Give Your Mind to God

By Casey Stringer

I absolutely love getting lost in my thoughts. 

I have daydreams all the time. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what I’m doing, there’s a solid chance I’ll start staring at a wall and fully invested in whatever I’m imagining. I might be planning my day, thinking about what things I’ll be up to later, remembering fun memories, or even making up some fictional situation (I’ve been the lead singer of a rock band in more daydreams than I can count). It’s like a little mini-break in the middle of the day’s chaos. 

Now, before you think I’m crazy, hear me out. Humans get lost in their head all the time, both for positive and negative reasons. Chances are, you’ve been lost in your head plenty of times, too. It’s a natural thing! You might have daydreams like me, or you might be an overthinker, also like me. You might be a mental planner, or you might go mental every time you need to remember a plan. One way or another, we’re all in our heads. 

I think God made us that way. Maybe not, but I think the simple fact that our brains are so powerful that they can captivate us with our own imaginations points to the creator’s genius. And so, what do we do with something like our own minds, capable of allowing us to dream joyful things and sort through life’s darkness? 

We’ve been studying the Psalms of David in the NWYG recently, and it’s been tremendous. We’ve each been astounded by the vulnerability and openness with which David addresses the Lord. When David is in awe, he writes Psalms of wonder to God. When he’s angry or scared, he laments to God. When he can clearly see the ways he has been blessed, he praises God. But one of the things I love the most in his writings is how David will sit, dwell, and respond to what he ‘thinks’ of God. 

Each of his Psalms reads like something he wrote after being alone with his thoughts. David dwells on things, feels the emotion it brings, thinks through the repercussions of the situation he’s writing about, and then gives it all to God. David writes about his meditations, his hopes, his dreams, his thoughts, and all the activities of his brain and heart. 

I’m encouraged by this. We’ve been looking at these different types of Psalms as a model for things we can pray to God. Whether we are happy or hurting, all of our thoughts and emotions can go to God, just like they did with David. But what I’ve been struck by as we’ve completed this study is how rarely I do that. While I may sit with my thoughts and feelings all day, and while I might dream of my future, dwell on the good things of my past, and imagine all the possibilities of life, I rarely take those thoughts and give them to God? 

So, I’m struck by this question: what if we gave everything in our minds to God? The good things we dwell on as well as the anxieties that come. The hopes and the fears. All of it. What if we let that idea shape our prayer life? What if we let ourselves engage with God in every moment? What if we chose to pray our dreams and anxieties instead of simply being captured by them?

I’ve been trying that this week. It’s not easy! But when we truly feel the freedom to take every thought captive and give it to God, we make space in our minds for his joy and peace to enter. May God bless you this week. 

Casey Stringer