What do you do when trusting God means letting go of the answers you want?
Building on her message at Hillsong Conference 2026, Danielle Jeyaratnam, Lead Pastor of Hillsong New York, sits down with Shekeinah Hill to talk about what surrender actually looks like in everyday life. Danielle has said some big yeses, from the Hills to City, to Perth, to New York. But this conversation is about the yeses nobody saw. A self-confessed control freak who likes to know every detail, she talks honestly about fear, trust, slowing down and learning to rely on God when the explanations don't come.
✨ Key Themes- Surrender is trust, not loss: an active leaning into Jesus, even when every yes means saying goodbye to something.
- A thousand little yeses: the small, unseen choices that shaped Danielle long before the big moves.
- Surrendering fear: from staying home to avoid rejection to never saying no to a God-breathed opportunity out of fear.
- Slowing down: why stillness in God's presence became key to discerning what's next.
- Unanswered questions: what helps her keep trusting when life doesn't go to plan.
- "Our kingdom come": her daughter's Lord's Prayer mix-up, and the quiet signs we're building our own kingdom.
- A family's yes: raising four daughters through a life of moves, goodbyes and following Jesus.
📖 Scripture References- Isaiah 55:8–9: God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours
- Matthew 6:10: "Your kingdom come, your will be done"
- Philippians
1:21 + Luke 9:23: surrender always involves dying to something
- Matthew 6:24: we can't serve two masters
💬 Quotes"We all surrender to something, or someone. It's just who do we choose that to be." – Danielle
"Trust sounds so beautiful until you're living with unanswered questions." – Shekeinah
"If we don't slow down enough to listen to the voice of God, how can we possibly discern whether the next step is the thing that we should be doing?" – Danielle
"I can trust that God does, even when I can't see." – Danielle
🚶 Next Steps- Answer Danielle's question: what's one area of your life where God is asking you to surrender?
- Pray the Lord's Prayer slowly and notice where "your" quietly means "mine".
- Make space this week to be still before God, not just to talk.
- Say one small yes you've been avoiding out of fear.
- Share this with someone walking through a harder season.
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