Motivated by the ImpossibleSample

IDENTIFYING OUR "TRUTHS"

Starting my own adventure at age nineteen and arriving from Bulgaria to the States alone was hard to fathom. My first stop took me to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I was to begin my first year of Bible College at Victory Christian Center.  My first three years in a foreign country were the most difficult. First, I had no family here, and, because I had only $100 of spending money, calls to my parents were once a month and only one minute long, just time enough to let them know I was alive. Second, I had to quickly learn the language so I could read my study books and take the tests at school. And third, because I had no previous experience in adapting to a new culture, my mind was constantly filled with anxiety, creating a lot of stress in my body. Many nights, I would wake up wondering if I could make it on my own, completely disoriented about where I was. 

Through my studies over the years and information I learned at The Pacific Institute in Seattle about how the mind functions, I am able to look back and understand what took place in my life at that time. Our natural mind is designed to store all of our past experiences, good or bad, in the subconscious part of the brain. Each time we are faced with a decision, we pull from our past experiences, emotions, facts, and memories. We call these our “truths,” based on the outcome of our previous experiences. If something similar from the past reminds us of the current situation in a positive way, we are inclined to move toward it and make a new decision based on a past experience. If, however, it has a negative connotation because of the outcome of that past situation, we will pull away from the new opportunity. Most of the time, we make decisions based on old experiences and habits we have stored in our subconscious, not based on the potential God has given us. 

The creative subconscious part of our brain tries to adapt our current reality to our past perceptions and keep us sane by telling us that our “truth,” good or bad, is who we are and that we must remain in that comfort zone for safety. The moment we step out of our comfort zone, we will naturally become forgetful and fearful. Our thoughts will quickly try to bring us back to a safety zone to restore a sense of peace. That is why most people will not step out and fully trust God or walk by faith. Our mind is constantly searching for factual data, while faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  

It’s not that we don’t have what it takes to make it but that we don’t know how to draw on what has been entrusted to us. We are constantly trying to return to our comfort zone, even if it’s not beneficial to us, because we do not believe we have the tools to survive the unknown experience. Fear has a stronger grip on us when we cannot identify it. But if the face of fear is known, and we can call it what it is, then our minds can override it. We safely recall similar past experiences, how we succeeded or failed, and what we learned. That helps us effectively overcome the current challenge.

Remind yourself that God has given you all you will ever need, not in our external successes, but inside of you, woven into your nature!