I haven’t written for about three weeks, and that is because I was feeling stuck. I am coming full circle as I look at my issues and think my way through something I was reading and how it applies to my life.
Many years ago, I developed the habit of reading self-help books. Self-help is built from the premise of being disciplined, changing one’s thought patterns, and executing willpower—in other words, a whole lot of work. As I’ve written before, that has never been helpful for me. Every time I try harder, I end up with obsessive thoughts and feel like I have failed.
Powerless
I also have not been happy with a method that does not seem to have any depth. I was looking for something similar to self-help with a believer’s perspective. Lately, I came upon a book called, God Wants You to Be Happy…From Self-Help to God’s Help. It seemed to be what I was looking for. It talks about some people just being stuck with the self-help method. They feel powerless even after turning their lives over to God’s grace. And that has been me.
On a post several weeks ago, I mentioned having an encounter with God’s grace. My deliverance from unhealthy guilt was life-changing and has been lasting. However, fleshing out the grace of God in my self-worth has been challenging, to say the least. Jonathan Morris says, “This blockage feels like powerlessness over negative thought and behavior patterns.”
He also says, “Chances are you don’t think much about the devil and his action in your life, and that’s probably a healthy choice.” But, “if we ignore the devil’s ability to influence our minds and wreak serious havoc on them, we will always be missing an important factor in the equation of emotional and spiritual healing. He is actively working to sow doubt and confusion. The devil’s lies do damage!”
I want to follow up with this in the next posts as I work my way along.