Hello, everyone! I have been thinking a lot about my thoughts lately (now that’s a mouthful!), and how they greatly affect my life. I have come to understand that my earthly life will never be perfect and without problems-there will always be some type of trouble to deal with-but I know that there are good things in spite of the bad things. It’s important for me to focus on the good rather than the bad. It’s important for me to focus on the truth of God’s Word rather than my bad circumstances because God never lies and his Word reminds me that all things really do work out for my good (Romans 8:28).

I have been thinking about how true Proverbs 23:7a AMP is: “For as he thinks in his heart so is he.” I realize that I put my own limits on my life when I say to myself that something is impossible or that I can’t do something that I know God himself has said I can do. This was my prayer last week that I wrote in my journal: “Please help me not put any more limits on the good that you can do in my life, and on the good that I can do with your help, in Jesus name.” Then I thought, “Wow, that’s a deep prayer.” It’s heartfelt though–If I am really living by faith and in line with the Word of God then I need to live like I believe Philippians 4:13 and Ephesians 3:20. My thought life needs to revolve around the truth that I can do all things through Christ and that he can do way above and beyond what I can think or imagine by the power that is at work in me.

The reality of it is my thoughts are so important because they guide and direct my life in so many ways. For instance, if I spend my whole day thinking anxious thoughts and focusing on what’s making me feel anxious, it usually leads to feeling more anxious which makes it hard for me “to snap out of it.” However, if I take the anxious thoughts captive when they come and replace them with the truth of God’s Word and pray about my worries, I usually feel and experience true peace and joy. I call it the Phillipians 4:6 effect or the Isaiah 26:3 effect: Peace really does come when I realize that he knows what’s best for me and he will guide me and help me make wise decisions, when I ask him to. I do not want to be the “unstable” person described in James 1:8 AMP who is uncertain about everything and filled with doubt. I wanna be the one who Jesus describes in Mark 11:22-24 AMP when he says  “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will get it.”  There are days when my thoughts and my actions are full of faith and trust, but I will be the first one to admit that there are also days when the opposite is true. One of the desires of my heart is to improve in this area of my life (“my thought life”) and allow God to continue to renew my mind with His truth.