Day 27

"Mommy-brain!" My excuse for so many nonsensical moments since having children. Thoughts that are never…anyway, what was I saying? Even as I am writing this my 6-year-old daughter is going on and on about Bluey, her new beta fish, and words are just leaving my head. The mind is truly our battleground as moms. We run on emotions because our minds, well, they are filled to capacity. But, Paul teaches us that joy is found in the way the believer thinks!

In Philippians, Paul references the mind 16 times. He mentions four joy-stealers: circumstances (chapter 1), people (chapter 2), things (chapter 3), worry (chapter 4). And, four attitudes—or ways of thinking—that will maintain our joy: the single mind (1:21), the submissive mind (2:3), the spiritual mind (3:19-20), and the secure mind (4:7).*  

The journal continues…

'And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'  

Philippians 4:7  

'Keep your hearts and minds' (v.7). In speaking of keeping the heart and surrendering my mind daily to Christ, which Paul reveals in this book to be the key to real joy, I unfold this truth backwards…

In verse 7, Paul says, 'the peace of God' is what will keep my heart and mind. But, the verse starts with 'And' showing 'peace of God' to be the result of the prior verse's plea to bring our cares to God through prayer with thankfulness. Illustrated, it would look like this:

Trust in God and Gratitude = Peace of God beyond understanding

Peace of God = Keeping the heart and mind

Keeping the heart and mind = JOY for the believer! 

Trust in God and gratitude is where it begins (real, living, daily FAITH). We trust God as we bring our daily cares to Him, believing in His promises and in who He is and being thankful—rejoicing—in ALL things. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, the image of a grateful heart on bended knee is truly where this dare should end and begin.

My Dare:

To become a woman of prayer. Specifically, to pray for my children—their salvation and sanctification (growth in godliness) and my part in it as their mother. 

There is a question that torments me as a mom: 
What-if?… 
What-if I allow my child to ride home with that family and they get in a car accident? What-if this sickness turns into something more fatal? What-if my littlest one gets too cold at night or cannot breathe through her stuffy nose? What-if I say yes to the kids exploring the woods and they get lost or worse, shot by a hunter or eaten by a bear? (Yes—while I have a ridiculous imagination for what could happen—we really do have bears that have carried our trash cans up the mountain!) What-if?…

Join me tomorrow as we come to the next verse in Philippians 4, where Paul challenges us to think on things that are TRUE, to exchange our "what-ifs" for "what-is."  





* Outline taken from Warren Wiersbe, Be Joyful