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Have you read The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whithall Smith? It's a Christian classic. She says the secret is to understand the difference between our part and God's part. He does the work; we surrender and trust Him. It's really a very good book, though I have heard one pastor whom I think a lot of bash the book. I never really agreed with him on his point, though I was young when I heard his criticism. I'd be interested in hearing it again. Anyway, one chapter of the book is called "The Chariots of God." In it she talks about how she prayed and prayed for patience because she didn't really have much. Then she found herself with this new and EXTREMELY irritating person in her life -- a fellow Christian. She just couldn't believe it. But then she realized that that woman was the answer to her prayer. She was there to teach her patience. God's chariot to carry her to deeper understanding. What the other poster was saying about trusting God reminded me of that book a little bit.

It has been a few years since I read it. She went out of her way to explain that God expected obedience from us, but that we were to trust Him to do the work through us. We repent. We surrender. We trust. God does the rest. That's how I remember it. It may not be exact.

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/hwsmith/haplife/content.htm

I'd much rather read Schaeffer, Spurgeon, Rosenius, (A Faithful Guide to Peace with God - exceedingly hard to find) CS Lewis (although there are disagreements I have there as well...) among others.

" After surrender, faith is important next."

Uh... can't surrender without faith FIRST.

But I agree with her assertion of putting faith (in God's Word) before feeling. Too often that is reversed nowadays.

" Once the surrender has been made, it never needs to be questioned."

Teaching eternal security or...? Do I never need to ask myself am I still surrendered? "Test yourself to see whether you are in the faith..."?

I dunno. Seems at first glance a bit simplistic. There is no secret to happiness. Faith is not dependent on feelings. She says so herself.

BTW she was a mystic too... I don't find their particular brand of Christianity Scriptural either. Not a big fan of the Holiness movement, either

this was an interesting article on Smith:
http://www.pfo.org/hwsmith.htm