I had a few weeks where nothing seemed to go right. And it didn't help that the negative thoughts were playing in my head non-stop like a broken record. And just like the broken record, I couldn't understand everything but could decipher a few of the worst feelings over and over.
Whenever it happened, I repeated a few verses so my mind and heart would connect. I knew what I thought was distressing, leading me to be despondent; therefore, reading my Bible and meditating on a few verses helped.
Some of the verses that I reflected on were:
"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming." ~1 Peter 1:13 NIV
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." ~Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
One of my sweet friends who knows me well shared 2 Corinthians 10:2-5 (NIV):
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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."
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." ~Romans 12:2 ESV
And then, recently, God gave me a visual experience of the last verse to fully grasp His truth.
In the last three weeks, the county repaved our neighborhood streets. It wasn't for just the main artery connecting our roads but the small side streets, too. From what I could tell, it didn't appear like our roads required any improvements, but the county inspectors noticed otherwise. While the re-pavement was happening, it created clogged streets of cars and buses as everyone was leaving for work and school. Even though we knew it was for the betterment of our community, it was a hassle to weave through the trucks and other big machinery every morning.
One day, while growing my patience behind a line of other cars trying to go home, I observed a bunch of men in neon vests and hard hats working in our neighborhood. A couple sat high on the big roller/paver trucks, flattening the asphalt. I noticed what appeared to be a mixture of steaming hot gravel and tar pressed onto the road. (I'm sure there's more to it, but that is what it looked like.) ☺. The concoction was compacted evenly to create a brand-new surface. I drove slowly on the side that still needed to be paved and reached my street. As I drove close to my house, another group of neon vests were sprinkled on my street when the person directing traffic gave me a wave with his orange flag to proceed. I might have been the first neighbor to drive on the newly paved road.
The smoothness of the street felt like when we visited the area for the first time 21 years ago when we were house shopping. I'm sure there were plenty of reasons why we needed to reconstruct our roads; even though those reasons were not apparent to my neighbors and me, it was required.
God showed me when we transform our minds; we are repaving the "roads" of our minds, better known as neuropathways. What was there before no longer exists. Our prayers are the heavy machinery that comes, bulldozes down our wrong thoughts, repaves them to be brand new, and creates a new pathway. Dr. Caroline Leaf, a clinical and cognitive neuroscientist (You can learn more about her here.), did a study and found "12 minutes of daily focused prayer over eight weeks can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan. This type of prayer seems to increase activity in brain areas associated with social interaction, compassion, and sensitivity to others. It also increases frontal lobe activity as focus and intentionality increase."
And then the Holy Spirit lead me to this verse:
"And Simon (Peter) answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." Luke 5:5 NSV
Toiling all night with my thoughts and feelings will lead to nothing and only make me exhausted. I must trust and live according to the Word of God and do what He says when He says.
Friend, you may not think you have any repaving to do, but I will go out on a limb and say don't be disillusioned because we all need to renew our minds daily if not hourly, or every minute. What we see, hear, and even smell can impact our thoughts and beliefs. Take every thought captive and make sure it's obedient to Christ.
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