Tag: Memory

Freedom From Your Thoughts

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

Freedom From Your Thoughts ~ Week Three

Simple Truth

~ Warfare is not a typical conversation among girlfriends. “Typically” our strongholds take precedence in our conversations. Easily we spit out the things that annoy us about ourselves. Throwing ourselves under the bus, so to speak. In return, we lay down our own card of self-annoyance to level the playing field. In this, we connect. Oddly, it’s truth. It’s real. In the end, It’s not all that bad. For, in sharing our truths, we become relatable.

But what if we enter weapons greater than that of mass destruction into these conversations. What if we respond with a sword?

What if we respond with a helmet?

What would happen in the midst of that girlfriend conversation if we held up a breastplate?

Friend, when was the last time you laid out shoes for a friend in the midst of a battle? Come on, shoes?!

We have weapons of warfare that have divine power to destroy strongholds. What would happen if we helped a girlfriend use them?

What, Sweet Friend, would happen if we used them when our own thoughts attacked?

Consider: the purpose of a weapon is for self protection. Yet, when we attack ourselves it is difficult to hold up that weapon. We become torn within. Wanting to defend ourselves from the thoughts that rage, yet wanting so desperately to cling to the Truth. What weapon of divine warfare can help you defend yourself from your inner thought battle?

Challenge: Who can you ask to help you use that weapon? Is there something you can ask them to do specifically to help you bring freedom to your thoughts?

Video Lesson

Watch Freedom From Your Thoughts Video here:

YouTube Video Lesson

Scripture

~ 2 Corinthians 10:5

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

We have the ability to transform our thoughts. Scientifically and Spiritually, we have the resources and ability to rise higher than the thoughts we give permission to linger within us. Dr. Caroline Leaf is a brilliant resource in this matter. I have read two of her books. This, her most popular, is next on my list. https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Your-Brain-Happiness-Thinking/dp/0801018390

Jaclyn

🍁 Fall Outline 🍁
Week One: Free to Be You
Week Two: Freedom from Your Past

Freedom From Your Past

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

Freedom From Your Past ~ Week Two

Simple Truth

Freedom is equally given and received.

The moment you called upon Jesus Christ to be your Savior you were given freedom from your past. It is now in our hands to choose to open this gift.

I wonder if fear of opening up our Pandora’s Box of the past will be void of the presence of God.

Sweet Friend, whether or not you were a child of God during your moments of the past, God is your Creator and Father today. Trust Him to be present in your future, in your today, and in your yesterday. He will heal. He will renew. He will make all things new. The good and the bad are washed in a Newness that will outshine anything the past has to offer.

Consider: Do you have a success statement you tend to share when you need to build yourself up? Do you have a fail statement you cling to when Jesus desires to draw you forward? Are you willing to share one with a friend today? Are you ready to replace these (and the other statements on your personal list) with what Jesus has for your future?

Challenge: Consider giving your past to Christ Jesus. Write them down in order to see what you truly cling to from “what lies behind”. Ask a Sister to help you replace each statement listed with “what lies ahead”.

*Cheat sheet: What Lies Ahead is LIFE. Life Everlasting! See that.

Video Lesson

Watch Freedom From Your Past Video Lesson:

Week Two

Scripture

~ Philippians 3:13

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

Not all past is bad. Some is good. But all past has a voice that is either silenced, comparable to loud noise, or held by the voice of God. My prayer is that we will study Scripture to find freedom from our past and choose which voice we desire our past to have.

Jaclyn

🍁 Fall Outline 🍁
Week One: Free to be You

I was Paralyzed by Fear

- JaclynPalmer Leave a comment

Sitting there alone as my tears washed over the kitchen floor, I knew something had to change. I was paralyzed by fear. I was overcome by left-over emotions of past realities. Realities of my dad’s death at 33; I was eight. Realities of this same dad leaving 7 years earlier; my 8-year-old self wondering if it were her fault. I was broken and bound by fear. And in this reality, I sat in my corner all alone. Wrapped in the body of my 32-year-old self, I wept the tears of fear that washed over me after my husband and son walked out the door. This was when I knew something had to change.

My husband of ten years was a good man. My four-year-old son was my favorite gift from God. Together they were a unified front of laughter and silliness. They walked out the door around 4 pm for an overnight camping trip. I knew I would never see them again. That’s the thing with fear, it cripples you in your softest place and causes you to succumb to its truth. And I was dining at its table.

Seeing myself paralyzed in this manner overwhelmed me even more. There was a part of me that didn’t want to be this person anymore. This little girl inside me, who grieved truth and lies equally, wanted to break out, to be free. Something had to change for her, for me.  

I had a friend who knew fear. Hers was a different fruit of fear but of the same root. Hers equally fresh in her mind, a mess of truths and lies. I’m struggling. I need your help. Can you meet for coffee? A simple text message, short and to the point. A message void of emotions and details. She knew.

She parked her vehicle beside mine. I could hear her classical music filling her soul as I sat in my empty silence. Her shining smile met my broken expression. There was no need to attempt a falsehood; she understood.  

That coffee date is a slight blur in my memory. This makes me sad. But the process in which this coffee date began and the path in which it led was a game changer for us both. She, in her moment of strength, spoke words of truth over me. I, in my weakness, let her. Our friendship grew that day. Our strength bonded together. Lies were verbally expressed, seen for what they were and thrown into the fire.

Fear did not die that day, but it knew where it was heading. For the first time in my adult life, fear was the one trembling. My husband of 18 years and my 13 year old have left and returned from multiple camping trips since that day. No longer does fear succumb me to its table. Something had changed; I changed.

Fear lost its power within me; unleashed truth reigns in its place.

Friend, if fear is a battle, remember its Victor. Speak His truth over the lies that overtake your thoughts. Listen to the voice of Truth. It is a choice we get to make. And when we do, powerful changes will occur. Little by little, day by day. Fear has already lost. Stand on that foundation and choose truth.

Xoxo,

Jaclyn

Scripture verses on Fear

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