Can I Really Give It to God?

5 steps to trusting god in the hard 

In seasons of deep pain, the idea of surrender can feel counterintuitive. But in God’s hands, surrender opens your heart to trust Him with the burdens you were never meant to carry alone. It gives you the opportunity to let go of the pressure to fix everything yourself and allow God to meet you in the brokenness.

Letting go is not giving up on hope, but instead, handing over control to the One who is able to carry it all for you.

Surrendering the Deepest Longings of the Heart

Hannah knew deep sorrow. You can read her story in 1 Samuel 1. Day after day, she asked God to give her a child, and year after year, her prayers seemed to go unanswered. When the weight of her grief over infertility became unbearable, she fell into a deep place of anguish. The Bible tells us that she wept bitterly, pouring out her soul to God (1 Samuel 1:10).

Hannah didn’t try to hide her pain; she didn’t put on a brave face or pretend to have it all together. Instead, she brought her brokenness before God with raw honesty. She cried out to Him, not just with her words, but with her entire heart. And in that place of deep surrender, Hannah experienced God’s peace.

Surrender doesn’t require you to have all the answers beforehand. Surrender asks you to release your need to control the outcome and trust that God’s hands are strong enough to hold what you cannot.

Why Letting Go Feels So Hard

Most likely for you (and so many of us), the thought of letting can be terrifying. When life seems out of control, we naturally want to hold tightly to anything that offers a sense of stability, even if it’s the weight of our own burdens. We think, If I just try harder, if I just keep holding on, maybe I can fix this.

But God knows some burdens are too heavy for us to carry alone. Depression is one of those burdens. The longer we try to carry it by ourselves, the more it weighs us down. One of the biggest lies depression tells us is that we’re supposed to be strong enough to handle it all. But God never asks us to carry these burdens by ourselves. In fact, He invites us to lay them down at His feet.

Jesus’ Invitation to Surrender

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus offers a powerful invitation to those who are weary and weighed down. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (NIV).

 Jesus wants to exchange the heaviness of your heart for His rest.

When Jesus talks about taking His yoke upon us, He’s not adding more burdens. A yoke is something that helps distribute the weight evenly, making it easier to carry. Jesus is saying, “Let me help you carry this. You don’t have to do it alone.”

How to Practice Surrender

Surrender is a constant action, very seldon a one-time event. We have to practice it daily, especially when depression makes us feel like we have no control. 

Here are a few practical steps to help you begin practicing surrender and letting go:

1. Give your burdens names.

Identifying what you’re carrying. What are the specific burdens that feel too heavy for you right now? Is it fear, worry, guilt, or shame? Maybe it’s the pressure to be okay when you’re not, or the feeling that you have to fix everything yourself.

Take some time to name the burdens you’re carrying. You can write them down in a journal or speak them out loud in prayer. It’s important to acknowledge them before you can let them go.

2. Offer your burdens to God in prayer.

Once you’ve named your burdens, lift them up to God. This doesn’t have to be a long or complicated prayer. It can be as simple as saying, “God, I can’t carry this anymore. I’m giving it all to You.”

In your act of surrender, you’re choosing to trust God with what you can’t control. You’re inviting Him into your pain and asking Him to help you carry the load.

3. Visualize the act of letting go.

Sometimes, a physical or visual reminder can help reinforce the act of surrender. You might find it helpful to close your eyes and imagine placing your burdens into God’s hands. Picture yourself physically letting go of the weight and giving it to Him.

Another idea is to write down your burdens on a piece of paper and place it in a box or envelope. Each time you feel overwhelmed by those burdens, remind yourself that you’ve placed them in God’s hands.

4. Trust God’s timing.

Healing can take time, and trusting God with your burdens means allowing Him to do it in His timing as well. Psalm 55:22 reminds us, “Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken” (NIV).

God is faithful, and even when we don’t see immediate change, He is working behind the scenes. Trust Him to carry you through this season.

5. Surrender daily.

Each day, we need to come before God and offer Him our burdens again. Some days, you might feel strong enough to carry more, and other days, you may barely have the strength to pray. That’s okay. 

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God reminds Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (NIV). Surrender allows God’s grace to step into the places where we feel weakest. It’s in those moments of letting go that God’s strength becomes most evident in our lives.

Find Your Freedom

God invites you to place your pain, your worry, your fear, and your grief into His hands. He is strong enough to hold it, and He is gentle enough to meet you in your brokenness. In His hands, you can find the rest your soul longs for.

This is part of a multi-post series about navigating depression with God’s help. If you missed any earlier entries, we encourage you to go back and read them. Each one offers a fresh layer of hope and perspective. Revisit or share the first one here.

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