps we were meant to spend the holiday together at home since this would have been our first Thanksgiving with just the three of us.

Luckily, I had already started preparing dinner at home, so I just had a little more to cook before we could eat. By the way, the dinner was fantastic!

The following day, I had to work at the spice shop, and unfortunately, I found myself in a frustrating position because I had to rely on my friends to pick me up for work.

Although my friends were understanding, it was challenging for me to rely on them while worrying about my car.

One evening, I had a mechanic come to my home to check my car, which ended up costing me $230. However, the car still wouldn't work and I wasted my money.

I was beyond stressed and irritated and all I could do was cry and be sad.

The next day, I had my car towed to Nissan, hoping that since I had just taken it there a few months prior, the repairs would be covered under the warranty.

In the meantime, I rented a car because I needed transportation to get my kids to school and go to work while waiting to hear back from Nissan.

One day, while driving the rental to work, I asked Spirit what I should do, and I heard Spirit say to surrender, and when I surrendered, to do it again and again.

This was tough, but I realized there was nothing else I could do. So, I stopped worrying about how costly it was to rent a car daily and trusted that God would guide me along the way.

News I wasn’t expecting

Unfortunately, after having my car for a few days, Nissan told me it would cost $7,000 to repair it. That was crazy, and on top of that, my car wasn't even worth that much.

I told them absolutely not and asked for time to figure something out.

Although my car was a 2013 Nissan Sentra, which I had paid off years ago, it was inevitable that things would start to happen. I get that.

Over the past year alone, I had put thousands of dollars into it, and I kept having more problems.

I needed a reliable car for myself and my kids, so I had to face the reality that it was time to get a new one.

While at work, a friend who had been trying to meet me for lunch texted me and wanted to meet up. We don't talk all the time, and she's been on my list to meet up with, but on this particular day, I told her I didn't have the emotional capacity.

I told her I was in the process of looking for a car and a job. She said she could help me with both, and I was surprised.

She connected me with a friend of hers who worked at a car dealership. I reached out to him, explained my situation, and he told me to come up there.

I was apprehensive because of my financial situation and credit, but he assured me that we could work something out based on everything I shared.

I went and met with the guy, provided all my income information, and explained why my credit had taken a hit due to my ex-husband and us being joint on a few things.

The guy walked away to talk to the finance department, came back, pulled up several SUVs on his screen, and asked me which one I wanted.

This was the best car-buying experience I ever had. It only took about 45 minutes in total, and I left with a brand-new car. You can listen more about this experience on my podcast.

What I want to express to you is that the reason things began to unfold in the way that they did was ONLY because I surrendered.

Had I continued to try to control everything and allowed myself to be stressed out, I don't believe everything would have happened the way it did?

Surrendering and allowing things to unfold isn't easy. But the more I am on my journey, the more I realize I don't have control anyway.

I learned something powerful about freedom.

It's not all butterflies and rainbows; there's also going to be some darkness along the way, and I now know that both the light and the dark are essential for my growth.

I want to leave you with this: Trust your process and surrender as often as you need to, because everything always works out for your good.

Let’s chat: What have you learned over the last year about yourself? Describe a moment when you had to surrender.

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Things Worth Sharing…

• I am currently listening to The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest

• The quote, “ The purpose of life is to live it” by Viola Davis is one of my mantras

• If you’re looking for a good chicken chili recipe, try this one

What I am Vibing To…

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Subscribe and listen to today's episode on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, and Amazon. Enjoy and share it with a friend!

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With love and light,

Siobhan