What's in YOUR Thought Closet?

Whoo!

Joanna and I are doing a Bible study called Me, Myself, and Lies, by Jennifer Rothschild. It is awesome. Talk about self-inspection. Yikes. Be prepared to look into YOURSELF with a highly power microscope on this one.

The overall gist of the whole thing is that we have thing running monologue with ourselves...and that much of what we say to ourselves is either damaging, untrue, or both. This Bible study asks you to take a look at what you say to yourself, silently, 24 hours a day, and challenges you to hold it up to the Truth of God's Word. If the two don't gel, I can guarantee you which one is wrong, and it ain't God!

Joanna and I were talking about why so many Bible studies we do seem to be AMAZING when we do them, but then we forget...and Jennifer addresses this in her study in just one brief phrase: DAILY MAINTENANCE. We need to DAILY take our thoughts captive and REPLACE them with God's thoughts (to put in the thought closets of our mind).

As a person with chronic illness, my thoughts have a tendency to get negative when I'm not feeling well. I immediately start telling myself I have no value, that I am useless since I am not a productive member of society, that I'll never amount to anything, etc. All because my illness has changed my way of living.

What I have to remember is that I HAVE NOT CHANGED. I'm still the same person with the same dreams, loves, likes, passions, skills, goals, flaws, and intellect. Underneath the muscle weakness and facial ticks and problems swallowing and the trach...it's just ME. I am NOT my illness. My thinking needs to reflect how God sees me, illness or not.

You probably struggle with negative thoughts about yourself whether you're healthy or not. "I'm not a good enough wife. I'm not a good enough mother. I'm not a good enough friend. I'm not a good enough daughter, sister, Christian...." Whatever, you fill in the blank.

My dear sisters in Christ, we can only be good enough because Christ's blood has MADE us good enough. On our own, no matter how healthy, smart, funny, generous, good, lovely, no matter how badly we want to be enough, we will NEVER be. But with God...He is MORE than enough. And when we allow Him to live in us, when we allow HIS thoughts to permeate our being, then we, too, are more than enough.

Just the way you are.

Get the book. You won't regret it.