“Here’s the good news: Any negative self-talk phrase can be reversed.”

A thought by H. Norman Wright DMin. from his book, A Better Way to Think: Using Positive Thoughts to Change Your Life (p.32). Baker Publishing Group (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

And this is very important for each of us to see.

Norman says, “It can be reframed as a realistic, positive statement. Like a boat that’s been moving in the wrong direction, you can turn your self-talk around and start moving your thoughts—and your life—in another direction.”

He goes on, “Have you struggled to change your thought life? Of course, you have. We all have. Maybe you’ve tried different approaches or programs, prayed about it, been prayed over, and so on. But you still struggle.

“The brain follows patterns of habits established over the years. We can’t expect this unique organ of the body—with its billions of neurons and millions of pathways, circuits, and memory cells—to erase what it’s built over years, replacing it with entirely new thinking instantaneously.

“When we try to make sudden changes, we ask the brain to do something it wasn’t designed to do. So, when we begin changing old patterns, we should expect old ways of thinking and talking to challenge the new. We’re likely to tell ourselves things like, ‘This won’t work.’ You can’t believe these new thoughts.

“But this is good! It shows the new approach is working. You’ve disrupted that old way of thinking, and now it’s resisting the change.

“It’s similar to the struggle we have in living the Christian life. When we put on our new self, our old sinful self rears its head. A battle between the two emerges.

“Because so much of what we do and say stems from our self-talk, we have to expect some tension and conflict when we start doing something new.”

He later says, “We have difficulty with a void or vacuum in our mind. If you simply try to empty your mind of negative thoughts but fail to replace them with positive thoughts, the negative thoughts will return.

“When you clean out your ‘house,’ it’s more productive to discard or destroy the old furniture, rather than store it, keeping it available.

“You’ll be more successful bringing in a load of new ‘furniture’—positive, healthy thoughts and self-talk.”

So, let’s put the old furniture out on the curb for the garbagemen to take and go and get new furniture.  Turn to God.  Remember He said that He will make you into a new creation.  He will.  Will you ask?  That’s where it starts!

Yes, yes!