I've Changed My Mind

 “Minds are like flowers, they only open when the time is right.”

Stephen Richards

This morning I decided to change my mind. 

All my life, I’ve believed that God was coming against me when it came to money.  Whenever I’d tithe, something bad would happen and I’d wind up going into debt.  I judged this to be God’s disfavor with me.  I assumed that He was punishing me and telling me I wasn’t giving Him enough money.   These thoughts made God my enemy and my tormentor.

So I decided to change my mind.  Or maybe God whispered the truth in my ear.

I decided that my money troubles were part of my spiritual battle and that God is my ally, not my enemy.  I’ve decided to ask for God’s help in this battle.  I picture us fighting side-by-side against the enemies of poverty, debt, and discouragement.  This morning I made an estimation of how much I now owe – and it’s a lot.  I’ve had several setbacks in the last two weeks, but now I have a sense of determination and hope that I’ve never had before. 

More importantly, I am viewing God differently in all of this.  He’s my ally, not my enemy.  We can fight this together.  I have other allies who will stand behind me and encourage me until I get completely out of debt.  Then they will stand behind me and encourage me as I start to prosper. 

Okay, I’m not putting any of this in my blog.  It’s too personal and I’m not ready to share it with the world.  I’m not ready to talk about my relationship with God yet because I’m still figuring it out.  All I know is that He’s been very, very patient with me.

So now I’m approaching my current money troubles differently and I’ve created a strategy:

1.     I’ve made a list of all that I owe.

2.     I’ve made a list of my assets.

3.     I’ve made a list of ways I earn money.

4.     I made a list of ways I can make extra money.

5.     I’ve decided to pray over every debt and ask for God’s help with each of them.

6.     I’ve decided to look at each debt as part of my battle and to remember that the purpose of all battles is victory. 

It’s fascinating how the right perspective can change everything.  In the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey calls this a paradigm shift – a whole new way of looking at things.  This has not only changed my mind; it has changed my heart.  My troubles are not over, but they don’t trouble me the way they did yesterday, or the way they have for years.  I’ll get through this and I’ll fight through this.  I just need to Get Started and Keep Going…and not change my mind.