Despite all the craziness in my life – I’ve got to praise Him.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Isaiah 26:3
I trust God.
I love my friends. They are wonderful and great, but aren’t always available. Oh, I don’t charge that to them, they are busy folk like me. When it’s early in the morning -3:00 a.m. – they don’t have time to wake for me just to empty my head of my mess. This is when I am thankful I have the ability to pray.
Yes, prayer…
Prayer allows me not only the opportunity to thank, praise and worship God intimately, but to also to cast my cares on Him. My thoughts are refocused – especially when His Word that I understand and know, comes back to correct words I spew out of my mouth. My mind becomes renewed.
Writing helps too…
My other tool/gift for renewing my mind to focus is writing.
I’ve had the urge to write for the past week. There is so much going on and much to do. I’ve sat down to write several times, but was unsettled. Major projects, events and grants for work and numerous frustrating/unending family situations overtake my thoughts. Then, there are other obligations and relationships to manage and of which to make sense. My mind has been all over the place. It has been hard to pick one topic.
Eventually, even in the midst of chaos – scriptures begin to come back to me, make sense and I am calm again. I begin to write. I then experience peace – if only but a moment until the next phone call, meeting or task.
Yeah….music too.
People often wonder why 80% of the music on my playlist is gospel music. I truly believe that what we take in our senses – eyes and especially the ears can influence our thoughts. I know it’s definitely true for me. So thus, the majority of my listening time is gospel to keep me encouraged.
I stopped to take a breather from all my tasks/thinking to listen to music to attempt to center my thoughts. I stumbled upon the above YouTube video with Kirk Franklin and Friends. They began to sing Jonathan McReynolds’ song, Make Room. Next, came to remembrance the scripture above – “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee…” Then came prayer. Now, I’m writing again. Yes, and for hopefully more than a moment I’m at peace.
Oh, we will be tested…
Although several disturbing phone calls were in the midst of me writing this – I kept taking my thoughts back to Him who can keep me in perfect peace.
Regardless of what comes our way – we need to trust and keep our minds on God to stay in peace. Some days, like today, the process for renewing my mind is on an EVERY SECOND cycle.
All I know is – I TRUST GOD and will attempt to turn my focus on Him constantly. I hope and pray these practical tips help someone else. It may not be writing or music for you – but be in search for how you keep your mind focused on God. EVERYONE has the ability to pray. Since we each have a personal relationship, you can even ask God to reveal how best to refocus. He’s faithful to show you the answer…
lifeandgodliness 