How do you stay encouraged? Part 2: Mind

Although a lot of the things that I'm going to talk about in this post could have been included in my "spirit" post, this list is more about those information choices that don't necessarily fit into the Christian genre. Let's face it--living in Thailand is not like living in the South. Your initial response to that may be, "Well things are pretty bad here, too." And you would be correct. But even though things are changing at what seems to be lightning-fast speed, you're still getting some benefits of 200+ years of Judeo-Christian belief influence. I'm still reaping the benefits of that heritage as well, but I'm not hanging around people who share my beliefs. It's hard to find a sense of shared history.

There's a certain energy and sense of community that came from our church involvement in the States. Here, I have to feed my mind with things that will promote growth, challenge me, and deepen my understanding of the world around me. There is enough to discourage me in the world without choosing to feed on trash.

Additionally, I have been met with more skeptical questions (from fellow Americans) and have not been met with questions from Thais. It has caused me to dig deeper about issues since I can no longer rely on, "The Bible says it--that settles it." Our conversations have had to go deeper, and our introduction of topics for people who don't question has to promote questioning.

Books! I have enjoyed reading for as long as I can remember but didn't do much after we got married. I fell into a reading funk where I read a handful of books over and over and never challenged myself to read anything of substance and depth. I'm not putting my seal of approval on any of the books in the picture because I just snapped what was closest to my computer, but I did want to talk about the types of books I'm challenging myself with.

I'm trying to keep a mixture going and have really latched onto books about science and apologetics in the last year. These have been encouraging because I am amazed by the evidence God has given us for our faith, and I have more to share with our students and those who are openly hostile to our beliefs. I also enjoy biographies--stories of great Christians who have made a difference either in the States or around the world. Christian living books have encouraged me to live like Christ and have filled in some of the holes that come from not having a Christian community around me all the time. Even books about current events have encouraged me because the Christian perspective brings us back to hope. And lastly, I've tried to introduce more fiction especially works from around the world. So far I've read from France and Russia and am currently working on Spain. The themes of redemption and forgiveness can be found in works of great literature and are just fun to read (even if it takes me a year to finish).

We monitor our movies and t.v. shows as well. I know media choices can be a touchy subject, but we've come to the realization that we have enough battle raging in our minds without feeding the opposing side. If you want to know how shocking some of the things are that you've never even noticed, try going on a media fast for one week. Then pop in something that you used to really enjoy and see if anything bothers you about it. I use Phil. 4:8 in these situations: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." If a storyline causes me to root for the end of the marriage, I don't watch it. If a movie has bad language, I don't watch it. I don't need those words or fantasies entering my mind/heart.


The last area that I'm going to address for the mind is social media. I don't know about you, but social media hangouts have not been very encouraging. The political season and aftermath have just been overwhelming so I haven't been on FB that much. If my app has to tell me congratulations for actually posting two days in a row, you know it's been a hit and a miss. One way I keep it encouraging is I know how to use the unfollow button. If you post a "news" story that is not true, no matter which side of the political aisle it comes from, I will unfollow you. If you consistently post rants or negative comments about everything, I will unfollow you. I have found that the more I take these things in, the more I start to feel that way. I either feel that way about the issue at hand, or I start feeling that way about the poster. It's better if I just stay out of it.

I have one more section in this series. I'll finish up when I get time about the body. In the meantime I'm going to work on the things that I've already posted about and try to keep on keeping on. If I'm not feeding myself well, I'm not going to have anything to share.