Many Quaker leaders in previous generations wrote “journals” as personal accounts of their lives and ministry. Often these journals begin with accounts of conversion experiences (usually referred to as “convincement” among Friends) or of early struggles to discover and hear God’s calling inviting them into deeper levels of faithfulness & work for the Lord. Often these struggles involved a great deal of spiritual turmoil.

Being a Friend takes an enormous leap of faith, a willingness to let go of one’s own fears and agendas and to lean utterly on God. There are many barriers to making this kind of whole-hearted commitment to live one’s life faithfully in God. Some struggle with a deep sense of unworthiness. Others are trapped in addictions. Still others feel arrogant and self-sufficient in their own powers and capacity to “make it” on their own.

Historical writings

Isaac Penington wrote a passage on willingness. A shorter excerpt beginning “Give over thine own willing…” is often included in Quaker disciplines. Here is a longer excerpt: Isaac Penington on Willingness. Paulette Meier set this passage to plainsong as Give Over Thine Own Willing.

What is open-heartedness?

Thomas Kelly in his 1939 William Penn Lecture to Philadelphia YM (Orthodox) entitled Holy Obedience describes the path giving one’s whole life to faithfulness to one’s Inward Teacher.

In 1990, Jan Hoffman delivered a talk to New York Friends entitled To Temper Our Spirits into Swords of Peace: Meditations on Truth, Transformation, and Healing. She describes what she has learned about the process of tempering leading to healing.

The late Christian psychiatrist, Gerald (“Jerry”) May, a teacher at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, described this process in his book, Will and Spirit. The book describes in detail two sharply contrasting ways of living and relating to God that May labels “willingness” versus “willfulness”.

Peter Blood gave a talk in 2005 at the FGC Annual Gathering in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Throwing Open the Doors to My Heart.

Letting Go & Letting God

Empire teaches us that we need to be in control if things are going to turn out well. It teaches us to mistrust others’ gifts and leadership—and even our own gifts if we let go and allow God to guide us without trying to “figure everything out”.

Dan Wilson wrote two pamphlets on the journey to willingness.

  • His 1951 Pendle Hill pamphlet The Promise of Deliverance: “As we follow the Light each step of the way, new opportunities will open, new sacrifices will be asked, but as we respond, new power to live experimentally will be given.”
  • His 1961 pamphlet An Opening Way: “The door that opens into the more abundant life, opens when we are open.”

Lisa Graustein gave a message on “Leaning In & Letting Go” at Three Rivers Meeting.

“Let go and let God” is a slogan of the Twelve Steps approach to recovery from addictions. This arises from Step 3, “We made a decision to turn over our will and our lives to the care of God as we understood God.” Here is an article on the 3rd Step from Alcoholics Anonymous.

Elements of Our Spiritual Journey

Traditionally Friends wrote about several stages of one’s personal journey with God. One way these have often been described has been:

  • Conviction: A sense that something is deeply missing in one’s life
  • Convincement: A decision to pursue one’s spiritual journey with Friends
  • Conversion: A stage of far deeper willingness to transform one’s whole life in oneness with the Divine Teacher

Marcelle Martin in her book Our Life Is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey describes ten elements of the spiritual journey of Friends. She emphasizes that these are not actual stages as Friends may move in and out of different elements at different periods of their spiritual journey to intimacy with God. She groups these stages as follows: 

  • Awakening
    • Longing
    • Seeking
    • Turning Within
  • Convincement
    • Openings
    • The Refiner’s Fire
    • Community
  • Faithfulness
    • Leadings
    • The Cross
    • Abiding
    • Perfection

Her book includes a wealth of writings by both early Friends and modern Friends on each of these ten elements.

Empire’s Wounds as Barriers 

Paul exhorts us in Romans 2:2 to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. He says: “Do not conform yourselves to the patterns of this present world. but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can discern what is God’s will and good and perfect.” 

Those is society who have been given power in the systems of this world or “Empire” (such as men, those of European descent, those of higher social and economic class, etc.) are strongly socialized to feel that they have the right and duty to exercise control over others. This makes letting go of control and letting God rule one’s life more challenging. 

Here is a discussion of some of the unique issues facing men in a patriarchal society such as exists in much of the world: Spiritual Challenges Facing Men.