EP.30: Faith Over Hustle: The Power of Surrender and Divine Direction – 6 Weeks of Journaling Prompts Part 5
Are you holding tight to a dream or idea, only to feel stuck or overwhelmed by the “how”? In this episode, we’ll explore the freedom and peace that come when you surrender your biggest dreams and ideas to God. Learn how to let go of the pressure to figure everything out on your own and discover what it means to trust God’s infinite wisdom and creativity. Using the analogy of life as a puzzle, we’ll unpack how following God’s divine direction can turn seemingly random pieces into a masterpiece you never imagined. If you’re ready to stop hustling and start co-creating a life of purpose with God, this episode is for you.
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Be Still With Bobbi podcast! I’m so glad you’re here for Part 5 of our 6-part journaling series. We’re nearing the end!
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring powerful themes like stillness, self-perception, crafting a God-inspired vision, and navigating external influences. If you’re just joining us, I encourage you to go back and listen to the earlier episodes in this series, starting with Episode 26. Each episode builds on the last, so you’ll want to catch up to get the most out of today’s episode.
Now, let’s talk about today’s focus: taking inspired action, surrendering outcomes, and celebrating progress.
These themes are so important because they shift us from simply dreaming about what we want, to stepping boldly into the process of making those dreams a reality—without carrying the weight of control on our shoulders.
So often, we think of action and surrender as opposites. But in truth, they’re partners in the same process. Operating this way means we take action, trusting that God will guide our steps. And we surrender, knowing He will handle the outcome. And… that HIS outcomes are always better than the ones we can work toward on our own.
This episode will walk you through how to take that inspired action, what surrender really means, and how gratitude amplifies the journey. So grab your journal, settle in, and let’s get started.
[Part 1: Taking Inspired Action with Faith]
We’re starting this conversation with inspired action.
What does that even mean? Inspired action.
I would say that inspired action isn’t about hustling, or striving, or forcing outcomes. It’s about moving forward in faith, even when you don’t have all the answers. It’s about listening for God’s guidance and then taking the next small step He places in front of you.
I’ve found that the most significant changes in my life have come not from massive leaps but from small, intentional steps. Steps that, at the time, didn’t always make sense or feel like progress.
For example, when I first felt called to start this podcast, I didn’t have a fully fleshed-out plan. In fact, I didn’t have a plan … at all. All I had was an inkling.
A tiny spark of a belief that talking about stillness, journaling, and prayer in the way that I do it, might be beneficial for others to learn. I could see what this practice had done in my own life – the transformations I’d experienced again and again using this practice as a foundation. But beyond that? There was no grand plan. I didn’t even know if a podcast was the right avenue.
I didn’t know how to edit audio or what equipment I needed. But I felt this undeniable nudge—this sense that God was saying, “Just try it.”
And when that nudge was echoed back to me by a mastermind leader I was working with at the time, I knew I could no longer avoid the idea.
But of course, I’m human, so my immediate response was to come up with all the reasons why I didn’t have time to create a podcast, how I didn’t even have an audience who might want to listen, and I didn’t have any equipment to record. I went on and on with every excuse that crossed my mind.
Because this is what happens to us. We rationalize. It’s that split second of pause in our minds. When we know we’re about to do something we’ve been wanting or needing to do for a really long time. And it feels like we might actually be close enough to do it this time, rather than just keep talking about it.
This is the tipping point. Where inspired action sweeps in and saves the day.
In my case, I’ll never forget that day. I needed someone to snap me out of the fear spiral and give me the simplest path to overcome all the excuses that had been stopping me.
Nikki, the leader of the mastermind group, listened to all of my reasons and then ever so gently, but firmly said, “Bobbi. Today’s the day. Go get your phone and grab your AirPods. Sit in your closet and then take a deep breath, open the Voxer app, and hit record. Then record whatever comes out of your mouth. Just do it. Today. And I want you to send it to me when you’re done.”
So I did. I recorded one episode. It was all of four minutes long. No script. No fancy mic. Just words that came straight from my heart.
Then I did another episode. And another. And another. The entire first season was recorded in my closet, with my AirPods and a Voxer message time limit of 15 minutes. There were no scripts and no edits. I’d record my stream-of-consciousness thoughts and post them. That’s it. I forced myself not to worry about sound quality or pauses that felt too long.
I simply needed to take the inspired action necessary to get me moving in that direction.
And you know what? People started listening. I was shocked. Then they began reaching out. Telling me my words actually meant something to them or helped them in some way.
And here we are today, nearly 30 episodes later, with this beautiful community that has grown around the simple idea of stillness and reflection.
This is what inspired action looks like: listening to that nudge, taking the step, and trusting God to handle the rest.
With that said, here are Three Journaling Prompts around Inspired Action:
But first, I want you to take a moment and think about something you’ve been wanting or needing to do. I know you know what that thing is, without having to think too hard. It could be signing up for a class, or getting your nursing degree, or volunteering to teach at a local community center. Conversely, it could also be something you need to quit, something you need to leave, or something you need to cancel.
Before you answer these questions, have that idea in your mind. Don’t overthink it.
And then, ask yourself:
- What’s one small step you feel God prompting you to take right now?
- What doubts or fears are holding you back?
- How can you invite God into your next step, no matter how small?
[Part 2: Surrendering Outcomes to God]
Once you have that idea front and center. And you’ve discovered one small step you could take in that direction. And you’ve invited God in by simply telling him about it …
It’s time to talk about surrender.
Surrender isn’t about giving up. It’s about letting go of control and trusting God to take the lead.
Here’s why this is so important: When we try to control the outcome, we limit ourselves to what we can accomplish within our own power and understanding. But when we surrender, we invite God’s infinite wisdom, creativity, and power into the equation.
Surrendering also doesn’t mean you stop caring about your vision or the outcome you’re working toward. It also doesn’t mean you dream it, tell God about it, and then sit around waiting for him to bring it to you on a silver platter.
It simply means you release the how. You let go of the rigid steps you think need to happen and trust God to work in ways you can’t predict.
Here’s an analogy to better illustrate this.
Surrendering to God is like putting together a giant, intricate puzzle. Imagine you’ve been given a box of puzzle pieces, but the picture on the front of the box is incomplete—just hints of what the final image might look like. You begin placing pieces together, but it’s impossible to see how they all connect from where you’re sitting.
God, however, holds the completed picture. He sees how every piece fits together perfectly. When you surrender the puzzle to Him, you don’t stop working on it; you just stop stressing over the outcome.
Your job becomes paying attention to the pieces He’s gently nudging your way. You trust that each piece you place brings the picture closer to completion—even if you don’t yet see the full masterpiece.
In this way of going about it – the work of placing each piece feels lighter because you’re no longer striving to make them fit on your own or even figure out which piece comes next. You’re co-creating, one piece at a time, trusting His vision and direction to guide you.
And, in my opinion, when we can’t fully see the completed picture, the unpredictability of it all is what winds up being the most beautiful part. Because in those small inspired steps, and with each reveal of the next puzzle piece … there’s a connection that grows with God and your faith and dependency on him, as a result.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m someone who likes lists, order, and perfectly labeled bins in the pantry. Unpredictability is not high on my list.
But there is a divine level of peace that comes with this kind of uncertainty. A knowing of sorts. Where I believe with my whole heart that if my idea is in alignment with God’s greater plan for my life – then his execution of the steps that ultimately lead me to the outcome, will far surpass anything I could come up with on my own.
Surrender means that we trust God’s version of events, and the order of them will be better and more beautiful than anything we could come up with on our own. It means we trust him enough to sometimes blindly follow the path, even when it appears the path might be leading us nowhere. Or even when it feels like our requests or ideas have been forgotten.
I have a story that illustrates this perfectly before we wrap up. And I’m laughing because it’s a story about moving. I have a lot of “moving-related” stories because I’ve moved a lot. Probably more than most.
But it’s relevant so here goes:
As I was walking through my divorce, one of the greatest unknowns for me was – “where are we going to live?” I journaled about this constantly. It was always at the forefront of my mind. And, if I’m being honest, it was one of the biggest worries of that year.
I’d always felt solid about making decisions for us as a family, even when it came to moving. But in those previous decisions, there was input from another adult. This time around, I was on my own.
We were selling the house we’d built together, so I knew there would be at least one move on the horizon. And I was doing my best to keep life relatively normal for my girls, so multiple moves felt like way too much.
Thankfully, our house sold relatively quickly. But I couldn’t buy a new house before my divorce was final. So, I set out looking for a rental for us to live in. There wasn’t a single option on the market that met my criteria. I checked the real estate apps, almost hourly, but my hope was starting to wane when day after day, nothing appeared.
I searched and searched and prayed and journaled, and practically begged God to bring us a home. And then one day I finally decided that I needed to stop stressing about it and just hand over the outcome to God. After weeks of worry, I finally surrendered.
I could rest in the knowledge that I’d already told God exactly what I was looking for. He already knew my wish list and He knew why the list was important to me. I had other things that needed my attention. So on that day, I wrote in my journal, “I trust that you’ll bring us the perfect rental, meant just for us, whenever the timing is right.” And then I let it go.
I acknowledged that my frantic searching was mostly because I needed to feel in control of something during a year in my life when everything else felt out of control. But as I came up empty again and again, I knew the only thing left for me to do was hand the outcome to Him and with it, my worry.
My incessant need to check Trulia every time a notification popped up on my phone and my constant dialogue with God about it in my journal had reached the borderline between being responsible and being annoying.
This always makes me laugh, by the way, when I can see the magnitude of my own ridiculousness. I can just picture God rolling his eyes as he patiently waits for me to calm down and finally tell him I’m too tired to do this on my own.
Letting go of where we were going to live didn’t mean I didn’t care. It didn’t mean I didn’t hope that wherever we would land would be better than I could imagine.
It only meant that I was no longer going to let myself be tied up in knots over something that wasn’t mine to control.
There’s more to this story that I’ll share in a future episode. But for now, I will tell you that my surrender in that moment did two things for me. It allowed me to focus on the other pieces of my life that needed my attention. And it gave me a deeper level of peace that God was handling the details.
If I started to pick my worry back up, all I had to do was gently remind myself that I’d already given the outcome over to God. And that he’d let me know when it was time.
And you know what? He did exactly that.
A handful of weeks after my intentional surrender, I was on the phone with a friend and we were talking about the real estate market and I shared that I’d not been able to find a place to live, but that I’d let it go for now, knowing I still had a couple of months before we had to move.
On a whim, while we were on the phone, my friend pulled up the rental market on the computer and a single listing jumped off the page. It was a house, not far from my neighborhood, that had just been listed. It had everything I’d hoped for and then some.
I immediately jumped in the car and drove by the listing. It wasn’t just a house. It was perfect.
In a million years, I could never have imagined this house in this neighborhood. And the timing for move-in was ideal.
I stopped worrying and God handled the details. All while I took care of the other items on my list.
This is the power of surrender.
Letting go of whatever outcome we think is best. And letting God wow us instead with his perfect timing and possibilities we could never imagine.
So now, go back and think about the idea that came to mind as you walked through the first three prompts in this episode. That inkling. The thing you know you’ve wanted or needed to do.
Once you’ve got it, here are three Journaling Prompts for Surrender:
- What part of your vision or idea feels too big, too hard, or too scary for you to handle alone?
- What does it look like to hand that part over to God? Can you trust that he will hold your worry and doubt in safekeeping?
- How can you practice surrender in a tangible way around this?
[Part 3: Practicing Gratitude and Celebrating Progress]
As we wrap up this episode, let’s talk about gratitude.
Gratitude has this incredible way of shifting our perspective. It reminds us of how far we’ve come, even when the full vision hasn’t been realized yet.
When we pause to thank God for each small step, each tiny breakthrough, we create space for joy and hope. Gratitude keeps us grounded in the present moment, even as we dream about the future. And it opens our eyes to the breakthroughs yet to come. We’re more tuned in.
Our minds go from noticing what isn’t working, to seeing all that is.
Because when we’re so focused on what hasn’t happened yet—our vision can feel very far away. And we begin to lose hope. But when we shift our minds to counting our blessings and seeing the steps we’ve already taken, everything changes.
Instead of focusing on what’s missing, we can celebrate the small wins. A kind email from someone who gave great advice or an introduction. A breakthrough moment with a next step forward. Seeing how much of the puzzle has already come together, rather than seeing how many pieces have yet to be put into place.
Over time, the small moments of gratitude build a sense of momentum and trust. And looking back, we can start to see how those tiny wins were part of a much bigger picture that God was weaving together on our behalf.
And let me tell you, I fully understand how hard gratitude can be when you’re standing in the middle of what feels like an impossible request. And you’re wondering if you’ll ever get to the finish line, or if there even is a finish line.
But, I can also tell you that when I put gratitude at the top of my list. When I start with being grateful, the unknown and the “not yet” automatically shrink without me having to try.
And with that, here are three Journaling Prompts for Gratitude:
- What’s one thing you’re grateful for today?
- What small win can you celebrate this week?
- How has God shown up for you in ways you didn’t expect?
[Part 4: Living the Partnership]
This episode is all about living in partnership with God.
As we bring these three themes together—inspired action, surrender, and gratitude—I want to leave you with this thought:
Life with God is a partnership. Your job is to dream, to take the small steps, and to trust. God’s job is to handle the rest.
You don’t need to have all the answers. You don’t need to figure out every step. You just need to start. And as you do, keep your hands open. My amazing mentor used to say to me that gratitude is experienced with open hands. And God can’t bless closed fists.
Surrender the outcome to God, and let Him surprise you with His infinite creativity and imagination.
One last thing … A Guided Visualization:
Take a moment to close your eyes. Imagine holding your vision in your hands, offering it to God. Picture Him smiling, taking it from you, and saying, “I’ve got this.”
Now, imagine following the breadcrumbs He places before you—small, intentional steps that lead you closer to the life He’s calling you to.
What does it feel like to move forward with trust, without the weight of control?
[Conclusion]
Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.
As we close, I want to remind you: God’s plans for you are greater than you can imagine. When you take inspired action, surrender the outcome, and practice gratitude, you create space for Him to work in ways that are beyond your wildest dreams.
If this episode resonated with you, I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to reach out or share your reflections with me—I always love hearing from you.
And if you’re looking for more support, I’d love to invite you to join The Be Still Collective. It’s a space for women to reflect, dream, and grow alongside a supportive community of other women, doing the same. You can find more details on my website by going to bestillwithbobbi.com/community
Until next time, may you find peace, clarity, and courage in your stillness. Bye for now!
