Ditching the Prodigal Mindset

I am an extremely average person. I have average intelligence, average looks, I got average grades in school. My creativity level is average, my domestic skills are average, although I do put a lot of effort into making them above average. The only exceptions to my averageness are sports, I'm far below average in my sports abilities, and being a Prodigal, I excelled at being a Prodigal.

If you picked one of the issues I've struggled with, you would have a major issue on your hands, I had several major issues. I struggled with: anorexia, bulimia, self mutilation, clinical depression, sexual addiction, alcoholism, smoking, I was in an abusive relationship, I was raped, twice, and for some reason I struggled with suicidal thoughts. See, you pick any of those things and you have a big problem. I juggled all of them, I may not have been super smart, I may not have been super pretty, but I sure was good at having issues.

Why is it important to sometimes dig these things up? Why talk about it? Well, because some of these things get uncovered by things like illness, stress, sleepiness, or stepping on the scale. God delivered me from these things and gave me the recipe to gain victory over them, but sometimes the thoughts of them seem to present themselves when I'm faced with difficult situations.

I'll give you some very personal examples. I can be faced with a lot of stress. My family has been very sickly lately. In fact we've spent the last two months pretty much cooped up in the house with various illnesses. On top of that our house is always in a constant state of construction. We bought an old house with issues of its own, and we've been slowly trying to work on them as time and money allow. That brings me to my next problem, money. My husband injured his back a few years back and has had a very difficult time finding a job he can do in this economy, he started his own recycling business, and it has a lot of potential, but this year has been really hard. Not like, oh I don't get to go buy a new sofa and love seat when I want to, bad, but more like, are we going to be able to keep the house and pay the gas bill, bad. We are dedicated to my staying at home and homeschooling our girls, this is another problem, I feel like I should be doing something to help ease the financial burden off my husband, but we have yet to be given a solution that will not take me out of the house and in turn cause even more stress. So, with all these things on my mind it is really easy for a few thoughts to creep in, like you are in emotional pain, you know that cutting will ease the emotional pain, why not do it... Or, what good are you to this family, if you were gone, they would have money, they would be better off.... Not to mention that my body has not been the same since fighting Preeclampsia with my last pregnancy, when I weigh myself those thoughts of, you need to stop eating until you lose at least 10 pounds, creep in so easily.

How do you get rid of the thoughts that you formerly gave into for years? How do reprogram your mind to put them off instantly? The first thing that can help keep these thoughts few and far between is keeping your nose in God's Word. You need to know what God has to say about the value of your life. You need to know what God has to say about how much He loves you. Having scripture on hand to help you when you feel like the lies are true is so valuable. I've been fighting the depression lately and feeling completely invisible to others, like what I say, what I feel, and my very being is unimportant to everyone else. Genesis 16:13, has helped me to focus on God being a God who sees me, even when I'm an outcast, even when I feel invisible, God sees me, and He loves me.

Another way to ditch the Prodigal mindset is by again focusing on God's grace. I don' think I can say enough about that. My pastor, Greg Lanzen, did a sermon series on Grace about a year ago. We came up with a saying to help us remember what grace is, “God's Grace Is: God's Love, Riches, and Mercy, freely and generously given to help sinful and undeserving people....like me.” When I focus on what He has done for me, me, a sinner, I feel like someone, like all those things don't matter anymore. It is like the principle of living an attitude of gratitude. You focus on what God has done for you, and what He has promised to do, and it lifts you up in those moments of despair.

So, how do you ditch the Prodigal mindset? Focus on what God's Word says, focus on what God has done for you, focus on what He has promised that He will do for you. In other words, focus on who you are in Christ. If that doesn't make you feel a whole lot better, than maybe you need to get away and rediscover your identity in Him, rediscover what you are to Him, and what He has done for you.