Confession time: I am a MAJORRRRR overthinker. Within 60 seconds I will mentally explore every possible scenario and more. I often over analyze and stress myself out over the most unnecessary things all because I decided to overthink one thing and go down a silly rabbit trail. Overthinking is something everyone does, some struggle with it more than others. Even though I am definitely a glass half full person, I still find myself overthinking and worrying at times, like I said everyone overthinks every now and then. Sometimes we face problems where it feels impossible not to overthink and worry, it can feel like you’ll always be stuck in the loop of your racing thoughts and rabbit trails. But I’m here to tell you that you can actually find freedom from this and have power over your thoughts. Your mind has so much more power than you think, and your thought life will actually reflect into your physical life. I don’t say this to scare or stress you out, I say it because it's true and so many of us find ourselves being held back because of what we are thinking about.
It says all over in the Bible that God is in control, he is writing our story, and that he has a perfect plan for you. (Psalm 135:6, Ephesians 2:10, Jeremiah 29:11) We can find so much peace in knowing and remembering this. When faced with something I can overthink about I’ve learned that I have two options, I can sit and overthink and stress myself out or, I can give it over to God and trust him with it. The second option is a lot easier said than done and has been something I’ve been working on for a few years now. But anything God does is going to be better than anything we do. He knows every single hair on your head and calls you by name, he cares about you so much and that thing you're overthinking, he already has that worked out. When we remember this, it becomes so clear that we truly don’t have to worry about anything, which like I said is a lot easier said than done. Psalm 46:10 talks about being still and knowing that God is God. This is something I really struggle with, I tend to start overthinking something and then freaking out and start doing whatever I think in the moment I can do to fix it. This is the complete opposite of what Psalm 46:10 says. Instead of freaking out we can stop, take a breath and BE STILL, and remember that God is who he says he is and the things were about to freak out and overthink, he already has it worked out, and it's better than we can even imagine.
It’s important to remember that we have to know and BELIEVE in what God says. It’s one thing to know about and understand what God says but it's another to BELIEVE what he says. When we believe his words and promises and walk in confidence in them, that’s when we start to have freedom from overthinking. Believe that God is who he says he is and that he has amazing blessings for you. A quote I love is “Always believe something wonderful is about to happen.” I like to take it and turn it into “Always believe that God is working for your good.” Which he is. (Romans 8:28). When I stop and remember this it helps me soooo much, and oftentimes when I stop and reflect on God’s goodness I completely forget what I was about to overthink and it makes my worries seem so small when compared to God.
It’s also important to remember that the enemy lovessss to attack your thought life. He’s been doing it for ages, and his tactics aren’t new at all. He loves to disguise himself and get into your mind and confuse you with lies. His goal is to distract you and keep you from focusing on all that God has for you. This is why it is sooooo important to know God’s word so you can quickly replace his lies with truth. You have to test your thoughts (Romans 12:), when I start to go down a rabbit trail I stop and ask myself, is this true, is this noble, is this pure, is this lovely? This is based on Philippians 4:8-9 where it talks about focusing on what is true, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable. By doing this we can test our thoughts and have discernment. You have power over your mind and over the enemy. (2 Timothy 1:7, Luke 10:19) You don’t have to let the enemy distract you and keep you stuck in your thoughts. Another tactic for overthinking is gratitude. It’s been proven that you cannot be anxious when you are grateful. Gratitude literally changes everything. The next time you're tempted to start overthinking, stop and just think about all that God has already done for you and how much he loves you and how grateful you are for those things.
Over the past few years I’ve learned that I am a very logical and black & white thinker, I normally cannot let something go until I have found the answer for it. Sometimes this can be beneficial but more often than not, it ends up leaving me upset and stressed out. It’s good to look for answers to questions we have but sometimes we won’t always find the answer. God keeps things a mystery (Proverbs 25:2) and this can be a hard fact to swallow. But that is where faith comes in because we just have to trust God and know that he is working for our good, as I’ve said so many times in this blog lolllllll.
The most important thing to remember is to pray and bring your worries to God. Ask him to help you with overthinking and he will, he cares about you so much and wants to help you, and all you have to do is ask. This definitely isn’t something that will happen overnight (sorry to be a Debbie downer) it takes practice and time, and a little bit of work on our side. I still find myself stuck overthinking at times and it is something I am continuously working on. But overtime I am finding freedom from this and I am able to stop and focus on God’s goodness instead of overthinking and going down an unnecessary rabbit hole. The things you worry and overthink about are completely valid, but what’s so great is that we can give our worries and cares to God because he can do more than we could ever do on our own. So next time you feel yourself start to overthink, stop and take a breath, think about what the Bible says about your thought, and take a few seconds to reflect on God’s goodness and be so thankful for all that he has done and will continue to do.