Posted by: Linda Keller on 09/28/2024
What if unforgiveness was stuck on you like Gorilla glue. What if you learned to untangle stinkin' thinkin' and your newly revived heart welcomed home peace and joy.
---Five Ingredients to Revive Your Heart---
1) Who's driving the car? Galations 6:7-8 hits us head on. "Don't be misled - you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." Heavy duty reading, huh. As you read this, an invisible thought immediately set up shop in your brain. That thought instantly became mental real estate. And not all thoughts are created equal, especially the dangerous ones. Stressful toxic thoughts are like wrecking balls for the brain. There goes the joy factor. Depression, high blood pressure, and heart disease are just the toppings of an unforgiveness sundae. Medical research shows an overload can overtake you. Left unattended, unforgiveness can drive us to the graveyard. Yikes!
2) Ready for an overhaul? To get to the heart of the matter we start with the mind. The mind controls the brain, and the brain controls the heart. Everything we think, say, or do flows through our heart. Linda Keller weaves humorous personal life stories with science and the Holy Word of God to help us revive, reshape, refocus, and rebalance our thoughts and heart. Negative toxic emotions send poison to the brain, causing own own brain damage. But God has given us the tools to do our own brain surgery, without scalpel, stitches, or screaming. Interested? Read on.
3) If you can wire trash in, you can take the trash out. Sounds simple. But how do you forgive someone you want to puke on? When we don't forgive, we stay connected to the last person you want to look at. We routinely stash unforgiveness in the deepest corner of our mind. We often voluntarily drink the poison of bitterness, resentment, and a slew of gloom-ridden emotions. "After all, you don't know what they did to me," is the most common battle cry. But God's forgiveness battle plan heals the brain by rewiring brain areas associated with stress, negative emotions, and fear. But how do we get there? God designed a way to untangle mental gridlock. He's clever like that.
4) Moody or groovy. God designed our brains neuroplastic. Which means moment by moment our brain moves, grooves, boogies and grows by what we think. Ladies, we don't have to remain stuck, snarled, or defeated. Linda shares how to capture toxic thoughts that are dead set on a collision course. It's been said unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. But Paul of the Bible, in 2nd Corinthians 10:3-6, tells us to round up rebellious thoughts. When defiant thinking gets loose, it will return. Linda shares why she had to learn to lasso and destroy harmful thinking, and usher ugly thoughts into the obedience of Jesus Christ. Linda says it's hard, but satisfying to give unforgiveness the boot. In fact,1st Peter 5:7 teaches us what to do with stinkin' thinkin. We're told to cast, throw, and toss all our worries, anxieties, and distractions on Jesus because he cares for you with deepest affection. Jesus is rooting for you. It doesn't get any better than that.
5) Your heart will go on. You and your antagonist are like magnets, forced to have a connection. When we forgive, an entanglement connection is severed. The act of forgiving deactivates your magnet. Research shows us that forgiveness and gratitude rewire the brain to focus on positive emotions. Plus, your doctor will be happy. You reduce the risk of heart attack and blood pressure. So drop those shackles. Puke (in a barf bag) in you have to. Run the risk...and run to His embrace with a heart filled with forgiveness. Jesus is our example, granting us perfect forgiveness. 2ndTimothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind."
TO EVENT PLANNER from Linda Keller: Unforgiveness is a tough criminal that needs tackling. My heart's longing is for women to realize they don't have to remain stuck out of fear of forgiving someone. God wants to replace their heart of stone for a heart of flesh that is responsive to His touch. To get to the heart, we start with the mind. Biblical brain surgery results in God's heart transplant. I like to present this teaching with personal life stories and humor, showing how science and scripture are more than acquaintances...they're married.
