My summer of renewal

"Let me ask you something... if a man prayers for patience, do you think God gives him patience? or does He give him the opportunity to be patient? If a man prayers for courage, does God give him courage? or does He give him opportunities to be courageous?"

I find it interesting and also very amusing that God typically puts me in situations to develop patience where it is in-fact the HARDEST situation in itself to develop patience. He sees my struggle with my renewal process, and He gets me and He is for me and is cheering me on at the finish line. This summer has been unlike any other. Although from the outside looking in it may seem just like a typical summer where I haven't been in or school or anything like that, it has been so much more. I have been forced to look at all of the ugliness that lies with the sin lurking inside of me. I have said things to myself like: "If this was in my life right now, I would be SO much happier" along with: "If this was happening right now for me, things would be so much better." It has been hard for me to accept the reality of my summer, and thankfully God has brought this issue in my life front and center and has given me the grace to to work with getting this sinful behavior out of my mind.

At first I questioned God this summer and why He had placed me in the situation that I am in. I wondered why He hadn't really provided me with a summer job that kept me SUPER busy (instead of just my internship which is more laid back) or why I wasn't surrounded by a large group of people as I had wanted to (Instead of just my roommate Ashley and I for the summer). Don't get me wrong I have had a blast so far this summer with Ashley and I am so thankful that she is here with me, its just that her and I both often talk about how quiet it is during the summer time here.

As I thought more about my circumstances for the summer, I realized what God was doing. There have been issues with the way I think that God has addressed, one by one. It's like He is saying to every negative single thought that comes into my mind: "Woa, that is a thought NOT from me. Rebuke it and replace it with a thought that is from me." I knew that negative thinking was an issue for me, but I didn't think God would have wanted to "waste" time going over and renewing every itsy bitsy wrong thought that came into my mind.  I thought He would just want to ignore the issues with the way I think and instead place great things into my life, making it a piece of cake for me to think positive again. Turns out, God intentionally placed me into this summer of lacking many things I desire so He could direct me to focus on fixing my thoughts and renewing my mind. He wants to renew my mind first and teach me how to experience peace and joy in Him alone before He chooses to add on any additional blessings in my life or not.

This summer He really has also been teaching me the value that lies in friendship. I am a naturally socially person, and in the past I really took for granted the large group of friends that I had. I never appreciated them or thanked God for them, and instead had an prideful attitude about the whole thing and told myself that I had so many friends because I was pretty much the coolest human being on the planet (HA, not kidding!!) As I was falling asleep the other night, I prayed to God: "God, I'm sorry for taking advantage of so many of the wonderful friendships that you blessed me with in the past, forgive me. This summer has been a huge eye opener to what quietness and loneliness feels like. I miss having a large group of friends, and I pray that you would bless me with a large group of Godly friends in the future."

  Every now and then, God definitely gives me glimpses of my future. They are thoughts that fill me with joy and peace. It is in those moments that I remember our God is a God who never breaks His promises, and with following Him we can trust that good things are ahead, despite any opposition that we may face as we continue to move forward.

What has God been teaching you guys this summer? Have you noticed how He has specifically brought an issue in your life to the table for Him to fix or renew? What do you struggle with the most in the renewal process?

I love you guys!

Love always, Jess 

change your thoughts and change your life: think God thoughts

The way that we each think highly corresponds with the joy that we each desire to play out into our individual lives. Our thoughts are beyond important, and they definitely determine our happiness. Many of you may think that it is your behavior that determines how happy you are, but I would argue against that and say that it is your thoughts that control your joy. If you aren't constantly thinking thoughts that are uplifting, encouraging, and joyful, then your behavior will reflect what you are thinking. God has certainly called me to talk about this topic, because I believe that there are many people out there who suffer from negative thinking patterns. These negative thinking patterns lead to depression and all other kinds of horrible problems. I'm here to tell you today that God is POSITIVE, not negative. If your living for Him, your joy will be so oblivious and apparent that others will not be able to help but notice you. God wants His children to stand out as lights in this world. Remember that.

God has been teaching me a lot lately about my own thoughts, and why many of them still need to be renewed. Once I became a Christian a couple years ago, my mind was in a dark place. I was addicted to wrong thinking about myself, others, and life in general. At that point in my life it was just plain overwhelming as to how dark my mind had become. Once God began to pursue me, He switched on a light in my mind that has grown bigger and bigger ever since that day. I have made tremendous progress, and I can tell you with 100% confidence today that my mind is in SUCH a better place. But my friends, progress takes time. There are still some areas of my mind that are dark and need renewal, as much as I don't want to believe it. God has put me in the perfect position this summer to own up to this wrong way of thinking that is still lingering in my mind, and He wants the problem to be fixed ASAP. He is willing to work with me as long as I am willing to work with Him.

On Wednesday night before my parents came into town for the 4th of July, I found myself out of no-where becoming very upset. I didn't understand where it was coming from, and I wanted it to stop. After laying down on the couch for awhile, I decided to catch up on some summer reading. As I was searching through my stash of books to read, I came across a book by Joyce Meyer that I have been in the process of reading for awhile. Joyce Meyer is one of my favorite Christian authors, mainly because everything that she talks and writes about is so relatable and inspiring. The book that I am reading is called "Battle Field of The Mind." I completely forgot that I had this book on hand, and I was about to find out that God was using this book to speak directly to me.

This book talks about how the enemy uses our minds as one of his main tools to get inside of our heads. There are so many people out there stuck in a rut with depression and are clueless as to why they feel this way about themselves. Well, its likely that their thoughts are controlling their actions, thus resulting in them living a life that feels meaningless and without hope. I realized after reading some of Joyce Meyer's book that the reason I had become so upset Wednesday night was because the thoughts that I was thinking that night were all lies, they were not of God or from God. I was not thinking in the mind of Christ. Our thoughts must match up with Gods word, or else we will never be victorious. 

"Satan will aggressively fight against the renewal of your mind, but it is vital that you press on and continue to pray and study in this area until you gain measurable victory."

-Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind

The more I fight back, the more it seems that the enemy fights even harder. From this point on, I am committing to owning up to every single negative thought that enters my mind. I am committing to casting away that negative thought as soon as it enters my mind, and replacing it with a positive thought. I am aware that sometimes I may get discouraged, because sometimes I feel that I am not making progress as quickly as I would want to. However it really helps me to think back on the past and how far I have come with thinking positive, and it motivates me to fight against the enemy's lies in my mind even harder. If you are in a dark place with your mind, don't give up. Begin to change today. Admit to God that this is something you need help with and want to change for yourself, and He will help you. Renewing your mind takes time, but I promise you that there is no place where your mind can be that is too much for God to handle. God can turn the darkest of situations into the brightest of joys. Even when we are faithless, He is faithful.

"We take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ."
2 Corinthians 10:5

I love you guys!

Love always, Jess