The Phillipians 4:8 Principle

May 23, 2008
I try to adhere to the Phillipians 4:8 principle. But sometimes I find it difficult to focus on the good. In the middle of the night when I have been sick, I have actually worried about my husband's future second wife
and how she will treat my adult children. No doubt he would marry shortly after I am deceased as he is one of the better men around and women would pursue him. This is hardly a reasonable subject for me to mull over. . .

Believing as I do that imagination is one of the greatest gifts God gives us, I have invented a back door in my mind. I sweep unreasonable worrying out the back door into dump trucks which take it away for disposal. With practice, I can get control of my obsessive thinking.

Of course, serious problems require repeated processing, and healing after losing a loved one only comes after going over and over the loss in one's mind. But worrying over things totally out of our control is
fruitless; let God take charge.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Phillipians 4:8 The Message