Have you ever thought about graveyard thinking? This hit me squarely in the face this morning. I was journaling about some mindsets (beliefs) that didn’t fit into the category of a new creation, but fit squarely with the old self. Things like, “I can’t do that Jesus, you know I can’t. I’ve failed every time I’ve tried.” “No matter what I do or say, they go right back to what they were doing.” I could write a hundred of these right now. As I was journaling about dealing with this kind of thinking, Jesus reminded me of Him raising Lazarus from the dead. Even though Lazarus’ sisters knew Jesus well and knew He loved them and their brother, Jesus delayed His coming until Lazarus had been dead 3 days. When Jesus arrived He found them mourning soulfully. Their belief was in the tomb, graveyard.

As I was journaling this morning about some beliefs and habits we come up against I was feeling helpless to know how to address them–move forward giving any kind of sage advice. It was then that Jesus reminded me that my thinking (beliefs) were in the graveyard. I’d buried the hope that “nothing is impossible with God” when one butts up against “these kind of things”. He was right too. For a moment I couldn’t believe anything would change what I was journaling about. However, as soon as I realized where I was coming from (my old self thinking) I surrendered it and will choose once again to believe.

God didn’t raise the old self that we were before Jesus Christ entered our life and leave us with it. He gave us a new life when He raised us from the death of sin! Satan never wants me (us) to live in our new life. I had a moment, but I’m not staying there. Thank you Jesus for reminding me to not live in the graveyard of of my old self. You have given me a new life which is filled with HOPE!