20 May Get Your Mind Outta the Gutter! by Shannon Longoria
Has everything in life gone just perfect for you? It hasn’t for me. Sometimes (it seems) like I’m never gonna get a break. But then, just in time as I keep my focus on God, He steps in and gives me supernatural peace and rest just when I think I can’t bear any more. Then, after my quick break, He sends me back to the proverbial gym of life to push myself to the next level.
Usually the training is in my “response” muscles. Yes, there are unexpected disappointments and challenges, but each time I have a choice. If my mind goes to the gutter…the negative, sticky, worst possible place, and then stays there, then thoughts of sadness, confusion, and dissatisfaction leading to depression tend to take over.
In my family, depression is not uncommon. My grandmother locked herself in a room for over 10 years, hoarded everything she could so there was only a pathway to her bedroom, the one she slept in across the hall from my grandfather. So sad. She didn’t mind the filth because it was where she made her home. Depression is filth making a home in your mind. So get your mind outta the gutter! 🙂 It sounds easy, but it is hard to get out once you’re there.
The gutter has claws! Yuck! It grabs onto its residents, and holds on tight. But, one word from God can give you instant release and relief. Solution: Turn off the world and simply worship. Meditate on who God is and worship Him. Worshiping God is the life-rope reminding you that God will never abandon or forsake you. He loves you just the way you are and right where you are. He sees beyond the circumstances, the worry, the fear, the sadness, the filth, and says you are STRONG! You are LOVED! You are EXACTLY who you are supposed to be! He says “I AM that I AM!” And, “ I AM your PROBLEM SOLVER!”
God will never tell you that you’re a failure. He will use your “so-called” failure and say, “Look what you can do!” “Let’s try it again and see what new things you can do this time!” That’s what I believe the scripture means when it says, “Don’t remember the former things…I am doing a new thing” in Isaiah 43. That whole chapter is about God’s restoring and redeeming love for us! I love it!
That’s the God whom I know! And because He lives in me, I am a problem SOLVER and an OVERCOMER. And You are too!! God’s answer is in you and me. We have the opportunity to choose not to entertain thoughts that are anywhere near the gutter. I encourage you as I encourage myself to take the load off of your mind and worship our faithful, loving, merciful, generous God who believes and wants you to live in the light.
Encouraging You to Love it and Live it, Sisters!
Shannon Longoria