For me, the concept of SA surrender calls to mind the image of a balloon being inflated. As air surges into the balloon, a battle begins. The air, called lust, says, “Ever see a balloon burst? It doesn’t have a small, neat hole in it. It is totally blown apart. I’m going to burst you into tatters and shreds.”

The balloon says, “I’m going to keep my perfect form so that not even the tiniest hole mars my appearance. Furthermore, in doing so, I will compress you, air, into a tiny, unnoticeable space inside me. You will be impotent and unseen!”

The battle begins. As air is pumped into the balloon, it starts to feel an unbearable pressure until it is stretched to its absolute limit. Finally, it knows it will explode into pieces at any second. The fear of this is overwhelming. Then, out of the corner of its eye, it glimpses God in the form of a long shiny needle. This is naturally unnerving and threatening to a balloon, but it knows this is a caring needle which, if invited, can penetrate its neck so gently and carefully that it can let out the air while making only the tiniest, invisible holes.

“But this would be giving up. This would be losing. Wouldn’t that make the air the winner? Well, it certainly wouldn’t be getting its way by blowing me to pieces,” the balloon thinks.

In an instant it is done. And the relief, the letdown of stress that begins slowly but steadily is so much better than its alternative! And the balloon just lies there with a needle sticking in it, able to see all its innermost dark secrets, and yet not be destroyed.

This begins to feel like winning.