EP 31: Surrender Leads to Freedom
What if the freedom you’re desperately seeking only comes through surrender?
Bestselling author and trauma survivor Mary DeMuth returns to The Holy Shift Show to explore one of faith’s most challenging paradoxes: we can’t control our way to peace—we have to learn to let go.
Mary shares her personal journey of healing from complex trauma, the slow work of God in restoring her relationship with her mother, and why surrender isn’t defeat or resignation, but the pathway to seeing God at work in our lives. Mary and Christine dig into the specific areas where surrender feels impossible—our inner lives, our pasts, our relationships, our daily worries, and those particular outcomes we’re gripping so tightly.
If you’re struggling with cynicism, exhausted from trying to control everything, or frustrated by how long it takes to heal, this episode offers both validation and gentle encouragement. Mary reminds us of the upside-down kingdom truths that sometimes God takes a long time to do something suddenly, and freedom comes only through surrender.
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EP 31 Special Guest
Mary DeMuth
Mary DeMuth has written over fifty books, including The Most Overwhelmed Women of the Bible, 90-Day Bible Reading Challenge, and her newest release, The Freedom of Surrender. Through her podcast Pray Every Day and her speaking events around the globe, Mary seeks to help people heal from past trauma and live re-storied lives as followers of Jesus.
NOTE: Featuring a guest, resource, or organization on The Holy Shift does not necessarily constitute a blanket endorsement of their entire body of work.
The Holy Shift Resources
Related Resources & Inspiration
On the Blog
Surrendering Your Healing Journey | Art & Devotional by Mary DeMuth
To surrender the healing journey is to let go of the expectations for how the pathway will look. It means looking realistically at what happened back then, then giving God permission to do something new.
Surrendering Impatience — Parenting a Wayward Child | Article by Mary DeMuth
What if our act of patience, fueled by the Spirit within us, was not merely so we could endure our adult children’s choices, but for our betterment? What if this is not about our kids at all, but about our relationship with God?
Surrendering that Particular Outcome | Art & Devotional by Mary DeMuth
With anxiety reigning, it’s no wonder we believe if that one conundrum was solved, our lives would sing. And yet, our minds naively hang our hopes on an outcome, and we forget that God is working in and through every circumstance, even when things don’t go the way we wanted or planned.
Scripture
Mark 9:24I believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!
Luke 22:42"Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." -Jesus, praying on the Mount of Olives
Philippians 2:5-85 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Galatians 2:20My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
John 12:24-2524 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
Quotes
Surrender is: I surrender, help my unsurrender. — Mary DeMuth
Sometimes it takes God a long time to do something suddenly. — Miss Joan
I think we worship the idol of control, and surrender is the opposite of that. — Mary DeMuth
What if surrender isn’t resignation? What if it’s just acceptance? — Christine Crawford
Surrender is just letting go and saying, “Lord, I think I know how to handle this. Forgive me for thinking you don’t know stuff—’cause you breathed the world into existence with words.” — Mary DeMuth
Music
Other Resources
DWELL Bible App & Prayer App
Longing for God’s Word in your life? Discover the Power of Listening to the Bible.
Hallow Prayer & Meditation App
Discover new ways to grow closer to God alongside millions of other Christians worldwide.
Biblehub: Search, Read & Study
Online Bible Study Suite. Topical, Greek, and Hebrew study tools. Concordances, commentaries, sermons, and devotionals.
Abide Christian Meditation App
Christian Meditation Made Easy
Sleep better and stress less.
Lectio 365 Prayer & Meditation App
Free daily prayer app with morning, midday & night devotionals to help you experience God’s presence in your life.