As I sit here this morning, I'm amused at how God is influencing me this year - already - through these studies I started just *hoping* He would! A question written in my "Identity" study posed the question, "When, God, out of compassion, confronts you regarding your sin, are you like Adam and Eve and become afraid and hide? Do you point the finger at others? Or maybe you find yourself "naked" before God."
This of course made me try and think about how God is confronting me lately and something unexpected popped in my head. I've been letting the negative things in my life overshadow the Truth that I know.
I've got some not-so-awesome stuff going on right now. I hear things about myself that are not so positive and when I think about those things, my heart gets bitter. And with a bitter heart, my thoughts and my words take a downward spiral. I finger point. Or rather, "word-point" and then I get sad / mad and doubt a lot of who I am. In short, I become a very annoying Negative Nelly.
I learned in a Psychology course years ago that every time you repeat something out loud (or think about it), it happens to you all over again. So if you are telling so and so what so and so did to or said about you, it's like it's happening again to you! If this is positive - awesome - you may feel great. But if it's a negative thing you keep sharing, it's like it's happening over and over again in your head/heart. Ouch. In the retelling, it happens again. The hurt is fresh. The sadness is overwhelming. The bitterness begins anew. The doubt starts to take over.
Friends, do you do this too? Relive the bad things over and over in your head; or with other people (even if they do nothing but affirm you and negate the negative?) Let's STOP. Stop the retelling. Stop the negative thoughts from overtaking all your thoughts. Just stop.
Paul tells, us in Philippians 4:8-9; "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
There is always, ALWAYS, something to be thankful. There is always, ALWAYS something to be positive about. If you take time to find it. Reach in your heart and your mind (and know in advance sometimes you may have to really stretch to find it...) but find it you must. Because a thankful heart and positive words are what we were designed to have. Their result is that amazing peace we're all trying so hard to find.
Change the way your thoughts go. God has given us the ability to train our thoughts. Let's do it. Let us stop repeating/reliving the bad things and find what we can be thankful for. Let us find what is good and true and lovely and leave our thoughts there.
This of course made me try and think about how God is confronting me lately and something unexpected popped in my head. I've been letting the negative things in my life overshadow the Truth that I know.
I've got some not-so-awesome stuff going on right now. I hear things about myself that are not so positive and when I think about those things, my heart gets bitter. And with a bitter heart, my thoughts and my words take a downward spiral. I finger point. Or rather, "word-point" and then I get sad / mad and doubt a lot of who I am. In short, I become a very annoying Negative Nelly.
I learned in a Psychology course years ago that every time you repeat something out loud (or think about it), it happens to you all over again. So if you are telling so and so what so and so did to or said about you, it's like it's happening again to you! If this is positive - awesome - you may feel great. But if it's a negative thing you keep sharing, it's like it's happening over and over again in your head/heart. Ouch. In the retelling, it happens again. The hurt is fresh. The sadness is overwhelming. The bitterness begins anew. The doubt starts to take over.
Friends, do you do this too? Relive the bad things over and over in your head; or with other people (even if they do nothing but affirm you and negate the negative?) Let's STOP. Stop the retelling. Stop the negative thoughts from overtaking all your thoughts. Just stop.
Paul tells, us in Philippians 4:8-9; "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
There is always, ALWAYS, something to be thankful. There is always, ALWAYS something to be positive about. If you take time to find it. Reach in your heart and your mind (and know in advance sometimes you may have to really stretch to find it...) but find it you must. Because a thankful heart and positive words are what we were designed to have. Their result is that amazing peace we're all trying so hard to find.
Change the way your thoughts go. God has given us the ability to train our thoughts. Let's do it. Let us stop repeating/reliving the bad things and find what we can be thankful for. Let us find what is good and true and lovely and leave our thoughts there.
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