Changing Thoughts

Have you ever thought about your thoughts? It's really profound! That you can control your thoughts? That my thoughts lead me to sin? Really? They're just thoughts, right? Not actions. Thoughts. Harmless....right? When it comes to sin, there are some pretty obvious outward sins. Adultery, Murder, Stealing, etc., are all obvious things that we are physically capable of doing.  But what about those sins of the heart? Where your intentions are judged. Your motives, regardless of whether the action was good or bad, determine whether your action was sinful. That's some pretty big stuff, and it's not something that I easily wrapped my brain around. It's taken a while, and I'm at a point now where I'm digging deeper into this.

 I'm reading a daily devotional book by Beth Moore where she challenges us to control our thoughts, and I believe this is crucial in my walk with God. The influence that little things have on my life, lead me to bigger decisions that I would have never made without those little things. One of the biggest of those "little things" for me is my thinking. Sometimes just the smallest thought can lead to this big opinion, judgement, statement, etc. I'm currently working on taking control of my "thought world". I know this sounds kind of out there, I'm with you, but there really is something to this. It always reminds me of that phrase. You know, the inspirational one that's always on basketball commercials or dance team T-shirts? It says,

"Watch your thoughts; they become words.

 Watch your words; they become actions.

 Watch your actions; they become habits.

 Watch your habits; they become your character.

 Watch your character, it becomes your destiny."

That phrase (though cheesy, and corny to quote on a blog, I know) really is pretty impactful. I'm the kind of person that lets all my negative thoughts just live in my head, free to wander and expand as much as they want, and I'm fairly aware of which ones should and should not exit through my mouth. (it took me forever just to control that! lol I was such a loud mouth in my younger years!!! Still am, sometimes!) So it seems to me that I'm controlling this, right? My negative thoughts aren't hurting anyone, right?!?! But then when I do a closer inventory, I realize that is not true at all. My thoughts make me bias against certain people, certain groups, certain places, etc. On the flipside, I show favoritism toward others. Just because I never admit this with my mouth doesn't mean that it's not happening.

So currently, I'm battling my "thought world". It's hard, but I know it's crucial for me. I'll be writing more about this over the next few weeks, so I wanted to give you all a little background for it. I'm excited to go throught this with you all, because I think that accountability is going to be a key factor in this for me. THANK YOU to all of you who have sent me emails or messages of any other kind about this blog. I love your encouragement!

Tomorrow is Jordan's 5th Birthday Party.  We're having a Tea Party here at our home, complete with Princess make-overs, over-the-top Princess dress up, Princess picture frame making, Princess pictures (taken by a professional photographer/friend, shout out to Lydia for doing that! You rock!!!), and last but not least, a true tea party. I'm making everything for it, and serving the girls on fancy platters. This should be interesting, I'm super excited!  Pictures to come :) I hope all you have a great weekend!