For years when I went to bed the mental chatter started. I would hear, "Did you forget to do this? You know if you don't do it now you will forget by morning?" I would either lie there and stress about it or get up. If I got up, my mind would go on to other things and sometimes I would be up for hours. I could snowball this mental chatter and negative thinking. Do we stress ourselves out? Definitely. Have you ever thought about that?
We may not be able to change our circumstances but we can change our reactions. It took me weeks but I learned to stop that mental chatter at night. As soon as a negative thought would creep in I would say, "God, I know this is not of You and I cannot handle it. Thank You for taking it from me." Sometimes I would have to say this every 30 seconds but after about three weeks I conquered it. Yes, negative thoughts try to creep in once in a while but I am in the habit of handing it over. When I lie down I begin thanking God for everything good and usually fall asleep with those good thoughts!
Scripture tells us to renew our mind. Romans 12: 2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." We are the ones stressing ourselves out. We have to fight this fight with the Spirit and not the flesh. Fight the fight with faith! We do this when we turn our eyes to Jesus, transforming our heart, mind and faith. When our hearts are focused on Jesus our minds are renewed!
"Give your stress wings and let it fly away!"
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