Have you ever noticed that a lot of people come to God when life gets hard — but when life stays hard, they start to drift? And I think it's because no one ever told them what following Him would actually cost. Because  Jesus never promised it would be easy. But He did promise it would be worth it. Today I'm sharing 3 real costs of surrendering your life to God — and why He is worth every single one. Enjoy!

Let me ask you something. Have you ever listened to a business coach or an entrepreneur talk about how much money they make? They love to talk about revenue — gross revenue especially. How much they brought in total. But what they don't always talk about is expenses. Because if you made $100,000 but it cost you $95,000 to make it, you only walked away with $5,000. But someone who made $20,000 and only spent $2,000 actually walked away with more, $18,000. What actually matters is the profit — what's left over after everything has been accounted for. And I think it's the a really honest way to talk about what it means to truly follow Jesus.

A lot of us came to faith hearing about the benefits — and they are real. Forgiveness. Peace. Purpose. A God who loves you unconditionally. And none of that is exaggerated. But somewhere along the way, for a lot of women, no one sat down and explained the full picture. So when hard seasons came — when following God meant making an unpopular decision, or walking through something painful, or feeling alone in their faith — they weren't prepared. And Jesus in the Bible actually describes exactly what happens when that occurs. In the parable of the sower, He talks about people who receive the Word with joy, but because they have no root, the moment trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, they fall away immediately. No root means no staying power.

And this is why Jesus — before He ever asked anyone to follow Him — said this in Luke 14:28: "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?" Count the cost first. Not to scare you away. Not to make following God feel like a burden. But because He is honest, and He loves you too much to let you walk into a life with Him unprepared.

I want to be clear about something before we dive in: I am not talking about earning your salvation. Salvation is a gift. Jesus paid that price on the cross and it is finished. What I'm talking about is discipleship — what it looks like to truly follow Jesus, not just in title, but in your heart and in your everyday life.

So when we talk about counting the cost, here's how I want you to think about it. Jesus is the revenue — and He is more than enough. A surrendered life is the cost. And the profit? Your soul saved, your life transformed, and an eternity with God. No matter how you look at it, that is the greatest return you will ever receive. So we're not counting the cost to be discouraged by it — we're counting it so we can hold it up next to who Jesus is and say with full confidence: He is worth it. Every single time.

And the first cost — the one I think most of us feel the deepest — is the cost of our plans.

3 Cost to Consider to be a Follower of Christ

Cost #1: Your Plans and Your Will

One of the first costs we have to pay to truly be a disciple of Jesus is the cost of our plans and our expectations.

When we look at Jesus calling the disciples to follow Him, they had to put down and let go of the life they had known up to that point. They were fishermen. Tax collectors. They had jobs, families, and responsibilities — and how all of that looked changed drastically the moment they chose to follow Jesus. When I was younger reading those verses, I don't think I ever really sat with what it cost them to let go of their lives as they knew it. But being an adult now, understanding what it means to manage a household, hold down a career, and support a family — I get it. That was a real cost. It probably impacted their relationships. It probably disrupted their plans for the future. And yet, they considered Jesus worth it.

Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." God's purpose is always going to be greater than our plans. The problem is we hold onto our plans so tightly that instead of sacrificing them to God, we end up sacrificing the very purpose God has for us. And we see what happened when the disciples chose differently — the lives they led, the people they brought to Christ, the family members who came to salvation because they decided to surrender. That matters.

Our challenge, though, is that we don't always trust God's plans. We doubt whether He actually has a purpose for us. But in Jeremiah 29:11, God says, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." We craft these picture-perfect lives in our minds — what we think life should look like, how things should turn out, what will finally make us happy. And Jesus gently but clearly tells us: He is the way. Even if it means giving up the plans we thought would get us there. Especially if it means that.

I understand the heartbreak of letting go of an expectation. The ache of a dream unrealized. But God gives us hope in knowing that what He has for us is greater than what we've planned for ourselves. Surrender isn't losing yourself. It's becoming more of who God called you to be all along. I thought I was going to be a single woman living in a high-rise condo with a little puppy. I am a stay-at-home mom of two in the suburbs who drives an SUV — and I would not have it any other way. God was right. His plan is always better. There is no better place to be than in the will of God, even if it means giving up your plans. Especially if it does.

Cost #2: Being Understood by the World

Now, once we've surrendered our plans, we have to be prepared for what comes next — because the second cost of total surrender is being misunderstood and rejected by the world.

1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." The thing about being a light for Christ is that you are going to stand out. People are going to look at the decisions you make, the things you say, the way you live — and they are going to think you're different. And honestly? That's kind of the point. God wants you to stand out. He wants to draw people to you so He can draw them to Himself. If you look like everyone else, if you do what everyone else does, you're not following Him — you're following the world. And we know where the world is headed.

Following Jesus means making decisions that don't align with the systems of this world. It means speaking truth that the majority doesn't agree with. It means being misunderstood. It means, sometimes, being rejected. And Jesus doesn't hide this from us. He warned His disciples — and He warns us — that the world will reject you. But here is the truth you need to hold onto: you have been accepted by God. In Galatians 1, the apostle Paul cuts right to it — "Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?" We have to be willing to sacrifice the approval of the world to truly follow God. And when that rejection comes, I need you to hear me on this — it is not a negative sign about who you are. It is confirmation that you are aligned with God. It means you made the right choice.

Cost #3: Seasons of Loneliness and Isolation

And that leads us to the third cost — one that we experience often but don't talk about nearly enough. And that is seasons of loneliness and isolation.

As you stand out in the world and walk the narrow path of following Jesus, you are going to find that not many people are walking beside you. Yes, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians. But like my great-grandfather always said — every Christian ain't a Christian. Many are Christian in title but not in how they truly live and surrender to Jesus. That's why in Matthew 7:14 Jesus says, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." If you are truly a disciple of Jesus, truly following His ways, there are going to be moments on that path where it feels like you are walking alone.

I think about Elijah in the Bible. After standing boldly against the prophets of Baal, he found himself threatened by Queen Jezebel and ran — discouraged to the point of wanting to die. He told God, "I am the only one left." He wasn't just spiritually depleted. He was lonely. But God reminded him that He had preserved a remnant — thousands who had not bowed down to Baal. You are not as alone as the enemy wants you to believe.

And while you will experience seasons of loneliness and isolation, I want you to know that God uses those seasons for two very specific reasons. The first is to hide you and protect you. There was a three-year period in Elijah's life where God hid him — not to punish him, but to preserve him, because He still had a purpose for him. God may be hiding you right now for the same reason. The second reason is to build you. Even Jesus withdrew from the crowds. Luke 5:16 says, "He would withdraw to desolate places and pray." Those lonely seasons are not punishment. They are protection and preparation. God loves you too much to send you out unprepared.

Do not settle for the presence of the world by sacrificing the presence of God. The world will always ask for more, always need more, and will leave the moment you stop performing for it. But God's presence? It doesn't just comfort you. It changes you. Don't despise that lonely season — it is your training ground.

So as we bring this all together, I want to share something that has always stayed with me. In 2 Samuel 24:24, King David was offered the threshing floor for free to make a sacrifice to God, and he refused. He said, "I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." David understood something that I pray we all come to understand — there is power in a sacrifice that costs you something, because you know that what you're receiving is greater than what you're giving up.

The disciples came to understand this too. There was a moment when Jesus said something the crowds didn't like and they began to walk away. Jesus turned to His disciples and asked, "Do you want to go away as well?" And they answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" They had walked far from everything they gave up to follow Him. But they had walked with Him long enough to know that nothing in this world could outweigh staying by His side. And the longer you walk with Jesus, the more that becomes your answer too.

Even if your plans worked out perfectly. Even if the world loved and accepted you. Even if you never experienced a single season of loneliness. If you had all of that but you didn't have Jesus — would it be worth it?

King David, one of the wealthiest kings in history, looked at everything he had and concluded in Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you." He counted the cost and said — God is still worth it.

The apostle Paul, in Philippians 3, lists out everything he had accomplished — his education, his lineage, his reputation. Things that meant something. And he looked at all of it and said, "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Even fellowshipping with Him in suffering. He said, knowing God matters more than anything I have ever accomplished in this world. The cost was worth it.

And at some point, every one of us has to come to that same place. We have to look at our degrees, our dreams, our desire to be married or build a business or live out the plans we've been holding onto — and we have to ask ourselves: Is Christ worth more than all of it? Have you counted the cost?

I'm 40 years old and I've been walking with Christ long enough to know that I've had seasons where the cares of this world choked out the truth of God in my life. Where I chased something I was convinced would make me happy, only to find it hollow. And what I keep coming back to is this — at the end of the day, all I really want is Jesus. That longing, that emptiness, that hole that nothing in this world seems to fill? Only He can fill it.

The cost is real. But so is He. And He is worth it.

True surrender means releasing not just our plans, but our worry too — and that is so much easier said than done. If worry is something you wrestle with, I created a free Worry-Free Bible Study just for you to help you find real peace in God's Word. Download it free now at belovedwomen.org or in the Beloved Women app.

Thanks so much for watching today and until next time be beautiful, be blessed, and beloved.