Captivating Thoughts

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 10:4,5

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Last week I shared my friend's thoughts about taking every thought captive, beautifully illustrated by her story of the pebble in her shoe. Now it's my turn to share some of what I've been learning since our Take Every Thought Captive challenge.

During our challenge week, I'm ashamed to admit I only occasionally remembered to monitor my thoughts. That's telling all in itself. My thoughts wander up and down some very dark and sinful allies. Ouch! What is going on in there?

I ended the week with relatively few instances of attempting to control my wayward thought life.

I know if I am experiencing jealousy, envy, anger, and covetousness, for example, I need to round up those sinful thoughts and cut them out of the pack. My problem is remembering, or wanting, to do it. Mostly, I keep entertaining that ugliness like a welcome guest in my consciousness.

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My first takeaway from the exercise was that my thoughts are undisciplined renegades too used to going their own way. I have never practiced taking my thoughts captive, therefore it is a new spiritual discipline for me, and much more difficult than I would have imagined.

My second takeaway was that sinful thoughts aren't my only issue. For me, time-wasting thoughts are equally a problem. I consider circumstances that aren't real, haven't happened and may never happen and spend way too much time considering them. Additionally, I replay old conversations and re-imagine old situations over and over in my heard contemplating what I could have or should have said. I am always the conversational victor scoring hurtful points over my foe.

Taking my time-wasting thoughts one step farther, what about the time I spend imagining my dream house, or what different outfits I could wear when attending a future event. Nothing wrong with a little imagining and planning. But how much time am I spending in fanciful thinking?

Although our challenge ended weeks ago, the Lord is continuing to show me glimpses of what my thought life should look like. I intend to persevere because . . .

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:5  

Linking to Teaching What is Good

A Pebble in My Shoe

In July, a friend and I challenged each other to make a concerted effort to try and take every thought captive as Paul says we should do in 2 Corinthians 10:5. Specifically, he says, "We should 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."

Although our week-long challenge has been over for a while, she and I continue to learn about the importance of this Biblical admonition. Here is an email my friend sent earlier this week illustrating the importance of taking every thought captive.

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"I wanted to share something with you that has to do with taking every thought captive.  As I was walking this morning, a tiny, tiny pebble popped into my shoe.  I could have stopped walking for a moment and fished out the pebble without taking off my shoe.  However, I decided that the pebble was small enough not to be a problem.  

"Within seconds, however, the pebble had moved down my ankle bone and was making itself known with a tiny little pain.  I kept walking, and, sure enough, the pebble found its way to the bottom of my foot, so that with every step I experienced a sharp pain.  Still, though, I wouldn’t stop to remove it.  

"A few seconds later the pebble jiggled around and landed where I could not feel it.  Ahh, I thought, now I can finish my walk without that little pain.  However, you guessed it, the pebble moved back to the spot that caused me pain.  Finally I stopped, sat down on the curb, removed my shoe, removed the pebble, put on my shoe, and resumed my walk.  

"I was reminded of those thoughts that I should take captive.  Those thoughts need to be taken care of right away.  I need to be aware of them and then stop and remove them, even if I have to quit walking.  Otherwise, I will experience sharp little pains that make my walk painful."

A beautiful illustration about how not taking every thought captive can hinder our walk with God. 

Next week I'll share some of the insights I have been gleaning from the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit about those sinful thoughts that I am trying to learn to halt in their tracks.

Submissive Heart

Above all, ask God to give you faith to believe that His providential will for you in these circumstances comes to you from His infinite wisdom and goodness and is ultimately intended for your good. And then ask God to give you a heart that is submissive to His providential will when it is contrary to your own plans.

Jerry Bridges - Respectable Sins

Linking to: 

Image: geww/freedigitalphotos.net

Dark Rooms

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Now that it's spring and the trees have all their leaves, my kitchen is dark most of the day. We have a large maple tree in the backyard and a small woods behind our house that block out the sunshine.

This morning I idly thought, "Most homes have dark rooms." Then I thought, "Most hearts have dark rooms too."

What are the dark rooms in your heart, the places you don't want anyone else to see? These could be sad, traumatic, hurtful, or painful experiences that still ache too much to share with anyone.

They could also be dark thoughts, those places of sin we desire to hide. Would anyone still love us if they could see into those dark rooms? Envy, greed, anger, pride, judgment, lust, just a few of the dark rooms of the heart.

As believers, we know light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit (and we are), how can we reconcile the existence of light and darkness in our hearts? We are not fooling God. He knows all about the dark places within, but yet we still try to hide those secret little rooms inside of us.

It seems our dark rooms constantly need to be discovered and broken open. The doors and windows must be opened to let in the light of God's love and forgiveness and let in the fresh, clean breeze of the Holy Spirit to blow away that which is wrong within us. God won't force the locks, we have to willingly open the doors ourselves so He can enter and clean out the dark rooms in our hearts.

Some of my dark rooms have rusty hinges because I have kept them locked tight for too long. It might be time to get some spiritual WD 40 to loosen the hinges so the Lord can go in and do His work letting light into my dark rooms.

On Being a Woman in Today's Church

Three times in the past few days I've been involved in discussions on how and where women fit in the contemporary church. I'm not bent on starting any rebellion, I only want to figure out where I fit.

I've thought about this before, had discussions with other women and haven't ever arrived at any resolution. Where does a strong woman without huge domestic inclinations contribute to the church body with which she's affiliated? By domestic inclinations I mean the usual places women can acceptably volunteer in a church.

I can't sing, I don't play the piano, I'm not a very good teacher, nursery duty is okay but I don't love it, I freeze up when I have to prepare meals for others (What do they like? Will they like my cooking? All those insecurities rise up to the surface.), organizing potlucks? Ugh.

Since becoming a Christian, I've attended fairly traditional, very traditional and the occasional less-than-traditional church and find I am most comfortable in fairly and very traditional churches, but this is where the gender divide seems most obvious.

Do I want to be involved in church leadership? Let me put this another way. Do I want to stand in front of a firing squad? You understand what I mean here, I think. I am a coward.

Isn't there a middle-ground place for women like me? Since leaving our previous church last summer, my husband and I have visited and enjoyed attending many different churches. It has been an interesting experience. As we continue to narrow down the choices, I'm looking at where I might contribute and feel a little dissatisfied by the choices.

God made me the way I am. I am strong-minded, I am opinionated, I am compassionate, I don't suffer fools gladly, I want to help, I want to make a difference, I want to be a blessing to my community, I don't want to be in the limelight and I hate attending meetings :)

This is a blog post with no conclusion because I am still in the midst of exploring where a strong woman, who desires to serve, fits in the church. I really want to hear what all of you think about this. If you attend a church, how do you serve?

One last thought, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (I Cor.10:31)

Linking to:

Image: Matt Banks/freedigitalphotos.net

I Believe I'll Still be Here

It is 12/19/12 and according to the Mayan calendar - which we all refer to daily, right? - this is it, the end is in sight, because the Mayan calendar ends Friday, 12/21/12 and a great cataclysm and the end of the world is predicted.

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I've been amused to hear some of the discussion about the Mayan calendar the last couple of months. Are we Mayan? Have we ever let any other aspects of Mayan history or culture influenced us? So why are some people so concerned that the world will end Friday?

If you believe the life we live on earth is all there is and that our existence ends at our death, the possibility of the world ending is frightening. But if you believe in God and accept His free gift of salvation, there is something wonderful in store for you.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

    my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;

    you will fill me with joy in your presence,

    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:9-11

See you Friday.

Image source: Victor Habbick/freedigitalphotos.net

Mirror, Mirror ...

Today we have a special guest, my friend Lynden from An Elegant Touch, with a unique transitions post. 

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you, I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Isaiah 46:4

“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall –
      Where’s the Young Woman who had such Great Hope for it all?...”

When was it that she had walked through That Door?

You know – That Door that led from the busy-every-single-moment-of

      every-single-day –cooking-baking-cleaning, piles-of-laundry, 

            never-ending-yard-work, monitoring-homework-and-chores – 

      constant-chatter-and-laughter-of children -

      showing-guidance, teaching-values, loving-more-than-life Door -

      That Door that led from that wonderful, hope-filled, comfortable,
            fulfilling place of Then – 

                  to this place of Now…

This place of empty, quiet, alone, unneeded, unwanted, uncared-about and

       uncared-for –

      This place that might be for Others, but not HER –
      For those who had not cared-enough, tried-hard-enough, done-enough,
            loved-enough…
      But SHE had. And more.

So she had never expected to go through That Door – from vibrant living to not ‘living’ at all.
      Merely existing. Watching. Waiting. Wondering.
      Wondering how SHE had walked through That Door –
            making the transition to This…

She knew that God was with her.
      She talked to Him ‘without ceasing’ in this Now, even as she always had
            in the Then. 
      She still didn’t have answers as to how she had come to This –
            where she’d made the ‘wrong turn in the road’ that had led her to
            Here.
      Hopefully, He would let her know – sooner, rather than later.

Yes, God was Here in the dark of the night – in the empty of the day –
He was the One Who had brought her thus far –
      and He would walk with her until the Next Door opened –
      and He welcomed her Home. Even so…

    Lynden Blossom, a paper-artist who blogs at An Elegant Touch, describes herself as, "a mature, educated, creative woman - a Mother of two grown children, a Gramama of two precious grandchildren, a proud Blue Star Mother of a Marine Captain, a daughter of the King of Kings - a woman looking for her place in the world in the winter of her life."

Embracing the Imperfect

• Do you trip when you walk across the room?  
• Are you a failure as a joke teller because you get the story all mixed up?
• Do you lose track of time because you're so involved in the task at hand?
• Are you mean and cranky sometimes?
• Is your hair too long, too short, too thin, too thick, too straight, too curly?

In short, are you imperfect?

We live in a plastic media age where every one seems to live a perfect life.  Everyone except us, of course.

I know people who don't like to look on Facebook very often because everyone else they know seems to be living the perfect life, or so they say.  It is like getting one of "those" Christmas letters every day of the week.

But, we are real, imperfect people, and despite all of our faults and foibles, specifically created to be just who we are.  And we are created by God for a specific purpose, a destiny that only we can fulfill.

Let's embrace that thought instead of dwelling on the lie that everyone else is better than we are, perfect.

It's an exciting concept, the idea of a destiny to fulfill, and I'm not sure if most of us will ever actually know our expressly-created purpose.  Perhaps, it doesn't matter.  We are who we are, living our lives,  hopefully in obedience to God, hopefully trying our best to be the person God created us to be.           Despite our imperfections.


Blogging A to Z Challenge - today's letter is I



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