Panic in the middle of the night.

I forgot to make the appointment. Did I send the email? We’re behind in math lessons. I didn’t start the dishwasher. How should we deal with that parenting issue?

As sleep eludes me, thoughts swirl and threaten to drown me.

I wake with an unrestful heart, and I don’t even remember why.

We often know our thoughts are out of control. We know we are not at rest. We know we should do something about it.

But we remain stuck in the swirling madness of our own minds.

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.'”

II Corinthians 10:5b (NIV)

Our thoughts do not rule us.

We rule out thoughts. But we must be intentional, or the swirling thoughts will continue to hold us captive.

Step #1 to taking our thoughts captive: Grab hold of them out of the swirling sea.

Discern what those thoughts actually are. Take them captive. Arrest them. Stop the swirling.

We’ll discuss later what to do with these thoughts after we take them captive.

Let’s start with a brain dump.

Dump out the swirling thoughts and line them up to see them clearly. We might discover that simply seeing the thoughts is a seed that will cultivate rest in our hearts.

Today’s Seed of Rest

Try a brain dump.

Grab a piece of paper. Loose scratch paper. Pretty journal. Your preference.

Write down the many thoughts swirling in your mind. 

Continue building your list for a few days. Don’t worry yet about what to do with the thoughts. We will seek to make them obedient later.

For now, just take the thoughts captive.

Click here to read all Seeds of Rest for Moms posts, unfolding throughout October 2017.