How is your soul today? How has your soul been this past week?

During a season when so much fear and anxiety is high, how is your soul? For many, if not most of us, we need to pause and take a look at our soul. Living with constant fear and anxiety wears us down. We begin to function from a place of survival, which is not healthy for us. In this place, we struggle to make decisions, we may become abrupt with others in our reactions, and in general, our bodies are on edge for long periods, which are all unhealthy for us.

So how do we change and move from a place of survival that is anxiety-driven, to a healthy place where we can thrive and have peace? We ground ourselves in Christ. What we meditate on is what comes out of our lives. If we are bombarding our thoughts with the news, posts from social media, and negative conversations with others, fear and anxiety increases in our lives. It’s that simple.

Scripture tells us about our thoughts and how they affect us. Our thoughts, what we meditate on, makes the difference in our lives. They influence whether we live in a place of peace in the middle of difficulties or a place of fear. Here are a few scriptures to ponder on:

Mathew 12:34 – For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (NKJV)

Luke 6:45 – A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (NIV)

Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)

Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (NIV)

Proverbs 4:23 – Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (NIV)

Deuteronomy 30:19 – Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! (NLT)

2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV)

Here’s the truth friend, what we meditate on is what takes root within us. If I meditate on fear and anxious thoughts or my trauma triggers, those are what take root within me. I, we, may not have a choice in some things in our lives. However, we do have a choice on what and where we focus our thoughts on throughout our day.

This week is our final week on our Grounding in Christ series and our 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 activity. The purpose of this activity is to create multiple steps to help us find grounding when triggered. Each one is meant to be a building block upon the other. Before I give our last step, I would like us to take a moment and recap what we have learned over the past four weeks.

Week One: Read 5 Psalms. Meditate on them and turn them into daily prayers over our lives.
Week Two: Write down 4 things you are thankful for each day and then give God thanks for each of them in your daily prayer.
Week Three: Listen to 3 songs for 15 minutes of worship.
Week Four: Have a continual 2-way conversation with Jesus through prayer.

(links below to download image)

Week Five – Here’s the plan: Memorize 1 scripture a week. Scripture is a powerful tool to combat fear, anxiety, and trauma triggers. Quoting God’s word helps us to find our grounding when it feels everything is slipping around us. When we begin to memorize scriptures, God’s Word comes back to us in times of crisis. We can not only quote God’s Word in a given situation, but we can also pray God’s Word over our lives and the situations we are facing.

On our infographic for this week, you will find steps to do this, as well as a few scriptures to get you on your way to memorizing God’s Word.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to walk on this journey with you. Would you join me as we grow in our relationship with God and focus less on our triggers? I am praying for you and with you, my friend.

I would love to hear from you, my friend, so be sure to comment below your favorite worship songs or how this has impacted you this week.

Blessings,

P.S. If you have a friend who you believe needs to hear this message, please be sure to share it with them.