Renewed Attitude

Renewed Attitude

Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life. . . . Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Ephesians 4:22-23

From the outside, Logan resembled many of my other patients. He was average height and build, had brown hair, and worked with his hands. He seemed to carry a little extra anger along with a little extra weight. Even his diagnosis was pretty common: hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

But if you could have peered into Logan’s thoughts, you would have seen that they were anything but ordinary—as I found out one day when he opened up to me. He was in my office for what seemed like an ordinary checkup, until he began to tell me about his inner life. His thoughts were dark and roiling—like a storm forming in the distance.

“Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night, and I think my family would be better off without me,” he said. “Most nights I fall asleep thinking the same thing.”

As we continued our conversation, I asked a few probing questions. He revealed a past emotional injury that, years later, he still couldn’t release. As a result, over time, his attitude had begun to crumble, and depression had begun to fill the void in his spirit.

Recognizing that he needed help, he was willing to start right away with a combination of medication, therapy, and counseling. My prayer was that he would let the Holy Spirit renew his mind in ways that he had been unable to do himself.

A few weeks later, Logan’s counselor reported that they had been able to excavate the old emotional wound and had begun cleaning it out by discussing it. Logan was back on the road to recovery, and with that came a real change in his attitude.

TODAY’S RX

If your thoughts are stuck in the buried past, allow the Holy Spirit to clean house and renew your attitude.

Holy Spirit, cleanse my thoughts and unclutter my mind of past hurts. I need your help to clear a pathway to forgiveness and acceptance. Thank you for showing me the way.