Lysa Terkeurst says that if you can trust God with your doubts, you can trust Him with anything. I think she’s right.

When you’re having a hard time seeing the goodness of God in your life, you might have to look more broadly. She recommends looking for His goodness in the small things. Sure, we love it when the “big things” line up just the way we want, but that’s kind of a silly barometer for gauging the goodness of God. Even so, those smaller, daily reminders of His goodness and His provision are there if we have the eyes to see.

She also writes, “Trusting God is holding loosely the parts of my life I want to hold most tightly.” Our impulse — my impulse — is to try and cling tightly, to exert control. Anything less than this feels like quitting. And I wasn’t raised to be a quitter. And yet, how can it be quitting when you’re entrusting it to the Lord? Isn’t that the very definition of faithfulness?

Lysa says, “We can control our choices today, but we cannot control the outcomes of tomorrow.” All I can do is make wise choices today, trusting that God is in complete control.

When we seek control, it usually leads to absolute chaos and increased anxiety. But surrender leads us in the way of peace.

She mentions the practice of saying aloud what she’s surrendering. Verbalizing it this way:

“Lord I surrender this unexpected turn of events.”

“I surrender this disappointment.”

“I surrender my doubts about you or this circumstance.”

“I surrender how sad I feel today.”

One practical way to do this is to pray with your hands open, palms up. It helps us to physically act out that which we are surrendering at a soul level.