Peace Through Surrender
It wasn’t the day I was diagnosed with cancer.
It was a day where nothing feels right, where the weight of life presses down on you.
I looked up at the Lord and whispered, “I need Your help.” I didn’t even know what I needed, just that I couldn’t carry the weight alone.
Instinctively, I turned to the Laudate app, scrolling through the prayers, looking for something… anything.
I started praying it, but it was hard. I wasn’t ready for this kind of surrender. I had to ease into it. I had to remind myself that God had my best interests at heart, even when I couldn’t see it.
That took surrendering to a whole new level.
I never received an official prognosis, no expiration date stamped on my life. I had to live one day at a time, trusting God for each moment.
Prayer didn’t change my circumstances. Prayer changed me.
I’d always been someone who planned ahead, who wanted to know what came next. But with cancer, I found a quiet space with God in the present, a place to ask Him what He wanted for my life.
The Surrender Novena stripped away my pride, my illusions of control, and left me with only one option—to trust.
I clung to the words of Day Five: “If I take you on a different path… trust me.”
Surrender doesn’t mean you give up. It means you actively place your life in God’s hands.
We’re conditioned to believe you have to do everything yourself. Your goal is independence. Sometimes God jolts you out of that illusion, so you can finally let Him take over.
My jolt was cancer.
Cancer forced me to go from being the nurse to being the patient, from the caregiver to the one who needed care. It was awkward. I didn’t know what to do. So I sat in my bed and prayed.
In that surrender, I found peace.
As I prayed, I thought about others who were suffering—battling illness, grief, and the unknown. I wanted to walk with them, to help them find the same peace and consolation I’d found.
So I began sharing the Surrender Novena with others. It wasn’t just for me, it was for anyone carrying a burden too heavy to bear alone.
The Surrender Novena reminds you to let go of expectations—of what healing looks like, of what the future should be. It reminds you that God’s plan is always bigger and better than yours.
So, I surrender. Not because I have to. Because I choose to. And in that surrender, I find freedom. You can too.
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