A War for Our Hearts and Minds

There is a spiritual war raging in every one of our lives, but so many of us don’t even realize it. This battle isn’t fought with earthly weapons or on physical battlefields but in our hearts and minds. It’s an all-out crusade for our souls, waged against our flesh, light versus dark, and we have an enemy, our adversary the devil, who seeks to destroy us.

Even though I felt peace when our son River was in the hospital, my flesh and mind were at war. Logically, I knew what the doctors told us: River had breathed for only four minutes before passing. I knew that when they turned off the machines, his little body slowly gave way to earthly death. But inside, the onslaught of doubts raged. You didn’t wait long enough. You should have prayed more. Why didn’t you hold him? What kind of mother are you? You allowed your son to die. Is God really good?

The Enemy is sneaky. He whispers lies into our minds, especially when we are vulnerable. He makes us question God’s Word, character, power, love, and provision, just as he has done since Genesis 3. His goal is to create a wedge between us and Jesus, to make us believe we must carry the weight of this life alone.

In the months after River passed, I found myself spiraling into the trap of comparison. I would hear stories of other drownings and obsessively search for updates online. Would their child open their eyes? Would they get to go home? My heart broke for families whose stories ended like ours, but occasionally I would read of a miraculous recovery, of children who survived without injury, making me question, Why didn’t we get our miracle? Why do they get one? Isn’t that where so many of us find ourselves when things don’t go our way?

Comparison is a thief, and its target is your peace and joy. The Enemy wants us to fixate on others’ stories and to question God’s goodness in our own. We must ground ourselves in something solid and unchanging—the truth of His Word. Feelings can overwhelm us at times, but they don’t dictate truth.

God, thank You that you provide peace and joy that surpasses any counterfeit the Enemy would try to convince me is better. When the lies of the Enemy invade my mind, help me to focus on Your truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.