I was thinking today about how much we war against doubt in our lives. Such a blanket of emotional discord is sewn within our heart as we swing like a pendulum between faith and doubt. We can awake so full of hope that the dreams we wish for are on fast approach, and before nights end we can be complete defeated as we lay our heads upon the pillow. I know that each of us deal with outside influences. We war with the words of the doubters in our lives daily. We struggle to see beyond the restrictions of our current reality. Each of these and many more are instigators of doubt within our lives, but this evening, I speak more of the battle that each of us are living with our inner dialogue. Have you ever been sitting in front of the T.V., a show be on, and yet be so deep in thought that you have no recollection of the program’s premise? What about the last time that someone was talking to you and yet you were far from “present” in the conversation, so deep in thought that their words drifted by unnoticed? Each one of us listen more to our own assessments, opinions, emotions, determinations….than anyone’s. We have daily access to the love that Jesus Christ holds for us, it’s readily available in the Bible, but the Words are just words in print until you start to allow yourself to believe them for what they are. If each of us spent more of our day believing that Jesus was the One who believes in us, is the author of our dreams, the comforter of the broken heart that we never allow the world to see, compassionate beyond reproach, the best friend who never turns their back, the one who never betrays, and the lifter of our head….we would start to allow a change of heart to spark such a fire within us that when doubt came to war with our faith, we would quickly meet it with such a positive inner dialogue that the doubt would be quickly drowned out. We aren’t supposed to live swinging from one emotion to another. Hebrews 13:8 reassures us that Jesus is the SAME yesterday, today, and FOREVER. This means that the same unbridled passion that burned within the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ the day He died for you, is the same passion in which He views you with today. His love is NEVER any different…it is the love that NEVER fails. No matter how dark your hole in life, no matter how DEEP the pain, no matter how shattered and broken it appears to you….He rushing forward toward you with perfect love, willing to help you. One of the first evidences that He is there helping is that He will lead you to thoughts, people, scriptures…that will start presenting you with the truths of His love. Through this understanding, you will find that your head is being lifted up and you start looking more into the eyes of your Lord, than the difficulties of your present day life. On a personal note: I know the difficulties that you are facing trying to move past the troubles in your life enough to WANT to start listening to anything different. Yet we cannot expect changes to take place if we aren’t willing to start changing something. Don’t feel like you have to change everything at one time. Each strong hold in our mind is broken down over time and a trust that is being built between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows this, understands this, and is willing to work with as the two of you go living in a relationship with one another. Blessings-Daniella