Surrender: What we miss when we don't?

I wonder what God is asking us to surrender to this year - or even just in this week. So many times we fear that if we surrender, God will rob us of the thrill and joy of life. I am convinced this is one of Satan's best lies, he prompts you to stay put by saying, "You will lose out if you give God control, be faithful in other ways, you don't have to yield everything over to him."

And there you have it, a great deception, that when followed, strips us of the exact thing we assume it will allow us to possess: JOY. Let's face it, possibly one of the most feared or ignored verses
in scripture is Romans 12:1, with this reminder, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." I'm reassured a little bit that we are prompted to be a "living" sacrifice for our Lord, at least He doesn't want a :dead sacrifice; but it is scary none the less, right?

I am convinced in my own life experience, and in seeing many others live this out that though some temporal "happiness" is sometimes experienced in our own way; a far greater and God-given "joy" sets in when we are living out this life-sacrifice. And guess what, the kicker is that the life-sacrifice is the one used by God to influence people forever.

Why not tap into eternity with our life-efforts?
 

Why settle for less?
 

Why do we want to maintain control with the hopes of being "happy"

today when we can give God control and experience "joy" for eternity?  
 

Why do we allow all of life around us to influence us negatively instead

of asking God to use us to influence all of life around us for eternity?

You have to check this story out, an amazing testimony of some awesome people who took God seriously, embraced His promises and surrendered to His plan. They are experiencing heavens pre-party in the oddest of places, all because they surrendered. Kind of makes you wonder what we miss out on when we don't, huh?

Check it out!
http://usa.ntm.org/mission-news/52402/the-village-that-god-remembered