Thoughts.

Who we are is comprised of our thoughts.  Recently I have been listening to a favorite author of mine. Dr Caroline Leaf, a NeuroScientist. https://drleaf.com/.  Her research is on our thoughts and the how they impact our life. Based in Science yet validated by the Word:  Philippians 4: 8-9.

This morning as an event unfolded I “felt” discouraged and sad. Attempting to regain my focus I thought about how “words” that trigger feelings and thoughts can just shut you down.   So, I choose to sit outside on this beautiful sunny day and in the heavy mist of sadness start praising God for his Goodness.  Within minutes the bird feeder I recently placed in to the yard had a little feathered friends come to visit.  I was beginning to become discouraged since putting up the bird feeder that the birds didn’t know it was there ! There they were, the bird feeder was coming to life.  

Like  a gift from heaven, with perfect timing in the breeze of praising God dispute my sadness a burst of peace flooded my being. My thoughts were directed to the birds and it changed my emotions.   

This prompted this analogy:

Some times our “thoughts” are negative - toxic. Thoughts are like yarn we are crocheting or knitting in the fabric of our life. Yes,  somewhat like when I am crocheting and the yarn becomes tangled. 

Yes, tangled yarn…. A unhealthy thought or reaction to words that trigger unconscious negative … feelings. But the Gift God has given us is “CHOICE”.  To take that tangled yarn and begin to unwind it… sometimes it needs patience and time to detangle, there are times we just need God to intervene and heal. But when it is untwisted and detangled it then can be “crocheted” into something beautiful and useful. 

What I am learning, by reading and listening to Dr Leaf, is that just “stuffing” our twisted up yard and not dealing with it can be toxic for our body and overall being.    (Dr Leaf talks explains our thoughts are Trees and her research validates how thoughts can change brain cells)

Our thoughts can be hijacked … yes,  Scripturally, we “wrestle against spiritual forces”.  Yes, it is something we must reckon with.  It is truth. Yes, we are body and mind… but how ignorant we are when we forget we are spiritual beings.  

Our “thoughts” are who we are, it is our spiritual being. 

So powerful are our thoughts.   The other day I wished I could have God just send me a transcript of my thoughts from the time I awoke until I lay my head on the pillow. Incredibly powerful if we had such an opportunity to review our thought life for the day.  How many thoughts were twisted yarn? Did I even recognize the twisted yarn being stuffed away in my brain?

Well,  you’ve now heard the rambling of someone who starts each day with one prayer. God help me to bring Glory to your name by my deeds, actions, words and ….thoughts!

Just Me Talking

Ciao

 Lessons to be learned.  “There is value to every situation we face, good or bad if… IF we choose to learn and grow from what we experience”.  For instance,  What I have  experience through a myriad of emotions these past few weeks is empowering. Well, that is my choice to use the word “empowering”.  The antonym is debilitating.  That’s not happening to me.  My Choice. I can’t control what happens around me. I can’t control that despite all efforts my body is aging and susceptible to disease and illness. BUT I can control my thoughts.  I can take the negative and embrace it, not fight it, not stuff it away, not ignore it but…. Re-Frame it. Hold it up to Scripture (very powerful). Exercise my Faith and Trust in God’s promises.  Yes, become empowered and at peace.  

Now believe me when I say it’s work.  It is about self awareness.  It is about keeping focus and not being caught off guard.  But when you hear something that feels like ….. well, I recall playing dodge ball and having the ball strike me in the stomach so hard that I lost my breath.  Something like that.  Like being hit in the stomach and losing my breath. And even as I struggled to catch my breath the reverberation seemed to cause me to be paralyzed to where the thought of even calling upon God - feeling so let down- was not there. Shocking experience.  TIME.   That’s all I can say is it does take time to recover. Not much different than loosing a spouse. The disbelief is extraordinary.  But in time, healing takes place and your able to move again. 

Well, I got a little off track. The point is take those sad, negative and sometimes frightening experiences and when the thought occur, as they will, Embrace the thought and then re-weave it into the tapestry of your life. What did you learn about yourself from the negative experience? What did you learn about life?

Don’t let the devil hijack your thoughts.  When the dark ugly fearful thoughts enter your mind, and they will, capture them!  See them for what they are…. A tool of taking you down. Counter those thoughts with: Scriptures.  For instance, when a fearful thought enters Speak “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the World”  “For we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord”. 

Toxic thoughts seek to destroy us.  

Think on these things, whatsoever is true, lovely and of good report….. Yes, another scripture.

Lesson learned. Empower yourself by taking control of your thoughts.

Salute,

Me

 Day 22 - three weeks +1 day

I write to remember. I choose to be reminded. I desire to learn from my experiences. I hope and pray to grow in my walk with the Lord.

Reading the book of Judges.  Oh my, so much to digest and in disbelief what took place in the Old Testament. The history of events. Again, “remember, be reminded, learn, grow” or life is futile.

The Lord freed the Jews from slavery and then history says how many times they “forgot” what God did for them and they sought other Gods. The word of God clearly speaks of God being Angry.  Testing his people. A constant theme of the God of the universe wanting to have a relationship with us and  Oh what a struggle. Well, read the Old Testament and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  I chuckle for a nano second how true it is. History repeats itself. Today, God through his mercy, grace and love has given us so much and yet how many Christians are walking in the world. Trying to fit in. Worshiping idol (ok, worshipping is a strong word… how about giving 99% of their attention to pursuing the things of the world. Success, finances, fame… ya know),  Yes, we get so caught up in “our life”, not making God a priority - Praying, worshiping, reading His word. Yes, forgetting to keep Him in the center of our thoughts, words and actions. Let me say that again, “Keeping Him in the center of our thoughts, words and actions”. That is true Love.

I read the Old Testament  to remember. I choose to be reminded. I desire to learn from the experiences of those in the Old Testament . I hope and pray because of what I choose (reading Gods word) I  grow in my walk with the Lord.

Learning from other peoples mistakes is a brilliant thing to do,

Ciao

 Day 20

Dear You,

This letter is being sent as if it is a package of seeds.  Seeds that I pray will be planted in your heart and with the Holy Spirit  blossom and bring forth good fruits.

What you just went through was painful, frightening to say the least. But you faced it with all the courage you could find in yourself. Yes, you called upon the Lord and beg, pleaded and bargained. But, you still knew it was up to you to not give in and not give up. It was up to you to have faith and hope in something bigger and more powerful then yourself. 

Did it change you? Did it humble you? Did it reset your priorities?  Did you learn anything?

When we walk through a storm, when we climb a mountain, when we pull ourselves up from a dark pit it can be life changing. But only if we learn from the experience. Only if we find ourselves. Only IF we discover that when we keep God in the center of our deepest, darkest most painful experience it then has great value. 

Yes, without God in the center of our thoughts and our conversations when we share our experiences with others….  Our life is really  empty, nothing but a shell.Because we make it all about “me”.  Life can be pitiful and unfulfilling when we serve ourselves and seek to glorify ourselves. And that is a futile and pathetic life. 

Did you know that God’s heart was broken the day that “Man fell”. Yes,  Man (Adam and Eve) choose to believe a lie that they too could be a God unto themselves.   Don’t we still do that today when we take God out of our thoughts, conversations and plans? We make it all about us.  

There is no challenge we face, no battle or storm that is wasted when we keep God at the center. When we come out victorious and God receives all the Glory.

For the scriptures say “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” “If I gain the world but lose my soul…:

I ask the question.  If what you went through doesn’t bring glory to God than it was for nothing”. If you make it all about you, your strength, your courage, your determination then what???  You should want to direct friends and family to the living God who has the ability to give hope, strength courage and faith to all who seek Him. 

Be HIS light by keeping God at the center of your thoughts and conversations.  That’s all I’m trying to say.

May He help you to grow… in Him.

Love.

Me

 Day 14 

On February 1st I began blogging (journalizing) setting out to sea and seeing a storm blowing in on the horizon.  It was something I just had to accept. It was coming. I knew that I knew that although God has been preparing me for the “storms of life” for some time now… it still was a pain I can’t describe adequately. It felt like when in labor the contractions some on slowing then crescendo and then there is some time of peace and rest.  Incredibly with the prayers of many I surprised myself as I watch myself, like in a movie not just hold on to the mast of the ship as I wrote the storm, but showed up with strength and a woman of faith.  Ok, but on two occasions the emotional storm came to a head and I had to fall to my knees and just weep.  Crying out to the Lord.  Was that an act of weakness? No, but a natural response to express the pain that was pouring out.  Unable to contain it any longer.  The scriptures came to me that the Lord recognizes “there is a time to weep” Ecclesiastes 3:4.  Not a weakness of our faith but a humble reality of our nature. 

I witnessed a miracle during the storm. In the center of the storm HE was with me. In the center of the storm HE gave me comfort and peace. In the center of the storm HE held me in his arms. In the center of the storm HE was enough.  That was a miracle. But the miracles kept coming.  An answer to my prayer was witness before my eyes.  The miracle was talking.  The miracle was moving.  The miracle was smiling at me. Nope it didn’t stop there.  the miracle came home with me the next day. 

It is incredible that the intensity of our emotions in tragedy dosn’t seem to match the intensity of our emotions when we witness a miracle.  Not sure why.  Although we shout praise to God and place our hand over our heart as we hear and see a miracle, it is more “I know in my heart and my mind that I’ve just seen a miracle”.  

Well, the miracle continues to bring me to my knees in gratitude.  I just plead with my self to never be like the children of Israel who after being freed from slavery and walked across the Red Sea on dry land found themselves murmuring in the desert, forgetting the miracles they experienced.  I pray it’s always fresh in my mind and heart what the lord has done. 

In the storm I experienced a miracle.  I don’t welcome the storms but I am not afraid to face them.  

HE WAS THERE WITH ME.  His word says “He will never leave me nor forsake me”.

That is enough for me.