Time of Renewing...

The quiet, cracked and gray road stretches out before me, its yellow and white lines merely mesmerizing blurs as I move ahead. The trees extend their long arms over me as I pass below, strewing leaves gently dipped in the gold, red and bronze hues of fall. Fields full of crops waiting to be harvested are all around me, as well as houses decorated with pumpkins, hay bales and Indian corn. For years, in fact for most of my life, driving this particular road has been a refuge for me. As a child, I spent countless hours riding down it, playing with dolls and daydreaming as I stared out at the stars. I would ride in the back of my dad’s old truck at the end of the day and admire the beautiful sunset painted across the sky. I’ve driven this road on the way to the very best times, such as Christmas with family, and Sunday afternoon catfish dinners with never-ending glasses of sweet tea. But I’ve also had to make mundane trips to pay bills and get groceries, and had to make the hard trek to say goodbye to a precious loved one for the last time. My mind goes many places as I drive this road. It’s a place of fond memories and of heartbreak. It’s a place for me to find peace, and more often than not, inspiration. I am nearly always motivated to write when I’ve been down that road, and it is a precious place to find some alone time with the Lord.

However, as I drove down the road a few days ago, instead of inspiration I began to rehash past mistakes I’ve made. And in that moment, the Lord reminded me how important it is for me to renew my mind. It is vital for ALL of us to renew our minds, not once a year, or every six months…but daily. I immediately got my thought process straight and began to set my heart on things above, on who the Lord has called me to be, as well as all the things He has done in my life and wants to do! What an inspiring and renewing moment it is when you realize that in spite of where you have been, the God who created the universe will restore you! I am so thankful that He has redeemed me. I am able to live an abundant life in Him because He has restored me. I cling to this word from Philippians 3:12-14:

                “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

We have to make a choice to leave the past in the past. We have to choose to move forward in Christ. We have to choose to renew our mind daily. WE HAVE TO CHOOSE. Each day we have so many choices to make. It is up to us whether we will choose to beat ourselves up over our mistakes, whether we will live discouraged because things may not always turn out the way we had planned, or whether we will accept the joy unspeakable and full of glory that only comes from trusting in and walking with our Savior. When we renew our mind He reminds us who we are in Him, and He reminds us of Jeremiah 29:11…”’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

God has given all of us places of peace and inspiration, places where we find His truth and hear His voice. We must not let the enemy steal that from us by allowing him to have control of our mind. We have been redeemed, bought with such a precious price, and the cost was much too high for us to not renew our mind and allow Him to light up all of our dark places. The time of renewing is now. What will you choose?