When joy feels far and your thoughts spiral, God invites you to follow.
🌿 My Gentle Reflection
“If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross every day and follow me.”
—Luke 9:23 CEV
I was exhausted when I woke up.
Not the sort of fatigue that sleep cures.
The type that lies beneath your ribs and behind your eyes.
The kind that makes happiness seem like a foreign language.
I prepared tea. I got my journal open. I gazed at the page. Nothing arrived.
No list of thanks. Not even a prayer. Only fog.
“God, I don’t know how to do today,” I muttered. I meant it, too.
At that moment, I recalled a story Max Lucado had written about riding a bike through the hill country. He found both rear brakes were pressed against the tire as he struggled to pedal, exhausted. He wasn’t frail. They were resisting him.
That’s me, I thought.
One side is guilty. Fear on the other. It makes sense why I’m tired.
Jesus didn’t advise me to exert more effort. He asked me to come along, to spend my days with Him.
Grace. Oversight. Direction. G-O-D.
I wasn’t immediately happy. However, I felt confined. And that was sufficient to start over.
✨ My Scripture of Hope
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
—Romans 8:31 NKJV
🕊️ My Anxious Thoughts to Release
- Thinking I have to earn joy
- Thinking I’m failing if I’m not smiling
- Thinking God is disappointed in my heaviness
🌸 God’s Promise to Me
- God is for me
- He gives grace for this moment
- He oversees what I can’t control
- He directs my next step
🙏 My Prayer
Jesus,
I’m tired of pretending I’m okay.
I’m tired of pushing through the fog.
Help me release what’s weighing me down.
Help me trust You with this day.
Fill my heart with Your grace,
and let joy return like breath after a climb.
Amen
🧠 Gentle Tools for Taming My Thoughts
Inspired by Tame Your Thoughts, especially Section 7: When You Can’t Find Joy, I used three mindset tools to respond to resistance with trust in God’s presence.
1. 🛡️ Practice Picky Thinking
Journal Entry: Overwhelm whispered, “You’re failing. You should be stronger.”
I paused
- Is this true? No—God gives grace.
- Is this kind? No—it shames me.
- Is this from God? No—He speaks peace
I replaced it with: “God is near. He delights in me—even here.” That shift felt like breath returning.
2. 👽 Identify UFOs
Journal Entry: Same moment, same spiral.
- Unhelpful: “You’re too much.
- False: “You should be better by now.”
- Overgeneralized: “God is tired of you.”
I named it—a UFO—and gently released it.
I reminded myself: “God invites me to follow, not perform.” That shift felt like being seen.
3. 🌱 Uproot and Replant
Journal Entry: That resistance stirred up an old belief: “I have to earn joy.”
I paused and chose to uproot it.
- Is this true? No—joy is a gift.
- Is this kind? No—it burdens me.
- Is this from God? No—He offers rest.
💡 Section 7 Insight: When You Can’t Find Joy
Max Lucado reminds us that joy isn’t something we manufacture—it’s something we receive.
He writes:
“You don’t have to be strong enough. You only must be held.”
That truth changed how I breathe through resistance.
I don’t have to force joy.
I can follow Jesus.
I can be held.
📘 Books That Helped Me Heal
- Calm Moments for Anxious Days – Amazon.ca
- Tame Your Thoughts – Amazon.ca
