Peace of Mind Lori/Free from Panic Feb 24, 2007
God will guard you and keep you in perfect and constant peace whose mind is stayed on Him. Isaiah 26:3
Peace, peace and more peace. Something we all need is peace in our lives and especially peace of mind. For most of us with panic disorder, phobias, and depression, peace of mind can be hard to find.
I struggled for years with this. The nagging thoughts of dying, death, fear and panic seemed to consume my thought life. From morning till night time and then even in my sleep these negative thoughts controlled my mind.
Finally, from reading God's Word, I found Scriptures like the one above. I realized that with a lot of hard work and God's help I could gain control over what I thought about.
...and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5
Many of you have heard of positive self talk. Well this is very much the same thing only from a Christian perspective. The first thing we need to do is to be aware of what we think about. Then we need to take each thought "captive" if you will, or to realize the thought and then replace it with a positive statement especially from the Christian perspective.
For example, we might think "I'm dying of a terrible disease". We need to isolate that thought and tell our selves "NO, I am a child of God and He will protect me and keep me healthy. This is not easy. In fact it is hard work. But it must be done if we are to be victorious over panic and fear.
The more you do it the easier it gets. So start today. Start replacing the negative thoughts with positive ones, one at a time. Little by little you will find that you gain control over your mind.
That's all I'll cover today. We'll get deeper into this next time. Start today, keep at it, don't give up. Drop me an email and let me know how it's working for you.
Keep this group and me in your prayers. Stay close to Jesus. In His Love, Lori
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