For as far back as I can remember, my mind has always been going a thousand miles a minute. I struggled with my thoughts for so long that I didn’t know there was any other way to think. God made me observant. He made me a radical thinker. When people wanted to know how to escape a problem, all I wanted to know was why it started. One thought led to a million more. Like a broken record, my mind played over and over again. Looking back on it, it seems as though my whole life was spent imprisoned within myself.
I still remember when Jesus crept into my thoughts. He showed me that one of the hardest things I was going to have to overcome was my mind. Obviously, I wasn’t going to be able to this on my own strength, but for years I tried. Dealing with depression, anxiety and a lot of unanswered questions, I felt out of control. My whole life was out of control. When I came back to the Lord, I couldn’t even sit through a whole church service with out my mind wreaking havoc. Some days were so bad, all I could do was cry out to Jesus and hope that He would allow me to keep my sanity. I remember praying prayers from my lowest place, asking God to at the very least sit through a church service without thinking, just have an open mind to receive His word. Free from thoughts. I went to church and my Pastor was saying that Jesus does all kinds of healing. Spiritual, physical and mental. It blew my mind! The Lord can heal my thoughts?
Almost 3 years later, I find this to be true. He can heal your mind. They say that the mind is the devil’s play ground. I say that the enemy can’t play anywhere that belongs to God. It amazes me to think that in the areas I was weakest, the Lord gave me strength. Not only did He renew my mind, but used my radical thinking in a way that draws me closer to Him. Why? Because He uses things we find impossible to show us that everything is possible through Him. My whole life has been impossible. I was the worst of the worst, but He showed me mercy. He took and delivered me from not only my mind, but EVERYTHING that I couldn’t. God gave us the authority to overcome. Not by ours, but His. When you belong to Jesus, what has power over you? Nothing. We have weakness, but in our weaknesses we are made strong through Jesus. Everything is through Him only. So, if you find yourself in a constant battle with your mind, place your hope in Jesus that He is able to do all these things you hear. Then ask for Him to allow you to recognize when these things come to pass and watch the Lord do more than you asked.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God. For pulling strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5
Cynthia M. Benavides 