From Self-Reliance to Surrender: Finding True Peace

• By candidasullivan
• July 14, 2026
• No Comments

What a difference in the world’s wisdom and teaching and the Lord’s. 

The world tells us to be disciplined, to try harder, to work longer, and to keep trying until we figure it out. It tells us that the only person we can rely on is ourselves. Influencers tell us that no one is coming to save us. And that hope isn’t a strategy.

And for a while I believed them. I read the books. I listened to the podcasts. I took notes and applied what I learned. While some of the things made a slight difference for me, none of them truly spoke to the deepest parts of my soul. 

As I read Romans 8:6 this morning, so many things clicked. 

Romans 8:6 KJV

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Much of today’s culture celebrates self-sufficiency more than dependence on God. It teaches our flesh to be self-sufficient. To live according to our own abilities. But God’s word teaches me that to be carnally minded is death. 

We start acting like we don’t need God, and our fear grows. We try to figure everything out for ourselves, and our joy disappears. Our peace vanishes in our quest to do it all and figure it out. When we fail, our hope fades. Because it was all rooted in and established within me. 

In turn, the enemy tries to get us to quit, play small, and obey fear instead of faith. If we follow the flesh, our purpose suffers. And if we don’t follow the Lord, our gifts can die. God wants us to live life with Him. There is hope in the Lord. 

We can’t live spiritually minded without the Lord. I heard a definition of what it means to be spiritually minded, and I loved it. 

One explanation I heard that really helped me was this: being spiritually minded means learning to view everything through God’s perspective rather than our own.

I can see the evidence of it in my life. When I ask God for a Godly perspective, most of the time it is completely different than what I was thinking. 

A while back, I was so upset with someone. To the point that I was crying. I told the Lord all about it. I laid out a perfect picture of their faults and failures. When I got finished, God intervened. He opened my eyes to a different perspective. In the Godly perspective, none of it was as it had seemed to me. He gave me a totally different picture of the situation, and it dissolved my anger and hurt. 

God can come to us in the hurtful circumstances and be with us. His presence can give us peace in the pain. 

When we invite God into the moments, He provides for us. In whatever way we need. Sweet friends, sometimes I don’t know what I need. This morning, as I prayed, I told Jesus that I didn’t know what I needed, where we needed to go, or even what we were going to do, but I trusted Him. I trusted Him to intercede in the prayer as it should be on my behalf. 

Honestly, that’s probably one of the most powerful prayers I’ve ever prayed. I surrendered control. And I handed Him my heartaches without telling Him how I think He should fix it. The truth is I don’t know. But I trust Him to tell God exactly what I need. 

Living according to my flesh is stressful. 

Living according to God is peace.