“One thing? Really? There’s one thing that will drastically change my life!” I said sarcastically in the form of a fake question! “I gotta hear this!” I thought. “How can life be so simple that my well-being comes down to one thing?” Said me to me.

Sure enough, there is one thing and the simplicity of it is mind-blowing but putting it into practice is WHOA! Not so easy until you get the hang of it.

Drum Roll Please…. Here it is: DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU THINK!

I had high opinions of my thoughts. After all, they were MY THOUGHTS! I conjured them; they inspired every emotion known to man… how could they be anything but great!

In my book, Amazing Love, A Journey from Trauma to God’s Healing Love, it is well documented that I spent 21 years in a relationship with an addict. Every day he made decisions packed with consequences. Because so many of my predictions were right, or so I thought. I came to believe that I had superpowers equal to that of God. I could predict the future and I had enough spot-on predictions to convince myself that I knew everything. This emboldened me to insist that he abandon his instruments of death. I laid out perfect plans for him to follow and tried to micromanage his life that was on a collision course with certain doom.

I needed his life to be different, so mine could be different!

Let’s start this out by learning what God knows about our thoughts.

PSALM 94:11 “The Lord knows that people’s thoughts are: futile, worthless, vanity, meaningless, pointless, morally bankrupt, vain, a breath…

(the descriptions come from eight different versions of the bible)

Here are a few reasons why we should embrace what God knows:

Much of our life is wasted because we tend to take events from our past, reconfigure them, project them into the future, and waste the present worrying about what we conjured.
Rarely do we conjure rainbows and unicorns – we usually conjure horrific events and outcomes.

We are vain when we believe our thoughts. A thought is not a fact, or a feeling, it is an assumption. When we treat our thoughts like facts, we are giving ourselves the same qualities and powers of God the Almighty, creator of the universe, and actual knower of everything.

Here’s what I didn’t know:

In the book of Matthew chapter 16:22-23, Jesus foretells his passion to his disciples. He tells them who will kill him, that he will die, and that he will rise from the dead. His dear friend Peter, who adored and loved Him, responded to his impending doom with a very natural human response “…this shall NEVER happen to you” He was ready to fight for his friend. Peter insisted God would never let this happen.

Jesus replied, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

Peter THOUGHT he knew and understood the future and was determined to devise a plan to circumvent these most horrific events. Jesus let him know immediately that he was being influenced by Satan. Satan wanted to be God and have His power. Anytime he can convince us that we have God’s power we have been influenced by him.

Peter could not possibly know that God would turn the cross, an instrument of death, into an instrument of absolute and perfect love. He didn’t predict that “By His blood we would be redeemed!” He, like us was limited and didn’t know what the future held!

I must accept that I don’t possess a crystal ball that makes me omniscient. I cannot begin to know how God will transform instruments of death into perfect instruments of love. I cannot, like Peter, be a dangerous trap to people I am professing to help. No amount of thinking about events of the future gives me this Godly power.

Matthew 6:27, 34

Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.

The next time you express one of your thoughts, remember that God knows it’s worthless and so should you. When you want to tell someone your opinion about their life, or their decisions, know that it is only your best guess because you have no way of knowing all that the future holds, nor has God filled you in on His plans for their life.

Anxiety is worrying about something that may or may not occur in the future. As such, it is also believing that you have Godly powers to see into the future, and you have forecasted certain doom. Hope and faith are trusting that God is working ALL things for your good. I emphasize ALL THINGS, because I mean ALL, the good and the bad. His power to transform any and everything into love is limitless.

Romans 8:28

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

If you want to know God and you desire peaceful energy to flow through your being, commit to staying in the present moment. God is not in the past, and He isn’t in the non-existent future. Admit that your crystal ball is broken and toss it. Own the fact that your thoughts are assumptions and not believable because they are pointless and futile. And practice not falling for the trick of believing your thoughts because they transport you out of the present and away from God. Away from God is exactly where Satan wants you to be.

This is simple, but not easy, so be kind to yourself and accept that you will have powerful thoughts and you will want to believe them. Be still and be in this moment because it is real, and this is where you will find God, love, peace, and serenity.

I know this is a tough concept, but believing that you know the future will leave you spiritually bankrupt, and angry with God. You will waste precious moments of your life futilely trying to bend people and events to your will. It’s a mistake to believe that your will is better than God’s will. Living in this moment is powerful and liberating and a gift you deserve.

Peace out beautiful people – always remember, it’s never too late to stop doing the wrong thing, and serenity, courage and wisdom are yours for the asking.

If you want to ask questions, suggest topics, or share your story, my email is lifeasa2percenter@gmail.com I am also available to speak to groups both large and small.