by Becca Christensen
I was excited when I learned that this month on the Beautiful Blog would be about battlefields of our minds. This has certainly been heavy on my own heart in the season I find myself in and I know so many of you must be in similar seasons. So the next obvious question was which "Mind Game" to write about.
Leave it to me to pick a tough one going into the holiday week – brokenness. Brokenness is one of those scary Christian words like "patience" where the more mature you become, the healthier your fear of praying for it is. Not many of us truly want the Lord to break us, do we? But when I think about the Christian mind, I realize that seasons of brokenness can be when we need to keep our minds right more than ever.
When we’re going through times of brokenness because of death, trial, financial problems, infertility, disease, or other spirit crushing hardships, it is easy to let our minds get the best of us. It is easy to tell ourselves that the Lord doesn’t care, has abandoned us, isn’t answering our prayers, and that no one understands what we’re going through.
The biggest lie I’ve told myself about being broken is that when we go through these times we have to "suck it up" and "fake it ‘til we make it." If you’re as type A as I am, you know exactly what I mean. We don’t let anyone see us sweat, and we immediately form a plan to "fix" things. As I’ve studied the Bible though, I realize that the Lord uses these seasons to grow us before we move out of them and that requires us to really experience the broken season.
If you’re in a season in which circumstances have broken you, spend some time reading Psalms. My favorite is this, "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all." (Psalm 34:17-19)
When your mind becomes a battlefield, pray scripture over your life. Cling to the promises the Lord provides in His word. We are not the first to experience these times and will not be the last, but the Lord is sovereign in good times and in hard. He does hear us. He will deliver us. And he is close to us when we are broken.
I challenge you not to let your mind get the best of you when your heart is breaking. Cling to the Lord, His promises and His never-ending faithfulness. Use these times to grow closer to Him. Don’t tell yourself you’re not allowed to go through hard times. Just don’t try to go through them without Him (and solid Christian encouragers).
Becca Christensen works as an event specialist in the non-profit/sports world. She loves to bake, travel, read, blog, spend time with family, and root on the Indianapolis Colts. In addition to contributing to the Beautiful Blog, Becca attends Beautiful Monday Nights. You can read more about Becca on her blog, Oh, the Places You'll Go.