Reactions Define You

Reactions…..so many pictures come to mind….

Cutting words….deep breaths….quiet answers….

How do you react? Have you ever thought about your reactions defining you?

By the time you married, you already held certain basic convictions. You knew right from wrong. You did what you thought was right, and no one could persuade you differently. But now you find yourself and your convictions challenged by someone who may not share your established standards and worldview. He may be more liberal than you, more permissive, or he may be stricter and more legalistic. The presence of children further complicates the situation. You want desperately to do what is right for them, but you have submitted yourself under the authority of another. Life is not going the way you had planned, and you can’t act or react the way you wanted to. You find yourself pushed to the limits of your patience, and then you react in unsubmissive and selfish anger.

Your reactions define who you really are inside and what you really believe at your core level. <– Wow! Share Me     

You can control your future reactions considerably by changing the way you think before you are pressed into a response. The way you think every day determines the way you feel, and it will determine how you will react in stressful situations. 

The heart is filled with thoughts, and it is out of that reservoir of thoughts that the mouth speaks words of praise or bitterness. When the pressure is on, and the dam of reservation breaks loose, you cannot control what you say, because you will speak from the abundance of your heart ~ from the 40,000 thoughts you had that day, and all the days before.  

If you, as a wife, are going to change the way you have been speaking, it is not a matter of willpower; it is a matter of thought power.  

You are what you think, and God tells you how to think: Think the truth. This is not the power of positive thinking; this is the power of the truth as God defines it. You are created to be your husband’s helper, not his conscience, not his vocation director, and certainly not his critic.   

 When you develop an adversarial relationship with your husband, you do so on the premise that you are right and he is wrong. You are also assuming that you have the duty to resist, confront, and challenge him. In thinking he is wrong and you are right, you declare yourself wiser than he, more spiritual, more discerning, more sacrificial, etc. All his adds up to the obvious conclusion that you have assumed the role of leadership, teacher, and judge. This is sinful and odious, and it displeases God greatly. No woman will ever have peace and joy until her mind is filled with goodwill toward her husband, and she is committed to becoming a good help meet for him.

Have fun.  Remember the good times during the difficult times.

You married him for a reason, find those reasons.

Your reactions are based on your feelings, and your feelings based on your thoughts. <– Tweet the Truth

Change them, you alone can do this with the Lord’s help. No one can do it for you. 

Past studies through Debi Pearl’s book “Created to be His Help Meet”