I am a person that craves truth. Because I am a follower of Christ, my life is based on the fact that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life.” John 14:6 My relationship with Christ is the foundation of my life. I belong to Him. I base my life on the word of God. I love what Priscilla Shirer says about being a woman of God. “I am a woman who believes in every single thing that my God has declared to be true. I will stand firmly on the promises of God so I will be girded in truth.”

I have found that the only way I am going to survive in this life is to consume God’s truth as much as I possibly can. I must think the way He wants me to so I can have the best perspective. In order to do that, I have to be aware of my thoughts.

I recently started reading the book “Get Out Of Your Head” by Jennie Allen. If you are struggling with your thoughts, I highly recommend this book and study. It has really helped me through the last two months. Jennie states that there are three lies that we believe. “I’m helpless. I’m worthless. I’m unlovable.”

“These lies—I’m helpless, I’m worthless, I’m unlovable —shape our thinking, our emotions, and the way we respond to the world around us. They trap us in their cycle of distraction and distortion and pain, preventing us from recognizing the truth we should believe. Most detrimentally, they change how we view God. Every lie we buy into about ourselves is rooted in what we believe about God.” Allen

I relate to all of the lies, but mostly to “I’m helpless.” That lie has been with me all of my life. When you grow up in an abusive home, you feel helpless every single day. I was helpless because I was a child and really couldn’t do anything about the abuse. It was my truth. It was deeply ingrained in me and it definitely distorted my view of God for many years.

When the pandemic hit, the horrible feeling of helplessness reared it’s ugly head. I began to feel trapped like I did when I was a little girl. I felt like something evil was trying to control me again. Then came the anger that something, other than God, was trying to take over my life. My thoughts started spiraling out of control. I knew I had to fight this or I was going to go down a deep, dark hole that I didn’t want to go down.

While I was reading Jennie’s book, my eyes came across these sentences. “Jennie, this is the enemy. None of this is from God. This awfulness you’ve been experiencing…this isn’t who you are.”  I stood up and had to put down the book. I walked around the room with tears in my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I just read. I came back to my journal and wrote down these words. “You mean to tell me that all the awfulness I have been experiencing all my life isn’t who I am? I have just accepted all the fears, the doubts, the panic and the pain as the truth of who I am because this is what I do—I accept lies???”

I have accepted too many lies in my lifetime. I wasn’t able to recognize them and didn’t realize how much they influenced my thinking and the decisions I made in so many different areas of my life. The lies kept me from doing things I knew I was called to do. The lies affected my self-image. But, I think the most damage they did was made me believe that I was not capable of becoming who God wanted me to be. 

Because of the lies, I know I am in a battle with my mind on a daily basis. I can no longer accept the lies that the enemy wants me to believe. I am not helpless because I am a child of God. That is who I am. God is fighting for me—right by my side. I have to tap into the power that He has given me. I have to be led by truth, not by my feelings.

I love what Jennie Allen says. “The people who stand out to me are the ones who have chosen to trust Jesus more than trusting their ability to make everything work out fine.” Boy oh boy does that statement hit me in the face! I must trust Jesus more that my ability or any one else’s for that matter.

In order to trust Jesus more, I must have a plan of action. I have to turn my mind to God’s word and fixate on Him. It’s the only way I am going to survive. The enemy is out there causing so much chaos and fear in so many people. When I listen to the news, that fear rises up in me. I have to walk away from it. I can’t let things like that control me. I know we have to be informed, but not ruled by what is being reported. I can’t be dominated by anyone or anything else but God. I think all of us need to be very careful not to let the news, or anything that is happening around us, sway our thoughts or our feelings.    

When I give in to fear, or anything else, I am allowing something else to influence my mind. I am in a battle every day to not let fear or anything else rule me. I have to attack my thoughts and feelings with God’s truth. I have my good and bad moments. But, I still have the same goal….to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

I can think some pretty dark thoughts. If I allow those thoughts to control me, then I am doomed. “If our thought lives are the deepest, darkest places of stronghold within us, all hell will try to stop us from being free. We aren’t going to slap on strategies. No, we are going to go to war against the root of darkness within us. And we’re going to have to dig deep to pull that root up. This is going to take work. This is going to take patience. This is going to take buckets of grace for ourselves.” Allen

Change is possible for all of us, but it does take work. There are days when I feel like I am a complete failure, but that is a thought that needs to be covered by grace. I am fighting a lifetime of bad thoughts. “Deadly thoughts can be captured. They can be contained. We can learn to mind our minds. When we think thoughts that lead to life and peace, we don’t get just better thoughts, we get more of God.” Allen

I will be sharing more in my next posts about how to fight the battle for our minds. Let me just say that I have seen and experienced what lies can do to a mind. Satan is out to get us. He has no power over us, but he can tempt us and go after us exactly where he knows we are weak. I have seen it happen right before my eyes. I know how important mental health is and I know that Jesus is the true healer of our minds. I am going to say this one more time. We need to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Not the news. Not social media. Not fear. Not this virus. Not by what is happening around us. Don’t let anything or anyone else control your thoughts or your mind. Fixate on Jesus and His words!

Until next time….

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21