“Steward your emotions and tell yourself truth!”
Mark Bates

“Blessed is the man who make the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!”
Psalm 40:4

John 8:44 tells me that the devil is the father of lies. And I had been listening to his lies for a long time. Although, I claimed several others, the lie that most claimed me was I am not good enough! Because of that I took responsibility of proving my worth. I’ll be the best missionary wife I can be. I’ll lead Bible studies. I’ll practice hospitality. I’ll volunteer at church and at our kid’s school. I’ll write thank you notes. I’ll share the good news of salvation with our neighbors. But none of that was enough! At least in my own estimation, I just wasn’t good enough.

It was an extremely sad place to live!

I needed to be introduced to the very good news of the gospel, the good news beyond the good news of receiving and believing that I was now a child of God.

I needed to learn to hold fast to the word of life. Philippians 2:16.

I needed to understand that the gospel frees me from my opinion of myself. Brennan Manning.

I needed to realize that most of my unhappiness in life is due to the fact that I was listening to myself instead of talking to myself. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes it so clear.

I was listening to lies, those self-limiting beliefs that were reinforced by the filters through which I saw life. They were controlling me. Not good!

As Mark Bates put it, I needed to steward those emotions (my reality) and tell myself truth.

The first truth that God whispered to me was from Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you were born I consecrated you.” God had purpose for me before I was even born.

My problem was I was focusing on others around me and what they were doing as missionary wives. I needed to be focusing on God and what he consecrated me for.

My list of the truths of scripture that speaks to that lie continues to grow. I don’t need to be reminded of my lies, I know them well. I do need to be reminded of truth. And so I pray, God, what would it look like today to live out who you consecrated me to be?

“Truth is the ultimate healing elixir.
Spend time seeking it to undo the damage of debilitating lies.”
Sacred Rest, 119

“It’s not who we are that holds us back, it’s who we think we’re not.” Michael Nolan

“Oh, the joys of those who trust in the LORD”
Psalm 40:4, NLT

 

Copyright, Sue Tell, June 2022