IT’S OK TO TALK TO YOURSELF!

On May 3, 1999, the worst tornado ever recorded in history changed the lay of the land in central Oklahoma, forever.  The local meteorologists warned people to leave the area, as opposed to the usual warning to take cover in a hall closet, or bathtub.  In doing so, many lives were saved.  In the mile-wide pathway left behind were cement slabs where homes and businesses had once been and yards where the grass had been sucked out of the ground.  Lives were instantly changed from the devastation. 

To this day, when Larry and I drive east on the Turner Turnpike (I-44), a sense of awe comes over us as we pass what used to be the Tanger Outlet Mall in Stroud, OK, where you once saw and heard the hustle and bustle of a thriving shopping center.  All that is there now, is the grass that is creeping between the cracks of the foundation slab. 

Loss leaves a sense of imbalance.  Something or someone we relied on is gone and our life is shaken.  We may even think that God has abandoned us.  At times like this is when we NEED to talk to ourselves…especially to remind us about the truth of God’s love in His Word.

Psalms 34:15  “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.”

Hebrews 13:9b  “…He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’”

TALK TO YOURSELF:

1.      When Things You Count On Fail.

Psalms 46:1-2  “God is my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  therefore I will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

2.      At Times of Temptation. 

a.       The Las Vegas advertisement, “What happens here, stays here,” is SO NOT TRUE!  Every choice you make, good or bad, goes with you.

Psalms 94:11a  “The Lord knows the thoughts of man; He knows that they are futile.”

Psalms 90:8  “You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.”

I Corinthians 10:13  “No temptation has overtaken me but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that I may be able to endure it.”

I John 4:4b  “…Greater is HE (Jesus) who is in me than he (satan) that is in the world.”

3.      At Times of Loss.

a.       A Loved One 

Psalms 34:18  “God is near the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit.”

b.      Job

Psalms 37:25  “I have been young, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread.”

Deuteronomy 28:8 “And the Lord will command the blessing upon me, in my barns and in all that I put my hand to, and He will bless me in the land which the Lord my God gives me.”

c.       Good Health

Exodus 23:25 & 26b  “But I will serve the Lord my God, and He will bless my bread and my water; and He will remove sickness from my midst…He will fulfill the number of my days.”

Talk to yourself about THE ROCK – JESUS CHRIST (He’s NOT shifting sand!)

·         “My Rock and my Redeemer”

·         “The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress”

·         “He is my Light and my salvation”

·         “He is the Alpha, Omega, the Beginning and The End”

·         “He is the Word that all of heaven and earth was created by”

Matthew 16:18  “…and on this rock I will build my church.”

Psalms 118:22  “Jesus is the chief cornerstone…the costly stone that the builders (those more interested in religion than relationship) rejected.”

We NEED to talk to ourselves… as long as it is the Word of Truth.  We are human and need frequent reminders about what is good and right.  Be encouraged and be blessed!

Linda Smiley