I know and I don't know

What helps you to surrender yourself into the trustworthy hands of God? (and I mean transformational surrender...not just words.) What helps bring you clarity and peace in times of confusion and angst, when you're waiting on God?

For me, one process that has helped me a lot has been to journal two lists...an "I know" list and a "I don't know" list.

Lists like these helped me about six years ago when I was in the fog but knowing that I was in the middle of a call process from God. Lists like these help me navigate and discern as I prioritize what God wants me to be doing with my days this school year. Lists like these are helping me now as I try to navigate a complex relationship. I write out what I know to be true...emotions that I'm experiencing, observations that I'm making, impressions God is giving to me, words that people have spoken on the subject that have been sticking with me, Scripture that is convicting or speaking to me, questions that I know I'm asking, change that I know is needed, awareness and insights I'm gaining, etc...

And I write out a list of the angst and confusion that is making up the I don't know's. Questions that I'm asking, fears or hurts that I might not know how to get past, stumbling blocks or obstacles that seem unsolvable and stubborn, decisions I'm having trouble with, contradictions that I'm experiencing, forward movement that I don't know how to make except by the very grace and power of God.

These lists help me. They help me gain clarity. God uses them to help me pray and wait well, to know what He wants to teach me, to know what steps I might need to take, what I need to confess and repent of, and what I might need to release and accept. Try these lists sometime when you're in the midst of a season of unrest, decision making, or testing. These lists seem to help me to better live out this quote that you might also be familiar with, known as the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr