Tag: Prayer

About your spiritual / psychological toolbox.

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the wil of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Where are your thoughts falling short of God’s life-giving truth? Here are four tools to help you:

  1. remove the lie and replace it with truth. …an enemy who is seeking to destroy us. His weapon is the lie…
  2. create new trenches of truth. Our brains have neural pathways—mental ruts we created through repeatedly thinking the same thoughts—which trigger our automatic response to external stimuli. To stop a behavior, we need to remove the lie behind it and replace the neural pathway.
  3. reframe. You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you receive it and react to it. We all have cognitive biases that cause us to see things in ways that do not reflect reality. you have the power to reframe…
  4. change your perspective through prayer and praise. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything that is happening, but when we’ve had enough, God is enough. Not only is God enough, God is near. We stay mindful of His presence. When we do, it leads us to pray. Praying changes our brain, as does praising God. We praise Him for the who of who He is, even if the what is not what we want. As we praise God, we feel warming peace of mind.

Decide today that you will not think like the rest of the world. You will let God renew your mind… fix your thoughts on Jesus. He made you. He will sustain you. He can carry you, strengthen you, and empower you to do what He’s called you to do. You are more than a conqueror through Christ.

A blend of my thoughts and “excerpts from today’s Bible App Devotional called ‘Winning the War in your mind’”

Worldview via Jesus Lens

If you feel discouraged, disillusioned, even disappointed in the world, or your community, or even persons you thought you knew, praying the Psalms can help you regain perspective and Christ-like peace.

Psalm 123
To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

(The inspired and inspiring Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)

Stress and Overthinking and God Interventions

When it feels like the world is spinning out of control, do your spiraling thoughts overwhelm you? I can tell you what helps when I feel this way. I have learned this doesn’t just magically go away.

For me, I have to make an intentional decision to stop what I’m doing, become aware that I am spiraling, take a deep cleansing breath, find a quiet place, and talk to God.

I find it helpful to begin by acknowledging who God is, and offer gratitude for everything I can think of, as well as things I don’t even know. In those moments, I breathe deeply again, and allow God to re-introduce the peace I need, and that He desires for my spirit to feel.

Beloved, if you are too much “in your head” lately, ruminating, pondering excessively, with spinning thoughts to no end, I pray you find praying through the book of Ecclesiastes strangely comforting, like I did this morning.

In the end, this is what matters most: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

P.S. And isn’t it just like God’s Holy Spirit, that in the middle of processing all this, as my troubled spirit was healing, an unexpected encounter happened – a woman stopped to talk with me in the coffee shop, and poured out her heart to me and God, and we listened, and I cried with her. Thank you God.

Unwell?

It seems like bad things happen at the worst times possible, physical or financial, just when we have so much planned!  Sometimes, we are not just told to cut back a bit and do less, but we feel like we’re been completely shut down from doing anything productive or useful.  It’s frustrating, disappointing, disheartening, we get jealous of others who can do or go more, we feel left out, misunderstood, pitied by others, etc.

It feels crummy.

I have learned some gritty lessons from seriously ill patients, as well as others with devastating financial problems, and endless and excessive family/work demands.  I even learned a lot from my own experience with a badly broken leg  – bedridden, off work, then wheelchair-bound, etc. for several weeks, and experiencing unexpected depression.

One of the things I’ve learned in my chaplaincy visits, when I stop trying to fix their issues, I can hear them better.  We can both hear God better too!

When people lose the ability to physically do the things they want, some grow in peace, grace and wisdom – after an initial adjustment period.  Priorities get adjusted, humility develops (replacing the POISON of resentment) and perspective changes.  In some cases, it’s a relief to have to let go of some things that really are unrealistic even when in full health.  Facing and accepting our limitations can be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s unsafe and unhealthy to not receive that medicine.

Time is limited and incredibly valuable – for all of us.  That crazy feeling running train of thought for all the things we need (or want) to do seems never ending.  When sidelined, quiet down a bit, turn to God and can hear Him better.  It helps. 

When I visit with people in hospice, they sometimes feel lost, especially unable to do for themselves or others.  But listen to them, their thoughts and words are even more precious and frequently filled with wisdom.

Offer the best gift, your time, listen, really hear their heart words.  Make time.  It matters.

Peace be with your spirit, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Holiday Sadness – Oxymoron?

Pain is often more pronounced during any holiday season.  Be sensitive to people you know, listen more than talk, really hear and care – without criticizing or insisting that they’re wrong, or offering unsolicited advice.  We can do better, be better, caring about difficult people, the ones who make us feel uncomfortable.  Take time to care, in ways they need most.

Ask God to open your eyes and ears to those who need you.  Loan them your faith, through your presence, if you can.  Grace and peace.

Cancer. Again.

If you’re dealing with cancer – either your own or someone you love, do not feel obligated to hide or “handle it” perfectly.

In my chaplain role, oncology patients have taught me so much.  One spunky, very ill, older woman said she had so much cancer in her family that she always knew without a doubt that her turn would come to battle it.  She already studied a lot on the subject, to help support family members.  She felt well-prepared for the time when it knocked on her own door.

She told me that when it actually happened to her, she realized she wasn’t as “good” at cancer as she thought she would be – it turned her world upside down and she had a much harder time emotionally than she expected to.  She ended up with the same fears, devastating thoughts and initial hopelessness that she saw in others.

Another woman I spoke with said the worst for her was losing her hair, no matter how perfect her wig was.  She didn’t feel like a woman anymore.  Another woman didn’t care so much about the hair stuff, but she could barely deal with losing a breast, and now she was losing the second one.   One man was sure his wife would not love him anymore, but would only stay with him out of obligation, hoping to find a “whole” man after he passed.

This cancer monster is so diverse and sneaky in the way it attacks each person!  It attacks ones psyche, spirit and body.  It finds each person’s own unique vulnerabilities and attacks.

If you are in a place where you can hear this, take heart and have full confidence in the presence of God in every aspect of your life.  Even cancer.  This is really hard.  You are a whole person, who happens to have cancer.  At times you may feel consumed by it, defined by it, in ways no one else can know.

Please know at least this one thing, beloved, God does care and will never leave you.  You are not alone, even in those dark quiet moments, when anguish washes over you.  God’s Holy Spirit accompanies each of us into our most personal battles, even the ones where we feel so alone and abandoned – He IS with you now and every tomorrow.

Peace be with your spirit,  RevDonnaH