This summer my niece and her family transformed an old rundown farmhouse into a comfortable, refreshing place to live.  You should have seen how it looked when they started!  It needed new paint in every room, the mice had to be asked to leave (evicted is a better way to put it), and water lines had to be repaired.  Ceilings were raised, the stairway opened, and more windows were added.  When the air conditioning went in I believe my niece did a dance for joy (and who doesn’t love a little air on those hot and humid summer days?).  The transformation didn’t happen overnight and yet they now live in a beautiful home filled with kids’ laughter, family and friends, and the soft purr of an air conditioner.

In much the same way, we can transform our thinking.  It won’t happen over night, our thoughts patterns are too ingrained in us, but we can do it.  Our minds are cluttered with so many things that are not helpful to us:  worry, negativity, anger, resentment, lies, and past hurts.  From Philippians 4:8, “Finally… whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,  whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  We have to be deliberate about ‘changing the channel’ when our thoughts become negative, and this is challenging!  But we don’t have to do it in our own power, we can ask God to help us.  And He will!  Psalm 54:4 says, “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the One who sustains me.”  Let’s allow God to help us, so those 100 billion nerve cells have a beautiful home filled with good thoughts, love and laughter, and occasionally the soft purr of an air conditioner.