Ask, Surrender and Then ALLOW!
The keywords for this writing are “surrender” and “allow.” There is incredible power in the utilization of those words.
The most powerful outworking of surrendering and allowing in my life came 15 years ago. Then, I was at an all-time low in my life. I had divorced after 30 years of marriage and was a realtor in a market plagued by foreclosures.
I was 55 years old. I was in a whole new world, and frankly wasn’t sure how anything fit.
I couldn’t stand to make a living off the pain and suffering of people who were upside down on their mortgages or were headed into foreclosure. I was dramatically underperforming based on the standards I’d set for myself in the past.
In real estate, if you’re not making sales, you’re not earning a living. So I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into debt and in danger of becoming one more foreclosure.
I had done everything that I thought was possible to turn that situation around. I was at my wits end.
One morning, I got up like normal, made my coffee, and went to my meditation room. I had a serious talk with God. I’m confident that I’d never been quite as direct in prior conversations, but I felt that I truly had nothing to lose.
The upshot of that conversation was when I said, “I did not come here to live this way. You did not put me here to live this way. I have exhausted everything I know how to do, so here’s the deal: I’m going to turn it all back over to you. Fix it, or take me home. I don’t really care which.”
That was the surrender part. I knew and trusted that by taking that step, something was going to happen. I believed that either it would be a solution to the problem or I would go home. I absolutely did not care at that point which way it went.
I went about my business. I had a meeting at the Association of Realtors that day. At the end, I knew my broker would be happy with the outcome of that meeting, so I dialed him as I drove away.
He invited me to meet him for a drink that afternoon in downtown Grand Rapids. As we drank, he explained that he had purchased the interest of his last partner in the real estate company and was now the sole owner.
He explained that he and the senior staff were looking at where the gaps were. They made a list of necessary skills, and one of the staff members said that Eric Webster was a guy that had every one of those skills.
There we were having a cocktail, and he offered me a management position within the company. It was on a trial basis. We would assess how it was working out later. He made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse – I wouldn’t have refused, and we agreed that I would begin.
As I drove away from that meeting, I remembered my morning conversation with GOD. I spoke to the creator in a way that I’ve never talked before – without fear that I would be hit by a bolt of lightning when I went outside, but the words that rang in my mind were “fix it or take me home. I don’t really care which way this goes.”
I remember thinking, “Wow, that is a fast-acting God.” Just this morning, I surrendered my situation. I asked for help and, within eight hours, received the answer to that request in a way that I could never have imagined.
It did not take long after I began for the owner of the company to acknowledge that hiring me was a great decision and that if I was willing, he wanted me to go full-time with a salary that was appropriate and benefits.
It was an incredible reminder of the power of allowing, the power of surrender. It supported my theory, my belief that every prayer is immediately answered. So if we don’t see the outworking in our life, we need to consider maybe whether we are refusing delivery.
Big lessons can show up if we ask, if we surrender, if we allow. I can’t tell you how often these concepts come up when I’m doing readings.
The recordkeepers I work with have given me images and direction to use with clients to imagine that they have a lovely script tattoo of “ALLOW” on the underside of the forearm. With that tattoo comes the suggestion that when they’re feeling jammed up, when they’re feeling like they’re not getting their desired results, that they would run their hand over that tattoo to remind themselves to allow. I’ve had reports back for many, and it’s been a game-changer.
For me, all of this was a powerful reminder that no matter how independent I am, no matter how successful I become, that I don’t have to do the heavy lifting on my own. I get an image in my mind of guides and angels, who are sitting there, twiddling their thumbs, laughing, saying things like “Yeah, that Eric, he forgets that he doesn’t have to do all the heavy lifting if he would just ask us, have faith, surrender, and then allow, we can make it all so easy.”
My suggestion to you, is to see how asking, surrendering, and allowing could have some powerful impact in your life. Feel free to visualize an invisible ink tattoo on the underside of your left forearm to help you allow – to help you get out of the way.
One visualization that I’ve worked with and have encouraged clients to work with is in the area of absent delivery of answered prayers. This is because I believe that every prayer is immediately answered. If we don’t see evidence of it, we might look at our ability or our willingness to accept delivery.
I encourage people to visualize that they’re in their home, and they open the front and back doors because the delivery vehicles deliver all of those answers. Prayers are going to clog the street one after another, and it’s going be so busy that the delivery people will come in the front door, drop the delivery and go out the back door before they move along.
It is another powerful visualization that I’ve worked with in the past and have felt wonderful results from. I don’t share concepts and ideas without working with them personally. Anything that I print, anything that I put on my website is something that I’ve worked with personally, and have had some degree of remarkable results, so I hope that you will consider asking, surrendering, and allowing as a new, perhaps more productive way to move your life in the direction that you want to go.