Is there an area in your life that needs changing, but you just can’t seem to get a breakthrough?
I’ve been there.
I used to have a long list of areas in my life that needed to change, but despite my efforts, I went back to square one over and over, and…you get the idea.
The cycles were making me feel frustrated, defeated, depressed…you name the emotion — I felt it.
But depression was the one I sat with the most.
My depression led me to a cycle of eating my feelings.
Food became a drug for me. I’m gonna call it like it is and not sugar coat anything — FOOD WAS MY DRUG OF CHOICE.
I made myself sick most nights from eating too much, which would send me on another cycle of depression. Not only was I frustrated with a lot of areas in my life, but now add the fact that I HATED how I physically felt daily, which increased the level of my depression.
I wanted out of this cycle, and I desperately wanted freedom, but something was holding me back…
I learned it was me.
It wasn’t the health plan.
It wasn’t my lack of time.
It was what I told myself throughout the day that drove me to places I didn’t really want to live.
As I began to pay attention to my thought patterns, I noticed a theme.
My conversations with myself were FILLED with excuses that permitted me to stay in my bad cycles.
Yes…it was all my fault!
My excuses were blocking my breakthrough!
My inner dialogue said things like:
- “I don’t care.”
- “I’ll start tomorrow.”
- “I don’t feel like it.”
- “It’s too hard.”
- “I hate exercise.”
- “I don’t have time.”
My excuse list was pretty long, and when I got honest, I realized I was actually lying to myself.
I did care. Tomorrow never came because every day has a tomorrow, and the biggest one — I have time for what I create space for…exercise just wasn’t on that list.
One day, I decided to stop my excuses, take my thoughts captive, and begin a new dialogue in my mind.
One that declared, “I do care, and God cares for me. Today is my brand new day. I don’t feel like it, but I don’t live by my feelings, and I know if I choose better, I will feel better. Nothing is too hard for me because I can do all things through Christ who fills me with a supernatural strength to RUN MY RACE!”
This new dialogue led me to such an incredible breakthrough in my health and wellness, I actually fell in love with the very thing I hated…exercise!
This is coming from someone who used to say that talking on the phone and walking around the mall were my sports.
True story.
I became so mentally strong in this area because I learned to take back that inner dialogue and renew my mind based on my goals, not my feelings.
This journey of health and wellness set me up for a greater revelation of how powerful our minds truly are, and the importance of renewing our minds with what God says.
Our inner dialogue will either take us down paths that lead us away from God’s Truth, or to that transformed life Jesus paid for.
I watched my body transform first, and as I began to connect with every thought that was not God’s heart for me and then renew my mind with what He says, not what I thought or felt, my new life in Christ took form.
I began to get breakthrough after breakthrough in every area of struggle: fear, depression, insecurities, unforgiveness…you name it, I faced it, and with God, I crushed every lie that filled my mind until I unlocked the Spirit-empowered, transformed life Jesus paid for.
This lifestyle of freedom and breakthrough is not just for me…it’s for you!
It’s time to stop the excuses, take your thoughts captive, and begin a new dialogue in your mind — one that lines up with what God says.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will. -Romans 12:2 (NIV)
