Did you know?

Do you ever really think about the thoughts that you allow to take up residence in your head. I was having a conversation with my sweet friend Molli the other day and she literally stopped me mid sentence and said “Rach, do you hear yourself? Is that the advice you would give to someone else?”. I’ve really been thinking a lot about what she said since our conversation - I am so quick to put myself down, to speak so terribly to myself, to call out all of the things I haven’t done or have done wrong. So easy to take on the role of the victim… and ya’ll as I look back over these past few months my thoughts have been tearing me apart. I am normally pretty good at taking thoughts captive, at replacing my negative thoughts with what God says about me and somewhere over these past few months I have let my thoughts run my life instead of the other way around. 

I met with a group of women this past weekend from a church that I am starting to go and of course the topic of conversation was about how the way we speak to ourselves affects our lives and it hit me like a ton of bricks…. Rach, you have been letting your thoughts control you instead of you controlling your thoughts. As tears began to well in my eyes and run down my face it was like the Lord whispered to me, “if you saw yourself the way I see you how different things would be”. 

Did you know that when God looks at you and me he doesn’t see all of our mess, he doesn't see every time we screw up, every sin, every terrible choice we make, he doesn’t see that we are overweight or spend too much money. He doesn't see that we are terribly afraid of being alone, or left behind  or people seeing who we really are. He doesn’t see those terrible thoughts, or the doubt and fear. When Jesus looks at you and me he sees beautiful daughters and sons of the King. He sees us as adored, planned for, prepared for, not forgotten, forgiven, loved, cherished, given every good and perfect gift. 

As I sat around a picnic table with these women with the Brooklyn bridge in the background I was reminded and so overwhelmed with the truth that God is head over heels in love with me and that there is nothing I can do to change that. It just is! 

I don't know about you but today that brings me so much comfort, so much freedom. I know all of this, I have known this is how God feels about me for the majority of my life but I am so quick to forget, so quick to allow my negative thoughts about myself and my life take over. One of the most freeing and powerful gifts that we have is our free will, our ability to choose and today I am choosing to not let my thoughts dominate my life. I am choosing to make it a daily practice to see myself the way God sees me, to let his truth be the loudest voice in my head. This week when those negative thoughts start to creep in make the choice, the choice to replace those thoughts with those of God. It’s not easy and I am not there yet either… more days than not I lose the battle but I am not quitting. I am going to keep fights, I am going to keep reminding myself of what God says about me, I am going to keep replacing those negative thoughts with God's truth because his truth is life giving!