Back in the early to mid-90s I spent 8 months working in a local psychiatric hospital as part of my course work while in seminary. Each morning we would have Grand Rounds in which we would review the patients admitted overnight and learn of the reasons they were now with us. Because these patients were admitted for psychiatric reasons you would hear a common phrase nearly everyday...Whether real or imagined the patient states... If a patient made claims from their past, we really didnt know if those things actually happened. But, we treated the patient as if they had because they believed they did. The same is true for each of us. If we believe people dont like us. If we believe we were abused. If we believe people talk about us. If we believe people we love dont love us back. If we believe we are unworthy, not good enough, or are failures. If we believe any of those are true, it doesnt matter if they are true or not, because we believe they are....and when we believe things we act as if they are true....and we allow our misguided beliefs to dictate our actions & our futures. You go to a scary movie. You know its not real, but you still get scared. You leave the theater and go home where you are still afraid and may even have nightmares....all from something you KNOW is NOT true. Now think about the impact on your life of the things you believe that arent true that are not found in a movie, but in your mind. Ive seen people completely emotionally and physically frozen from the fear of losing a job, a marriage, a loved one or any number of things. Someone else made a comment and they mentally walked out the options to a possible illogical conclusion and emotionally reacted as if all of the bad things had actually happened....and NOTHING had really happened. Too many times we allow real things, real people, real circumstances, and real memories to control us....but, we should never allow the imagined to take hold and limit out happiness and our future. Live Better. Pray that God reveals the truth to you. Allows you to see the imagined for what it is. And, that He gives you strength and courage to overcome them both in order for you to be and to achieve all you were created to be....and that will definitely be real and not imagined.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:07:49 +0000