It’s not lost on me that we are wrapping up our Sound Mind series at the same time I have been challenged in my own mind. But It’s been a reminder that we practice our faith, we practice surrender, we practice gratitude, so that it’s there when we need it. It becomes our second skin, the way we interact with God and others.

Writing, even briefly, is one of the best ways to apply the truth we read and hear. It's one of the ways that revelation comes to us. And being a steady person who weathers the regular storms of life with grace and confidence requires a mind regularly exposed to and examined by God's truth.

The objective is to give yourself an opportunity to stop and absorb what God is doing in your life. If you’re not sure what God is doing or saying, that’s an even better reason to practice reflection regularly. It’s like tuning in to a radio, turning the dial a little this way and that, to hear the still, small voice of God that gets drowned out in our own thoughts.

What do emotions have to do with our spiritual lives and wellbeing anyway? Well, everything. God made us multi-part - body, soul, and spirit. All of these parts are interconnected and make us fully alive. Emotions may often feel like a burden to us, but they are a gift from God that enable us to experience our lives in a complex way. They also help us to connect with God and others at a deep level.

Sometimes we become convinced we can force-feed gratitude into our own brains, and we feel guilt when it doesn’t happen. We ask ourselves questions like, Why am I not happier? I would like to take a different approach with gratitude that I hope will help you to set aside any guilt and to chart a path toward a more natural (not forced) experience with joy.

One of the ways we get rooted in truth and uproot the lies is by meditating on God’s words. Whatever He says about you, you should be saying about yourself.