Grace For Your Waist-Living A Lifestyle Fitted With HopeSample

Sneakers to Souls 

I once suffered from a negative thought life and constant chronic blame. You name it, I blamed myself for it. One day, I was talking about my self-abuse with a close friend. Well, I was basically complaining to her— with no intention to change. She shared that when you speak negatively to yourself, you disregard the love that God put inside of you and cast off His love. When practicing negative self-talk, this speech sneaks in and defames the love that God said was good, God’s original love put into each human at creation.

My mind blinked faster than a cursor on a screen. She admitted to her own past self-degradation, down to making her computer password “choppedliver.” And one simple step helped start her journey to right thinking: she changed that password to a phrase confirming her identity in Christ. This one alteration in her day initiated a positive thought and cultivated tremendous growth in her life. I didn’t act on her suggestion immediately. Her story moved me to want to change but instead I was still filled with self-condemnation. And the negative “sneak” attack slithered into my mind once again.

However, in my own resistance, I got hurt in the crossfire. That same day, I received a very toxic email from someone falsely accusing me of something I didn’t do. I was crushed and thought, “How can I take on any more guilt?” I had silently suffered enough! Somehow God moved in a powerful way. Instead of keeping the email open and rehashing the wounding words, I deleted it and then prayed. I heard the Holy Spirit whisper “You are not who that person says you are, you’re My child. I’ll never condemn you; I took the blame for you.”

Negative self-talk is a very real force that tears you down from the inside out. Rest assured that no one sees you like God sees you. And no one knows your story like God, and when you surrender your tongue to Him, He will honor your obedience and heal you of negativity. Be of good cheer my friend, you are going to be okay! You can experience a positive thought life when you overcome the negative battle in your mind! Take my advice, no, take it twice: please be positive to yourself. God is for you! 

How do you turn off the critical chatterbox in your mind?