Written by Cindi McMenamin, a contemporary writer and speaker.
Are you letting your past mistakes define you? And do you believe that you will always be the way you are? … A sure sign that we are stuck in pain from our past is when we excuse our behavior by saying, “That’s just the way I am.” Or, when we believe that we can never grow beyond a particular place, emotionally or spiritually. .A crucial step to healing and wholeness is to renew your mind to think differently. If you have a relationship with God, the old you that was “just that way” is gone. And the new you is now “just like Him.” … Let God define who you are—not your parents, your past, a teacher from long ago, a friend who used to criticize you, a partner or spouse who walked out on you, a therapist’s diagnosis, or a boss who thought you weren’t capable of much. The more you read in the Bible about God’s heart for you, the more you will begin to see yourself as a regenerated, transformed child of His and act like it. Discover in God’s Word how He sees you and how to start living like His child. To let God—and not the voices in your head—define you, you must learn to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). When you hear negative thoughts from your head defining you, capture them instead of letting them run loose. Be determined only to listen to the thoughts that are obedient to God, consistent with His Word’s description of you. Tune your ear to hear the thoughts of God’s that say “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” (Jeremiah 31:3); “I have called you friends” (John 15:15); and “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Who are you really when you are in Christ? Renew your mind—and receive your new identity—with the beautiful descriptions of you found in God’s Word. And walk with your head higher, focused on the fact that you are not just that way. You are, instead, just like your Heavenly Father.
If anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. [2 Corinthians 5:17]
Pathways Press.com 