This past week I had the privilege of leading worship at a Life Teen camp in Medina, Texas. It was a beautiful week! Besides being saturated in the theme of Mary’s fiat—reflecting on her openness to the will of God—we spent a significant amount of time talking about what it looks like to surrender, because a fiat to God, like Mary’s, must always lead us to let go and let God in.
The host priest for the week led us all through many prayers of deep surrender, but God went beyond what I have become accustomed to. For most of my life, I thought surrendering to God meant letting go of all the bad: my sin, my mistrust, my fears and anxieties, my pride. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of true surrender. He reminded me that to surrender to Christ means more than just giving up the bad in our hearts that needs to be transformed. It means giving God everything we are—including the good—and watching that transform as well. That means letting go of our plans for the future, our hopes and dreams, and even the people we love the most; yes, even the good.
Out of Control
Surrender means giving up control to submit ourselves to the perfect will of God. This is my absolute downfall. I love being in control, I hate the feeling of being pushed out of the driver’s seat of my own life, I always think I know what’s best, and I think I’m the only one capable of achieving my own happiness, so I try to do everything myself.
To my embarrassment, this spills over into my relationship with God. So often I push him away because I’m afraid to give it all over to him, but then I end up falling flat on my face anyway. Ultimately, I forget how God designed every part of me. He knows every hair on my head, knows me better than I know myself, sees beyond what I see. He is God, not me.
Letting go and giving him control of my life is what will fulfill me the most and ultimately, what will lead me to heaven. This doesn’t mean my life will be easy, because God never promised us an easy life. The fact is, God’s ways are not our ways. God wants us to surrender to him, not because he’s this narcissist or a domineering person, but because he knows what is best for us! To surrender, we need to come to grips with a few things:
1. Believing that God is Good
He is so, so good! God is not a tyrant as some people suggest. If we ever had a doubt about who God is, Jesus revealed him to us:
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Love is good. Love is pursuing us and desperately trying to win us over! We need to believe in his goodness and mercy.
2. Trusting that He Has a Good Plan for You
Trusting what we can’t always see is so hard. We like to have plans for our future and want to be successful with our gifts. We want to do the will of God—but to do his will, we have to let go of our plans to accept his—which are much better than our own.
3. Realizing that You are Not Self-Sufficient
God gives us the freedom to control our own lives. He does not force us to let him into the driver’s seat, but he says, “Trust me. I know what is best for you.” The more we grasp at happiness and try to achieve things without Christ, the more we will be let down. We were not made to do it by ourselves and cannot do it by ourselves, no matter how hard we try. We were made for him and need to embrace the truth that we are not, no matter how hard we try, self-sufficient.
All this to say, if we believe these things, which many of us verbally say we do, then we need to let go of control and surrender ourselves to God.
To make a first step toward this, I’ve started the “Surrender Novena”. This novena was written by a holy Italian priest, Fr. Don Dolindo, most well-known for his spirituality of surrender. He is currently up for canonization! He was very aware of the depth of human weakness and neediness, and saw this as a way of fostering continual union with God.
In this novena, he wrote what Our Lord revealed to him about divine abandonment from the perspective of Jesus addressing the soul. If God is calling you to a deeper surrender of whatever it is you’re holding onto, I would love for you to join me in praying this beautiful prayer of surrender. Together we can become more fully conformed to the will of Christ and allow him to transform our lives into vessels of his love.
The Surrender Novena
Read these words and pray the prayer on the designated day of the novena.
Day 1
Why do you confuse yourselves by worrying? Leave the care of your affairs to me and everything will be peaceful. I say to you in truth that every act of true, blind, complete surrender to me produces the effect that you desire and resolves all difficult situations.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 2
Surrender to me does not mean to fret, to be upset, or to lose hope, nor does it mean offering to me a worried prayer asking me to follow you and change your worry into prayer. It is against this surrender, deeply against it, to worry, to be nervous and to desire to think about the consequences of anything. It is like the confusion that children feel when they ask their mother to see to their needs, and then try to take care of those needs for themselves so that their childlike efforts get in their mother’s way.
Surrender means to placidly close the eyes of the soul, to turn away from thoughts of tribulation and to put yourself in my care, so that only I act, saying “You take care of it.”
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 3
How many things I do when the soul, in so much spiritual and material need, turns to me, looks at me and says to me, “You take care of it”, then closes its eyes and rests. In pain you pray for me to act, but that I act in the way you want. You do not turn to me, instead, you want me to adapt your ideas. You are not sick people who ask the doctor to cure you, but rather sick people who tell the doctor how to.
So do not act this way, but pray as I taught you in the our Father: “Hallowed be thy Name”, that is, be glorified in my need. “Thy kingdom come”, that is, let all that is in us and in the world be in accord with your kingdom. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, that is, in our need, decide as you see fit for our temporal and eternal life. If you say to me truly: “Thy will be done”, which is the same as saying: “You take care of it”, I will intervene with all my omnipotence, and I will resolve the most difficult situations.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 4
You see evil growing instead of weakening? Do not worry. Close your eyes and say to me with faith: “Thy will be done. You take care of it”. I say to you that I will take care of it, and that I will intervene as does a doctor and I will accomplish miracles when they are needed. Do you see that the sick person is getting worse? Do not be upset, but close your eyes and say, “You take care of it.” I say to you that I will take care of it, and that there is no medicine more powerful than my loving intervention. By my love, I promise this to you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 5
And when I must lead you on a path different from the one you see, I will prepare you; I will carry you in my arms; I will let you find yourself, like children who have fallen asleep in their mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river. What troubles you and hurts you immensely are your reason, your thoughts and worry, and your desire at all costs to deal with what afflicts you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 6
You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse—to men themselves, trusting in their intervention—this is what hinders my words and my views. Oh how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from my protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in me, rest in me, surrender to me in everything.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 7
I perform miracles in proportion to your full surrender to me and to your not thinking of yourselves. I sow treasure troves of graces when you are in the deepest poverty. He does divine works whosoever surrenders to God. So don’t think about it any more, because your mind is acute and for you it is very hard to see evil and to trust in me and to not think of yourself. Do this for all your needs, do this all of you and you will see great continual silent miracles. I will take care of things, I promise this to you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 8
Close your eyes and let yourself be carried away on the flowing current of my grace; close your eyes and do not think of the present, turning your thoughts away from the future just as you would from temptation. Repose in me, believing in my goodness, and I promise you by my love that if you say “You take care of it” I will take care of it all; I will console you, liberate you and guide you.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
Day 9
Pray always in readiness to surrender, and you will receive from it great peace and great rewards, even when I confer on you the grace of immolation, of repentance, and of love. Then what does suffering matter? It seems impossible to you? Close your eyes and say with all your soul, “Jesus, you take care of it.” Do not be afraid, I will take care of things and you will bless my name by humbling yourself. A thousand prayers cannot equal one single act of surrender, remember this well. There is no novena more effective than this.
O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything!
Mother, I am yours now and forever.
Through you and with you
I always want to belong
completely to Jesus.
These words come from the living experience of the presence of Jesus in the prayer life of Father Dolindo Ruotolo and you are invited to make them your own as you pray the novena.
Is there a part of your life that you need to surrender more completely to God? Pray this novena and let us know what happens in the comments at the bottom of the page.
You May Also Like:
‘I Thirst’: What Did Jesus Mean?
Why Society Needs More Eucharistic Adoration
Why Adoration Is Essential for the Soul and Body
About Taylor Tripodi

Taylor Tripodi is a twenty-something cradle Catholic from Cleveland, Ohio aspiring for sainthood. She graduated from Franciscan University, majoring in theology and catechetics and is now a full-time musician, traveling all over and spreading God’s unfailing love through word and song. In her spare time she enjoys making scented candles, seeking adventure, and being present to her large, crazy, Italian family. Want to hear her sing? Check out www.taylortripodi.com.
Featured photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of info on your site.
Im really impressed by your blog.
Hello there, You have done an excellent job. I will
definitely digg it and in my opinion recommend to my friends.
I’m confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
Hello friends, good post and good urging commented here, I am genuinely enjoying
by these.
I have completed this novena, and have been struggling since 2013 with trusting God. I was separated from my wife and kids in 2015, and divorce was final in 2019. I still have a relationship with my son, but my daughter blames me for everything is not talking to me. While I made many mistakes, it felt as though I was being punished, which led to fear – which is the opposite of Love, and God is Love. This novena came at the right time. The “work” we have to do, is to constantly say (because it is hard to connect the head and heart) “Jesus, You take it over.” I need to say this many times a day. I love my family, I love Jesus, Please take this over, May there be peace.
Walter- I have a somewhat similar story and current situation. Don’t know you but praying for you and your family and ask the same from you. This novena changed my life and I visit this page all the time.
I am in the same situation as well. Praying for you both and ask the same for me. Thank you for sharing.
Great article; great Novena!! Surrender is the greatest part of my faith journey in that I know I can never know the full extent of God’s love and grace without it. I fought surrender for so long, always trying to be in control but a repetitious situation made me question what God wants me to learn and surrender became very clear and this Novena helped so much. I’m very excited for this new journey!
I received an unexpected letter that said my husband and I needed to pay something from 9 years ago when he got sick and had to stop working. Usually I get stressed and don’t sleep well from worry of how to pay it. We have been struggling since his illness and I still work at 73. But the night we got that notice I said the novena with my rosary and I felt our Lord was handling it and I felt no stress. That was our Lord taking care of it, just like he said.
I have been saying this lovely novena for a few months after accidentally stumbling across it while looking for something else. I have never hear of this novena or Don Dolindo, but truly believe it was no accident that I found it…I was meant to find it and it was at a time when I was full of doubt, mistrust, anger and fear. The peace I have found happened before I finished the novena. It has lead to.a peace and calm I have never had on my almost 58 years on earth.
However, I truly am stuck with one aspect of the novena:
Are we supposed to “Do” THEN “Let go”?
I ask this, because I am about to lose my home with no money to go anywhere else, as I live on $300 per month disability. Do I actively look for help then see what Jesus finds for me, or do I wait until I am homeless?
I need a priest’s explanation on this please.
Hello Mary,
I am not an ordained priest, but I recommend being proactive. Surrendering to Jesus does not necessarily mean doing nothing (sometimes it does), but that your actions are in accordance with His will. I think that in your situation, it would be appropriate to seek out your pastor or other resources to make sure that you will be able to live with the dignity of shelter.
Please respond if you need more help. May God bless you.
Going on day 3 with this novena and already I’m seeing amazing results! More than anything I’m experiencing a peace like never before. Praise God!🙏😀
It’s so good to hear the word of God, especially from a website. God bless you.
When I first started the Surrender Novena it was difficult to surrender as there was a struggle of the will to leave everything in His Hands. Now as I write this the struggle is getting smaller and smaller by the day. I have been doing all 9 days in a single day for more than a month and this ins included in my family prayer. I am doing 9 Divine Mercy Chaplets, one hour of Eucharist Adoration and spend time reading the scriptures daily – this is now my daily routine. Thank you Lord for your Love and Mercy.
This prayer has helped me a lot. My dad was in hospital for a blood infection and I would say this prayer whenever i lost hope. This prayer sustained me during this difficult time. My dad is having blood tests this Tuesday and when i feel worried about it or anxious i say this prayer and it truly works. It is a powerful prayer. It is hard to surrender to the Lord but each time i say this prayer im surrendering a little bit more. Thank you for the post. God Bless!
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful novena. As I have trouble letting go, due to years of believing that I have to look after everyone and everything, I’m praying this Novena every day, on a continual basis, in the hope that soon, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father and the Holy Spirit, I will truly be able to surrender to Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. God bless you all abundantly. Fr Dolindo Ruotolo, Servant of God, pray for us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🕊
I have just got this novena and to start it coz I really have challenges in my life?
I have know job,I have a lot of dates,I lost my family coz don’t have money,those have money have refused to pay me,I can’t even afford rent for myself, I stay with my friend who is now fed up with me cos people talk a lot of bad things about me what never had, because I demand them,so I have to surrender my life to Jesus to take care of every thing in my life now
Some of the wording is difficult. It makes it sound like you have to feel a certain way in order to get your petition granted (like, don’t be nervous or afraid).
Nervousness and fear are emotions beyond our direct control. But I don’t think Jesus will withhold blessings because of emotions we can’t switch on and off.
Thank you for your posting Mary. It is a great help. I feel much better about this Novena now. God Bless You.
After many, many, many months of praying this novena, I’ve given up, having experienced great anxiety and sadness in God not delivering on the novenas promises. The last thing my mental health needs is another presence in my life, not delivering and helping. Broken promises just further add to the hurt and confusion.
I agree, when I prayed this novena, I would include in my own words telling Jesus, “I have the desire to surrender myself to you, I feel tied by the chains of worrying, fear, and other feelings and though I say the words I still feel them, my Lord you can do all things I give you my full consent to come and destroy these chains that are holding me back from you, free me so that I can live completely surrendered to you, for I am like an infant who can’t do nothing on my own, save me my Lord, I am yours.
Mary, I don’t know if you will see this reply 3 years after your comment. I hope that you were able to let go of worry abd fear at last since that is Jesus plea to us in His words. He does know how hard it is for us to do so and that is why he plainly states thos throughout the Novena. But it is Jesus intention that through repetitions of this Novena in response to His great promises contained within that we are able to surrender those emotions to Him and allow Him to … “take care of everything”.
Been going through it and lately more so than usual. Got an email from the Leaflet Missal. Wanted more info and found this site 🥰 This Absolutely made its way to me right on time. Just like Jesus always is 🙏To reminds me that we are never alone in or with anything because we are always with him and he is always with in us. Waiting. For the day we surrender, so he can take over and carry us home. I wasn’t at this place of peace 9 days ago. Just finished the novena today ❤️ Thank you, Jesus, for everything always 🙏
My husband and I found this Novena through an email I received from the Leaflet Missal. I did a google search to find out more about it and stumbled upon your blog post. Needless to say, it hit at the right time, and there is no coincidence when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
We have been struggling with the letting go of our plans for growing our family (dealing with infertility), and embracing the journey that we are currently on (almost 2 years into the adoption process). We have had heartache after heartache, disappointment after disappointment, but everything you touched on in your post rings true – God is still good, and He knows what’s best. Jeremiah 29:11 has been my “go to” verse since I was in high school, and it’s even more appropriate and telling now.
We have just started the Surrender Novena, and I honestly cannot get through it every day without tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, but I also feel a sense of peace as I wait on what the Lord has planned for us. There is pain in the night, but joy does come in the morning. I hold onto hope and faith that someday soon the Lord will provide us with the family we so desperately want and need.
Thank you for your post. ❤️
My brother shared this prayer with me. He received it from his mother-in-law after his wife passed away. I have prayed it several times. While I was a Christian my whole life, I never understood surrender. But I am starting to now and I can testify: I do feel like I was carried in His arms, finding myself like a child who has fallen asleep in my mother’s arms, on the other bank of the river.
My wife finished this novena today. We missed one or two days but we finished. I need to surrender since I have lost a career job in Sept and have had great difficulty finding another. We are in the midst of downsizing and leaving our beautiful home of 20 years which we raised four children. I am praying for a miracle because I feel despair at times. Help me surrender…bring on the miracles.
I hoped everything worked out for you. I’m starting this novena for the same reason.
Thank you, Taylor!!
Thank you so much, Taylor!
Thank you for this beautiful novena! I’ve been trying to have a more personal relationship with God, getting out of leaving “voicemails” and actually having a conversation, and this has helped me with that dialogue. I’ve found myself more eager to do my daily Lectio Divina and I started a devotional book I’ve been meaning to read called “Prayer for Beginners” by Peter Kreeft that has opened my heart to new ways of praying/why I should pray. Once again thank you and God bless you!💕
This is by far the easiest and most powerful novena I have ever experienced. You can ask for the right partner that is perfect for you and will love you properly to show up in your life, a job that will meet all of your needs best, the courage to go to confession and make asking for forgiveness for anything you are sorry for possible. Imagine asking for anything that will only be given to you if it will be good for you. Imagine all the things you might have chosen for yourself that never was meant to be, so did not work out.
You were born for a reason, find out what you were meant to do and who you were meant to share it with.
More than worth a try!!
Poignant thank you & God Bless