Renewing Our Minds Study: Introduction!

The Ready to Hope outpost was originally created to be a space to grow in your faith, put some roots down with a young adult community, and also to have a place to process the emotions we all deal with that sometimes challenge us.

We are about to enter some exciting territory, friends. We are going to combine neuroscience with God’s word, all in the name of growing together.

Let’s begin with a truth that you maybe haven’t considered before, but once you grasp, it will likely change how you approach caring for your own well-being.

Your thoughts create your emotions. And your actions often stem from your emotions.

Therefore: if you want to change your actions, and more often behave in ways that make you feel proud and centered? Begin to look at how you can change your thoughts.

And the great news is: you can. And we are going to study how to do that, together.

We recently studied Romans 12, and when this outpost began it was most definitely inspired by Romans 12:2, and the idea of renewing our minds together.

Let’s quickly go back and just check out what Romans 12:2 says. It can often be helpful to read a couple different versions to really get a sense of what Paul wants us to grasp in his writing.

NIV:

“ Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

NLT:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The Message:

1-2: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

The message we want to hold on to as we begin this study:

Whatever you’re struggling with, it begins with a thought.

The difficult feelings you experience are rooted in something you are telling yourself.

“I’m not smart enough.”

“I won’t ever find a partner.”
“I can’t kick this bad habit.”
“I can’t make good habits stick.

“I’m not good enough.”
“I’m not attractive.”
“My parents didn’t love me well enough.”

And then the feelings follow.

Anxiety. Sadness. Fear. Insecurity.

All of the feelings begin with a thought.

You could even say they begin with a story.

You tell yourself something, about something.

And those are habits that are hard to break!

And because there is hope ahead, we’re going to go ahead and add another layer of why it can be so challenging to truly cultivate and maintain mental and spiritual and emotional wellness.

Here goes:

Your brain is designed to see negative.

This is actually an evolutionary truth! Because way back when, scanning for danger was essential to survival, the human brain evolved to look for the negative.

Way back in the cave-person days, it was animals that could eat you. Or enemies that could kill you to get your food or your land.

And even though we have evolved and most of the time are living in relative safety and without food insecurity, our brains haven’t evolved!

Your brain is designed to scan for negative. For danger. And now, that danger is more often emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Scary news stories (if it bleeds, it leads!). People spewing hatred on social media. Messages all around us about how we aren’t enough if we don’t have X, Y, or Z being sold to us on Instagram.

That’s the difficult truth, but as we love to lean on here, there is hope!

Your brain is wired to scan for negative, and for danger, but you can learn to scan for good!

And as you train your brain to look for positive, uplifting, promising messages of hope, you create new pathways. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes to stay there more often, and shift there when you feel yourself go sideways!

Let’s use this study to tackle habits we’d like to change!

You may want to start reading your Bible daily, or you may want to change your relationship with food. You may want to stop being so angry at someone who hurt you, or you may want to start exercising more often.

What is it for you? What is a habit you’ve wanted to break, or a habit you’ve wanted to add, and have struggled to do so?

You may know them right away, or you may need to spend some time on these. Maybe spend some time praying and journaling to help you figure them out.

Now that you’ve done that, once again, we want to give you hope.

Those habits you struggle with? They begin with a thought! Your habits are rooted in your thoughts. And you can change your thoughts! We will be diving into how to do just that in the weeks to come!

We are going to study and discuss and hold one another accountable over the coming weeks to continually renew our minds, to learn how to change our thoughts (and therefore our habits), and to guard our hearts because everything flows from them.

Some super easy homework for the next couple weeks:

First: keep these scriptures close to your heart.

Romans 12:2

Proverbs 4:23

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

2 Corinthians 10:5

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Let them guide you. Maybe read them daily. Journal what you feel when you read them.

Second: be thinking about habits you’d like to change.

These can be thoughts, too! Maybe you’re really hard on yourself. Maybe you even struggle with anxiety or sadness. We can work on those thoughts.

Maybe you want to stop or cut back on something. Or maybe you want to add a new habit.

Just be paying attention.

Third: (and don’t ignore this one!) share with the group how this is going for you!

Our outpost has never been intended to be only three or four hours a month when we meet. The goal has always been that you are building connections that extend into your daily life. The goal has always been that you can reach out to others and ask for support, or share your wins. This can be in the GroupMe, or over text, or maybe even meet up with someone or a couple someones!

Just remember: we grow better when we grow together. Accountability, support, and love all serve our mental and spiritual wellness so much more than going it alone!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 43:19

If you’re not yet a part of our outpost and would like more info, please email us here! We can’t wait to connect with you!