Help! My mind is a whirlwind and I'm stressed.

What can we do when we are in a crisis, in that very moment, when our mind is racing and is not able to focus, when we can’t even think with a sound mind, much less feel that we will be able to get through it? When we think we can’t fight anymore and we feel weak and have a spirit of fear? Whether it is a loss of job, or when rejection suddenly happens, the death of a loved one, or even harbored unforgiveness eating at us.  What can we do that will pull us through?  I have been in many of these situations and can speak from experience about what has made the difference for my being able to handle the stress and survive, rather than allowing that spirit of fear to grasp hold of me and believe the lies that Satan would wish for me to believe.

One tool that I use is to call on the name of Jesus.  There is power in His name.  When my mind feels on fire and full of defeat, I simply call out His name, “Jesus”. I can feel the sense of the power of God and His Sprit welling back up in me.  One of the scriptures I always recall is 1^st John 4:4, “Greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world”. I know that the Holy Spirit that lives in me is stronger than Satan and his dark kingdom.  A former Bible Study leader that I was taught under years ago told the story of how she was over in France attending a conference and upon leaving to go back to her hotel realized that she was being followed at every turn of her walk.  She prayed and asked God to protect her and to tell her what to do.  God put in her mind for her to turn around and rebuke the man using the name of Jesus.  She couldn’t grasp doing something like that and prayed again for God’s leading.  Again, God put in her mind to rebuke the man in Jesus’ name.  She finally did just that.  She turned and faced her stalker and said, “In the name of Jesus I command you to leave me alone”.  The man threw up his hands, his mouth dropped open, he then spun around and ran down the middle of the street. She said she felt that an angel of the Lord must have risen up behind her as she faced her stalker for the reaction that he had.  There is power in the name of Jesus.

 Also, God has not given us a spirit of fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. We must learn how to rebuke the fear from our minds and learn how to take our thoughts captive; otherwise, we tend to think and rethink something over and over. It becomes a twist of meditation that Satan loves to use on us.  The difference between worry and meditation is the focus of our thoughts.  When they are centered on God and His Word they become transforming and empowering.  When they simply are a replaying over and over of an event or something negative that someone has said to you, then it has the power to become a stronghold. We start believing the lies that Satan tells us.

I had a friend that had a border collie that loved his ball.  He would not put it down.  When he ate, he would drop it in his bowl and eat around it.  One day she heard splashing and when upon walking into the powder room she saw that he was trying to get his ball out of the toilet where he had dropped it while getting a drink of water. Outside he would give a muffled bark at the neighboring dog with his mouth full of the ball. Like the ball in the dog’s mouth, leaving even his bark and growl ineffective, so do our lives become when we keep those negative thoughts in our minds replaying them over and over.  We must learn to meditate on God’s Word and to memorize scripture which will enable us to take our thoughts captive and not allow ourselves to become prisoners of our negative thought life.

Lastly, I cannot express how much emphasis I must place on community, a Small Group of believers that you meet with regularly, healthy people, which are there to hold you up. People that will speak words of comfort and healing, which have possibly already experienced what you are going through.  We have to get over the secrecy that many Christians hold on to, not willing to share their personal lives.  We need community. We were made for relationships.  When we live in secrecy we may not realize that we are living in a very dysfunctional situation and we can start thinking that it is normal. We need to live in the light and live life with people that are willing to share our hurts and confront us when they see a wrong. I have consistantly been in various Small Groups since I was 28 years old.  My Small groups have always been there to keep me grounded and offer me Godly Wisdom from His Word to keep me stable and accountable and sane. J  If you are not in a Small Group, get in one.