Just Continue That Thought...

  A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 79). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Now this may not be for everyone, but it should be! Lisa says, " It’s not unlike the 'I can eat this because it’s available to me, but should I?' principle. Most of us wouldn’t consider eating doughnuts for every meal. We could; we are free to. It is not illegal. We may have the money, and no one is telling us no. But is it good for our bodies? Is it best for us in all ways—will our brains function well, and will we have the most energy? Of course the answer is no, and we are mature enough to be able to tell ourselves no, to do what’s best for the bodies we care enough about to withhold something from them. (We also operate with common sense, which more of us could greatly benefit from in other areas of life instead of trying to justify them with our intellectual arguments.)" She goes on, "Denial of

A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 56-57). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) He makes the difference. Lisa says, " Love is stronger than fear, betrayal, anger, resentment, doubt, disappointment, and, yes, judgment because we chose God and God is love—the ultimate love. It’s ours if we want it, choose it, and pray to live it, every day. When someone is unlovable and we love that person anyway, we are shadowing God. This is what being a Jesus follower means. We may think loving someone is about them. But, ultimately, it’s about Him. Our behavior flows from there." She then says, "But it’s not just that real love is strong, though that would be enough. It is that it is strong er. It is the 1 John 4:4 principle: 'You, dear children, are from God and have overcome . . . because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world' (NIV). Love has overcome many ba

A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 52). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is so true. Lisa says, " So often you can find us being the hardest on someone we see reflected in ourselves. We feel put off by the things we recognize as places we need to work on, sins we struggle with, characteristics we deeply wish away. It’s easier for us to judge people than to deal with the fact that we are disappointed in ourselves or to work on getting better. The way we judge others for the things we recognize in us is a sign that we are struggling to love ourselves, first, which makes it impossible for us to love another." She goes on, "A life of judgment never fulfills and results in feelings of loneliness and resentment. It may be easier to choose judgment, but it’s healthier to choose love. C. S. Lewis said this: "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart w

  A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 38). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is a tremendous thought. Lisa says, " I didn’t know how to be me because I misunderstood the process of becoming . Too often the unfinished us is blind to what the Spirit-shaped us can be over time. Lies have felt true, damning, and permanent. We aren’t weak for falling for them. We are human. But we need to put the truth of Jesus over them now." She goes on, "I don’t want you to go on believing any untrue things, like I have, so let me say it to you: real is the best pretty because it doesn’t ask you to lie . Besides the fact that Jesus created us to be the real us, things get complicated when we try to live our life making it all look pretty; it’s exhausting and discouraging to the rest of us who need someone . . . to be real—about how hard the cancer is—about how adoptions aren’t all roses even thou

A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 20). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) This is what she calls the problem of over analyzing. Lisa says, "Some of us come into this world with amazing natural radar. Add the Holy Spirit to that and you have a true gift to this world. Highly emotive people keep the rest of us accountable to the needs and hurts of folks—the world cannot exist without them. But thinking too much can also lead down dark roads. It can cause us to imagine things that aren’t true, to make up entire narratives that hurt us unnecessarily. Relying on our feelings is dangerous as well. Feelings serve as a gauge but not a boss. As a creative, overanalyzing can cause me such pain because nothing is ever good enough—perfection creeps in, doubt takes over, and before I know it, I have become paralyzed by the thoughts in my head that don’t have merit. This deadly 'over' has taken up

  A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 19). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Would you explain that? Lisa says, "We feel our first stab at words wasn’t good. What we are saying doesn’t feel adequate. We may be trying to couch a hard truth that needs to be said, so we say it . . . and then say it again, and again, and maybe again, if we feel it necessary. My friend Tracy tells me she is learning that 'it’s okay to say no without giving all the reasons.' That 'no is a complete sentence.' A big and hard-fought amen to that. Not everyone needs to know why you can’t come to that dinner party—maybe your daughter has revealed to you something difficult, and you are not in a good place to go and pretend when your heart is in pain. It’s okay not to go, and it’s okay to say you aren’t coming, but thank you, and leave it at that. And on that note, may we all be better accepters without d

  A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book,  Jesus Over Everything  (p. 9). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) But we do need something, don't we? Lisa says, "Sometimes you need God to finally run yours. Too often we throw perfectly good lives in the trash in search of ones we end up tarnishing all over. The core of why our lives don’t work isn’t the life itself but what we internally never made right. This is why we wind up repeating patterns." She goes on, "I’ve watched humans awhile, and I have a theory. Despite our temporary feelings, there are three things that make our lives not work in the long term: 1.​too many options 2.​getting away with something that is not good for us 3.​trying to handle everything ourselves. "Too many options lead to mental confusion, second-guessing, and dissatisfaction with our lives. We spend our lives in angst over the great what ifs—what if we had picked that life or that

  A thought by Lisa Whittle from her book, Jesus Over Everything (p. 6). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Change is such an important thing but also a very difficult thing for us to do. But we need to do it in order for Jesus to be over everything. Lisa says, "This is the upheaving of self, long buried in the denial tactics we humans are so good at mastering. Moments when I found myself in such a mess, with Jesus holding me as He cleaned my wounds, reminding me of His wellness plan. . . I haven’t forgotten that history. When you’ve been maimed from self-inflicted wounds, you don’t soon forget." She goes on, "The truth is, I can’t choose my way over Jesus’ way anymore because I can’t afford the scars. A Jesus-over-everything lifestyle is a Jesus-take-over-me-and-my-lifestyle so I don’t ruin my one precious life. But even more than that, it’s the understanding that the priority of Jesus brings order to the chaos o