Choose to Walk Past Your Past
1. Pay attention this week to how you spend most of your time. You may be a busy mom and don’t really have any time for yourself. You may be in a job that leaves you drained and exhausted, but when you finally flop down in your favorite chair, what then? Our lives are so busy, but when you have those moments to breathe, how do you use them? Do you turn on the TV and let its messages wash over you? Don’t get me wrong, I have my favorite shows like you do, but I have also carved out time each day to pay attention to what I’m thinking. You are a work in process and deserve time invested in who you are becoming. Think of your life as a painting: what are the brush strokes you’re adding each day? Take back some time. Even if it’s five or ten minutes, find a quiet place, away from the noise, and listen to the tapes that play in your head. Write those down even if they’re very negative. This is not about passing a test; it’s about being honest with yourself about where you are and then taking a step forward.
2. Capture your thoughts. Be aware of the familiar negative thoughts that invade your mind and grab hold of them as quickly as you can. Paul writes this to the church in Corinth:
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5 NIV)
Take every thought captive. Grab hold of every negative thing you’ve ever believed about yourself and replace it with truth. This step will not be easy. It’ll take work. You may have believed lies about yourself for years, but Christ wants you to be free. Here are a few of the truths I remind myself of when I find myself in a negative thinking pattern:
I am a child of God.
I am loved.
I have a future.
God is for me.
Find the truths that speak loudest to you and begin to change the way you think.