I did it! I survived the respiratory virus that caused pneumonia in two of my children, bronchitis-like junk in a couple more, ear infections in two of them, hives in two of them (on two of them?) and coughing, coughing, coughing from all of us…yes, for those keeping score, Anna finally succumbed. But, It did not ruin my twenty-second wedding anniversary either. I chose joy, even though I wasn’t feeling it part of the time. I practiced the Laws of Emotional Strength ala Tommy Newberry and The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
Today, let’s talk about what Tommy Newberry says in The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
Let’s talk about what Tommy calls, The Law of Attention.
I mention in my “Hi There” section, I used to use my mind as a garbage dump. I watched whatever, read whatever and listened to whatever. I took it all in, and then wondered why I was scared, depressed, angry and confused.
In The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life
I was depressed because I read depressing things. I am speaking from my experience and there is a bit more to that statement and my past depression, but the bottom line is…I fed the depression. A steady diet of sad stories, that maybe normally do not cause the average person to think twice after they finished reading or hearing it…I would dwell on it. I would examine every sad aspect and emotion of the story. It was almost as if I became a part of the story if only an outside bystander. My heart broke with news of children suffering, women being harmed and the overall plight of a fallen world. I lived in a constant state of brokenness–brokenhearted–broken soul and broken mind.
Fear, worry, depression, anger and anxiety took the prominent place in my thought life which led to my words. I felt “bad” so I spoke words that supported that. My mouth was a steady stream of negativity and that fed my mind. Ay Yi Yi, what a vicious cycle! The Psalmist says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” †Psalm 19:14 These words come from King David, a man after God’s own heart…who also committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband to get him out of the way and cover his sin. And he’s asking God to let his thoughts and words be pleasing to Him. He didn’t dwell in the pit of wrong thinking. You’ll find in the Psalms his confessions and his sorrow, but not his dwelling in that place. King David could not be effective for the kingdom of God if his thoughts and words were constantly about his mistakes, his sorrows and his sins. He would have never found the joy of the Lord that causes him to exclaim with utter delight throughout the Psalms. He wrote the first Self Help book and it’s filled with his remedy for wrong thinking…filling his mind with the good things of the Lord and then meditating on them…day and night. †Psalm 119
It took me some time to realize, God was not keeping me in my fears…I was; not that I thought He was, I actually never considered God’s influence or help at this point. God was not putting sorrowful thoughts in my mind…I was force feeding them to myself; again, not that I thought He was, I never considered that He might care about my thought life. And God was not reminding me of my past sorrows and sins…no, that came from somewhere else; Now, I did think that was God.
I had to perform a major overhaul on my habits, yes, they were habits. I could no longer watch scary shows and expect a mind at rest. I could no longer read sorrowful stories and expect a joyful mind. I had to give up the desire to “feel” others pain in order to avoid my own…Did you just get that? I could no longer avoid my own feelings by substituting the pain, sorrow and fear of another. (Oh yeah, we will be talking more about that.)
What captures your mental attention, what do you dwell upon…and is it a bad habit you need to break?
Love this post! I sent it to myself so I can copy it later. I never realized how bad and depressing my thoughts are! God bless you!
I am so happy to hear this post blessed you. Our yucky thoughts are hard to recognize sometimes because we have a long history with them; I know I did. It was just always the way I thought so I never, um, gave any thought to them, lol!
Praise God for His healing!! I cannot wait to be up in heaven with Him, no longer having to worry about any sickness, etc. <
I have to admit. I’ve found this to be true. We feed our thoughts and must b we mindful of what we pour into our hearts. I stopped watching suspense, crime dramas long ago and even filter my intake of the news. I’m interested in reading more about this. Thanks for sharing such valuable teaching. We’re neighbors at #smallwonder. Have a great week.
The scary thing is, I may have stopped watching those suspenseful shows, but the images and thoughts still remain–ask my really late at night when I hear a noise, lol!
I just finished a chapter in “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” that addressed the same thing in regards to worry and anxiety. I, too, had to give up reading one of my favorite authors (Dean Koontz) years ago because I realized I was having nightmares and just general not good thoughts. I needed to put good things in my mind. Great post!
I have that book Erin but I don’t think I ever finished it. Off to dig it off the shelf and read this section. Thanks for the comment.
Jenny, this is GREAT information and so true….. I find I most often wake up thinking (or singing!)the last thing I saw or heard (or read) before I went to sleep. Hence, I’m becoming more of aware of ‘ending well’ in the evening. I like the ‘what do you pay attention to?’ question. Thanks so much for sharing about this book and linking up with the Small Wonder community.
Thanks for the comment Jody. Yes, I try to pay attention to my last thoughts of the night and the first of the morning too.
My biggest fear is the fear of the unknown. It is crippling, and it leads to a floodgate of “what ifs”. Thank you for your words of encouragement that remind me that God has not given me a spirit of fear and there is power and healing in His Name. I can choose Joy even as I face the “Giants” in my life. I can never ask too much of my God:)
God bless 🙂
Hi Tammy. I’m sorry for your struggle. I just posted some Daily Affirmations for the New Year. I know these will be helpful to you to start speaking these scriptures to yourself.
Thank you so much for your encouragement, Jenny. Right now I am facing an aging parent and doing what is right for my dad. He was diagnosed with vascular dementia, and after a trip to the E.R. from a bleeding ulcer, the doctor saw my dad’s confusion and would not allow him to go back home to his apartment. I have seen the change in my dad but he has fought me on moving to a facility where he could be cared for, and he still had enough cognitive clarity at times….it comes and goes….that as his Power of Attorney for his medical, my hands were tied. After the doctor presented moving to such a facility in a more appealing light, my dad finally consented to go, but with the disease, he sometimes doesn’t remember making that choice. So the hospital helped my husband and I get my dad placed in a nice facility, and at first he was disoriented and very confused, but then he slowly came around. Yesterday’s visit revealed that he was clear enough that he wanted to go back home, and of course…with the progression of the disease, that isn’t going to happen, so it’s hard on the staff to keep him content and hard on me, knowing that he is unhappy. We have traded places now, as he is the child and I am the parent. It breaks my heart. I am praying for the Lord to bless my Dad with peace and help him to accept that this is the way it has to be and stop fighting against us, because we want him to have a good quality of life to live out the time he has left. He is 81 years old and he could still live a good life if he put his mind to it. There are people there who love to do puzzles, like he does, so if he would just allow himself to participate in the activities they have planned each day, I think he could come to enjoy his new life. But for right now…it tears my heart up during this adjustment time. I have to believe that a better day is coming…I have to believe that, and have hope. It is so hard to do when I am constantly hit with discouraging news. I have done my very best for him to see to it that he is well taken
care of. I have my own life to live and my own family to take care of, so now I have to leave my dad in God’s Hands and cast all my anxiety on Him, because the only real peace that I find is in His Love. I have to trust that this is all going to work out for good, because God can take even the worst situation and work it out for our good. And He uses people like you, Jenny, to help with that process…to help remind me that God specializes in things thought impossible. Thank you for being there. I really believe that God led me to your blog just when I needed encouragement the most.
God bless You:)
Just wanted to pop in here and say Hi Tammy.
Worry ~ mostly about my children. And chronic pain. And sickness. And tumors. And depression. And finances. And…
“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
― C.S. Lewis
Michelle…we share many things as you well know.
My children…depression along with insomnia…my job which adds to my anxiety…and finances…always finances.
We are doing the best we can and I am learning to lay all at Jesus’ feet. I need the grace to trust more.
Beautiful post Jenny!
I am so happy to see you Theresa. You know as well as I do that asking for that grace to trust is a prayer He will answer.
Michelle!!! I have been looking and looking for that quote!! Thank you for posting it here. I used to be consumed with those worries; well, never so much finances–Chris handles those worries…but illness and mental issues. They are such a burden. Prayers for you my friend.