I wanted to share some things with you that have been on my mind lately, no pun intended (see title). And, my purpose in sharing this information is to educate you. So, before we go any further, I need to point out that while I hope this information is useful to everyone, I think it will be especially useful for those of you who “over-think” things.

I am an “over-thinker”—and I hate it. I honestly think sometimes about how nice it would be to be able to “flip a switch” in my brain and turn it off the part of me that cares about things so much. (Hence, the over-thinking.) I know that sounds bad, but, I am just being honest. Or, I think about lobotomies. I had a great-uncle that I never got to meet who had a lobotomy. (At least, I am pretty sure he did.) And, being a theatre nerd, it leads me into thinking about The Glass Menagerie and Laura/Rose. But, I digress.

I guess I just like the idea of being able to turn off my thoughts when I need to. I am learning, or trying to learn, to love myself just as I am. I mean, after all, this is the way God made me. And, the Bible tells us that BEFORE God formed us in the womb, He knew us and that we were set apart. (See Jeremiah 1:5) Plus, I also know from the Bible and experience that, through God, we are made strong in our weakness.

So, how about you? Are you an over-thinker like me? Do you pick things apart and go over them a million times? Do you obsess about people or things and wish you could change them? If so, I am here to tell you that you are not alone and there is help. Isn’t that great news??

I am part of a book club. I call it the Bible book club, as it is through a church and we read books by Christian authors to help us grow spiritually. (Side note, it is one of my favorite activities!) We recently finished reading the book The Mind Connection by Joyce Meyer and it has truly been a God-send. The secondary title of the book is How The Thoughts YOU Choose Affect Your Mood, Behavior, And Decisions (emphasis mine). Our book club not only reads books, but we work on the study guides that go along with the books we read. And, The Mind Connection has a great study guide for you to use. It helps you think about the topics more deeply and get more out of the whole experience.

I just love Joyce Meyer! If you have never ready any of her books, I strongly urge you to pick one up. Joyce writes from her heart and she writes in way that is easy to understand and follow. And, once you know her history, she will become an inspiration to you. But, this book in particular has been so helpful to me. I have already decided that I am going to re-read it again soon. And, it is one of those books that I now carry around with me, so I can quickly go back to certain sections when I need to.

For whatever reason, many people believe that they have no control over their thoughts, but it is not true! The main point of this book is for you to realize that YOU are the only person who can control your thoughts. Joyce points out that what you think about is reflected in your words, actions, decisions, and emotions. With God’s help, you can control what you think about. With God’s help, you can renew your mind and your thoughts. You can get better!

There is a question that Joyce asks in an earlier part of the book, that really struck a chord me with. She says, “I wonder how many blessings and provisions we miss in life because we simply have the wrong attitude. How often is God merely waiting to see how we respond to difficulty before He moves to help us?” My bet is A LOT! What do you think?
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So, if you are like me, and over-think everything all the time, you need to read this book. You need to take all the great advice and recommendations in it to heart. It may take some time to wrap your head around it and to act upon the information in it. But, if you want to see changes in your life--if you truly want to change, with God’s help, you can! I know this is true because it is working for me right now.
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Thanks to Joyce and her book, I am changing the way I think about things. And, I am NOT focusing on things or people like I used to. I am not where I want to be yet, but I am making progress. It is all about baby steps for me. I am handing off most of the stuff that I can’t deal with to God. And I am adjusting my thoughts to the good and positive things in my life. And, I plan on staying the course. Read this book and join me, won’t you?

The Bible is called by many names: The Word, Word of Life, Holy Scriptures, Holy Writ, Good Book, and Book of Books. (These are just the ones that come to me at the moment. I am sure there are some I forgot.) While these are all accurate descriptions of the Bible, my favorite is Book of Life. Why? I guess because in the simplest terms a) it is a book and b) it gives me life. I honestly think that it is the most important book you can ever read. It is often referred to as living and breathing. And, I truly believe that it is! (Which is just another reason to refer to it as the Book of Life!) And, as a Christian who longs to grow up in Christ, it is vital to take time each day to read this Book of Life. Read it over and over and over again. Each time you do, you will gain new insight and wisdom that you missed before. It may sound crazy, but it is true.

Have you ever watched a funny movie and then re-watched it later and realized that you missed a funny part? Maybe you were laughing too much from something that happened earlier. Maybe it was just a quick visual joke. Maybe you were too busy digging that popcorn kernel out of your teeth. Whatever the reason, you got something out of it the second time around that you didn’t get the first time around. The Bible works the same way! The only difference is that after watching the same movie over and over, you eventually run out of things to discover. The Bible is so dense and packed with nutrients that your spirit needs, you can NEVER run out of the hidden gems it contains. I believe that this is yet another reason people refer to as living and breathing.

The book of Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 tells us, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.“ In other words, for those who read it and believe it, this Book of Life gives you all of the tools and resources you could ever need to live your life successfully in and for God.

Commentator Matthew Henry wrote of the Bible that it “convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that are become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword. It will discover to men their thoughts and purposes, the vileness of many, the bad principles they are moved by, the sinful ends they act to.”  Pretty powerful stuff, isn’t it?

In today’s world, you don’t have to carry around a Bible to get the benefits from it. If you have a cell phone, that is all you need. You can either read the Bible from an app on your phone, or you can listen to it being read to you. Or, you can be a nerd like me and lug around your Bible in a tote bag. I like to keep it handy. You never know when you will get an opportunity to open it up and glean some fresh understanding, or share it with others.  
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So, I hope that you will take some time out of your day and read your Book of Life. Get into the habit of reading it each and every day. It could be just the refreshment that your weary soul needs. (How do I know you are weary? Well, aren’t we all??) And, I will leave you with a link to my current favorite song, “Word of Life” by Jeremy Camp. It is an energetic song with compelling lyrics about the Bible. You’re welcome!  :)

I love to read. And, I am not picky about what I read. Heck, I will read anything I can get my hands on. This includes magazines, junk mail, blog posts, and even the writing on product labels, even lists of ingredients. But, I most especially love books. I love to collect them and read them. (I have been this way ever since I can remember.) There is just something magical about books, and being whisked away to another time and place. (One of my goals as an adult is to one day have a library like the Beast has from Beauty and the Beast. Plus, I would like to say that I have read every book that lines their shelves. But, I digress…)

So, yes, you can call me a bookworm!  I enjoy books of all different types and genres. I tend to go thorough phases; I will read classics for a while, then young adult, then mysteries. (You get the idea.)

However, with all that said, I often find myself reading books on World War II. They can be fiction or nonfiction, but for whatever reason, I am particularly drawn to this time in our history. I think it is because I have an extremely difficult time wrapping my head around the atrocities that took place. For the life of me, I can’t understand how there could be so much hate in the world for one group of people. I have read story after story, account after account, of the concentration camps and the holocaust, and the poor souls who were forced to either die immediately, or die slow, horrible, agonizing deaths. These are hard stories to tell and hard to listen to or read—but they must be told. (Repeatedly.)

This leads me to my latest read: The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Published in 1971, this book written by Cornelia (Corrie) ten Boom, a Christian evangelist that I had heard of, but never knew that much about, touched me deeply, not necessarily because of the setting, nor the fact that it is a true story, but because it shows her family and their love of and for God.

If you don’t know me, I must tell you, I’m a pretty emotional person. I cry easily and oftentimes for the silliest things. I cry when I get mad, or sad. And, I often feel both emotions, and many more, as I make my way through the pages of a book. As I mentioned before, I have read a great number of true stories—both war and other happenings—and in the case of this book, I read for the first time ever about finding joy in such a desolate place as a concentration camp. And, this is simply because of God. I can’t begin to tell you what a different light that puts your perspective in.   

If you haven’t read this book yet, I urge you to pick it up and read it as soon as you can. I found the 35th anniversary edition at our Ollie’s for only $3.99. (Such a great investment!) The book shares the story of how Corrie and her family helped Jews escape from the Nazis. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will tell you that Corrie and her sister, Betsie, end up at Ravensbruck. They manage to bring a Bible in with them and they share it with other prisoners and have group meetings where they share God’s message of love and they all pray together.

Betsie is such an amazing and gentle person with such a heart for God. To read about her thoughts that she shared with Corrie, and her words and actions—well, suffice it say that she is my new role model. Betsie was thankful to God for the fleas in their sleeping area and often prayed for the souls of the very Nazis that were holding them captive. Talk about giving thanks in all circumstances and praying without ceasing! I want to be exactly like her.

Their father, Casper, was also a spiritual giant who not only read their Bible to his family and the workers in his watch shop every day, but who offered help in any way possible to anyone who needed it, despite their background or social, political, or religious views. In the book, after he and the rest of his family are taken into custody, he tells the Gestapo, “If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door to anyone who knocks for help.” He then goes on to say, “It would be an honor to give my life for God’s chosen people.” What a godly and upright man! It is no wonder that the whole ten Boom family turned out to be the fine people they were.

And, of course, there is Corrie herself. After her life in Ravensbruck, she made it her life’s mission to share the story of God’s love and share her own story and that of her family with as many people as she possibly could. She knew the importance of all of it and in 1946 she started a worldwide ministry that took her to more than 60 countries before she finally gave it up.

The building that the ten Boom’s lived in and that housed their family’s clock and watch shop is now a museum called the Corrie Ten Boom House. If I am ever blessed enough to go on a trip to Holland, I will be visiting. You can learn more about the museum here.
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To learn more about the Holocaust, you should check out the fold3 website’s Holocaust Collection. There you can find personal stories from more than 600 individual victims and survivors, as well as information on the concentration camps, looted valuables, and national archives records.

If you have never read The Hiding Place, I think you can learn a great deal from it. There is a great quote from Oscar Wilde that says, “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” I think Oscar was onto something! While reading about the dark parts of our history can be tough, seeing how God worked through the ten Boom family during World War II will truly lift your spirits. It also proves that no matter what you may be going through, God is right there with you. One of Corrie’s most famous quotes goes, “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”