ON PURPOSE: The Rogue Report: Trading Control for Calling When Surrender Becomes an Act of Obedience

Volume 1 • Edition 7 | Wednesday, August 19, 2026

GO ROGUE ROADMAP | O — OBEDIENCE

How much energy do you spend trying to control every detail of your life?

We plan the timeline.

Anticipate every possible outcome.

Try to fix problems before they even happen.

Rehearse conversations that haven’t occurred.

And sometimes we hold so tightly to how we think things should unfold that we exhaust ourselves trying to manage things that were never ours to control.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Sometimes control is fear dressed up as responsibility.

As we continue through O — Obedience in The Go Rogue Roadmap, we’ve already talked about choosing divine alignment over personal comfort and moving when God says move.

But there’s another part of obedience we can’t ignore:

What happens after you move?

Can you obey God—and then trust Him enough to release the outcome?

This week, we’re making one of the most difficult and freeing trades of all:

Trading Control for Calling.

The Illusion of Control

Control feels safe because predictability feels safe.

We tell ourselves:

“If I plan enough, nothing will catch me off guard.”

“If I keep my hands on everything, nothing will fall apart.”

“If I can just figure out the next five steps, I’ll finally have peace.”

But control rarely gives us the peace it promises.

Instead, it often gives us another responsibility to carry.

Another scenario to analyze.

Another outcome to manage.

Another reason to worry.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with planning, preparing, or being responsible. Wisdom requires us to do our part.

But obedience requires knowing where our responsibility ends and God’s sovereignty begins.

Proverbs 3:5–6 reminds us:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Notice that Scripture doesn’t tell us to stop thinking.

It tells us not to make our own understanding the thing we trust most.

That’s the difference.

We prepare.

We pray.

We make wise decisions.

We take the next step.

And then?

We release our demand to control how everything turns out.

“You cannot experience the fullness of your calling while trying to control the terms of your surrender.”

What Happens When You Trade Control for Calling?

Surrender isn’t giving up.

It isn’t becoming passive.

And it certainly isn’t ignoring responsibilities and saying, “God will handle it.”

Surrender means doing what is yours to do without trying to do what belongs to God.

That’s a completely different posture.

1. You Exchange Anxious Striving for Peace

There is tremendous freedom in realizing:

I don’t have to have every answer today.

Your responsibility is obedience to the step in front of you.

You can prepare without obsessing.

You can care without controlling.

You can work toward something without allowing the outcome to determine your peace.

Sometimes the most obedient thing you can say is:

“God, I’ve done what You’ve asked me to do. The rest belongs to You.”

2. You Stop Forcing What Isn’t Flowing

Whew.

Some of us have spent entirely too much energy trying to resuscitate things God may be allowing to end.

The relationship.

The opportunity.

The plan.

The timeline.

The version of ourselves we thought we’d become.

Not every closed door is rejection.

Sometimes it’s redirection.

Sometimes it’s protection.

And sometimes it’s simply an invitation to stop forcing something that no longer aligns with where you’re going.

Discernment matters here. A difficult door isn’t automatically a closed door from God.

But when you’ve prayed, sought wisdom, done your part, and peace keeps leading you elsewhere, perhaps the question isn’t:

“How can I make this work?”

Perhaps it’s:

“God, what are You trying to show me?”

3. You Make Room for Something You Couldn’t Have Planned

Our plans are built from what we already know.

God isn’t limited by what we’ve already seen.

Sometimes we become so attached to our version of the blessing that we don’t recognize the answer because it arrives differently than we imagined.

Different timing.

Different opportunity.

Different relationship.

Different route.

Different beginning.

That’s why surrender requires open hands.

You cannot receive something new while gripping tightly to the way you decided it had to happen.

Sometimes Your Body Needs Permission to Be Still

Here’s another thing I’m learning about surrender:

You can’t talk about releasing control without talking about rest.

When you’ve spent your entire day anticipating, managing, fixing, producing, caregiving, leading, and making decisions, simply becoming still can feel uncomfortable.

Your mind immediately starts:

What am I forgetting?

What needs to be done?

Who needs me?

What’s next?

But sacred self-care gives us permission to step away from constant doing.

For one woman, that may mean prayer and journaling.

For another, a quiet walk.

A warm bath.

Turning off the phone.

Sitting outside.

Or incorporating a personal wellness ritual such as a warm yoni steam with calming botanicals as intentional time for stillness and reflection.

The ritual itself isn’t surrender.

The posture is.

It’s intentionally creating a moment where you don’t have to fix anything.

You don’t have to produce anything.

You don’t have to have the answer.

You can simply breathe, pray, reflect, and remind yourself:

Everything does not require my hands on it.

The Open-Hand Practice

Take a moment and make a fist.

Seriously.

Clench it.

Notice how much effort it takes to keep your hand tightly closed.

Now open it.

That’s surrender.

The situation may still exist.

The unanswered question may still be unanswered.

The outcome may still be uncertain.

But your posture has changed.

And sometimes that’s where peace begins.

Not when everything gets resolved.

When you decide you no longer have to control everything in order to trust God.

💡 Your Surrender Shift for This Week

1. Spot the White-Knuckle Grip

Where are you exhausting yourself trying to control an outcome?

Name it honestly.

2. Separate Responsibility From Control

Ask yourself:

What is actually mine to do here?

Do that.

Then identify what isn’t yours to carry.

3. Practice the Open Hand

Write the situation on a piece of paper.

Pray over it.

Then physically put the paper down.

Let that simple action symbolize:

“God, I’m giving this back to You.”

4. Redirect Your Energy

Take the energy you’ve been spending worrying about tomorrow and invest it into what is actually in front of you today.

Your calling doesn’t need you obsessing over every possible outcome.

It needs you present for today’s assignment.

Maybe that’s the real lesson of obedience.

Last week, we said:

When God says move… move.

This week we’re adding:

And after you move, don’t grab the steering wheel back because you don’t like how quickly God is driving.

We cannot surrender only when the outcome looks like the one we envisioned.

That’s not surrender.

That’s negotiation.

Open your hands.

Do your part.

Release the timeline.

Release the need to know.

Release the outcome.

And trust the One who called you in the first place.

You don’t have to control the journey to be called to it.

✨ Let’s Go Rogue.

👑 GO ROGUE REMINDER

Release what no longer serves you.
Obey what God is calling you to do.
Grow into the woman He created you to become.

Be Great On Purpose.

By Dr. Nakia L. Davis, DHA, MSN, BSN, RN
Founder, Strength In Her