You Are What You Think

The Bible says that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he (proverbs 23:7) and I have found this to be more then true. What goes on in our minds determines the extent of our peace and joy.

During a very difficult time in my life I developed a terrible case of insomnia. It was a real time of turmoil for me as God sought to deal with my heart and direct me back onto his path. I'm certainly not saying that everyone who experiences erratic sleeping patterns is being dealt with by God, but for me this was the case.

What started off as some trouble falling asleep, escalated into not falling asleep until two or three in the morning, which then led to not going to sleep at all for the entire night. This finally evolved into a full blown fear that I would never sleep again! It's amazing how one thing leads to another when it comes to our intellect (I have a headache...it could be a brain tumor....Iím too young to die!!)

The more I thought about my worrisome problem, the bigger it got and soon the molehill became a mountain. This difficult matter had become a stronghold in my mind, but Praise God, his word has power over anything our imagination can dream up. His word has power over every road block thrown out by the enemy. He promises in the Bible that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and true to his word, he helped me out of my trouble.

I started with repentance (because it's always a good place to start) asking the Lord to show me if there was an area in which I had been in deliberate disobedience. He showed me several areas in which I had been living completely contrary to his word. Believe it or not, this brought relief and joy because when it is God's Holy Spirit shedding light in your heart, there is no condemnation in the revelation he brings. Confession was the beginning of my road to recovery.

The next thing I did was to start pouring over the word of God to see if he had put any promises in there concerning sleep. And of course there were promises in the Bible regarding this! My favorite is Psalm 127:2 ...for he grants sleep to those he loves. You see, since I started with repentance, now my close and intimate relationship with the Lord had been restored, so next I could take his word and believe it with all my heart. Repentance, forgiveness, restoration, faith!

My insomnia slowly declined until it was gone, but my praise to the Lord who delivered me remains.

We essentially become what we believe in our hearts about ourselves. This is why it is so important to know what the word of God says about you. I exhort you to fill your heart with His word allowing him to cleanse your mind of your fears, troubles and doubt. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he prov. 23:7

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Paula Friedrichsen is a conference speaker and the author of "The Man You Always Wanted is The One You Already Have" (Multnomah 2007). She lives with her husband and daughter in Northern California.
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