Surrendering Self and Trusting the Lord with all your Heart

February 2, 2026

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

If you heard a bit of my story on CBN's The 700 Club, you may know that I did not grow up in a Christian home. In fact, quite the opposite. My story is truly a light from darkness story. I did not come to know of God's love for me until I was more than 30 years old. In fact, I was 31 when I first heard someone sing these words to me: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so." Not long after, Gracelets was born from a radical salvation and love story. I fell head over heals in love with Jesus and soon after began designing jewelry to share His love with others. The verse that states "We love because He first loved us" truly came to life in me as His love poured in, and then out came a river of His love flowing onto others. I used jewelry designs as a springboard to share this love miracle. It's still incredible to me, that more than 24 years later, and with a husband now by my side, we share that love all over the world.

Loving God was easy. His love filled me so fully, so unconditionally and so unfailingly that all I could do was respond with the courage to love Him back.

Trusting Him however, didn't come so easily.

His love healed my heart quickly, however, my mind was wary.

As a child, I never felt protected and often wondered where God was and if He would ever rescue my sister and I. I couldn't understand how a so-called loving God could allow such evil. It took me decades to understand that He did rescue us! And He preserved our lives! But I had grown fiercely independent and self-reliant, and built walls of protection around me. I could love Him, but I had a very hard time trusting Him.

So how did God handle a woman like me? He wooed me. He earned my trust. If that sounds incredible to you, you're right! It is.

The God of the universe tenderly loves us and relentlessly pursues us to surrender to Him. He understands our individual challenges and is a patient Father. He is willing to build a history with us, and to earn our trust. And the thing that I thought was strength and grit was actually .... sin. Not trusting Him was sin. I thought I had every right to be self-reliant. I figured that was pretty understandable. And I even thought it was strength! But through His patience, a loving revelation from the Holy Spirit came:

Self-reliance was simply, pride and lack of trust.

And I realized ... I was really tired. Tired of the striving, self-provision, self-protection, self-strength. All that self-ing was tiring! Yes, surrendering control and putting my trust in Him took tremendous courage, but what a relief it was to let out that deep breath I'd been holding for decades. To finally just lean on Him and say "I'm sorry, Father. I need help. I can't do this alone anymore. I never could. You are a good, good Father. I put my trust in you. I trust you to care for me better than I could ever muster up myself."

And trust me, it wasn't just once that I had to surrender. I do it daily.

Perhaps you are ready to let go of all the self-ing. Are you tired? Bring your burdens to Him and lean not on your own understanding and simply say "Father, I trust in you. Your steadfast character has always been trustworthy. Thank you for your patience with me. Forgive my unbelief. Holy Spirit, come and train me in trust!"

I hope sharing a little of my trust journey gives you revelation, freedom and peace. I pray your life is a beacon of trusting in the Lord with all your heart! And perhaps this Proverbs 3:5 design could be a tool, a daily reminder to put your trust back with Him, where it belongs.

With Love, Kara