Ahhh, that moment when three things are going right, 20 things are going wrong and you need to be somewhere important with a smile on your face. That may sound like your wedding day or it may sound like your everyday! It’s not fun being stuck in a mental whirlwind with your thoughts all over the place trying to function and trying to stay on top of it all. Time for some spring cleaning, time to declutter your mind!
What most of us want is for our mind to be quiet and for our thoughts to be sound. We want to be able to think clearly and just be at peace!
Often our desire for peace is a desire for the absence of pain, pressure and stress. The reality my life is that a tropical day at the beach is the only way to ensure this form of peace, the rest of the year I have to work, raise kids and try to make something of crazy life.
What I love about the word peace is that the true definition of God’s peace is God restoring order. Think about it. How many times have you asked God to bring peace to your life and it all gets flipped upside down?!
When our thoughts are all over the place, dragging our emotions with it, we can’t just sit and pray for God to bring emotional calm. Don’t get me wrong God does that but he does it by restoring order to our minds, our thoughts and ultimately our lives.
Recently, I found myself in a place where my thoughts were all over the place. My thoughts and emotions bouncing between the various areas of my life. I called a mentor that week to get some perspective and she suggested I write out a pie chart to help sort out my mental pantry. A week later, I sat down with another mentor and without knowing what the previous woman had suggested she drew out a pie chart and we chatted about all the areas of my life. These women were on to something! They knew that I needed to ask myself some hard questions and figure out what was important to me, what needed to be thrown out, what needed more attention and what needed help.
As we discussed it, it was as if instantly my mind shifted, or should I say ‘sifted’, and I had clarity again! My mental overload wasn’t about trying to fix, control and avoid but rather taking a moment to take inventory of my life and restore order.
Declutter your mind with these questions…
Do you feel thrown and tossed in your mind these days? Take a moment and write out all the aspects of your life. Your job, friends, marriage, kids, ministries etc and recognize that you have more power then you think you do to make small or big changes that will affect your inner peace.
Remember who God is
Often though, our messed up scattered brains have a lot to do with the disorder of our thoughts on who God is. Let me lay out my truths that I remind myself of when I am feeling the discord..
God’s not out to get you he’s out to get your heart.
God’s not laying traps for you he stores treasures in heaven for you.
God’s not waiting for you to fail he’s covering all your sins.
God’s not waiting for you to get it right he’s right there with you.
God’s not concerned with your mistakes he’s concerned with your well being.
God is not disappointed in you he’s overcome with love for you.
Ready for some mental health cleaning?!
