Rejoice!

Hello everyone!! Hope your summer is getting off to a great start! Have you ever played bunco? I have started with a group of new friends and it is so much fun! It's just a bunch of girls, getting together, laughing and competing to win at bunco. Needless to say I won "Least Wins" Monday night, but I'm ok with that because I won my $10 entry fee back! Woohoo! But seriously, I want to thank God for my new friends. They are super nice and have been really welcoming. Such a blessing.

Well, sometimes I try to think of topics to write about and sometimes they just click and flow. There are definitely times when I try to start writing and there is just a little flow, but not enough to write something that I can look back and feel it meant something. So hopefully, as I begin this post, there is a flow because I feel the message is important. For a few months now, (well…if I want to be honest probably years) I have been battling with my thought process. Being the over analytic person I am, I have the awesome ability to over think every situation, thought or even an imaginary action over and over again. Ok, it’s not really awesome, it’s really sad when you think about it…just don’t over think it! : ) I can take simple situations and make them into HUGE issues all by myself. Even stuff that has been long and dealt with, every so often comes back up and I find myself having that crazy internal conversation with myself! And what’s even crazier is that 99% of the time, it never happened. It’s just what I think would happen. Does that make sense??

So, after reading some articles and doing some different bible study lessons I have learned that you have to capture these thoughts. I think it’s your minds tendency to run away with your thoughts (or at least after many years my mind is trained to do that). So, I want to retrain my brain and start to capture those thoughts before they drag me down in negativity and rejoice!! Lately, I have noticed when I start down that path and I thank God for bring it to my attention. (Granted, it’s not every time but it’s more often than not.) I need to realize that I shouldn’t focus on things I don’t have, or things I should have done. I need to focus on the present, the here and now and be thankful for what God has done in my life. I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to practice that, when I know it’s what I should be doing. Not just for my happiness, but because it’s the right thing to do.

I get so down on myself sometimes for the negativity, but I think everyone goes through it and God understands. It's not something that we readily talk about, I mean, who likes to talk about their failures?? I know I don't! But God knows our hearts and hopefully we are sincerely trying to change, as hard as that may be. Hope you have a great week!

"Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. I will say it again: Rejoice!!" Phil 4:4