Turning North

We all have messes in our lives. We’ve been talking about the mess we can get into when we let our eating issues get out of control. But we face other types of messes as well. Financial messes. Relationship messes. Health messes. Kid messes. Home messes. Business messes.

Sometimes our messes are small and feel only like a slight annoyance. Other times, they’re so huge they strip the hope right out of our lives. But here’s a thought to ponder right in the midst of your mess …

Am I letting this mess define me or refine me?

The answer to this question is crucial.

If I am letting a mess define me, I will feel hopeless.

If I am letting a mess refine me, I will be hopeful.

It’s time for our messes to stop defining us.

It’s time to embrace the refining process and “turn north.”

If you find yourself stuck in a mess, try replacing your old self-defeating thoughts with empowering new thoughts. I call these “go-to scripts,” statements of biblical truth that allow the Messiah to touch our mess and turn it into a great message of hope. Consider these:

1. I was made for more than to be stuck in a vicious cycle of defeat.

“You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north” (Deuteronomy 2:3 NASB).

2. When I am considering a compromise, I will think past this moment and ask myself, how will I feel about this choice tomorrow morning?

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20).

3. When tempted, I will either remove the temptation or remove myself from the situation.

“God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. Therefore, my dear friends, flee …” (1 Corinthians 10:13b – 14a).

4. I don’t have to worry about letting God down because I was never holding Him up; God’s grace is sufficient.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”… For when I am weak, then I am strong’ “ (2 Corinthians 12:9 – 10).

5. I have these boundaries in place not for restriction but rather to define the parameters of my freedom.

“I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:19 NIV 1984).

I keep these go-to scripts on the top of my mind so they interrupt the excuses I had become accustomed to believing for too long. Let some version of these statements bump into your reality and redefine your old patterns of thought. It will change the way you think!

And when we change the way we think, we’ll be better equipped to change the way we make choices.