Renewing Your Mind

You know, I almost feel bad for always posting someone else's stuff this week but I love things that are simple and to the point and right to the heart...and this is the best daily devotional I've ever signed up for. Almost every morning it's THIS GOOD...simple...and pointing you to Jesus. Thank you Rick Warren for these wonderful daily devotionals!

I have been wanting to write...I have a few things I want to share but I have been overcome......totally overcome......by.................ALLERGIES! I've never had allergies in my entire life...I never understood but oh boy do I now. Yesterday I was all but wiped out and unable to function. My poor boys...my eyes were on fire all day long and the kind of red that makes you wonder if I hadn't done some serious drugs...eye drops didn't help...benadryl didn't help.

Yes...that is a picture of someone with conjunctivitis...and no, I didn't have pink eye...but that's how red my eyes were...but worse around the eye...I rubbed my eyes so much because of the itching and burning that the skin around my eyes was bright red too!

I think I used ANOTHER whole box of kleenex yesterday and I counted at least 40+ sneezes....oh the misery....

As I stumbled through my day...I developed compassion for the allergy inclinde....and I realized by the end of the day I owed my boys a big apology. Man...it was a hard day. I kept praying and trying to get in the word any spare moment because besides the physical torment everytime the boys fought AGAIN I felt my blood boil.

I really believe this specific devotional is for me today...in more than just one way. But specifically the auto pilot that I am in with my children...when they act up I almost default to this thinking that they are doing it on purpose...hardly leaving room for them to just be children. I know they aren't doing it on purpose to spite me...at least not yet! I know this!

But when Josiah aggrivates his brother for the 100th time and I hear that high pitched squeel of frustration and anger...I could just hit the roof! I feel like it's such disobedience and my thoughts of training up a child in the way he should go and all of my training in having "the end result" in mind in my discipline...go right out the window....sometimes screaming in fear!

LOL...I'm not THAT bad...but I won't pretend like I don't loose it cause I DO! My boys fight more than I ever thought kids could fight. I don't know if it's their ages...that they are both strong willed....or if it's like most people tell me: they are just boys! Whatever it is...my frustration and reaction is not their problem...IT'S MINE! I have to allow God to have all parts of me and all parts of my day. Without that all hope is lost for a sane mommy all day long.

I'm sorry if this sounds extreme...and I know some women who take care of 4+ children and don't seem to have this problem. But I do...and one day...if God allows me too and when I get through this...I'm going to write a book called "HELP! I want to abuse my children!" or "Motherhood...when your just not cut out!"

Do I abuse my children...? For the record...NO! Of course not...and the minute it ever came to that point I would seek serious help...do I feel not cut out for motherhood...sometimes...but what mother doesn't?

I'm sure there will be many times when I don't feel like I have what it takes but God doesn't put anything on you that you can't handle and I know God gave me my children. I am the mother of Josiah, Jude and Jossalyn and I have been chosen as their mother, with all my gifts and issues considered. AND I KNOW they are very strong...wonderful...unique...little people and I will cling to God and allow him to change my heart so I can be the best Mommy I can be to them. Jesus help me...help me truly repent and raise my children as you would have me to.

______________________________________________________

Discipleship: Renewing Your Mind

by Rick Warren

Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 *** *** *** ***

To change your life, you must change the way you think. Behind everything you do is a thought. Every behavior is motivated by a belief, and every action is prompted by an attitude.
God revealed this thousands of years before psychologists understood it: "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts" (Proverbs 4:23 TEV).

Imagine riding in a speedboat on a lake with an automatic pilot set to go east. If you decide to reverse course and head west, you have two possible ways to change the boat's direction.

One way is to grab the steering wheel and physically force it to head in the opposite direction from where the autopilot is programmed to go. By sheer willpower, you could overcome the autopilot, but you'd feel constant resistance. Your arms would eventually tire of the stress, you'd let go of the steering wheel, and the boat would instantly head back east, the way it was internally programmed.

This is what happens when you try to change you life with willpower; you say, "I'll force myself to eat less ... stop smoking ... quit being disorganized and late."

And, yes, willpower can produce short-term change, but it creates constant internal stress because you haven't dealt with the root cause. The change doesn't feel natural. Eventually you give up and go off the diet.

There is a better and easier way: Change your autopilot; in other words, the way you think. "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" (Romans 12:2 NLT).

Change always starts first in the mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act, which means "there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes" (Ephesians 4:23 NLT).

To be like Christ you must develop the mind of Christ. The New Testament calls this mental shift "repentance," which in Greek literally means "to change your mind."

To repent means to change the way you think - about God, yourself, sin, other people, life, your future, and everything else, and you adopt Christ's outlook and perspective on life.