Stay Focused
It is so easy to get distracted and caught up when we face difficulties and encounter frustration. One thing God has been reminding me as we close out 2023 is that the enemy is after your mind, and if he can get your mind, eventually, he can get your life, and that is why it is so important to be aware of what you are meditating on day and night. I know that I have always struggled with my thoughts for as long as I could remember. I tend to focus so much on lack. I don’t have this. I don’t have that. I wish I’ve experienced this. I wish I didn’t go through that. I can be in a victorious season, where I experience blessing after blessing and miracle after miracle but then shortly after, my thoughts begin to change. I am aware that, at times, I easily open the door for the enemy to take a seat at my table and constantly tell me of the things that I do not have or the things I should have never done.
I walked into 2023 reflecting on all the closed doors and let downs. My mindset was focused solely on that for the first few months of 2023, tallying all the losses month by month. No matter what positivity came by way, I couldn’t stop myself from dwelling on that mental chart I created for myself with all the L’s. The enemy really had my mind and I chose not to fight but rather sit in it. As 2023 progressed and I began drawing closer to God through the difficulties and sad moments, God took that as an opportunity to deal with me on how clouded I have allowed my thoughts to become because it led to a state of depression for a period. It created stress and frustration. I was constantly overwhelmed. Peace, contentment, and joy felt so far away. I was doing so many good things in my life, filling my time with friends, family, my business and ministry, and dance, and yet, I wasn’t able to rejoice. It was really no one else but God who had to help me reflect on the good in my life even while I faced disappointments. He had to show me that there is good in everything and that I can have joy even if everything else around seemed like lost hope. I couldn’t realize how blessed and favored I was even in the small things because my thoughts were so far gone. Literally. 2023 was not an easy year for me at all but I made it. How? Because through the Holy Spirit constantly at work in my life, I learned to shift my perspective and stay focused little by little. It was hard work and it still is today, but I am learning to take inventory of my thoughts regularly.
I don’t want 2024 to be a repeat of 2023 in terms of how I allowed my thoughts to control me and not me controlling my thoughts, and for many, you may be saying the same thing. I’ve experienced so much good that my thoughts were clouded by the bad. I am a firm believer that you can have peace, contentment, and joy no matter what you are facing, and that is why I am telling you as well as myself, “Stay focused”. It is easy for someone to simply say, “Well, this is how my mind operates” or “I’ve always been like this”, and while that may be true, I know that I serve a God who is a chain breaker. Whatever has kept you in bondage for so long does not have to be your story any longer if you make the conscious decision daily to stay focused and ask the Holy Spirit for help each and every time your thoughts start to drift.
There are so many things that you can focus on. You can remain in despair and focus on what you don’t have or you can focus on the fact that you got to live to see another day no matter how bad your health may be. You can focus on the fact that you have a job and you’re able to pay every bill on time regardless of how much you make. You can focus on the fact that God has been blessing you tremendously in your singleness even though the desire for marriage is strongly there.
My friend, it is time for you to shift your focus and stay focused. Not tomorrow. Today. Right now. I had to repent and ask God for forgiveness as I came to the close of writing this blog. He has done so much for me, more than I could ever think of or imagined, and I know the same for you regardless of what you may think, feel, or say. The enemy has had you for way too long. It is time to take a stand. Your mind is not a playground for the enemy to tap dance on. You will keep in perfect peace because your mind is stayed on Christ (Isaiah 26:3). What you choose to focus on from here on out will determine the outcome of your success in 2024.
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful,” (Joshua 1:8 NIV)
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