Technically, its midnight, but to me its still Friday and this post counts in my 49 consecutive days of blogging. :) Jus' sayin!

....Sticking to having a positive mentality is a moment-by-moment choice. We choose what we will do with a negative thought. We have the liberty to choose to dwell upon, speak it out loud, share it with another, converse about it, act on it or complain about it. OR We we can take hold of the thought, at its immediate entrance and do something positive with it.

^{2 Corinthians 10:} 

³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

If I could physically see that Jesus is here with me, in "my midst," in this room, in my work place, in my home...while a negative thought starts to process in my brain... What would I do with the thought in that moment? ...

Just thinkin' about that...

What would I do?...

Would I tell Jesus what I'm thinking about? 

Would I tell Him what I'm thinking and then ask Him to tell me what He thinks about it... 

I believe that's what He desires. Communication. Interaction. Because He is present. I've surrendered my life to Him and I believe His promise,

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. I'm pretty convinced that if I possess a negative thought and, instead of bringing it to the Holy Spirit, I began to ponder and worry and grow anxious, annoyed, disturbed in my spirit or upset with another in regards to the thought, I'm not winning the battle against negativity. Instead, I'm allowing this thought or emotion to dictate my mood and behavior, and quite possibly, those of others around me.

If I take captive my thought and begin to pray, "Lord, this is a real thought I'm experiencing, what do YOU say about it?" I believe truth is freeing. I believe the Spirit of Truth is living within me and when I abide in God's Word, truth, is more easily accessed heard within.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

I can turn to truth, and decide to align my thinking with truth instead of negativity. Even in a horrible situation, The Spirit of Truth can shed hope. 

Today I am thankful for my schedule. I have a good amount on my plate between a job and school and a few commitments here and there. At times, I'm overwhelmed. But today I want to thank God that I have free time in my weekly schedule to take care of my health, to relax, to spend time with people, to complete tasks with excellence, to study, to engage and to learn. 

Time is valuable. I can imagine there are lifestyles much busier than mine. I am thankful for the time at hand and the way that God allows me to plan and yet experience surprises, set-backs and delays even when I think I've penciled in every minute of the day. 

Come to think of it, life is really beautiful, huh...

Grace