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