What My Heart Tells Me (and Those I Love) – Part 2

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Two weeks ago, I shared about how the words I say aloud and the thoughts I think have been changing.

Drastically.

Today, as promised, I’ll be describing some of the practical, intentional choices I’ve been making to “change my mind” as God exchanges my heart.

 

Replacing “Baditude”

Although I wish I didn’t have such a fresh example, let’s look at an incident from this morning.

I’m taking an online class, and I was trying to quickly post an assignment. But every time I hit “save,” the hyperlinks wouldn’t work and extra characters showed up.

I stayed calm and kept trying; after about 45 minutes, I’d solved the problem.

Then, when I went to save, I was told that someone else was accessing the document (I was editing a Wiki) and my edits could not be saved: “please try again later.”

I do not want to try again later.

I want to be done.

Now.  (30 minutes ago, actually!)

I kept “try againing.” When it finally saved, all my hyperlinks were stripped out. When I went to fix them, the solution that had previously worked no longer did.

I lost it.

I won’t share exactly what I said, but were I to fill in last week’s chart, I’d have to write “the stupidity of this CMS” under Topic, “Daniel, Jonathon, and all three cats” under Audience, “to vent to the high heavens” under Purpose, “sarcastic and whining” under Tone, and “hysterical” under Mood.

Not exactly my proudest moment.

 

With God’s Word

For most of my life, I’ve been ruled by my feelings, unable to “change my mind” until my emotions ran their course. This has caused untold damage to the mood of our home, especially when my children were little. Children are sponges for emotion, so every time I got upset, my children thought I was upset at them.

And I got upset a lot.

But today, even though I lost it, I was able to “take captive every thought” far faster than in the past.

I switched my Complaint-Free World bracelet, recognizing that I was complaining to gain attention and sympathy.

I glanced up to the magnetic white board above my computer, where Philippians 4:4 and 4:5 are currently displayed:

 

And Gratitude

And then for the hard part: I pondered what I could be grateful for in the midst of the situation.

In talking it out with Daniel (after apologizing for my outburst), I realized that I’d just gained valuable insight into how my own students must feel when they keep trying and trying but don’t get the expected results.

I typically tell them, “Computers only do what you tell them to do!”  But that’s actually a flippant over-generalization that neglects special circumstances, like what I faced this morning. (It turns out that the Wiki I was trying to edit wouldn’t accept YouTube links…as if I was supposed to automatically know that?!?)

So I prayed a prayer of gratitude–yes, I know it sounds wild, but I did!–for an experience that gave me greater empathy for my students.

I also journal my gratitudes so I can re-read and reflect on them. It’s amazing how quickly I forget them…while remembering in glaring detail all the negative stuff that happens! I’ll be able to tell every agonizing detail of this morning’s computer fiasco a month from now, but I’ll need the journal to remind me of the gratitude that sprang from it…sad, but true!

For me, it’s been so helpful to have Bible verses on small cards. I keep some in my purse, and I’ve started putting them up throughout my house. At the end of this post are 3 PDF files with 30 of my favorite verses to use for “baditude replacement”–you can print them on Avery business cards and tear them apart or just cardstock and cut them apart.

 

“We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NLT)

 

What role have you given scripture in the everyday ordinary situations and challenges of your life?

How do you “take every thought captive”?

 

Stephanie Shott
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