What happens when you know God is asking you to surrender, but you’re still struggling to let go?

In Part 2 of the When God Says Go series, Dr. J. Nicole Simpson explores why surrendering control to God can be so difficult, especially when being responsible, independent, prepared, and able to hold everything together has become part of who you are.

Sometimes the struggle isn’t whether we believe in God. It’s learning how to trust God with the things we cannot control: our relationships, our future, unanswered prayers, other people’s choices, our timelines, and the outcomes we desperately want to understand.

In Open Hands: Learning to Surrender Control, Dr. J. Nicole brings together faith, psychology, and Scripture to examine the deeper reasons we hold on so tightly. She explores how past experiences can teach us to depend on control for safety, why uncertainty can trigger anxiety and overthinking, and what it actually means to surrender without becoming passive in your own life.

This conversation also looks at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the honesty of His prayer: He expressed what He wanted while still entrusting the outcome to the Father. His example reminds us that surrender does not require pretending we aren’t disappointed, afraid, grieving, or uncertain.

You can acknowledge what you want and still trust God with what comes next.

If you’ve been praying for direction, struggling with God’s timing, overthinking a decision, trying to control an outcome, learning to let go, or wondering how to trust God when you don’t know what happens next, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we explore why control can feel safer than surrender, the connection between anxiety and our need for certainty, how to recognize when responsibility has become overfunctioning, what biblical surrender actually looks like, how to separate what is yours to do from what belongs to God, and why surrender is essential to walking in obedience and purpose.

The question to carry with you this week is:

What would change in your life if you truly believed you did not have to hold everything together?

🎙️ When God Says Go — Part 2
Open Hands: Learning to Surrender Control
Rise & Thrive with Dr. J. Nicole

If this conversation speaks to where you are, share it with someone who may also be learning how to release control and trust God with what comes next.

Scripture referenced: Matthew 26:39; Philippians 4:6–7

Topics: surrender to God, trusting God, letting go of control, obedience to God, God’s timing, faith over fear, Christian anxiety, overthinking, Christian mental health, purpose, spiritual growth, prayer, healing, control and anxiety, trusting God in uncertainty, Christian podcast, faith and psychology.

#WhenGodSaysGo #TrustGod #SurrenderToGod #ChristianPodcast #RiseAndThrive