Wow…if you haven’t gotten the HEAL book, page 59 alone would be a great reason to get it. Really.
I won’t include the questions here that Allie and Judy ask because I don’t want to cross a line and get a letter from the publisher telling me I have violated copyright/publishing rights, but suffice to say, moving along the same theme as yesterday…we continue to be challenged.
So let me ask you some questions of my own:
What do you “sigh” about?
If you are given a moment with nothing that busies your mind–like when you drive, are in the shower, brushing your teeth, in a boring meeting, where does your mind float to?
What do you “make big”–magnify–in your life?
– Psalm 34:3
Take the answers these questions to the Lord and ask him to use them to show you if HE is Lord of your thoughts and what it will take in order for him to be! This shows us a lot about our hearts. (I am doing the same…)
In the pages of lesson 3 in HEAL, we are challenged to consider some practical ways of changing that which we focus on. I would like to suggest things that I find helpful:
- studying the scriptures
- memorizing verses
I can attest to the fact that this makes a HUGE difference in where my “stray thoughts” end up.
- Practicing gratitude intentionally during the day also causes my thoughts to head toward gratitude when they are “straying.” It is cool how that happens! If I take time each day to *train* my thoughts, often I find it pays off during those “loosey goosey” moments.
Relative to food, eating, and my body (and anything else I struggle with) this makes a HUGE difference in where I head!
- I also like to listen to praise music a LOT…and sermons! I love downloading sermons from iTunes and the kids and I listen to them when we drive. We are sermon junkies! Driving is a time when my mind can go all KINDS of places, so having a place to put my thoughts intentionally, helps me a lot.
But here is the IMPORTANT thing to realize:
It isn’t the act of doing these things that changes us…it is availing ourselves of the Holy Spirit–God dwelling in us–who changes us through these “things” that we can “do.” True change isn’t something we can program by having a bible study method down pat or a packet of verses that we have memorized. Most of us know the truth that:
So always always always we must ask and wait … for the LORD. I just find that bathing my mind in His Word any way I can helps me to be more mindful of His presence and to do that.
What will you do today to foster changes in your heart?
