The Push Behind the Shove

Have you ever felt like you are just being shoved through life? Shoved through your day? Forced into things or feelings you weren't sure about, but here they are? The frantic thoughts that drive you crazy or the repetitive worries that keep you up at night?

There's something pushing that shove along. Do you know what it is?

Fear.

The stressing over whether or not the baby will ever sleep through the night, the worry about your kid getting the right teacher at school, the fuss about eating only organic food, and the anxiety over time slipping away. All of those things are pushed by fear.

See things that make us feel like we have no control prompt us to not only feel afraid -- though we often call it anxiety or worry -- but also to try and exert control over them. Because in our minds, control is what stops the fear.

In a way, that's true.

Controlling, or trying to anyway, a situation, a task, or even a person will not stop the fear at least not for the long haul. It may give us some semblance of relief and maybe even settle our minds for a bit. But the reality is this kind of control we have to feed with more control.

But the spirit of self-control given to us by our Father God is actually the only control we need to practice AND it can be very powerful against fear. Romans tells us we can be transformed when we renew our minds. Renewing our minds is one way to practice self-control.

See, the thoughts come at us from all directions. But we are not powerless to stop them.

We are told many times in the Bible how to renew our minds.

1. Ephesians 4:23-24: "Make new your mental attitude and put on the new self."

2. Philippians 4:8: Think on things that are true, noble, right, pure, and lovely.

3. Colossians 3:2: Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

4. Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

The thing about self-control is: we are equipped with it. It is a "feature" of our salvation, our newness in Christ. But, we have to use it. We have to practice it. That's how we develop it. And self-control just isn't for over-eating or lust, it's for controlling our emotions, controlling our fears, controlling our thoughts. We have the ability to do those things. We are not powerless and do not need to be carried away by thoughts, feelings and fears.

Fear is behind the push to control our circumstances, situations, people. But what actually needs to be controlled is fear by practicing self-control over our thoughts and our feelings.

My whole Momster Monday was about fear and our need to control. But it isn't so much our surroundings that we need to control, it is our minds. That is how we conquer fear. Check it out. And maybe you need a breather. Check out my Thoughtful Thursday.