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Healing The Heart & Renewing The Mind · Voices Of Life

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  Good morning. Welcome to Voices of Life, the
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  official podcast of the Church of Life. I'm Pastor
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  David, and I'm honored to walk with you into
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  week three of our 12 -week journey, Living with
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  Purpose, a God -Centered Life. This week, we're
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  stepping into something deeply personal, deeply
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  transformative. We're going to be healing the
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  heart and renewing the mind. If week one helped
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  you understand who you are, and week two helped
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  you build the rhythms that anchor you, week three
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  will help you heal the places inside you that
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  have been wounded, burdened, and shaped by lies.
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  So wherever you are, settling into a quiet moment,
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  driving, walking, or listening at home, take
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  a slow breath. Let your heart open. Let your
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  mind soften. And let God meet you there. Every
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  person carries wounds. Some are very obvious.
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  Some are hidden and we keep to ourselves. Some
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  are very fresh. And some have been carried for
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  decades. But every wound shapes the way you see
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  yourself. The way you see others. And the way
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  you see God. Unhealed wounds become filters.
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  They distort identity. They distort our worth.
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  They distort our calling. Unhealed wounds become
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  stories. Stories you tell yourself about who
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  you are and who you are not. Stories like, I'm
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  not enough. I'm too much. I'm unlovable. I'm
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  unwanted. I'm alone. I must be broken. I'm beyond
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  repair. But these stories are not the truth.
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  They are the echoes of unhealed places. And God
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  does not want you to live your life from your
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  wounds. He wants you to live from his healing.
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  Healing is not a sign of weakness. Healing is
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  a sign of courage. Healing is a sign of letting
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  God rewrite the past with his presence. Healing
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  is not forgetting the past. Healing is not pretending
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  you're fine. Healing is letting God make you
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  whole. The heart is the center of your emotional
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  and spiritual life. It is where you feel, where
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  you hope, you fear, where you trust, where you
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  love, and where you hurt. Scripture says, guard
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  your heart for everything you do flows from it.
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  Everything, your decisions, your relationships,
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  your reactions, your patterns, your habits, your
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  faith. When the heart is wounded, life becomes
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  heavy. You become guarded. You become anxious.
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  You become reactive, distant, even discouraged.
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  When the heart is healed, life becomes whole.
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  You become open, steady, compassionate. You become
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  courageous and free. Healing the heart is not
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  optional. It is essential. If the heart is where
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  wounds live, the mind is where lies grow. Lies
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  about God, lies about yourself, lies about your
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  worth, lies about your future. The enemy cannot
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  take your identity, but he can attack your perception
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  of your identity. He whispers lies until they
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  feel like truth. He repeats lies until they feel
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  familiar. He plants lies until they feel permanent.
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  But scripture says, be transformed by the renewing
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  of your mind. Transformation begins in the mind.
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  Renewal begins with truth. And healing begins
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  with replacing the lies you've believed with
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  the truth God speaks. This week we're going to
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  walk slowly and intentionally through the places
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  where your heart needs healing and your mind
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  needs renewal. We'll explore emotional wounds,
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  spiritual wounds, mental strongholds. The lies
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  that shape your story. The truth that sets you
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  free. The practices that bring healing. And the
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  presence of God that restores the soul. This
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  is not a week of pressure. This is a week of
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  invitation. An invitation to let God heal what
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  has been hurting. An invitation to let God renew.
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  what has been heavy. An invitation to step into
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  freedom you may not have known was possible.
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  Every person carries emotional wounds. Moments
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  that have shaped us in ways we didn't fully understand.
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  Some wounds come from childhood. Others, relationships.
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  From betrayals. From just silence. For some words
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  spoken in anger. Some from love withheld when
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  we needed it the most. Emotional wounds don't
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  disappear with time. They bury themselves in
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  the heart very deeply. They show up in how we
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  react, in how we trust, how we love, and how
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  we protect ourselves. And most of all, how we
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  see God. Some wounds make us guarded. Some make
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  us clingy and dependent. Some make us distant.
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  Some make us the perfectionist. Some make us
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  fearful. Others make us numb. But here's the
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  truth. God does not expose wounds to shame you.
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  He exposes wounds to heal you. Healing begins
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  when you stop pretending you're not hurting.
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  Healing begins when you let God touch the places
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  you've been avoiding. And healing begins when
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  you allow yourself to feel again. Some of the
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  deepest wounds are spiritual wounds. Wounds caused
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  by people who claimed to speak for God, but did
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  not reflect his heart. Wounds from churches that
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  judged instead of welcomed. Wounds from leaders
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  who controlled instead of shepherded. Wounds
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  from teachings that shamed instead of healed.
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  And wounds from moments when you cried out to
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  God and felt like he was silent. Spiritual wounds
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  can distort your view of God. They can make you
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  afraid to trust him. They can make you afraid
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  to pray, to hope. They can make you vulnerable.
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  But hear this very clearly. God is not the one.
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  Who wounded you? God is the one who wants to
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  heal you. God is the voice that restores you.
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  God is not the voice that shamed you. And God
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  is not the presence that abandoned you. He is
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  the presence that holds you. God is not the weight
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  that crushed you. He is the strength that lifts
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  you. A stronghold is a pattern of thinking that
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  feels true, even when it isn't. Strongholds form
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  when a lie gets repeated so many times that it
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  becomes familiar. Lies like, I'll always be this
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  way. I'll never change. I'm too damaged. I'm
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  too weak. I'm too far gone. God is disappointed
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  in me. Nothing good lasts. People always leaves.
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  Strongholds don't just affect your thoughts.
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  They affect your emotions. They affect your relationships,
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  decision making, your faith. But scripture says
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  we take captive every thought and make it obedient
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  to Christ. That means you don't have to believe
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  every thought you think. You don't have to accept
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  every story your mind tells you. You don't have
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  to live under the weight of lies. You can replace
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  lies with truth. You can replace fear with faith.
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  You can replace shame with grace. And you can
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  replace despair with hope. Healing is something
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  you allow. Healing happens when you stop running
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  from the pain and start running to God. Healing
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  happens when you stop hiding and start opening.
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  Healing happens when you stop pretending and
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  start surrendering. God heals gently. God heals
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  patiently. God heals deeply. God heals completely.
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  He heals through his presence, his word. He heals
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  through community, through time. He heals through
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  truth and through love. And he heals because
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  he loves you. Healing is really instant. It is
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  usual. A gentle layered process. A journey. God
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  walks you through step by step. God heals the
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  heart the way a gardener tends to the garden.
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  He removes what harms. He nurtures what's growing.
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  He protects what is fragile. He waters what is
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  dry. He prunes what is overgrown. He plants.
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  what's missing. Healing is not a moment. Healing
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  is a relationship. God heals you through his
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  presence, through his truth, love, through his
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  people, through his spirit. And he heals you
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  in ways that are kind, patient, and deeply personal.
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  Healing begins when you bring the wound into
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  the light. Not to shame it. Not to relive it.
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  Not to obsess over it. But to acknowledge it.
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  You cannot heal what you refuse to name. You
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  cannot heal what you keep hidden. You cannot
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  heal what you pretend doesn't hurt. Bringing
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  a wound into the light is not weakness. It is
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  the courage to face it. It is the strength. And
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  it's the first step toward freedom. Say to God,
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  Lord, here is the place that hurts. That simple
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  prayer opens the door to healing. Every wound
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  carries a lie. A lie about you, about others.
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  A lie about God. The wound says, you're alone.
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  that you're unworthy, unlovable, that you've
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  been forgotten, or you're broken, or you're just
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  too much, or maybe you're not enough. But God
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  speaks a different word. He says, you are mine.
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  You are loved. You are chosen. You are seen.
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  You are held. You are valued. And you are made
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  new. Healing happens when God's truth replaces
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  the lie. It doesn't happen instantly. It's not
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  a forceful act. It's gentle. It's consistent.
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  It's faithfully. Truth is what sets you free.
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  I'm sure you've heard that before. Renewing the
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  mind is not about positive thinking. It is about
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  truthful thinking. It is about replacing old
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  patterns with new ones. It is about letting God
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  reshape the way you think so you can reshape
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  the way you live. Renewal happens when you pause
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  and you ask, is this thought true? Is this thought
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  from God? Is this thought leading me toward peace
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  or toward fear? Renewal happens when you choose
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  to meditate on Scripture instead of anxiety.
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  Renewal happens when you choose to speak truth
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  instead of shame. Renewal happens when you choose
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  to align your thoughts with God's thoughts. Renewal
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  is a daily rhythm, a slow rhythm, a steady rhythm,
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  a transformative rhythm I want to guide you through
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  a gentle prayerful practice that opens the heart.
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  And when you open your heart, you open it to
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  allow God to heal. Find a quiet posture. Let
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  your shoulders relax. Let your breathing slow.
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  Let your heart soften. Say quietly, Lord, show
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  me the place that needs healing. Don't force
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  anything. Don't search. Don't analyze. Just let
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  God bring to your mind a moment, a memory, a
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  feeling, a wound. It may be something recent.
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  It may be something old. It may be something
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  you haven't thought about in years. Whatever
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  rises, don't judge it. Don't push it away. Simply
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  acknowledge it in God's presence. Say, Lord,
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  here it is. Here is the place that hurts. This
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  is where healing begins. Every wound carries
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  a lie. A lie about you. A lie about others. A
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  lie about God. Ask gently. Lord, what lie did
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  this wound teach me to believe? Let the answer
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  rise slowly. Maybe the lie was, I'm alone. I'm
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  unworthy or unlovable. I'm not safe. I'm not
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  enough. I'm too much. I'm forgotten. I'm broken.
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  Whatever the lie is, don't fear it. Don't hide
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  from it. Bring it into the light. Once there,
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  say, Lord, this is the lie I believe for so long.
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  Naming the lie breaks its power. And then ask,
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  Lord, what is your truth about me? And let his
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  truth rise gently. Maybe he says, you're mine,
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  you're loved, you're the chosen, you're safe,
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  you are seen, you are held, you are enough, you
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  are made new. You're valued. Let his truth speak
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  louder than the lie. Let his truth settle deeper
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  than the wound. Let his truth become the foundation
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  you stand on. Say, Lord, I receive your truth.
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  Once you've received it, this is how the mind
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  is renewed. Let us close week three with a prayer
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  for your heart and for your mind. Heavenly Father,
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  thank you for meeting us in the deep places today.
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  Thank you for shining light on the wounds we
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  carry. Thank you for speaking truth into the
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  lies we believed. Thank you. for beginning a
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  work of healing and renewal. Lord, heal the broken
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  places. Restore the weary places. Strengthen
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  and fortify the fragile places. Renew the discouraged
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  places. Lift the heavy places. Lift that burden.
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  Let your truth take root in every heart. Let
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  your peace guard every mind. Let your presence
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  restore every soul. Teach us to walk in healing.
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  Teach us to walk in truth. Teach us to walk in
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  freedom. We give you our word. We give you our
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  wounds. We give you our thoughts, our stories.
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  We give you our lives. Do in us what only you
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  can do. In Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we'll
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  be having a special Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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  podcast. I hope you will join us for that as
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  we kind of explore the life and effect that Dr.
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  Martin Luther King had on the United States,
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  but more importantly, on the world. Thank you
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  for joining us today on Voices of Life. I'm Pastor
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  David, and it has been an honor to walk with
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  you through week three. Next Sunday, we'll step
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  into an incredibly important week, the building
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  a life of emotional and spiritual resilience.
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  Until then, walk gently, walk honestly, walk
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  with God, and may His healing and truth Go with
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  you.