Anchoring Our Thoughts in Truth
By Michelle Cox
@buildfamilyconnection
buildfamilyconnection.com
Small clouds of dust gathered at my feet as I ran along the desert trail. Everywhere I looked was evidence of a landscape longing for water. Creations meant to survive with little moisture were brown, dry, and brittle. Tall saguaros seemed to stretch their arms to heaven and cry out, “We’ve had enough! Send relief, please. We need water.”
With each footstep, the resolves of my heart began to peel back and I found myself reaching to heaven with the same plea, “I’ve had enough heartache. Please help. I need You.” Tears began to fall and I felt a kinship with the distraught desert plants.
As my heart released its pain, I noticed a shift in the light. The golden hour was upon us. The scene took on a gentle feel as the soft glow of a setting sun erased harsh and desolate edges so glaring and present mere moments before. I stopped and turned in every direction to soak in the beauty of God’s creations.
“You too are beautiful and worthy of love when you feel broken.” The words fell into my heart like a blanket of reassuring warmth. These were words of truth.
As elect daughters of Heavenly Parents, our value is fixed, never up for discussion. Regardless of our missteps and shortcomings, we are beautiful in the eyes of our God. Imagine with me, the golden light of our Savior’s love, softening the evidence of our harsh edges and casting upon us the most beautiful light. We are elect women with all of our flaws.
Unfortunately, we live in a world that blurs our memory of simple truths and causes us to forget. Messages of perfection and the need to perform or live at a certain level fill our minds and push out God-given truths regarding our worth. We might even find ourselves, as Lisa Harkness described in General Conference feeling “stretched to the limits of our endurance and understanding,” with “waves of fear distract[ing] us, causing us to forget God’s goodness, thus leaving our perspective short-sighted and out of focus.”
When I began my afternoon run in the desert, my focus was blurred. Thoughts of doubt and judgement were flooding my mind, adding to the weight of my struggle. My perspective limited.
“Why can’t I feel joy?”
“Why do I keep struggling?”
“I should have this figured out by now.”
“Everyone else makes life look so easy.”
Most of us are bombarded with harmful thoughts of comparison and doubt on a regular basis. We fight daily against diminishing messages, sent by a relentless adversary, designed to blur our vision of our divinely appointed nature as elect women.
We must fortify our minds and anchor our hearts in the knowledge of our true identity and worth. Doing so allows us to recognize the beauty and light present among the difficulties we face each day.
We fortify our minds by paying attention, getting curious, and fighting back with truth.
First, we need to recognize that we are in a battle, and pay attention to become familiar with our opponent. We do this by examining the thoughts taking up residence in our minds. Each of us will hear something different, but maybe, you’ll hear something like, “This is so stupid. Why am I wasting my time?” Or, “Nothing, I hear nothing.” “I have a dentist appointment at three.” No problem. Keep listening. Be courageous and look beyond the to-do list and obligations to thoughts hiding beneath the surface.
As we listen in, the next step is to get curious. We can ask ourselves, “Are my thoughts nice? Do they speak kindly about the amazing human I am? Do I feel loved when I hear my thoughts? What stories are my thoughts creating?”
Your voice may be loud, or you may find it difficult to identify. Both are ok. Maybe it says,
“See, you can’t even do this right.”
“Why are you even bothering? You’ll never change.”
“If you were more in tune, you’d be able to hear without trying.”
I’ll be the first to admit that often, my thoughts judge me harshly so don’t worry, you are not alone. While finding this unkind voice is painful, it is an essential step in fighting back and reclaiming freedom.
Once we know what our negative thoughts sound like, we implement our final step. We turn to God and ask for His help to fight back with truth.
Let me show you what this looks like using the doubtful statements that filled my mind when we started.
“Why can’t I feel joy?” – “I can search my mind and heart for God’s love and
cling to that reminder. This pain won’t last forever.”
“Why do I keep struggling?” – “I am strong and capable even when I struggle.”
“I should have this figured out by now.” – “I can take the time I need to learn.”
“Everyone else makes life look so easy.” – “I am loved right here and now without changing a
thing.”
Each time we flip a negative thought on its head and replace it with truth, it is as if we are inviting the golden light of the Savior’s love into our minds. Like the parched and depleted desert, the harshness of our circumstances and the weight of our burdens can be lightened when we cast aside diminishing voices of the world and anchor ourselves in the truth of God’s love.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite truths, “God has a plan for me and that plan is good.”