How I stopped over-thinking

For as long as I can remember, I over-think. I stress myself with the intricate details of everything I do, or say, and what others do, or say. I stress so much that Doctors call it anxiety. I over-think about over-thinking (you can ask my closest friends, they hear it all). In fact, I over-think so much that my brain, sometimes, wanders to very dark areas.

Yes, I have prayed about it countless times. I have asked God to help me stop over-thinking and, in my mind, God wasn't helping.

The problem was that, I really didn't wanted to stop over-thinking. I did wanted to stop thinking about certain things, but not others. Those others were, usually, sinful in nature. The way I excused it was by telling myself that, if it's in my head -it doesn't hurt anyone. Well, I was part of that 'anyone' and it was hurting me, my relationship with Christ, and my personal growth.

You cannot ask God to help you fight something half way. God doesn't do half way, so trying to stop over-thinking but refusing to give up sin, or the total control of those things we over-think about, will not work for God. Here's an illustrations that may help:

          My dog, Mako, loves to play catch. He will bring you his favorite toy for you to take and throw away so he can run after it. The problem is that when you grab the toy, he doesn't really let go of it. He wants you to fight him for it, win, and then throw it away -so he can do this all over again.

That is exactly what I was doing to God.

God, on the other hand, did what I do to my dog; God let my thoughts go and say "when you're ready to really play, let it go, and we'll play".

You have no idea how many things I have ruined by over-thinking. At 30 years old, I was more than ready to let go of this problem. So, I went to Scripture, and wouldn't you know it -the answer was there.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul is telling the church in Corinth about the reality of our warfare. We don't fight against other people, though by over-thinking things we end up doing it but, our real fight is against the evil forces that try to get our attention away from God. In verse 5, Paul says, "we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ".

"...take every thought captive to obey Christ", that stuck with me. Like I said, my over-thinking had lead me to pretty bad situations and, mainly, away from God and what He wanted in my life. Was this something I could apply in my life?

Then I came across Philippians 4. In this last chapter of the letter to the church of Philippi, Paul is giving some godly advise on how to live a godly life. In verse 8, he says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things"... 

My first reaction was: "easy for you to say, Paul!". Then I thought, "wait a second, in my studies I have never found something, that Paul have said, that is far from possible".. So, I tried it. I tried a combination of both these instructions, and I started with my sinful thoughts.

Because I want for people to find a breakthrough, I am going to boldly share my struggle. For years, I have struggled with sexual sin. I wanted to stop, I knew it was harming my relationship with Christ and my personal growth, but it was hard. After finding out that God has been giving me the answer to stop thinking (and over-thinking) about it, I started to INTENTIONALLY take my thoughts captive and giving them to God.

Every time a sexual thought would come to mind, I would INTENTIONALLY say, "stop, I am taking this thought captive and I am giving it to you -God"... But, I wouldn't stop there, I would INTENTIONALLY search for something honorable, just, PURE, lovely and commendable, to think about.

Here's the thing: IT WORKS!!!

I have applied the same method to other areas (thoughts) of my life and I've had the same result.

The problem doesn't go away, but 9/10 times, what I think it's a problem it's really not, is just life and I can handle it better when I am not over-thinking it. But, I'm not going to lie, it is not easy, it requires practice and for me to be INTENTIONAL.

I cannot stress the word intentional enough. This success, that have lead me to be free of sexual thoughts for a long time now, and some anxieties, required a lot of intentionality. Surrendering my will, control and desires has not been easy,  but it has been rewarding. In my first post 'Why God didn't changed my plans', I shared how it took me forever to be where God wanted me to be, which happened to be nowhere near where I wanted, because I refused to surrender. Here I am, still learning to surrender, and still struggling with it.

I am not going to say I never over-think anymore. That would be a lie, I still do from time to time, and I do because, though I take the thought captive, I don't give it to God. I keep it in my pocket and it comes out, lying to me about its importance. In Philippians 4:8, the first thing Paul suggest is to think of whatever is TRUE.

Here's the thing about truth, it doesn't scream, it doesn't fight, it slowly and patiently comes out. If a thought is calling out to you, screaming and kicking, it's probably not truth and just wants your attention. Filter everything through Philippians 4:8, and I can guarantee you, you'll be free from lies that are trying to make you over-think.