Weekly Newsletter

ENCOURAGING THOUGHTS

The Stories We Tell Ourselves
How often do you find yourself deep in thought, thinking over your life and every decision you've ever made?

How often do you overplay scenarios and past situations in your mind, paralyzed at the thought of repeating them?

Sometimes, it can feel like our brains are stuck in a wheel of negative thought, meditating on our fears and reciting stories about ourselves that are not how God sees us.

For example, how often do we tear ourselves down over something we said in the past, or beat ourselves up about a bad decision we made years ago?

Someone once said that every moment spent dwelling on our past steals a moment from our future. While it is important to learn from our past, it is rarely helpful to pitch camp and stay there. When we stay trapped in our own thoughts, we become prisoners of the very things we are trying so desperately to overcome.

We may think that dwelling on past fears and failures is the best way to move toward a better future, but the Bible says otherwise. Take a look at Philippians, chapter 4.

Verse 6 starts out by saying, Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace... (Philippians 4:6-7a)

Sometimes, peace is the last thing we expect to experience when our minds are all a whirl with different narratives, but the Word of God is clear that worry does not usher us into God's presence — prayer and thankfulness does. And our minds don't always tell us the truth — but God's Word always does.

Verse 8 continues, And now dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

If we think about it, God's Word is all of those things! It is true, honorable, right, excellent, etc.

Instead of listening to the stories our minds create, let us make God's Word the true story we tell ourselves daily, remembering that God loves us so much, and wants to lead us into the future He has planned for us! 
 
  

  

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true..."
Philippians 4:8a NLT

ANNOUNCEMENTS​

Come out and join us in praying for our church families, our city, and anything else that the Holy Spirit leads us to pray for. Tuesdays at 7:00 PM & Wednesdays at 1:00 PM

Men connecting with other men and studying the Word of God together! Tuesdays at 6:30 AM with Pastor Wayne & Saturdays at 9:00 AM with Stuart Thomas. Held at OLC.

VBS 2026 will be a fun-packed week for kids ages 5–11 to enjoy games, activities, and grow in their relationship with Jesus! VBS will run from Monday, July 20th, to Thursday, July 23rd, from 1:30–4:30 PM each day. Cost is $20/child. (Price breaks are available for large families.) We are also looking for volunteers to help out that week, so if you are interested, please talk with Pastor Mitchell or email mitchellm@onelifechurch.ca.