With me, you couldn’t easily tell. You see, I always appeared unruffled and put together. I had long ago mastered the art of masking the roller coaster ride of emotions going on inside me. For many reasons that would take me years to identify, I was enslaved to fear. I would just be worried that I would either never get married or I that I would be so delayed that I would settle for less than I should. Little did I know that this fear had begun to characterize my life and inform the decisions I made. The negative thoughts that I constantly entertained were crippling me and leading me to make poor decisions.
If you’re constantly struggling with negative thoughts, emotions or fear, the first question you want to ask yourself is “what is the source of this fear?”. You were not created to be fearful. You are not just a paranoid person by nature. You are not just a pessimist by nature. These things have a source, a root cause that must be identified and then dealt with.
For me, I would later realize that because of how sensitive I naturally am, I had allowed the negative comments of certain people in my circle eat deep into me. Someone once laughed in my face and told me “your relationship with this person will not work out”. This was an older person, someone who had some major influence in my life and whom I had to accord some respect so I couldn’t respond in defense. I simply let that comment take hold of me and beyond that one relationship she was referring to, I began to develop a fear that my relationships would not work out! I wasn’t born paranoid – there was a root cause!
It took many years of going round in circles for me to be able to identify that my constant negative thoughts were sparked by negative comments. I hadn’t learnt to guard my heart so I easily fell victim. As I became stronger in my relationship with God and began to look into the perfect law of liberty (the Word of God), I began to renew my mind and exchange those thoughts for God’s thoughts. I also began to let go of my hurt against that person who just seemed so mean for no reason. I realized that she must have been dealing with self esteem issues and must have been hurting so much to be able to spew out such comments. I began to forgive, open up before God and let the Lord heal me.
Loved one, what is it for you? You were not born to be afraid. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the source; be truthful with yourself no matter how silly it seems. Open up your heart before God and let Him begin to heal you. Were you heartbroken? Abandoned by a parent? Abused? Misused? Admit things before the One who loves you and let Him begin to heal you. You cannot place a band aid over a foundation such as this. You have to look it in the face and deal with it once and for all. You need to loose its grip over you and your life. It’s time to move on from negativity! There’s so much out there that God wants you to experience! It’s time to let go so you can move forward!
I pray this moment that the Lord deals with every foundation of negativity in your life. I pray in the name of Jesus that you receive freedom and that the broken places of your life find healing. Amen!
Join me soon as we take on a second part to overcoming negativity! Till then, keep enjoying life in Jesus. I love you as always!
That God would place this dream in my heart and entrust me with a vision such as this seems rather ironic to my natural senses; but I love how gracious God is in that He often reaches out for the seemingly unqualified and the most unlikely candidate when He has an important task to execute.