🌿 Nothing Held Back

Yielding is like putting every garment—stains and all—into the wash, trusting the process to do what we cannot.

📚 Devotional Credit: His Victorious Indwelling, edited by Nick Harrison. Original writings by Ruth Paxson and Charles Cowman.
📸 Photo Credit: Unsplash

Ruth Paxson’s reflection presses gently but firmly into the deeper meaning of surrender. Yielding isn’t confined to one moment in the past—it extends across the entire landscape of our lives: spirit, soul, and body; past, present, and future. Many find it easier to entrust the past to the Lord—what’s done is done, and perhaps regret softens the hand to release it. But yielding the present—our ongoing patterns, attachments, and small hidden reservations—can be much harder. And the future? That often feels like too big of a risk to place entirely in someone else’s hands, even God’s.

Yet Paxson reminds us that grace abounds across the timeline of our lives. God welcomes not only the once-lost sinner but also the returning saint who has stumbled again and again. When we come to Him, no matter how many yesterdays we regret or how many tomorrows we fear, He never turns us away. The cleansing power of Christ’s blood never weakens with repeated use. The invitation to yield is not only to those with noble intentions but to the fearful, the hesitant, and the worn-down.

The story of the woman fretting over a future surgery captures it so well. She could trust God with July but was bracing herself against September. Her joy in the present was dimmed by anxiety about what lay ahead. We’ve all been there. Paxson doesn’t scold her—she simply points to the rest available when we yield even the future. God doesn’t merely ask for our devotion—He invites us to rest in His.

Charles Cowman’s closing thought echoes like a seal on the lesson: “I have committed myself and my all into God’s hands, and He has accepted the offering.” That’s the quiet joy of a fully yielded life—not striving to offer perfection, but simply offering oneself, and trusting that God has already said yes.

📓 Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

Beloved, when you come to Me, I never turn you away. I don’t wait for perfection—I wait for trust. You are already Mine, fully accepted in the Beloved. You don’t need to portion out your heart in pieces or test Me with trial offers of obedience. Come with your past, your now, and your not-yet.

You have nothing to fear in handing Me your future. I go before you and hedge you behind. Your September is no mystery to Me—I dwell outside time and yet walk every step with you inside it. When anxiety clouds your joy, let it serve as a signal: it is time to yield again, not as defeat, but as delight.

Even if you’ve stumbled in the same place a thousand times, My grace is not tired of meeting you there. The cleansing power of Christ has never diminished—it is always enough, always fresh, always full. Yielding is not giving up—it is entering in. Come fully. I have already received you.

Scripture References: John 6:37; Romans 6:13; Romans 5:20–21; Colossians 3:3–4; Hebrews 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; Philippians 1:6; Psalm 139:5; Isaiah 26:3; 1 John 1:7–9; Galatians 2:20

🧺 Real-Life Analogy

Imagine placing clothes in a washing machine, but keeping one shirt back because you're not sure it will come clean. You can’t fully rest in the process if something is still in your hands. You hover, wonder, worry. But when everything goes in—stains and all—you close the lid and walk away in trust.

So it is with yielding. Whether it’s our timeline, our self-image, or our plans—we rest only when we release. If you’re heading into a hard conversation this week or facing an unknown medical decision, instead of rehearsing the fears, pause and yield that moment. Say from your spirit, “Lord, I entrust this part of my life to You, knowing You already dwell within me to face it.” Whether at a traffic light, a phone call, or while brushing your teeth—every moment is a fresh occasion for quiet surrender.

🙏 Prayer of Confidence

Father, thank You for receiving me completely. I rest in the finished work of Christ and the fullness of Your welcome. You hold every part of my life—my past regrets, my present responsibilities, and my future uncertainties. Nothing is too stained to be cleansed, and nothing is too tangled to be surrendered. I rejoice that You are already present in what lies ahead, and I walk forward today with open hands, confident that You are faithful and true.