Happy Thoughts part 3
When things don't go your ways... that's when its most important to see the bigger picture. The grand scheme. God's master plan. To know His thoughts for you--thoughts of peace, and not of evil... an expected end that ended at the cross. The end of the old and the beginning of the new. New life so that we might walk in newness OF life! Not life as we've known it, struggling to get by by the skin of our teeth... trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows... trying to get that carrot even though the stick keeps it JUST out of reach... not that life. But HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love that Jesus gave us on the cross. He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. He gave His Holy Spirit to us. So that we might be able to receive and release His love, and in that way obey the New Commandment. He gave us His mind, so that we might be able to know and believe, and think, the thoughts of God. The thoughts of the God who is love. The thoughts of a happy God. Which, by the way, are happy thoughts. Guys... God is NOT mad at you. But He IS mad ABOUT you. Head over heels in love with you. To the point that He would literally rather die than be without you. Loving us with a love so strong that not even death could hold it (HIM) down. Loving us with a love so strong that everything else is consumed in that fire. Worries fade away when we follow the instructions (or advice, if you prefer) in 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." That, in my opinion, is HOW we think happy thoughts. What's that saying, "Let go and let God"? Exactly. Don't worry about every little thing. Because what you magnify is what manifests in your life. Its so easy to make mountains out of molehills and to give things that don't have any power, power over us. Remember yesterday I said you don't have to believe everything you think. You know the truth--that God is love and He loves you--so you don't have to listen to the lie. You know God's thoughts because you have His mind. So when you come up against a situation in your life... you don't have to ignore it... but you don't have to stress out about it either. You can cast that care on your heavenly Father. You can let Daddy take care of it. I've been teaching Logan one very important thing lately: "When you have a problem, try your best to solve it. And if you can't solve it yourself... bring it to me. I'm the problem solver." And I think that's how it is with OUR heavenly Father. In fact, while I'm trying to teach Logan how to problem solve, and be somewhat independent, I think God would prefer if we bring our problems to Him right from the jump. I think we cause ourselves a lot of headaches and heartaches when we try to go our own way and do things ourselves. I think God will let us try, but I think He would prefer if we let Him do what He KNOWS is best in us, and through us, and as us, instead of us doing what we THINK is best. Sometimes what we THINK is nowhere near what really is. Sometimes we let what a situation looks like get us into trouble. Because sometimes by trying to help we end up hurting. Sometimes we want to fight against perceived evil. When really we just need to let love do its (His) thing. See love... and be love. Love is all-powerful. Which, as always, don't mean MOST powerful. It means love has--love IS--all of the power. When we magnify LOVE in our lives, that's what will manifest. And we do that by casting our care upon Him, knowing that He cares for us!