Thoughts Determine Destiny

Oprah says, "I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become." William James, an American philosopher, psychologist, and teacher who lived from 1842-1910, wrote, "There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking." The bible says, "As you think, so shall ye be." All of these quotes would lead us to one conclusion. We create our reality with our thoughts. Phillipians 4:8 has been quoted on this blog before, but I think it is worth repeating that we need to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think on these things." If we fill our minds with these kinds of thoughts, there will be no room for worry. Not only that, but our thoughts can bring about our destiny. We wish for something and desire it. Next we set our intentions with passion to bring it about. This happened for my granddaughter Jessica and me last summer when we lost her dog Red. We wished so hard that we could find him. We prayed about it with strong desire in our hearts. With passion we set our intentions to find him. Then we took action by looking everywhere, putting up posters, offering a reward, and contacting both the animal shelter and the animal control officers. We never gave up hope. I was supposed to take Jess home, but she would not leave without her dog. Three days later we found Red. Our thoughts never changed from faith to doubt. We wouldn't let ourselves get discouraged. Some people tried to prepare us for the worst, but Jess wouldn't accept it. When I saw her determination, it added strength to mine. We filled our thoughts with God's faith and sure enough, it worked. Now you might ask what would have happened had we not found Red. Could we have handled the disappointment? I only know that we didn't let that possibility enter our minds. We deliberately shunned doubt in this instance. We actually read quotes like the ones at the beginning of this post and took them to heart. Can we use our thoughts and visualization to live favor-minded as we studied in YOUR BEST LIFE NOW? Will God grant us that kind of favor? I think He will. Because I realize the power behind my thoughts, I keep them focused on moving a mountain of doubt. In my mind, I don't lay out the welcome mat for worry. I lay out the welcome mat for good to come into my life and the lives of all my loved ones. Thank You, Lord, for honoring our faith and bringing about Your greatest good in our lives.