by: Hannah Dearth
Have you ever kind of finished a day not really liking yourself? Feeling kind of down about how you have acted, and realizing you’ve been pretty negative, and pretty difficult to be around?
It can snowball quickly, really.
Now you feel like no one probably likes you anymore. You second guess what people meant when they said something to you. Even if it was nice, they were just trying to be nice, they didn’t mean it. Maybe you even wake up the next day and just build upon these thoughts, ending it again with a similar, yet slightly worse, feeling and mindset.
Or, it didn’t even start with a feeling, rather a series of unfortunate events. Maybe you locked your keys in the car. Then, you spilled your coffee all over yourself… and the day just went from there along this same pattern of little frustrations, building into bigger frustration, impatience, and disappointment that filtered into the rest of your thoughts, interactions, and experiences. Then before you knew it, you kind of just started seeing these frustrations in each day. It was hard to be positive.
This way of thinking, it’s a habit. Good news is, habits can be broken, and new ones can be made in their place with a little time, consistency, and effort.
These thoughts become feelings, and then they become actions. That’s how our brain works. There’s literally a whole therapy dedicated to this idea.
Now that we know this, let’s make a promise to each other, okay?
We are going to fill our hearts with affirmations, and scriptures, and biblical wisdom, and worship songs. They are going to overflow with an abundance of His love, and grace, and mercy…. For ourselves, and for others. Our hearts will be so full, that this pours out of us, and there isn’t any room for that other yucky stuff.
Here’s a few little bits to get us going. Please, share some back with myself and others in the comments too, won’t you?
God makes you strong.
You will get through this!
Psalm 37:39
God will not leave us.
You are never alone!
Deuteronomy 31:8
God completes you.
You are whole, just as you are in this moment!
Colossians 2:10
He hears our voice and supplication.
You are heard!
Psalm 116:1-2
*Sometimes we have a chemical imbalance, or are experiencing a situational depression, and that can run much deeper than working on our thought processes alone, and need a little more support. I’m all for that support, and this of course wouldn’t apply to those situations as a one size fits all solution. My prayers are with you. I have been there. I am certainly not minimizing your hurt and struggle, just offering a general pick me up to those who have felt in a rut! ❤️