My son has a hard time getting to sleep at night. His mind tends to wander and he ends up thinking about things that probably aren’t the best thing to think about before bedtime. He gets himself all worked up and as a result he cannot sleep.
Can you relate?
Unfortunately...... I can.
It took me about thirty years to learn this, but we have control over what we allow to stay in our minds. We may not always be able to control what goes into our minds, but we don’t have to allow the thoughts to stay there. I struggled for a long time in my mind. I never thought there was hope for me. I was constantly filled with anxiety, depression, worry, fear, and constant over thinking. Everything changed when I learned, I could be more discipline in my mind. That was a powerful thought. I stopped passively letting thoughts stay that didn't belong, I started fighting back. I stopped believing I'd always be weak in the mind and started looking to God to help me win the battle.
I began to pay attention to what I was thinking about. I had never thought to do this before. YIKES, this would be interesting. When I started to pay attention, I realized most of the thoughts I focused on were negative or scary thoughts. Why would I do that? Why would I torture myself continually dwelling on stuff I didn’t need to be thinking of. I had thoughts like losing a child, my husband cheating on me, me dying, our house getting broken into, or my kids getting kidnapped? I worried about a lot of other things too, but I will spare you all the other details. What the heck! Why was I doing nothing about these thoughts besides welcoming them in. I had no control over these situations. If any of these scenarios were to happen I wouldn’t be able to stop them anyway, so why was I dwelling on them. It was a waste of my time and it only made me more anxious and fearful. My mind was continually keeping me from the peace and joy I wanted.
It wasn’t until I started learning biblical truth that I started realizing a lot of my thoughts were not something God wanted me to be thinking about. It is written in the bible:
" Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8.
Most of my thoughts weren’t even close to being right, lovely, or pure. As I learned more biblical truth, I started learning that my perspective was very wrong. The thoughts I chose to dwell on were the key. I was not only allowing fearful thoughts to consume me, but I was also believing lies. I believed thoughts like I had no value, that I wasn’t good enough, strong enough. I allowed the lies and negativity in my head to make me who I was. I was weak, insecure, unworthy, and had no value. I wasn’t born this way, I wasn't designed to think this way. It happened over time. It happened by allowing the lies to stay. It was a dangerous path to be traveling on. I wasn't defining myself by biblical truth, I was defining myself by lies.
I still struggle with anxiety at times, “funks”, feelings that I am unworthy or weak. I will never find complete freedom from my struggles here on earth, but that doesn't mean I won't put up a fight. The lies no longer define me. My anxiety or my feelings of being unworthy, weak and fearful aren't my normal anymore. They surface every now and then, but when they do, I go to God for strength, He reminds me who I am! Thoughts are powerful. It’s so important that we stay in the presence of truth and actively keep the lies of the enemy out of our mind. Your thoughts very often make you who you are. Make sure you are aware of where they are leading you.
Proverbs 4:23
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Philippians 4:8
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
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