I am cleaning out my closet.

So at church we just started a new 7 week women's study call "Me,Myself, and Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild. Its about giving yourself a thought closet makeover.

You see she describes the woman's mind (and I guess this could be true for guys too...you guys will have to weigh in and tell me.haha.) as a closet and we store thoughts,secrets,cares,concerns,treasures, lies,truth,memories and our eternal decision. But here is the deal what you put in the closet you take out and wear. The organized and best thought closet is one where God is standing right there in the middle of it, the treasures and good memories are lined up neatly, Their are very little concerns and worries and God's gets called on when there are, there are no secrets growing in the back of the closet and there are shelves FULL of God's truth.

OK so hears the truth...Here is reality...NO ONE'S thought closet is perfect and the best one's still need daily maintenance and care. Reality is we beat ourselves up alot saying phrases in our minds like "You are so stupid to have said that or done that." or "You are such an idiot!" or "I never do anything right, I will never amount to anything. Why does anyone even care?"

Yep these are things we say to ourselves that we would probably NEVER say to anyone else. So why do we say them to ourselves? Are they truth? No.  Sure there are neutral thoughts that you think alot like "oh where did I put my keys" or " hmmm, wonder what's for supper tonight?". But its not those we are concerned about...its those thoughts,those negatives,those lies that you beat yourself up with that we are talking about. Truth if we are honest with ourselves we have been beating ourselves up for a long while and we have gotten pretty good at it!

Here a glance at what the messy thought closet looks like...We walk in and we see cares and concerns strewn all over the floor and their is also lies and unkind words about ourselves there...the worry bin and the lies bin is overflowing and messy. These bins have gotten so out of control that its covering up our shelf of treasures,memories and lessons. Our secrets in the back of the closet...well there is a few of them and they are growing like weeds and choking us...but we don't want to pull them up and throw them out there...It would hurt too much and be embarrassing so our secrets continue to choke us. Oh and God and eternity? They don't have much room with everything else going on in here...they are shoved in the corner and only thought about on Sunday or when we have Bible study. Its an ugly truth but it happens often.

So how can we who have thought closet like this begin to sift and sort out the mess?

#1 Call on God. Tell Him you have a messy thought closet and you need help. Ask for His guidance and wisdom. Ask Him to be the center of it.

#2  Consider Psalm 19:14 "let the words or my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer" If its not acceptable to the Lord then its not to be let in!

#3 Read Psalm 139 and other passages of the Bible and find out who God says you are and what He says He will do for you so that you can stock your mind with truth!

So my friends...How does your "thought closet" look? What are you clothing yourself with?