Dangerous Thinking

Taking Negative Thoughts Captive

If you are a special needs parent you are probably going to feel it when I say, being here is lonely.  Especially if your child has any kind of severe special needs. 

Maybe just being a parent in this stage of life, you’re feeling it too. 

You can’t do the things you wished you could do.

You aren’t invited to the things you once were invited to.

It’s hard to have the friendships you’d wished you had. 

If you let your mind wander or dwell on these things for too long, it can get just plain dangerous… for me anyway, but I have a feeling I’m not alone in this.  

Let me take you down this road, today, for example: 

Today the Mayflower II sails back into Plymouth Harbor, on this gorgeous day.  My heart really wanted to get outside and go take my boys to see it.  But…  1) I don’t have anyone to help me with my boys today… let me explain that, my ten year old, Liam, needs someone with him, holding his hand, eyes on him 24/7, but I also have 2 year old twins and an 8 year old.   And 2) Oliver has a virtual therapy session this afternoon. 

So seeing this was a no-go today. But cool, right?

Love him!

My mind starts to wander and I get irritated that I cannot do what I wanted to do because… well… our life.  I start to think, “Isn’t this ALWAYS the case?”.  Then I scroll through facebook… “Oh, look at all these people out having fun, and we are stuck at home”.  “Look at their easy breezy day today, and I’m here stressed to the max.” “Oh, look at all the things we were not invited to”.   Gosh darn you Facebook!!  (#Idontliketoswear)  

It is EASY to go down the road of “Woah is me!” or “My life sucks” when you start to think like I was.  This is where I need to take my thoughts captive! 

I’ll say that again,  TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE!

“Stop, don’t go any further!”, I tell myself.  This is exactly how Satan wants you to feel.  Lonely. Sad. Bummed out.  And I am NOT going to let him win today!  So I pray for God to help me, to help my thoughts, to give me strength to deal with the craziness of the day. 

For a change of scenery and to get some sunshine, I gather up all the kids and have everyone jump in the car.  My friend sent me money to go get myself a coffee and it’s the perfect time to go for a drive and get a Starbucks cold brew! Wait, I guess I DO have friends! Ha! 

I remember that I also have gift cards to Chick-fil-A from another anonymous person, so the kids get a fun lunch today! I remember that people really do care! (I’m still trying to figure out from WHO, if you are reading this and it is you, then THANK YOU!!)

See, my way of thinking this morning was pretty OFF, and it was wrong. But it felt SO real at the time. After I turned my thinking around and even just got out of the house for a little bit, I felt better. Still not an easy day, but I was able to handle it better without my negative thoughts ruling my attitude.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says this, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

And Philippians 4:8 says this, “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.”

What was actually TRUE was that I was just stressed and needed a little break, what was RIGHT is that there are a lot of people that care and a some really awesome people that I call my friends! What is LOVELY is that even when they drive me crazy at times, I get to call these children MINE, and they are my greatest gift!

We have the power, through Christ, to take captive our thoughts, and in turn start to think of the things that are actually true, noble, right, pure, etc…  

It is a battle! But we can do this! 

And what a difference it makes!