You’re not trying to heal so you can handle more trauma and heart ache. You’re healing so you can handle more of God’s joy, peace and hope. Fear is familiar. Familiarity and certainty are what our brains crave.

Joy can feel scary. It can feel unsafe. We get to teach our brains and bodies what it means to embody joy. It may sound backwards but because of sin in this world the enemy would love for us to think that anxiety, stress, pain and fear are what we’re supposed to battle all our lives. It’s not!

We were created to host the presence and power of God and that means we carry the gifts and the fruit of the Holy Spirit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. To heal, we have to feel, and that can be so uncomfortable for many.

Oftentimes we’re afraid to feel the good feelings like joy and gratitude because we’ve become so accustomed to disappointment, sadness, grief, hopelessness. We actually have to teach ourselves and practice how to create actual thoughts of thankfulness and leaning into God, allowing Him to transform our thoughts.

It doesn’t happen in one day, it happens over time as we practice and make these healing thoughts habitual. If you’ve learned a negative thought all your life, it will take some time to replace that negative thought with a more positive one that actually feels real to you. Fake it til you make it is not biblical nor is it believable to the brain. Let’s create thoughts that heal your mind, body and soul.