When You Hear Something that Rocks Your World

Method #4: Nurture your New Nature

Who hasn’t woken up at 3 a.m. with anxious thoughts? Will we run out of money before we run out of month? Will insurance cover the expensive medication my child needs? Will the call-back test reveal a serious health problem?

But as Christians we have a new nature. And it’s not characterized by anxiousness.

In fact, God tells us what grows as we cultivate our new nature: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Anxious thoughts at 3 a.m. are characteristics of the old nature. Peace and faithfulness are characteristics of the new.

Easy to say, right? In fact, before you start sending fiery emails that I’m going to have to let Jeff read first (kidding!), let me say I know how hard this is. I have a son whose epilepsy rocked our worlds. I’ve gone through cancer. I’ve had more ups and downs in my career than I could count.

So, what’s the trick?

Our old nature has to die. And for that to happen, we have to stop feeding it. We have to stop putting our hope in ourselves to work things out. We have to train our minds to trust God instead. When we do, when we put our full faith in Him, we starve the fear that He won’t come through.

Several of the steps in today’s blog are actually themes I develop at greater length in my new devotional, Find Hope. The book is a carefully crafted 60-day journey designed to lead us toward the kind of unshakeable hope that doesn’t depend on circumstances. I’d be so honored if you ordered it for Mother’s Day. I’m excited to share a full devotion from the book with you next week.

In the meantime, last week I promised a blog on parenting! I didn’t forget. It’s just that as I got into the topic, I liked it so much that I turned it into a two-part series. So, stay tuned for that at the end of this month – just in time to help us navigate summer vacation with our kids!

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