Quiet My Mind
I don’t know about you, but sometimes, my thoughts
can be my own worst enemy. They take me
places I shouldn’t go. They hold on to
offense and magnify it to consuming hurt.
They mislead my desires to worldly paths that take me nowhere. They muffle the words that God intends for me
to hear.
Women usually struggle more with quieting their
thoughts than men do. One thought leads
to another and then another and then another.
Men seem to be able to take an undesirable thought and lock it in a room
until they are ready to deal with it.
In my quiet time this past week, one of the
devotionals spoke distinctly to me.
July
9, 2014 – Jesus Calling”
“Stop
worrying long enough to hear My voice. I
speak softly to you, in the depths of your being. Your mind shuttles back and forth, hither and
yon, weaving webs of anxious confusion.
As My thoughts rise up within you, they become entangled in those sticky
webs of worry. Thus, My voice is muffled,
and you hear only white noise.
Ask
My Spirit to quiet your mind so that you can think My thoughts. This ability is an awesome benefit of being
My child, patterned after My own image.
Do not be deafened by the noise of the world or that of your own thinking. Instead, be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Sit quietly in My Presence,
letting My thoughts reprogram your thinking.”
“Those
sticky webs of worry.” Boy,
do I have a lot of webs in my mind. I
look at my husband who goes confidently along in life with complete assurance
of his choices and ideas. Not me. I’m going to analyze, contemplate and
deliberate on every idea that crosses my path before I can make a rational
decision. Even then, I may back-pedal a
few times into a second guessing gear.
Worry about the correct decision is a given. In fact, if there is any way I can fit
worrying into my agenda, I will.
I know that fear and worrying are putting your faith
in the devil. Of course I don’t want to
do that! It’s a major battle we face,
especially as women. It affects our
relationships with our spouse and with our children.
In reading this devotional from Jesus Calling, it occurred to me that Satan intentionally throws doubt
and fear at us to muffle the thoughts that God gives us. “Stop
worrying long enough to hear My voice.”
How many times have I missed God’s plan for me
because I was busy worrying about some menial issue that had no effect on my
life? Or maybe I was caught up in
offense by a harmless word my husband may have said with no intention of hurting me.
If I could only slow down my mind. “Stop
worrying long enough to hear My voice.”
Hmm. It grieves me that I may be
guilty of missing His voice. My biggest
desire is to have an intimate relationship with God that I would know His plan
for my every moment.
My new prayer will be, “Quiet my mind, Lord, so I
can hear your voice.”
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