What Were You Thinking About?

By Eric Hutchinson, Fellowship Rogers CR Training Coach, 8/4/21

Have you ever been sitting with a friend or family member, and they are staring off in the distance? You
say, “What are you thinking?” Thoughts are interesting. Sometimes thoughts can randomly come in and out of my mind, and then other times I can’t quit thinking about something. Especially if there is a major event going on in my life. I can sometimes obsess about whatever that big event is.

So, let me ask you a question. What are you thinking about? Is there anything dominating your 
thoughts? Work? A relationship? Your children? An event that’s happened in your life? Maybe, you have been keeping a secret that only you know, and it’s become a burden. Take a minute and do a self-check, and determine if your thoughts have been positive or negative? I recently read that John Hopkins Medical School found that 70% of disease is psychosomatic. This is NOT to say that these diseases aren’t real, but their origin is not found in a physical cause. Wow! Another study by Stanford University found that over 2,000 different chemical secretions are being released into our bloodstream directly from the brain. Thoughts are extremely powerful! So, what is dominating your thought-life?

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is…” King David sometimes struggled with his thoughts. Psalms 55:2 says, “Hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me, and I am distraught.” Psalms 139:23 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.” If King David, a huge man of faith, struggled with his thought-life then it makes sense I am also going to sometimes struggle with mine as well.

So what can I do if I find my thoughts are staying in a bad place? Well, here are a few suggestions:

1. Do a self-check and evaluate what your mind is focusing on. Sometimes we don’t even realize 
that we are dwelling on something negative. Lamentations 3:40 says, “Let us examine our ways, 
and test them and let us return to the Lord.” Principle 7 says, “Reserve a daily time with God for 
self-examination…” If you have unconfessed sin, or if you are dealing with some kind of trauma, 
then strong thoughts about these things are normal and need to be processed. You may need to 
make amends, offer forgiveness, or work through an event with a professional. However, if your 
thoughts are just negative and there is no action that you need to take then try the following.

2. Use your sensory inputs. What’s that? Your eyes, your ears, your nose, your touch. These are all 
gifts from God to help us enjoy life and focus our thoughts on God. Go to a park or trail and 
notice the trees, flowers, and beauty all around. Put on some praise music which will help to 
push your thoughts toward God. Notice the positive smells around you. If you can’t find any 
then take a shower and use some sweet smelling soap. Hold someone close to you. If you have a 
close friend or family member that you can hug or hold their hand, that will help you to be 
thankful and focus your brain on positive thoughts.

3. Last but not least, pray. Communicate with God. Allow God’s thoughts to become your 
thoughts. Psalms 139: 17 says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the 
sum of them!”

How important is it to keep our thoughts in check? HUGE! Thinking the wrong things can lead us into
relapse and depression. Paul said in Ephesians 4:23, “…we take captive every thought to make it 
obedient to Christ.” Thinking the right things keeps me sober and healthy, both emotionally and 
physically.

So, do a self-check and evaluate your thoughts. Use the gifts God has given us to push your thoughts in a positive direction. I hope this message finds you thinking good thoughts but if not, take some time to
realign your thoughts with God and His spirit. I love you friend, have a blessed week!

“So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your 
mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, 
and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of 
praise.” Philippians 4:8 NLT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha...
Read more

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the ...
Read more

Guidelines are there for a reason

Anyone who has participated in a Step Study or a small group through Celebrate Recovery has heard the five small-group guidelines. They’re supposed to be read aloud before each meeting starts, just to remind everyone or to inform any newcomers. Most of the guidelines are obvious and make perfect sense on the first reading. Anonymity is vital and as people who are submitting to God as our Higher Power, we should realize that we are in no more a position to “fix” each other than we are to “fix” ourselves. There’s one guideline that puzzled and even annoyed me at first, that pesky no. 2. “There is NO cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in conversation excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her feelings without interruptions.” At first I really didn’t understand the guideline. “Did they seriously need to tell us not to talk to each other while someone was sharing?,” was my thought. But as the guideline was explained further, I better understood. We ar...
Read more