What does it mean to live a surrendered life?

This April Hanna Chen gives us her take.

I believe there are different ways in which God calls His disciples to His kingdom work. He gives us unique gifts and talents to help us serve to our best ability. It helps us tell the gospel story in unique ways that can exhibit the multiple facets of God that reflect His true awesomeness. This also helps make Jesus more real to many, even me. I used to wonder how God would use me to do His work, and as I reflect on my life, I see how He has crafted my family, my education, my ambitions, and my marriage to tell His story. While I find it difficult to live out on a daily basis, there are definite moments and areas in my life where I'm finding His goodness shine through. 

Our church has been studying, meditating, and practicing how to live a life beyond ourselves for the past several years now. It’s a very counter cultural idea – to not choose yourself, but to consider the needs of others before yourself. As much as I believe in this principle, I've come to realize how difficult it is to live it out, day to day. I confess I can't count the number of times that I have chosen to ignore or walk away from a situation that I felt conviction to intervene in some way - the homeless man who sits at the entrance of my subway stop almost everyday, the mother who needs to feed her kids but doesn't have enough to buy food, or even the foreigner who looks totally lost and needs directions. Everyday, God gives me a choice to live out this calling to love as a disciple of Jesus, and everyday I struggle to meet His seemingly straightforward, yet difficult expectations. Oftentimes, I don't choose the path of love because I'm just plain selfish. I can't quantify what I gain from such good deeds - I'm not assured that my sacrifice will actually produce any results. Do I even make a difference? 

All that being said, I believe there are ways that my husband, Andrew, and I have been trying to live a life beyond ourselves. We have been proud residents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the past 2 and a half years and are blessed enough to have lived in a two bedroom apartment without any children just yet. When we first talked about what we wanted our home to be for, we knew that God was calling us to share our home with our community - to create a gathering place for meaningful fellowship, peaceful rest, and a temporary home for others. This was an opportunity for us to not just consider our wants, but to think about how our home could bless others in their lives. When our friends from California were moving to NYC, we were able to open up our home as their first pit stop as they looked for an apartment to rent. When our church needed a place to host our Young Adult fellowship nights, we were able to host this group with a home cooked meal. When one of my women’s group members was getting married, we packed 30+ women into my living room so we could celebrate her engagement and new stage in life. Every opportunity to serve with what we've been blessed with has left me feeling humbled and honored by how I can not only tangibly experience how God intends to work in our lives, but also that He simply chose me to do it. 

My husband and I have a unique opportunity to tell a different story in New York City, where a home is not merely a reflection of worldly wealth, but it truly is a place where people can witness the spirit of Jesus . When our friends were hungry, we fed them. When they needed rest, we gave them a place to sleep. When they were looking for honest conversation, we offered the truth, in love. One of my favorite Bible verses is Romans 12:1-2, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." A life beyond myself means that more often than not, I have learned, will be uncomfortable. It means, I don’t have the luxury of only thinking about myself and my best interests. It means, who I am - body and soul, is meant to work and live for others. And my hope is to live in this struggle everyday with likeminded people, who can remind me that telling Jesus's story is worth it. Andrew and I are learning as we go, and don't always get it right or seize every opportunity. But we will keep trying with the conviction that we honor a promise and commitment to God that we cannot ignore. 

Hanna Chen is a native of California who now lives and works in New York City with her husband, Andrew. She reads IMDB for updates on television shows and celebrity breaking news each morning, and has seen more movies than you.