As a 70s baby, I have fond memories of elementary school. I absolutely loved attending Handley School with its great teachers and classmates. I particularly remember the focus on reading. Our lessons included the standards and a chance to visit the school library. But, every year we also would get the colorful Scholastic Book Club flyer with each a beautiful image and a catchy title. I can still remember how I would try to narrow down my selections, as they all seemed so attractive.
While reading was fun it was also a challenge. As a 4thgrader, I could read the passages and have no idea what I had just read. My vocabulary was on target but my mind would wander before I could finish the paragraph. I would continue to read and as my mind returned to words before my eyes, I would have no idea what had transpired on the previous pages. I missed the message entirely.
My mind goes back to sitting at the kitchen table with two of the assigned books. My Mother was reading aloud while I read along silently. She taught me to create a soundtrack in my mind with the words I was reading. I learned to speak to my mind and hear the words I was reading.
There is something powerful about reading and receiving a message in the written word. So I ask, what are you reading? What is the soundtrack in your mind? The Bible speaks to the power of our thought life. Proverbs 23:7 begins by saying For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Here the Word cautions us recognize that what we think can control who we are and what we do. This chapter gives warning after warning on how to avoid common pitfalls as we live day to day.
I agree 100% with the Word of God and the effect that my thought life has had on experiencing victory through infertility. I’m still waiting on the babies I hope to add to my family. But, I have to maintain a level of expectation while I wait. It’s so easy to respond to the reality that my home is an empty nest and to be distracted by what I see. Therefore, it is even more critical that I guard my thoughts as they can cause me to stay in hope or descend into hopelessness.
I have developed a time in my day for reading the Bible. But, honestly, sometimes my mind wanders just as it did as a 4thgrader. Armed with more knowledge, I created my own soundtrack of some of the specific things I needed to hear in my mind.
This is an intentional method to renew my mind with the Word of God despite my fluctuating attention span. As a matter of fact, I believe this technique enforces what I have read. The research suggests that reading helps to retain 10% of the subject but hearing it helps us to retain 30-40%!
I pulled out my iPhone, opened the Voice Memo App, and recorded 100 scriptures that speak life! I used a prepared list titled ‘100 Really Cool Things God Said’. I play this soundtrack regularly and it takes me from my home to my workplace parking lot. In times of my greatest tests, these are the words that come from my mouth. In my low place, I am able to quickly repeat the Word of God that offers hope and victory. In prayer, these are the words I declare back to the Lord.
I have since added other soundtracks to my app and purchased audiobooks that read to me just as my Mom did. I acknowledge that if I don’t renew my mind, I’m not adequately equipped to refute the negative thoughts that come up against me.
I encourage you to do the same. Don’t allow your obligations and full schedule to starve your thought life. Grab a book and feed your mind with strength building thoughts. Take a trip to local bookstore, peruse the offerings online, or on your book reading app. I hope you’ll find something with a catchy title that inspires you to read it, listen to it, and grow!
Hope-Filled Thought: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you. Romans 12:2 The Living Bible
Prayer: Thank you Lord that You have provided the victory through Jesus Christ. Help me to guard my thought life and to speak life into it by reading Your Word. I believe what it says about me and every area of my life. I receive it and it is so. Amen.
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