The Bible says that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. But what does that look like in real life? Today I’m sharing all about the practical side of taking your thoughts captive.

Circumstances don’t determine your feelings

Your thoughts determine your feelings.
And your feelings determine your actions.
Next, your actions determine your results.

Circumstances have nothing to do with your feelings. The way you feel has everything to do with your thoughts.

We do a lot of work on this in the Thrive Bible Study Vault.

And I get asked, how can circumstances be neutral? How can I say that?

It’s all about taking thoughts captive.

The Story of Joni Erickson Tata

When Joni was a teenager, she was swimming in Chesapeake Bay. She thought the water was deep enough and dove in head first. When she did that, she hit her head on a rock and broke her neck, becoming paralyzed from the neck down.

Joni was in rehab for two years. She doubted her faith, but through changing her thoughts to God thoughts, she was given the assurance that God allowed her accident for a reason.

Now, we paints pictures with her mouth, and speaks on a global level.

The fact that she was paralyzed from the neck down was neutral. It had nothing to do with what happened in her life.

It was her thoughts about what happened to her that determined what happened after that.

She could have allowed the chronic pain and the overwhelmingness of her situation to cause her to shrink back and isolate herself.

But instead, she took her thoughts captive and God was able to take a huge tragedy and use it for His glory.

There are a lot of circumstances we can’t control. But if we focus on what we can control, we can begin to change it.

Take this work deeper

Do you want to figure out how to use this in your life? Maybe you don’t have a huge tragedy, but you need help figuring out how to get past your drama so you can step into the big dreams God has for you.

Let me help! Join the Thrive Bible Study Vault today and join Christian moms across the United States in monthly life coaching!