It’s the best & the worst! (Mainly the best)

Before we dive in… Hi! It’s been awhile and if you’re still reading these and if it’s encouraged you, I’m so glad. We are coming up on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The holidays can sometimes feel like:

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” - Charles Dickens

I would say that’s how my life has felt the past couple years. It’s truly been the best and worst time of my life. I have seen how it’s our default to let the worst take over the best. We can so easily let the negatives out weigh the positives in life. I refuse to do that and have to make a conscious choice to do so. We all do. 

Today me and my two girls were exploring outside and Layla said, “Mommy, let me take the lead!” As we followed her she got lost. I told her it was okay because I knew where we were. She said if I wouldn’t follow her then she would just follow where her heart takes her. I  said, “ Oh baby… we don’t follow our heart. We lead our heart. Sometimes your feelings will take you to a place you never wanted to be. Leading your heart is choosing to let Mommy lead because I know how to get us home.” 

She decided to go her own way and I let her. She got home but it took her much longer to get there. 

Maybe you don’t realize it but you have been following your feelings and listening to your heart instead of leading your emotions and choosing how you’re going to think. It’s going to take you so much longer to process and get to where God wants to take you because you are doing what you feel instead of letting Him lead you. 

So often our feelings lead our thoughts. How do you change the way that you feel or what your mind thinks about? Sometimes it feels so out of our control but it’s not. You have to take authority over your emotions and thoughts. The Bible says we can. 

“We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God. We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:5

What you think matters to God and should matter to you. He made your mind and its powerful. He wants you to set your mind on things above (Colossians 3:2).

You may not realize it, but you are facing a battle every day. The enemy would love to have more control over your thought life to steal your peace, your joy, and build a false reality. He can either gain more ground on your mind’s battlefield or you can fight. 

We have heard it and it’s honestly kind of annoying… Have an attitude of gratitude. How do we do that? We are in control of our attitude and in control of what we choose to be grateful for. Gratitude is one of the main tools you can use to shift your thought process, your emotions, and your life’s narrative. It’s how you can fight the war the enemy is trying to win. What you think spills out into your feelings and actions. 

My Dad always says, “Don’t feel your way into an action. Act your way into a feeling.” 

Our feelings are powerful and any counselor will tell you that feelings always win. So how do you change the way you feel? Gratitude. You make your positive emotions stronger than your negative ones. For example, when I think about being pregnant again I often feel anxious, scared, and have flash backs of what happened in the past. I didn’t know how to change the way I felt about pregnancy and then I started to think about the miracle of pregnancy. I thought about how grateful I was to carry Layla and Livy and how beautiful their births were. I remembered how I didn’t have one ounce of fear with either of them. I began to make a list of how grateful I was for other things in my life related and unrelated in the midst of this long season of secondary infertility. It been 3 years but in those three years I have so much to be grateful for. 

I am still working to lead my heart and lead my thoughts but gratitude and filtering every thought through God’s word has changed so much in my heart. Either I will trust Him or I won’t. Either I will believe He can do a miracle or I won’t. Either I will be grateful or I won’t. It’s a choice we all have to make and living in trust, belief, grace, and gratitude is the path I’m going to take. The worst of times can still be the best of times. Just like you can be scared and courageous at the same time. 

Try gratitude and make it your attitude. It will change the way you think and feel about everything in your life. You will never regret it and God will be glorified in your life because of it. The people around you will say, “How are you acting this way with what you have been through?” And you will say, “By the grace of God and with an attitude of gratitude.” 

Grace is the power of God to do things God’s way. Walk into every room with Grace and gratitude. Choose to walk in your current season with Grace and gratitude. Go into thanksgiving asking God for Grace which He freely gives and choose to be grateful. Have an attitude of gratitude!! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

- Whitney