“God loves us too much to let us lead a life marked by poor thinking. He made our brains; he can retrain our brains. God has not left us alone in this battle of the mind.” Max Lucado, “Tame Your Thoughts”
I have interviewed several experts in the past five years who agree that mental illness has increased exponentially across all demographics since the pandemic. Suicide rates are at an all-time high. Forty-two percent of teenagers say they live in a persistent state of sadness. Children are falling victim to depression. Psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, and religious leaders agree: Hopelessness, confusion, and even despair are rampant, even within our sanctuary walls.
Every problem has a root cause. And if we were to reach for the end of the thread of hopelessness and follow it backward to find the beginning of it, we would invariably find the culprit: a pervasive, negative thought that we allowed to linger.
Joseph S. Alpert, MD, released an article for The American Journal of Medicine stating interesting facts about the brain and heart. The article highlights staggering data about the number of thoughts processed by the human brain. The average brain processes 48.6 thoughts per minute. That adds up to 70,000 thoughts a day.
If the root cause of most mental illness is our thoughts, could it be that we could change the current woeful statistics by changing our thoughts?
I certainly believe so. I am a walking example of that truth.
As a young adult, I struggled with intense anxiety, depression, and even thoughts of suicide. At 25, I became a Christian and started a healing journey that was part supernatural and part deliberate. No question God’s grace and love played a miraculous role in this journey. But I am also certain that the reason I walk in victory over crippling, lingering anxiety today is because I made a conscious decision to “tame my thoughts.”
I hadn’t thought about the process in those terms until I received Max Lucado’s latest book in preparation for our most recent interview. As I landed my eyes on the book’s title, a smile crossed my face: "Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life." Having interviewed the author several times before, I started our conversation by telling him I believe this was the missing book in his vast collection.
Lucado agrees. “I’ve been blessed to be writing and pastoring for over 50 years,” said Lucado. “And in all of that time, I am not sure I’ve ever experienced, or observed such a battle for our peace of mind.”
Lucado knows firsthand the power of changing one’s thought life. As a new Christian, he struggled with guilt that prevented him from flourishing in faith. “The message of grace ultimately changed my life,” he said, “But I, I just couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that God would forgive a prodigal son like me. So, I think the first major thought challenge I had would fall under the canopy of guilt and shame.”
In his new book, Lucado opens his heart in the same refreshing, candid manner that makes his words and story relatable to his audience. He addresses issues such as anxiety, guilt, lust, rejection and lack of satisfaction. He then offers three practical tools to help readers manage their thoughts:
— “Practice picky thinking”: an invitation to deliberately guard your thoughts.
— Identify “UFOs”: untruths that create a false narrative and lead to overreaction.
— “Uproot and Replant”: weed out toxic patterns and replace them with truth.
I was talking to a young woman recently whose struggle with mental illness has severely impacted her faith in God. As I listened, I realized how her thought patterns have blinded her to God’s presence in her life. She longs for God to change her circumstances, but she doesn’t feed her mind with his truth. Without renewing our thoughts, lasting change will always feel out of reach.
Indeed, we must be intentional about what we allow into our minds. I’ve lived the battle — and the victory. With God’s help, I learned to silence the lies and replace them with truth. You can too. His word holds the power to transform your life — one thought at a time (Romans 12:2).
Watch my interview with Max: God-Sized Stories with Patricia Holbrook and on all podcast platforms.
Patricia Holbrook is a columnist, international author, and speaker. Visit her website: www.PatriciaHolbrook.com. For speaking engagements and comments, email patricia@PatriciaHolbrook.com.
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