I am a great worrier... a great fretter.
But with practice, thru prayer, or meditation or meditative prayer we can catch those thoughts
and convince ourselves in a way to think differently.
I find the need for this in the middle of the night most.
I talk to myself.
I have to take my focus from one thought pattern and
steer it in a different direction....and put the focus somewhere else.
The first thing tho...is catching yourself. Some would call it mindfulness.
You be the boss of what you are thinking about.
“But it was in this moment, lying in bed late at night, that I first realized that the voice in my head—the running commentary that had dominated my field of consciousness since I could remember—was kind of an a**hole.”
~Dan Harris, 10% Happier
God is our true Friend, who always gives us the counsel and comfort we need. Our danger lies in resisting Him; so it is essential that we acquire the habit of hearkening to His voice, or keeping silence within, and listening so as to lose nothing of what He says to us. We know well enough how to keep outward silence, and to hush our spoken words, but we know little of interior silence. It consists in hushing our idle, restless, wandering imagination, in quieting the promptings of our worldly minds, and in suppressing the crowd of unprofitable thoughts which excite and disturb the soul.
... François Fénelon
Like a Boss
Donna Elsie.
****
Carol Sue is recovering and working so hard with all of her therapies. (is that a word?)
She is breathing on her own and eating and drinking!
It has been one month today since her car accident. What a month for her and her family.
I'm sure the worst in her life.
She is alive and going to recover!
Thank God.
Thank you for praying.
You are welcome. Prayers of Thanksgiving...my favorite kind!
ReplyDeleteIve been trying to envision the wind blowing leaves off the trees. I think of my scattered thoughts this way and I try to focus on the tree...still ...and quiet amid the rush
I like that image kathy
DeleteI am just the opposite with the visual, but I blame the TV show Firefly (and the movie Serenity) where the pilot always said "I am a leaf on the wind...watch how I soar..." when he was in a stressful situation.
DeleteSo I like to imagine the wind (Life? God?) carrying me in the right direction whether I worry or not.
For me, during the late night fretting, I use the Jesus prayer with every breath: breathe in-Lord Jesus Christ, breathe out-have mercy on me, a sinner. Over and over. It works in mri machines, too. :)
ReplyDeleteI do this, too. It works!
Deletelove and prayers, jep
I will do this!!!! Thank you
DeleteThat's incredible Stephanie. I will do that too. Thank you.
DeleteStephanie, I love this. I am definitely going to give it a try. In fact, I have an MRI coming up next month and I will be putting this to use. Thank you.
DeleteDebbie Z.
Oh yippee Carol Sue! So happy to hear this!
ReplyDelete'Interior silence' is a great phrase. All the ruts my mind gets into are noisy and fretful and worrisome. I will say this about worry, it drives me to my knees!
Came back to say Thanks be to God for Carol Sue's recovery.
ReplyDeleteWe are still praying and know "God does not fail us."
And, I really like that quote...."God is our true friend...."
love and prayers, jep
I had a friend that called late night fretting...".stinkin thinkin".
ReplyDeleteI just try to pray for others. It takes my mind off my own fretting.
Rejoicing that Carol Sue is recovering. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd solid advice. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. <3
That is such good news about Carol Sue! I continue to pray for her.
ReplyDeleteI only began waking up in the night when I got older. And you're right. My thoughts flit here and there and focus on a failure or something I wish I had done better. Anyway, my mama always said if you wake up in the middle of the night like that then the Lord needs you to pray. Sometimes He'll bring a particular person to mind so I pray for them. Sometimes I find out later that person needed those prayers right then. Isn't He good like that?