Stop ruminating and YIELD BIGGER! š±
This morning when I prayed and asked God to speak, I opened my eyes and saw my late grandfatherās veteran flag folded in a triangle on the living room floor. I have been wanting to buy a case for it and wondered whether I can gift it to my uncle or back to my mom for Christmas.
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Instead of listening for Godās Word in response to the prayer I just prayed, I take to Google in search of a shadow box for the flag. I find one that is suitable. I also see that most case options have personalization. I Google and find a website that can search for military information. I input his name and click through a series of seemingly endless pages until finally the results page is loading (though I anticipate a surprise payment page even though they said this service was free, in which case this would have been all for nothing).
Thereās a spinning wheel loadingā¦ and loadingā¦ and loading. And now, convinced that this is never going to load and anxious because I have spent too much of my morning devotional time on this task, I switch back to the Bible and immediately recall a verse from the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15) that stood out to me from my reading the night before:
What it means isā¦
Well, I will let Jesus speak for himselfā¦
Itās so easy to get distracted, especially this time of year.
We need to remember that if we want to produce good fruit in our lives, we have to get good at letting go of the worries, so we can hear, retain, and grow.
But see hereās my struggleā¦ I ruminate on thoughts a lot. š©
This is what makes me a deep thinker and adds depth to my writing, but on the flip side, when those thoughts are of negative situations or challenging circumstances, it can cause me to spiral into a state of overwhelm. š«Ø
Can you relate?
How do I stop my mind from spiraling?
š Here is my method stop spiraling and close those ātoo-many-browsers-openā thoughts:
- Schedule it. Once you notice that you are going down a rabbit hole of thoughts, whip out that planner and schedule time to address it. Get it out of the forefront of your mind and give it its own space and time. When that time comesā¦
- PTA. Pray for discernment and wisdom concerning this issue. Think: why is this matter so pressing for me? What aspects of this can I control? What action do I need to take to address it? Then, Act. Take the first step. Schedule time for the subsequent steps, if necessary.
- Give it to God. Trust, believe, and expect the great. There are so many factors to consider and we do not have the full knowledge of any situation. We also canāt control other peopleās responses, what happens next, or whether the situation will get worse before it gets better, but what we do know is our heart is secure in God when we trust and believe in the fullness of who He is. Try with all your might to stay in that peace of resting in the care of Your Father who deeply loves you, intimately knows you, knows exactly what you are going through, and what He is developing in and through You. ā¤ļø
Lastly, give yourself grace because hereās the thingā¦
My spiraling thoughts this morning resulted in this newsletter. God always has a way of redirecting our path as we trust in Him. šš„¹
I hope this message blessed you. This will be the last newsletter for the year. I look forward to talking again in 2024! š¤
This feels very pen pal-ish. Did you write letters to pen pals in school? That was our training ground for the AOL chat room, AIM messages, FB posts, Insta captions, DMs, and apparently newsletters weād be writing in the future! š
In any case, I love you and Iām praying for you always. ā¤ļø
Hereās to a miraculous last two weeks of 2023 and to 2024 being filled with new opportunities, more health, and usā¦ spreading love throughout all of our days.
I'm rooting for you Reader!
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