Hello there. It's time for encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Kenneth Peterson wrote today's devotional, and he titled it, Surrendering to God.

Born on a farm, Judson Van Deventer learned to paint, studied art, and became an art teacher.

God, however, had a different plan for him. Friends valued his work in church and urged him to go into

evangelism. Judson felt God calling him too, but it was hard for him to give up his love for teaching art.

He wrestled with God, but at last he wrote, The pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all.

We can't imagine Abraham's heartbreak when God called him to surrender his son Isaac in Genesis

chapter 22. In the wake of God's command to sacrifice him there as a burnt offering,

we ask ourselves what precious thing God's calling us to sacrifice.

We know that he ultimately spared Isaac, and yet the point is made.

Abraham was willing to surrender what was most precious to him. He trusted God to provide in the

midst of a most difficult calling. We say we love God, but are we willing to sacrifice what's dearest to us?

Judson Van DeVenter followed God's call into evangelism and later penned the beloved hymn, I surrender all.

In time, God called Judson back into teaching. One of his students was a young man named

Billy Graham. God's plan for our lives has purposes we can't imagine. He longs for us to be willing

to surrender what is dearest. It seems that's the least we can do. After all, he sacrificed for us,

his only begotten son. Today's Our Daily Brad Devotional Scripture reading comes from the first

book in the Bible, Genesis,

chapter 22, verses 1 through 3, and verses 6 through 12.

Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham,

Here I am, he replied. Then God said,

Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac,

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