I was reading Romans chapter 12 this morning and I was reminded how important my mind is. I have been writing and talking about the mind for quite some time now because it is so importants.
For me, there was no real change or breakthrough in my life until I got a handle on my thinking.
After reading Romans 12:2 this morning the importance of the mind was renewed. It says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” I don’t know about you, but this hit me strong this morning. “Transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you can prove what is the perfect will of God.” I have been a Christian for a very long time and for a lot of the first half of my walk all I proved is how I could mess up. My mind had control of my life and me, and it was not a good thing! It took me all over the place into areas I didn’t want to go, and I felt powerless because of it. It wasn’t until I started trying to live in the moment with the Lord and quit trying to perform for Him, and be perfect for Him, and control my sin for Him, that I could even begin to get a hold on my thought life. Romans chapter 12 talks a lot about our thinking processes, and tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. When I lived in my head I was either thinking thoughts that I was less-than or better-than most other people.
I had escaped feelings most of my life by thinking all the time. I looked at the world either as better than me, or less than me, depending on the situation. I had everything around me put into neat little categories or opinions about others, all so I could feel okay about myself and how I fit in the world. Of course, none of this dysfunctional behavior worked at all. The more I tried to organize everything in my mind, the crazier and more out of control I became. Until I could accept myself and not be afraid of my own feelings I couldn’t control my thinking at all. People do so many things to get away from feeling their feelings and those escapes are what bring us down. Feelings are just feelings. They won’t kill us and we don’t have to act on them, but we treat them like they are the worst things on the planet, to be avoided at all costs. Until I could stay in the moment with a feeling and just accept it for what it was, just a feeling,
I would escape into the dysfunctional world of my crazy head where I would try and make sense of situations and usually beat myself up or judge someone else. It was a vicious cycle of insanity! Being transformed came when I could sit still with my own feelings and feel them while focusing on the Lord inside of me while feeling them. I got better when I quit escaping into my head thinking about my feelings instead of feeling them. After I got used to allowing myself to feel feelings inside then I could work on changing what I said in my head to myself. I could change my thoughts to something that was true and right and acceptable. When I changed what I said to myself in my own head, I could then manage my thinking. Before this my head just went spinning around like a hamster on his little wheel, and when I read about conforming my mind I would just beat myself up because it felt impossible to accomplish. After learning to stay out of my head, feeling my feelings and not being afraid of them, staying in the present moment inside with the Lord and changing my self-talk to what is right, true and acceptable things changed for me. Only allowing good things in my mind became a way of life that brought transformation for me. If I am in my head frantically trying to make sense of everything, I now know there is an uncomfortable feeling or reality that I am trying to escape so I will just stop and get into the moment with the Lord, get off the crazy hamster wheel and just wait and listen to what is going on inside of me. The real me and not the craziness running through my head me. When I look the situation through His eyes looking at me. He makes me and everything else okay and there is nothing that the Lord and me can’t handle together, one second at a time! I am being transformed and I am grateful! Now my life is proof of what is good and acceptable! It took me a long time to get here, but I am grateful for my transformation! #mind #heart #feelings #self-talk #transformation #jesus #peace