The Portal
Hi and Welcome!
I've always been fascinated with the word Portal. It's come up several times throughout my life and I'm sure God has a purpose for it . . .but until that day, I'm just going to enjoy the word. So, I'm trying out this blogging thing. My friend Ronna thinks it will be a good creative outlet for me, so I thought, why not. I'm a wordy, I love words, I love books, I love paper, I love writing, I love all of it. So, until I'm ready to write that novel, let's try a blog. I mean, seriously, who doesn't have one already!
So, I thought I would share some practicality with you today through this "portal". Some valuable information. Hopefully, some helpful information. Lately, a good portion of my study and reading has been on the same topic, whether I've chosen it, or it's been chosen for me, and that is our thoughts and thought life, or rather my thought life. Your thought life is your business, but I'm willing to help. I have a very active imagination and I tend to get stuck on certain thoughts. We've all heard about controlling our thoughts, we've probably memorized 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Okay, maybe you haven't memorized, but it wouldn't hurt you;)
But here is the clincher . . .HOW. Give me a thousand books, a couple of TED talks, a few conversations on the subject and I'm always back to HOW. How do I do that? Well, I've had an epiphany. I have all this information about HOW in my head, and I do try and stop those thoughts and hold them captive . . .you know the ones: I'm not good enough, why did I say that, I should do better, how could I have done that differently, why am I so awkward . . .and the list goes on. So between Saturday night and this morning - bam.
We saw the movie The Shack (please don't judge, comment, or debate - I hate conflict😊). In the movie, Mack is in a boat and it's sinking. All those negative thoughts that live in his brain are rushing through his mind and he is going down. The water is black and gross and it feels evil - because those thoughts are evil. Satan, or his minions, watch us very closely and they know just where our vulnerabilities are. But Jesus. But Jesus says, "Mack, keep your eyes on me! Keep your eyes on me!" And you know what? I think that's the answer. How do we focus on Jesus when those thoughts are holding us captive? We can have a verse, a song, a phrase, a thought, or even an action that we learn to repeatedly do when those thoughts come upon us. The Bible says we are to think on whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy and to put it into practice. Well, what is more praiseworthy than Jesus, right?
So, every time those thoughts try and get in, I will announce (hopefully not out loud, because I do that, talk to myself in public), "Satan, I see what you're up too!" And then, in my head (again, hopefully, I won't burst into song, that wouldn't be good . . .and is a whole different blog post on why music teachers could do serious damage to your praise and worship by telling you to lip-sync), I am going to sing:
🎶 Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
in the light of his glory and grace.
So, there it is. I hope it helps. And yes, I had to look up the lyrics to a four-line chorus.
Have a fantastic day, and remember . . .when the Heavenly Father looks at you, He sees you as COMPLETE! You are loved. Now, do good things. And, if you figure out how to keep all those wordy words from spilling out when you were hoping to keep the TMI on the down low . . .shoot me a message! Duct tape is hard to wear all day when you want to drink coffee!
Disclaimer: My firstborn is an English teacher, so if I have made grammatical and/or spelling errors, she will let me know in a positive and non-shaming way, so all of you "correctors" out there (of which I am one), can take the day off! 😂
Comments