Have you ever felt like if you could only get away from your mind and your thoughts you would be alright? You're not alone. Scores of people find themselves wishing the same thing.
Ok, well maybe not everyone has this problem. For instance, my husband. When we first got married I remember asking him what he thought about when he sat down on the couch after a long day. He said nothing. Static. I think of nothing. I said nothing? Nothing goes through your mind? Nope. He told me he just shuts it all off.
I remember thinking to myself that is hilarious because I seriously could make an entire two hour feature length film all up in my head in about 2.3 seconds! Maybe it was because I was creative or maybe it was because I was just nuts but seriously I would pay big money to have someone tell me how I can just shut my mind off. Is there a switch somewhere? Is there a trick to it? I searched for years wondering how I could get all those thoughts I didn't want in my mind to just shut up! How can I shut them off? I'm not talking about crazy nefarious types of thoughts. No, more just like crazy questions, scenarios or stories I could make up at the drop of a dime and then play them on loop over and over and over and....you get the point.
Maybe, you're like that too. Maybe, your rogue thoughts are a bit deeper or maybe more destructive. Maybe they are the thoughts of derogatory things people of said to you. Hurtful things that tore you apart but you never said they did but now they have taken root and they've played on loop so much in your mind that you believe them. Thoughts of inadequacy, incompetence, jealousy or fear. Maybe, they are lies and thoughts of suicide, affairs, bitterness and anger. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's just stuff that takes up too much time wasted on useless things. It's wasting energy.
When I had my 3rd baby almost 12 years ago by way of c-section it did not go as planned and I ended up paralyzed for over 24 hours from my chest down. I had a serious staff infection and difficulties breathing with no explanations why. As I laid in the hospital my mind went into over drive with fear, panic and questions if I would ever walk again. I remember thinking I have to gain clarity on this. Panicking will only compound this. I remember saying outloud in the hospital bed. Stop. Stop thinking all these crazy thoughts even though my situation was ridiculous! I began to repeat over and over in my mind take every thought captive. Take every thought captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Over and over I said that out loud. Whatever is true, noble, excellent, trustworthy (Philippians 4:8)....these were scriptures I had hidden in my heart that now in crisis were becoming my life line to stop all the other lies and voices from being louder than Truth.
My paralysis eventually just stopped. I could walk again. Nobody could ever give an exact answer as to why I was paralyzed for a brief period but it did leave me with a bunch of irrational fears for about 2 years. Each time the fear would come I would quote scriptures to bring a peace to my mind and situation. Sometimes hundreds of times in a day. It became my habit. I wouldn't always get it right but I was learning how to get a hold of my crazy thoughts.
The crazy thing was and is that those thoughts don't stop coming just because I know how to control them. They still come. I still have moments where I know I have a choice to allow the 2 hour feature length movie of fearful thoughts unfold in my mind which would produce no good fruit or do I choose to trust God with my life and thoughts and think on things above not on earthly things?
Several years back, I went through something similar again when my dad died. Only the thoughts this time were even darker and more painful to walk through and were not fear based but potentially could have been destructive if not stopped. The lesson I took from that valley of extreme thoughts is that there are times in life you not only need to take every thought captive and make it obedient to God you sometimes need to take yourself completely out of a situation that is perpetuating those thoughts. Run. Flee. It does not matter if it makes sense to people around you. If God is telling you to leave a situation because it is harming you or your walk with Him and causing you to feel defeated, I think it is alright to walk away. Regain your composure. Take every thought and give them to God so He can bring restoration to your life.
Be encouraged today that you do have a choice on what to think on. You are stronger than you think you are. Don't believe the lies on loop in your mind. Greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world. (1 John 4:4).
Refocus your thoughts on God and His Truth about you and your situation today. It may not mean your situation will necessarily change but your perspective will and with a Godly perspective comes His peace which is so desperately lacking in the world we live in today. You can do it! If I could and can so can you! There is such a feeling of overcoming when you come through a season of intense depth and you know that you choose to think on God and His Word to carry you through it!
