Thursday, February 27, 2014

Toxic Thoughts


Years ago I asked Derek if he thought I was selfish, and he answered with a question - just like Jesus, what a wise man. He asked me if I thought I was selfish. He preceded to tell me that according to Proverbs 23:7, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So, if I think I am selfish I will be selfish. This conversation marked me and started me down a path of awareness about how I thought about myself.

I grew up in a home where we learned a great deal about the power of our words, so I knew never to speak anything negative over myself. I didn't fully understand the power that our thoughts hold on us, until I read Dr. Caroline Leaf's book, "Who Switched Off My Brain - Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions".  She says that a thought may seem harmless, but if it becomes toxic, even just a thought can become physically, emotionally or spiritually dangerous. 2 Corinthians 10:5, tells us to, "fit every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ."

We have to get to the place where we trust God's thoughts about us more than we trust our own. After all, we only are able to love others as much as we love ourselves, and if we are thinking toxic thoughts about ourselves, it is difficult to love ourselves.

Caroline Leaf also says that "what we think about expands and grows, taking on a life of its own. The direction this life takes could be positive or negative; you get to choose (Isaiah 7:15). What you choose to think about can foster joy, peace and happiness or the complete opposite."

Walking out these truths have helped pull me out of a very dark place. I told y'all that I would share some of the tools that helped to pull me out of the darkness, and Caroline Leaf's book was a great resource for me to get my thoughts back in line with what God's Word says about me. After all, He says that I am His masterpiece.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

I'm Baaaack


Years ago I had a blog that I kept up with somewhat regularly. Then my world got knocked upside down, and I spiraled into a dark place for a while. I'm not going to get into the details of what happened, I'll save that for another time. What I do want to focus on is the future! As I was coming out of the darkness, a very wise man told me that my purpose had to be greater than my pain. I latched onto those words and began to find my way back. I let go of the hurt, anger and disappointment and grabbed hold of the promises in God's Word.

That sounds so succinct and clean. The last few years and yes, sadly I am talking about years, have been anything BUT succinct and clean. Just to clarify, I wasn't in a deep depression for every minute of every day for the last few years. I would have great days - I ALWAYS had a smile on my face on Sundays, and very few people knew how deeply I was hurting.

I am starting my blog again, not to tell you the story of what has happened but to offer hope. I have a deep desire to help hurting women. We know that we have to keep going, so there is often no time to go get the help we so desperately need or even process what we are going through. 

Psalm 32:7 (Passion Translation) says, "Lord, You are my Secret Hiding Place, protecting me from all these troubles, surrounding me with songs of gladness! Your joyous shouts of rescue release my breakthrough."

If you are going through a struggle, let God be your hiding place. Let Him into those dark places and heal the hurt. If you keep running, you will never have the opportunity to sit at His feet and let Him surround you with His song of breakthrough.

This blog will focus on lots of different topics. I will share ways that God brought restoration to my soul. I will also tell stories about my sweet family and share recipes and just fun stuff. My goal, right now is to post at least once a week, so I hope you'll come back and see what's going on here :)


 
SITE DESIGN BY DESIGNER BLOGS