This season God has been dealing with me in the area of discipline; what I eat, what I watch, and stewarding my physical health. What I did not expect was that He would begin disciplining me in the area of rest. You might think, "Of course, we all need good sleep habits." But that is not the kind of rest I am speaking of. If you are someone like me, who has always been on the go, always had a hand in doing this or that because you have a never-ending list of things that need to be done and things you want to do, God has been showing me that I was living in a constant state of burnout. I was asking Him why it seemed like I had seasons of great productivity that were always followed by seasons where I could barely do the minimum. His response was simple: You aren't resting. You need balance. Lists are great, don't get me wrong. But when our lists dictate our movement instead of God, we have elevated our plans above Him. Without realizing it, another form of pride had quietly settled into my heart. Where I was once lazy and complacent, I had become super-efficient. So much so that I stopped consulting God about what He wanted me to do or how He wanted me to do it. I mistook productivity for obedience. I assumed that because I was accomplishing a lot, I must have been pleasing God. But honestly, all the work I was doing was drowning out the voice of the Holy Spirit. He had highlighted areas in my life where I needed greater discipline. But instead of following His strategy, I created my own and decided what discipline should look like. The Lord lovingly exposed this in me—not to shame me or harm me—but to bring me back into alignment with Him. I am so grateful that He cares about every area of our lives. He loves us enough to keep us walking in step with Him. So what am I doing now? I submit my lists to Him. It looks something like this: "Lord, You know everything that needs to be done today. Show me what You want me to do first." That's it. I ask the question, and then I wait for His direction while I faithfully do the daily responsibilities around my home.

Let’s be honest. In the moment, correction can be hard to accept. Depending on what is said, who is saying it, and the tone in which it is said, correction can easily be rejected. But Scripture reveals to us that the wise person welcomes correction. It is the fool who rejects it. Ouch! How many times have I looked like a fool because I could not, or would not, accept correction? Thank God for His mercy and His grace. It is because of His great love for us that He brings correction. He speaks to us directly through the Holy Spirit. He speaks through His Word, which is described as a two-edged sword. I would even say His Word is like a mirror, revealing what is truly in our hearts. And He also uses people. We don’t mind when God uses people to encourage us or bless us. But when He uses someone to correct us, many times we become offended. Pride will have us rejecting what God has spoken. And if we are walking in pride, we are placing ourselves in opposition to the Spirit of Truth, God Himself. Does correction feel good? No. But it is necessary. God wants us to walk in the fullness of who He created us to be. And for that to happen, He must prune us. Jesus tells us in John 15 that the Father prunes every fruitful branch so that it will bear even more fruit. Just as a gardener lovingly prunes a healthy plant for greater growth, our Heavenly Father lovingly prunes His children for greater fruitfulness. So how do we get to the place of welcoming correction rather than running from it? Identity. Knowing who God is and recognizing ourselves as His sons and daughters. If we know we are His children, and we know He is a good Father, then we can trust that His correction is always for our good—even when it is uncomfortable. Allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in and through you so that you may become a true image bearer of Christ. Great is God’s faithfulness toward us. He will never lead us somewhere His presence will not sustain us. It simply takes our trust, our surrender, and our willingness to obey so that we can become all He created us to be.

Resentment, bitterness, and offense are words you typically would not want to be associated with. But if I am honest, for many years I lived with these emotions. I lived in a constant state of anger. Did I have good reason? Yes. Many things happened in my life that should not have happened. And not only did they happen once, but over and over again. I felt justified in my feelings, a victim of circumstance. But I was living according to my flesh and not by the renewed spirit God had given me. I had yet to fully surrender my will to God, including my heart and mind. It was easy to surrender in areas where it was clear that I was the issue. But it became much more difficult to surrender the wounds that came as a result of abuse, rejection, and mistreatment. We don’t serve a God who is unfamiliar with our pain. He sees it. He understands it. He grieves with us. Yet even in those places, He calls us higher. He calls us to look to Him, lean on Him, and place our hurts into His hands. When we take our eyes off of Him and His promises, we can spiral into thoughts, feelings, and actions that are in opposition to His way. Anger, when left unchecked, can become resentment. Resentment can become bitterness. Bitterness can become offense. And all three have the ability to poison our hearts if we allow them to remain. So what do we do? We get honest with God. We tell Him all about it—what happened, how we feel, and where we are struggling. In the unburdening, He begins to exchange our pain for His peace, our mourning for joy, and our weakness for strength. He increases us in the places where we have been lacking. Do I fully understand this exchange? No. It is one of the many mysteries of God. Yet we see it throughout Scripture. Stories of pain, loss, disappointment, and suffering transformed by the mighty hand of God. Sometimes the situation changes. Sometimes it doesn’t. But God always desires to change us. Through the renewing of our minds, He gives us a peace and joy that doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. This is why we are called to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh. The more we align our thoughts, beliefs, and actions with the Spirit, the more aligned we become with God.

What is a victim mindset? And do you have one? In my study time recently, the Lord revealed to me how He was shifting my mindset. How He has been taking me from victim to victor. How? By the washing of the Word. He revealed how the traumas and trials of life had shaped my perspectives, and where I had adopted a false identity and false perspective of reality. Even though I had surrendered my heart to Him, my mind needed to be transformed. Why? Old mindsets can’t be a part of new life. There are places God wants to take us, but He has to prepare us so that old mindsets won’t take us back to where He has brought us from. So how do you know if you are walking in a victim mindset? A victim mindset focuses on what was done to you more than what God wants to do in you. It keeps you looking backward instead of forward. It causes you to see yourself primarily through the lens of your wounds rather than through the lens of your identity in Christ. You may be operating from a victim mindset if you find yourself constantly blaming others for where you are, believing nothing will ever change, expecting disappointment before it comes, or feeling powerless to move forward. A victim mindset says, “This happened to me, so I can’t.” A Kingdom mindset says, “This happened to me, but God.” Now hear me clearly. Acknowledging pain does not make you a victim. Trauma is real. Betrayal is real. Rejection is real. Loss is real. God is not asking us to pretend those things didn’t happen. He is asking us to allow Him to heal what happened so it no longer defines who we are. The enemy wants us to build our identity around our wounds. God wants us to build our identity around His Word. The victim asks, “Why did this happen to me?” The victor asks, “Lord, what do You want to teach me through this?” One remains stuck in the pain. The other allows God to transform the pain into purpose. The good news is that we don’t have to stay trapped in old ways of thinking. Romans 12:2 reminds us that transformation comes through the renewing of our minds. As we spend time in the Word, surrender to the Holy Spirit, and allow God to reveal the lies we have believed, He replaces them with truth.