Thoughts are Powerful!

Have you ever realized the power that your thoughts have over your life? Last week my husband came home from work with a brownie for me (this girl loves her chocolate!). That simple act, to me, communicated his love and my heart was glowing as I remembered other romantic gestures Jason had done in the past. I felt very secure in his love. Fast forward two days (that’s right just two days) and we sat down to compare calendars. It was going to be a busy week and I felt like we didn’t have a lot of free time to simply be a family. Jason didn’t see it that way. I immediately felt as if he didn’t cherish our family time together and he wasn’t sensitive to my needs (yes, I am a bit dramatic). That evening I struggled with feeling misunderstood in our marriage. 

As I was brushing my teeth that night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Just two days before I was dancing on the inside thinking I was the luckiest bride in the world and now here I was questioning if my husband would ever understand my needs. How did such a drastic shift take place so quickly? 

The answer: the power of my thoughts. 

The night Jason brought me home the brownie, I recounted several ways in which he has expressed his love for me over the years. The night we disagreed about the calendar, I recounted the times we haven’t seen eye to eye. Satan fed me the lie that Jason didn’t care for my needs and I dwelt on it, contemplated it, and eventually my spirit agreed with it.

The Bible is filled with a lot of wisdom regarding our thought life! Jesus explains the power of our thoughts when he equates hate with murder and lust with adultery (Matthew 5:21-28). Philippians 4:8 tells us,"... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Paul also tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to, "... take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ." And, I love the New Century Version translation of Proverbs 4:23 which reads,

It is a simple equation. Negative Thoughts = Negative Emotions. Positive Thoughts = Positive Emotions. I need to start realizing the power my thoughts have over my perception of the state of my marriage. I need to obey the Scriptures by dwelling only on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. I need to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Focusing on a disagreement or disappointment in my marriage (past or present) never fits into God's guidelines for my thoughts and so it shouldn't be an option in my life. Cut and dry. It's that simple. My challenge is to intentionally think of something positive about my husband and our marriage every time I want to dwell on anything negative!