The power of the mind is amazing. It can take a false reality or what we perceive to be reality and make it feel like the truth and actuality.
We need to learn to tell ourselves a different story.
I was having dinner with an acquaintance I hadn’t seen in quite a while. She had retired recently and was busier than ever with all the wonderful things she loved to do. I wanted to hear all about them, so I started the conversation by asking her how her last trip to wine country was.
I listened to this beautiful woman joyfully tell me about her travels, the books she was reading, the art she was creating and so on. She never stopped smiling. I was in awe of her.
See, this woman suffers from chronic pain, but you would never know it. She told me in regards to her condition that one day she realized that she had a choice. She could accept the story as it is or tell herself a different story.
She could choose to be defeated or choose to push through it and not let the devil steal her joy.
As we wrapped up dinner, she placed her hand on top of mine and said, “Thank You”. I asked her, “For what?” She responded, “For your first question not being how are you feeling? Because this pain does not define who I am.”
She taught me a few lessons over dinner that night, but the biggest one of all was:
Remember how God sees you and let that define who you are.
Whatever sickness, pain, guilt, shame you have or anything you have done in your past, don’t let that define you. Remember how God sees you.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1
Tell yourself a different story.
Raelyn Pracht 