What we believe determines how we behave.

Think. Believe. Act. As if it were true and we will become.

We must practice believing as if it were true for us until we believe.

It is a process! It takes time. We must be willing to keep believing even as the results are slow coming, even as we do not see evidence of change.

We must become aware, acknowledge, and accept our current thinking. Our low-level, negative, unhelpful thinking.

Then decide we do not want to think that way anymore and commit to thinking positive, beneficial, uplifting, Truth thoughts. We commit to practicing new thoughts.

And when the old thoughts pop in our heads, because that is how our brain works, we tell ourselves we no longer think that way. We gently, kindly, firmly, take those thoughts captive and replace them with our new Truth thoughts.

I have noticed that as a society we seem to have a lot of unconscious negativity, and low-level thinking. We have trained ourselves to assume the worst, be skeptical, doubt, fear, be suspicious. These are learned behaviors we can unlearn them and think a new Way, with the Holy Spirit’s help. We choose to think on Truth, on good, positive, beneficial things.

We practice and practice and keep practicing.

Henri Nouwen in his book Life of the Beloved said, “Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: ‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and help safe in an everlasting embrace.’”

We must tell ourselves: we are chosen. We are loved. We are enough. We are held by God. As we think on these truths our brains will look for the ways this is true. The more we practice thinking on Truth, the more we will begin to feel loved, chosen, embraced by God, and see evidence in our lives.

When we feel hurt, offended, or rejected, it is our thinking about whatever the person said or did that is generating our feelings. We can learn to process through our feelings, get curious about them, figure out why we feel the way we do, instead of avoiding them, or buffering them, or numbing. We move though the feelings, we acknowledge them, and let them go after we process them. And we can tell ourselves a new story, think a different thought about whatever happened. We can learn to be emotional resilient. We can begin to realize the power we have to feel what we feel, not be afraid, and respond better.

We practice living a better Way. We believe in God’s love for us. We are open to receive God’s love. We come to know our worth and value in Jesus Christ regardless of what we do or do not do, or what other people think, or our social status, or any other thing. We realize the power we have to generate for ourselves the love and acceptance we long for. We take responsibility for creating for ourselves the feelings we want. We realize that no one else can do it for us. We realize the power of our thinking.

In this place of knowing God’s love for us, believing our worth and value are in what God says about us, we discover freedom. Then, we can show up in love and offer love to others because we know love for ourselves.

What I believe is true for me? That is what I will act from. What you believe is true for you? That is what your will actions will prove.

What we believe determines how we behave.

Keep practicing!

Keep seeking and discovering!