Tranform - Don't Conform!

Sorry for the delay this week.  I have a new distraction - a puppy.  :)   Every day we make a choice of how we handle the day.  I know for me personally, I can feel it when I start the day with a sense of frustration and everything is bothering me.  Perhaps you just wake up feeling grumpy, the coffee pot leaks all over the counter, your new puppy decides to have an accident and you get to start your day to that lovely aroma, your daughter keeps rolling over and going back to sleep, traffic is evil & the list can continue.  Oswald Chambers says, "Your greatest strength is your desire to spend time with God.  As you concentrate on Christ , His spirit fills your mind with life and peace."  I don't know about you but in this crazy world - I need that strength.  Isaiah 40:31 "God gives renewed strength to the weary." Psalm 29:11  "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."   How do you transform your mind?  If you can learn to shut out the world, focus on God, enjoy spending time with Him and His word & with all your heart seek Him, your thoughts will be transformed and you will begin to see the world through God's eyes.  Your worries will minimize....I promise.  Philippians 4:7  "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." When you read God's word you find the promises of God.  He is the always faithful and never breaks a promise.  Those promises sustain you and get you through each day and the challenges it brings.  When we put our energies and our thoughts toward the things of this world, we are being pulled downward.  For instance, I believe if you want the peace of God you won't get if you always put yourself in front of a TV, a computer, playing on a cell phone (boy-that hits home to those of us with  an iPhone or a droid), or any of the other "worldly" distractions.  Consider this - God's word is always true.  Hebrews 6:18  "So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us."  Can you say that about the your TV or the media?  Think about the news and how distorted it can be.  Who do we believe - Fox or CNN?  How about commercials?  Now there's a bunch of deception.  I remember when my daughter was very young she believed every commercial.  If I use a particular cream, I will have no wrinkles, take a diet pill  & lose 25 pounds in a month, & drink beer you will have as much fun as the people in the commercial seem to be having.  Wrong!  We have a tendency to put so much of ourselves in these activities and we begin to believe the falsehoods they represent.    Transform your life to depend and focus on the Lord.  Don't allow yourself to conform to how this world wants you to think!  It's a deceptive place. We don't have to keep up with our neighbors to be happy, look like a model to be beautiful, find success like the stars to feel special (their lives are the most miserable-drugs, suicides,  and divorces), or spend money like Paris Hilton to be content (I tried it and have the debt to prove it).  Look to God - He made us and in His eyes we are beautiful, our success is found in resting in His arms, and think eternal-spending money on material things is only temporary.  If we try to find peace, strength & contentment by conforming to the mindset of this world, we will never get there.  Romans 12:2  "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."  I am blessed to live with a "transformed man".  My husband's favorite scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."  Be transformed!