This season has been stressful. I aint gonna lie.
As I previously posted, we started a HUGE addition on our home this summer. To say that it has been challenging would be an understatement. We have gone through so many emotions. Excited. Overwhelmed. Hopeful. Exhausted. Contemplative. Excited. And everything in between.
I think most seasons of life have these vast array of emotions. Not to say that these are necessarily a bad thing, but they can be daunting, nonetheless. However, I have learned as of late that these emotions can be good for you. Stretching. If you learn to “ARREST” them.
You see, I have often prided myself on not letting emotions dictate my reality. I have thought of this as a sort of strength. A “super-power”. But, When I sit back and look at all of the situations where I have allowed myself to push my emotions down, or disregard how I feel about something, inevitably, anger follows. At least eventually.
Perhaps it is all in how you look at it. I recently had a nice conversation with someone I love about the mind. How the mind has such a power over your heart. How when you focus on any one thing for too long, you become that thought. Although I fought that thought-process for a little while, I ultimately understood it. It’s true. What you think about, makes you who you are. How you feel. How you act.
I began to analyze where I was in my mind. I began to look at the thought processes that took hold of my thoughts and emotions. How I was letting my emotions (however pushed down I may place them in my heart), were actually dictating how I acted to everyone around me. How the lack of control on my mind was actually destroying my joy. Annihilating my ability to see the beauty in this season of my life. the beauty that God was TRYING to show me. I realized that I was too distracted with myself. That I had begun looking at all of MY “woes” and troubles, and it made me negative, frustrated and…stressed out. In the end, it brought me to a place of prayer, repentance, and ultimately…peace.
Peace. In the midst of chaos.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as in 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” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
The Word of God is so powerful. It so often hits home for me, and usually gets me out of the “rut” of self-doubt and personal struggles.
I believe when we “take every thought captive”, we can be liberated from our negative thinking and stress. We can take those thoughts of, “Everything is stressing me out”, or ” my kids are driving me nuts”, or “I can’t do one more day of dishes, laundry or cleaning”, and arrest it. We can literally say in our minds, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,” and therefore…ARREST it.
You see, we can CHANGE our thinking. We can “arrest” those thoughts and send them packing!
Please don’t get me wrong…I struggle with this. I really do. I struggle every day to be obedient to Christ. My selfish side is strong, and I have to literally be constantly giving my mind over to God. My thoughts of frustration, anger, pride.
Being a housewife is no joke. Believe me, I could do anything I want with my life, but God has called me to be a stay-at-home mom. It is by far the hardest job I have had, or ever will have. But I tell you what…it requires a daily “pick up your cross” mentality. It requires constant service. Although I feel it is almost “un-natural” for me…I have decided in my mind (where it all starts), to do it to the best of my ability. To serve my husband and my kids with my best.
Do I fail often? Yes. Do I want to give up sometimes? Yes. Do I feel inadequate most of the time? Heck yes. But, with God on my side, and the ability to “cast my burdens on Christ”…I can, and I will do it!
So, with all that said, I pray that even one person can be encouraged to keep going. To continue to take every “stressed-out” thought or emotion and ARREST it. Send it packing through God’s strength. Because, it starts in our minds.
God Bless!
-Z
