Think it, be it

Have you ever had a moment where you wanted to quote yourself? I had one of those today. I was texting my friend about some personal stuff and I had a few revelations. Let me just type them out for you...

"Grace and forgiveness are things we need a better understanding of. If we truly understood those two things we wouldn't beat ourselves up over stuff and we would be able to move on and receive God's best for us because we would know we are worth it and we deserve it. But because we don't accept God's grace we live with this feeling of inadequacy, always reverting back to what we know is unhealthy because we feel that it's all we deserve."

Now, how many of you can identify with that? The mind is a curious thing. Your greatest asset and yet your worst enemy. You can either use your mind or let it use you. If you don't control your thoughts, they will dictate who you are. Who you think you are is who you will be. Take a second and listen to your thoughts. We don't do that often enough. Take a little listen to the things you say to yourself. Are they positive and encouraging? Are they pessimistic? Angry? Depressed? Spiteful? Do they build you up or tear you down? Your thoughts have so much power and most of us don't use them to our advantage, we let them direct us.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Now that tells us that we do in fact have the ability to control our thoughts. And our thoughts have a huge impact on our feelings and emotions, which in turn dictate what we say and do. Now who would love to able to control what comes out of their mouth more effectively? It's like the toothpaste analogy, once you squeeze it out you can't get it back in! You can't take back the things you say, no matter how hard you try. I would love to be able to completely control the things I say. It all starts in your thought life.

Now, how do you start controlling your thought life? Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." How do you renew your mind? You read His Word. You put good things into your head rather than worldly things. Try turning off the radio for a while. What you see is what you'll think about. What you hear is what you'll think about. What are you looking at? What are you listening to? You have the ability to control those things, which means you have the ability to control your thought life. This isn't to say that we should always be in control of everything, because ultimately God is the one in control. But He has given us the ability to guard our minds and our hearts by using our own God-given discretion.

How is your thought life these days?

A friend of mine said today, "I have to talk myself up because I can't count on other people to make me feel good about myself." I think that's a lot of people's mentalities, and yet, we still judge ourselves and beat ourselves up over the past. Over our flaws. Over our bad decisions. I say it's time to move on, move forward. To forget what is behind and press on toward what is ahead, as Paul states in Philippians. Let's stop thinking about the negative and focus on the positive.

My challenge for you: How are you going to begin to [or more closely] monitor your thought life?

You can do it, I believe in you! Start small, but start now. Don't wait. Remember, the turtle won the race! Keep it slow and steady. =)

Faith.Hope.Love.
Chelsea Rae