Divine Surgery Series: When God Removes What You Won’t – Part I

Week 1: Release — The Leadership Lesson Inside the Disruption

Twelve hours before attending a wedding out of town, I found myself being rushed to the emergency room for an unexpected appendectomy. My husband and I flew into town on Friday. By early Saturday morning—around 1 a.m.—I was doubled over in pain, unable to stand, and telling my husband to call 911. What we thought was a simple weekend getaway suddenly shifted into an ambulance ride, an ER intake, and an abdominal scan that revealed an inflamed appendix requiring immediate removal. I never made it to the wedding.

That moment became the beginning of Divine Surgery—not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally as well. A physical interruption that exposed a deeper spiritual truth.

🌿The Hidden Danger You Don’t Feel Until It’s Critical

An inflamed appendix doesn’t announce itself.
It doesn’t ask permission.
It doesn’t give a warning.
It sits quietly beneath the surface…until it can’t.

You don’t always recognize the danger because the damage begins internally.

Leadership has its own form of silent inflammation.

It begins quietly — in places we’ve learned to function through rather than address:

• mindsets we outgrew but never changed
• relationships that drain more than they develop
• responsibilities carried out of habit, not calling
• expectations inherited, not discerned
• internal pressures we normalize

Silent inflammation starts in our thinking, and when the roots go unaddressed, the
symptoms eventually spill out:

• irritability
• exhaustion
• loss of clarity
• shrinking confidence
• people-pleasing

These symptoms don’t erupt all at once.
They leak.
They whisper.
They warn.

And just like my appendix, internal inflammation doesn’t resolve with time —
it requires removal, not management.

“God removes what you won’t.
Not to punish you.
To preserve you.”

Lying in that hospital bed, I realized something profound:
God doesn’t just heal what hurts — sometimes He heals by removing what
you didn’t recognize was harming you.

Because when the symptoms don’t get your attention,
God addresses what you couldn’t — or wouldn’t — confront.

He removes:
✔ people who drain you
✔ environments that shrink you
✔ assignments that no longer align
✔ hustle mindsets that block rest
✔ wounds disguised as “strength”
✔ attachments formed out of insecurity

“When God removes something, He is not stripping you — He is sparing
you.”

🌿Divine Disruption Is Still Mercy

In that ER, the surgeon was direct:

“The quickest way out of the hospital is to have the surgery.”
There was no negotiating with the reality of my condition.

And the Holy Spirit whispered something that humbled me:
“This is what I do with leaders. I remove what is harmful before it becomes fatal to
your purpose.”

Divine Surgery interrupts you…to protect you.

We often call it:

• loss
• setback
• disappointment
• disruption
• timing gone wrong

But sometimes it is none of those things.
Sometimes it is mercy.

Sometimes God steps in to do what you won’t:

• End a relationship you would’ve kept out of loyalty
• Close a door you wouldn’t walk through without a push
• Remove an assignment you were too committed to release
• Expose a pattern you minimized
• Interrupt a pace you could not sustain
• Reveal a wound you kept performing over

“Divine removal is not punishment. It is preservation.”

🌿Leaders Struggle Most With Letting Go

We often cling hardest to the things God is trying to release:

• Familiar responsibilities
• Old versions of ourselves
• Overcommitment disguised as service
• Roles we’ve outgrown
• Teams we try to carry alone
• Emotional armor that no longer fits
• Expectations that exhaust us

But this is the leadership truth no one teaches:

You cannot walk into a healed season with infected attachments.

Some things must be removed so leadership doesn’t collapse under their weight.
Some things cannot go with you into the next season.

🌿Release Is Not Loss — It’s Preparation

The removal felt abrupt. But it was protection.
The healing felt slow. But it was preparation.
The recovery required rest. But it was a reformation.

Transformation begins with surrender — not striving.

If God Is Removing Something… Trust Him.

He removes what threatens your stability.
He removes what distorts your identity.
He removes what blocks your destiny.
He removes what your heart may want, but your purpose can no longer carry.

Trust His hands.
Trust His timing.
Trust His surgery.

Because in every instance, God has shown me:

Before elevation, there is extraction.
Before clarity, there is cleansing.
Before the next assignment, there is alignment.

“Release Always Precedes Renewal”

The removal is not the end of the story—it’s the beginning of healing.

Divine Surgery taught me:
Before God elevates your season, He removes what threatens your
wholeness and hinders your progress.

This is not just healing. It is leadership formation.

In leadership, healing is not personal—it’s foundational. Unhealed areas always
show up in how we lead.

🌿Your Body, Your Leadership, and Your Calling Share a Truth

They all respond the same way to what doesn’t belong.
They signal discomfort.
They warn you through symptoms.
They tighten under pressure.
They exhaust themselves trying to compensate.

The question is: Do you pause long enough to notice?

God used my appendectomy to teach me this:
You are too valuable to lead infected.

Too called to lead distracted.
Too anointed to lead misaligned.

Divine Surgery is God’s invitation to stop functioning through pain and
start leading from healing.

Removal is only the first step.

The next phase of Divine Surgery is where the true transformation begins:

Rest.
Stillness.
Reflection.
Identity reset.
Alignment.

We’ll explore that in Week 2.

What is God asking you to release so He can protect your purpose and elevate your
leadership?

This is how God prepares leaders for the next level—through removal that protects,
preserves, and positions.

Where have you felt God removing or realigning something in your life or
leadership?

If this article resonated with you and you’re sensing a release happening in your
own leadership journey, I’m launching a beta cohort in January using The Scarlet
Thread Framework™ to guide women from shame to sanctuary. DM me
“INTERESTED” for early details.

Anchor Scripture
‘Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward
the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’
— Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)