To New York Times best-selling author and former psychotherapist Kevin Malarkey, total surrender to God is a “beautiful defeat,” and he wants others to find purpose and hope through the surrendered life.

Releasing this month, A Beautiful Defeat: Find True Freedom and Purpose in Total Surrender to God (9781400206391, $16.99, Thomas Nelson), explains that what Malarkey calls a “messy” journey starts with bold honesty about oneself.

It is not true that “good” Christians do not wrestle with sin, asserts Malarkey, and so he adds that the important question is: Will we struggle well?

To model the honesty that’s needed in this process, Malarkey confesses some of his own not-so-tidy sins. He humbles himself, hoping to encourage others to do the same.

“I’m going to stake everything on the belief that our path to God is through and with our struggles, not by sidestepping or hiding them,” he writes.

His appeal for authenticity is the first of two calls in A Beautiful Defeat. Understanding the three sources of sin is imperative, says Malarkey. The Bible refers to these as the flesh, the world and Satan. Malarkey describes them as: “you, where you live, and who runs the place.”

The second call is for surrender. The author tells readers that the life God intends can only be realized after relinquishing control. Using many anecdotes, he offers 10 steps to the surrendered life, which “makes sense of the mess and is filled with richness and purpose for today … and hope for tomorrow.”

These steps include defining one’s mission, wearing spiritual armor and being part of a team. The crux of surrender is dying to self daily, says Malarkey, citing Luke 9:23. He refers to it as both “the most challenging teaching in the entire Bible” and “the central teaching of the Christian life.”

Above all, he stresses that the surrendered life is about letting go and trusting God with our circumstances and the results.

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