Souls Full Filled Blog

What Are You Thinking – Part 2

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Guidance, Healing, spirituality, Transformation

In my post yesterday I discussed how our thinking impacts our body, emotions, health and even our future. It has been known for a long time that what we think sets up parameters in our minds to be open to find and experience what we expect, good or bad, based on our thinking (self fulfilled prophecies). Practicing what I mentioned in my post yesterday with bible study over many years has had a dramatic impact on my life. It did not take very long for me to start seeing the changes which seemed amazing to me after trying so many other avenues. At first I had no clue how my thoughts were impacting my emotions, health or life choices and experiences. I was not even aware of the beliefs that had formed through repeated thinking patterns and how this impacted my perceptions, overall emotions and reactions to every day events. I would wake up with certain emotional states and not even question why. Even if I figured out the connections, I could not break free. 


Now I know I can investigate the thoughts behind the feelings with divine help. I ask God to show me. The answer might not come immediately while different types of thoughts need to be cleared away before getting to a core belief and its underlying cause. It is like a necklace chain that is tied up in little knots you cannot untangle. Trying to untangle the wrong area of the chain in the wrong sequence makes the knots tighter. Or like a maze, you can feel like you are getting somewhere but end up hitting a dead end and needing to retrace your steps.


The process can be painful if old events, especially trauma, are involved. It helps to share this with a trusted friend or counselor who understands the process, especially if they have similar beliefs about God and Christ. I was in therapy for many years before discovering the power of relying on the Great Physician to help me with this process with the loving support of a Christian counselor. Many counsellors are outcome oriented and I found it is helpful to be process oriented, leaving the direction of the process to be guided by our selves as we are directed by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit that resides in us. Having goals and strategies can help if we know the right ones to choose, but that can keep us going in circles if we do not unlock the right doors first. It goes back to my first blog post 090516 about direction. The last few years I have supported others through this process and they share they have success not found with previous alternatives. And I know many who have experienced this process with bible study learning to listen to the Spirit speaking within. Having taken many (paid) years of study with several theology and bible schools I have found the best free international bible study resource that may have a class near you is Bible Study Fellowship which can be found on Facebook or on the web at:  
https://www.bsfinternational.org/locate-a-class1

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth, removing obstacles that block your way. ”
James 1:5-7 “If any of you lacks wisdom to guide you through a decision or circumstance, you are to ask of our benevolent God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to you. But you must ask for wisdom in faith, without doubting God’s willingness to help, for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.”

If you find this helpful, please like and share. I appreciate any feedback on what is helpful or not clear. If you have a specific topic you would like addressed here please ask. You can leave a comment or send a request confidentially on my contact page.

What Are You Thinking?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Guidance, Healing, Inspire, peace, spirituality, Transformation, Uncategorized

One of the major influences on our experience of life impacting our emotions, perceptions and even what we might experience in the future, is our thoughts. It has been shown that thoughts impact our brain in ways we previously had not understood. Thoughts can create chemicals and enzymes in the brain depending on their nature. Repeated patterns of thinking are shown to grow physical structures in the brain that can limit the kind of thinking we tend towards every day. Some of these chemicals and enzymes impact various parts of the neurological and immune systems and there is still much unknown about what other systems or diseases in the body and brain might be affected. There is a lot of research that stress is a major factor leading to many killer diseases and the link between stress and our thinking is obvious.

Do you think about what you are thinking? Many of us, as I had in the past, believe we have no real control over our thoughts, which seem to fall into our heads and in reaction to various situations and events. As I started learning to change the way I was thinking, my reactions to situations, events and stress changed and I found I was filled with more peace and calm despite challenging circumstances. I used to believe I had no control over my emotions either until I started changing the way I was thinking and my emotions and emotional reactions to situations changed. 

I became aware of my thinking and unconscious thoughts through the practice of contemplative meditation whereby a person sits in silence and observes what thoughts arise. Have you ever noticed getting great ideas in the shower or while relaxing on a beach? The brain naturally uses quiet time to bring up unresolved issues, problems and events in an effort to solve and resolve what has not been released. Even during sleep the brain uses dreams to do the same thing. But the brain also needs to rest. Contemplative meditation helped me learn to let go of needing to resolve these thoughts temporarily in order to rest the brain and the body.

Recent research shows that thinking patterns form, blocking our ability to change how we think by ‘hard coding’ these patterns with chemicals and enzymes. Trauma releases even more substances that reinforce this process, creating triggers that start the thinking patterns to repeat like programmed loops in our brains. There are ways to disrupt this with affirmations and finding contradictory thoughts to fight the patterns we want to change. But even with that, I had some resistant thoughts stemming from early childhood experiences that had been repeated continually over my lifetime and were hard to release. 

Then I discovered the power of using bible truths to release those thoughts and patterns. Somehow, mysteriously, the truth we learn through studying the bible seems to have more power than any other words we might use. I had heard this belief and doubted, but trying it, it actually has worked. The mystery is that there is another force behind the words that comes from God through Christ and the Holy Spirit, who knows just the right order to address these thoughts to untangle the many systems tied up together like knots in the brain. Sounds like divine brain surgery to me. But it works, not by my might or intelligence or analysis, but by listening to what God is speaking to me while I study the bible as frequently as I can.

Now I ask God every day to watch over my thoughts and point out to me the ones that need changing, like putting my streams of conscious and unconscious (hidden) thoughts through a kind of security check to see what should be contraband and not allowed to continue journeying through my life, like a TSA check point at the airport. No unwanted or hidden contraband thoughts are allowed to continue the journey of my life, thanks to the nudging and growing awareness provided through my relationship with God in Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, given us to lead us into all truth and remind us of what we have learned when we need. 

John 14:26, 16:13 “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will guide you into all the truth, (&) will teach you all things. He will help you remember everything taught to you.”

Which Way Are You Going?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Faith, Guidance, Inspire, spirituality, Uncategorized


Are you headed in the right direction? How do you know? Especially when faced with obstacles, choices, difficult circumstances and situations, how do you navigate through your life to find the best path? In my life I have had incredible difficulties and challenges seemingly insurmountable or even survivable. You can read my bio on the about page to find a summary. Given my childhood, I learned to survive by being alert, aware, analytical and resourceful, among other less healthy patterns. Around age 5 a near death experience caused me to believe in God who became a constant companion, with no other person in my life I could trust not to hurt me. 

As my difficult circumstances continued into adolescence, I lost that trust and faith. I decided to seek wisdom from the world and whoever I found willing to give advice. We can always find lots of people to give us advice and a lot of it is good. But how do we judge for ourselves which advice is good for us at any particular moment in any particular situation? Do we search for good reviews? Have those reviews always turned out to be best for us? Each of us has an individual unique path with lots of turns that cannot be fathomed by any amount of analysis, especially given the amount of opposing and confusing information now available. There is not enough time to research and decide. But I used to try. Looking back, some turned out good, but many turned out worse for me, or at least wasted time and money until the next solution came along. I spent years and all my money searching and trying anything that seemed ‘helpful’ or had a good recommendation. Ultimately given serious health issues without any available solutions, I turned back to God for help, following various spiritual practices and eventually teaching them to others. I gained some temporary peace but no permanent solutions, and when things worsened the peace disappeared. 

One day a friend gave me a tape of a lecture on a bible passage, Proverbs 3:5-6 (shown below). I listened and my heart lit up. It talked about letting go of our self reliance and analysis and trusting God to lead us and make our path straight, removing obstacles. That started my journey into the bible, a book I owned but never opened or was taught to use through 12 years of Christian school. The next few years were like doors and windows being opened in my mind and eventually in my heart, as I gained wisdom and experienced solutions and direction for impossible and challenging circumstances in ways I could not explain except to credit God. I realized through experience that only God has all the information needed to direct our choices and lead us on a path that connects us with the resources we need along the way. Only God knows everything about us and our past, every possible aspect of our circumstances, the results of every possible choice we could make, and information about the entire world over all moments of time. 

The experiences became more dramatic, undeniable, and, in some cases, miraculous, the more I learned to trust and follow God, as the bible verse says. My life became a journey of experiencing God’s best direction and results for my life’s choices, healing of my body, recovery from financial loss, the permanent transformation of my mind and personality and the deepening of my relationship with God in Christ, all with the help of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus for those very purposes. Perhaps this verse will speak to you. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart. And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth, removing obstacles that block your way. ”


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What are you laboring for?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Faith, Inspire, Uncategorized

On this Labor Day in the United States, I was reflecting on labor. I am thankful that my health has improved so much from when a few weeks and months ago, I could hardly labor at all. I am thanking God for healing when doctors and medications could not work. I have labored in seeking help in any way I could, with doctors, medications, alternative healing techniques and trying all kinds of remedies, while my health worsened over the last few years, worse than it had been for a long time, being told a few years ago my doctor did not think I would survive a simple infection that should have cleared up in a month. 

More than 25 years ago I was diagnosed with a chronic illness coming from childhood trauma to my brain and neurological system which had deteriorated the various systems in my body. I am told there is no cure since it came from brain damage and that part of the brain is inoperable. I was told I would eventually be in a wheel chair for life. My primary care physician said she was so sorry because although I would want to die, the condition would not kill me, especially if I sought emergency care when having seizures which could come unexpectedly at any time, shutting down various neurological signals that keep me breathing, standing, my heart beating, my body moving and fighting off toxins and disease that normal neurological and immune systems do naturally, automatically. 

I turned to spirituality and labored to find tools and techniques to ease pain, alleviate symptoms and developed prayer practices to get closer to God, the Great Physician and Healer. I had some successes along the way but ultimately disabling symptoms would return and got worse the last few years, no matter what I labored to do. Medical expenses had emptied all my savings and retirement funds and put me in tremendous debt I could not manage month to month without moving balances around to new credit cards and cutting all unnecessary expenses. Just when I thought I would lose my home heavily mortgaged, avenues of funding and free resources would appear, including free plumbing and roof repair. I had exhausted all the avenues open to me. But I continued to labor to keep alive, even though I really wanted to die. One by one people left my life, a life that moved increasingly to being homebound and immobile. My solitude and isolation increased. But I continued to labor on to find a purpose for still being alive. I studied a lot about healing. I learned more about what it means to follow Christ. It was not about labor or doing things to be good, to labor at spiritual practices and devotions, or even long periods of prayer. But it did mean learning about God and what we have in Christ. It did mean slowly but increasingly submitting my life to God in Christ by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.

The rest of the story will be revealed over time, perhaps in a book. The bottom line is I learned that life and healing, whatever you might define as happiness, success, prosperity and fulfillment, do not just come from labor, planning, research, determination and faith. Abundant life and prosperity are offered as gifts through what God offers out of His love for all people. It comes from what Jesus Christ has done to give us this gift of grace, eternal life and salvation, which defined in the Greek original word, SOZO, means prosperity in all areas of our lives, now and eternally. It is received as a gift, not by Laboring to earn it or manifest it in our own strength, intelligence or devices. Just like money deposited in our bank account, we just have to make withdrawals. We have to prove our identity as defined in Christ by faith, which is not even anything we work to have. It is a gift and a mystery, a marvelous mystery that only manifests when we turn it all over and come to the giver of the gift through the avenue the giver chooses, Jesus Christ, following him as a disciple, and then the road becomes narrow but ultimately easier and surer than any other road we might choose on our own or by following the advice of others. 

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened by labors that provide no peace, and I will give you rest refreshing your souls with salvation. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me following Me as My disciple, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest, renewal, and blessed quiet for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear and My burden is light.”