Well recently, I thought about another buffet. The mind buffet. What am I talking about? I talking about the thoughts we fixate on and allow our brains to consume. As I've been reading through,"Afraid of All the Things: Tornadoes, Cancer, Adoption, and Other Stuff You Need the Gospel For," by Scarlet Hiltibidal , I was reminded of the importance of what we mentally feed on.
If your fear is being struck by lightening, feeding on YouTube videos of people struck by lightening isn't going to help. It will in fact feed the fear that you don't want to grow. That fear will get bigger. You don't want that. Living in fear is living in bondage. You become a slave to the thing you fear.
As Scarlet points out in her book, the probability of you actually going through that thing you fear is slim to none. In his book, "When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life," Dr. David D Burns, talks about a lie many people live by that says by worrying about something, they can keep it from happening, when in reality, worrying about it doesn't have any bearing on whether or not it happens.
Feeding what fuels you towards peace is the best way to help yourself. Here are some scriptures to help you in that journey.
Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Romans 12:2 - Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
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.
Colossians 3:2-5 - Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you did, and your life is now with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
I John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Facing our fears with truth and love can be very powerful. Feeding on truth and peace instead of fear is the best mind buffet we could ask for. If you are afraid of financial ruin, focus on being wise with your money and then trust God with the rest. Financial ruin can happen to any of us and so many things are out of our control, so focusing on that doesn't help, but creating budgets and wise investing, etc, can be a great action step.
Obviously, if fear or anxiety is out of control, speaking to your doctor and/or therapist, is a necessary step. I don't want to oversimplify a complex issue, but I do think checking what we are feeding on is something we all can do!
Happy Wednesday!
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