Garage sale was a huge success.  It's done.  Over.  Hallelujah!!   Never again.  That is a fact.  I feel like I have lost ten pounds due to stress over it.  I'll weigh tomorrow and see if I actually did!!!

Sunday, I asked the question, "What is authority?"  Then, "Who has it?"  They got the first question right and finally came up with the right answer to the second one:  "Only those to whom you grant it."  Authority is always granted from the bottom up.  Never from the top down.  Nobody has authority over you unless you personally grant it.

Yes, in many cases refusal to grant authority can cause serious repercussions, even pain.  But it can't make you comply.  You have to decide to do that on your own.

And that is at the heart of the Christian experience.  Christ bids you, "Come and die."  Die to your own will.  Come under His authority.  Make a decision that His will is your will.

I remember when I made a decision to put Christ in authority over my life.  Over seventy years ago.  They were singing the hymn, "I Surrender All."  I didn't have much to surrender at the time, I just remember that that was what I wanted to do. I walked to the front of the church and surrendered.

Later, when I was twenty-three, I realized that I was a sinner.  I confessed that to God and asked His forgiveness.  You would think I would have recognized that fact sooner, but I didn't.  I was one of those kids who always obeyed.  I always tried to do the right thing.

Then when I was twenty-six, I trusted Him.  I didn't know that I had never trusted Him.  Duh.  But I didn't.  I hadn't. I had given my life to Him, but not the lives of my children or my husband.  Where they were concerned, I was always trying to make a "deal" with God concerning their safety.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," is what Paul said.  You are on a journey for life.  And at the end of your journey, that's what you get.  Eternal life.  Surrender, confess, trust.