Because of my digging and then processing, gradually most of these “Inputs” that used to be triggers no longer set me off. Can you see if you remove the “Belief” that is highly charged, there is nothing to trigger? I don’t go into crazy actions to control or freak out in protection-mode because the “Input” no longer sets off the “Thoughts,” “Emotion,” or “Actions/Behaviors” of the past.
Whether our undesired actions and behaviors are happening because of our own tendencies directly (cravings, addictions, the natural man or fallen man tendencies we unearthed previously, etc.), or are set off because of someone else’s use of agency, or the ways we have experienced trauma in the past, this level of what is in our Belief Boxes holds the power to change any of our actions.
The Belief level holds the roots to all of the reasons we do whatever we do, the positive, righteous, and healthy “Actions/Behaviors,” as well as the negative, detrimental, or unhealthy ones. It is all here at this level, just waiting for you to discover it! (Often actually crying out for your attention to notice the patterns and walk it back to the roots!)
We have power in two ways at this level. Let’s talk about the first one in this section. We can rummage through our Belief Boxes and take an inventory of what is in there. What are the Truths, t-truths, and lies? Just like Pearce talked about, we then need to make piles and sort it out.
We must go through a necessary purge process. We must weed out as many of the lies and the warped truths because those are the things in our Belief Boxes that lead us into trouble. Those are the beliefs that are triggered in ways that lead to negative “Thoughts,” “Emotions” and”Actions/Behaviors.”
Capital T Truths are the ones that “trigger” in ways that create positive emotions such joy, peace, and love. Truths lead to the “Actions/Behaviors” we may have tried so hard to muster up on our own. Where our Belief Boxes act as the filter for the “Input” and assign it meaning, can you see how important, exciting, and empowering it is to know what is even in there?
We must make that big clean out! Can you imagine what it would be like if I allowed my home to be left unattended to for 20, 30, 60+ years? What if I only brought things into my home and had very little, if any, removal? What if I hadn’t cleaned my home in such a time-span? Can you imagine how much organization and purging my home would need (and the time it would take to do it)? There would be decades of build-up!
But that is exactly what we are doing when we assume that rummaging through our Belief Boxes isn’t necessary. There are probably decades of build-up in our minds too! My husband pointed out that we have caught a few episodes of a TV series about hoarders. (People who hold on to everything and it overtakes their homes and lives.)
Guess what? A person can be an emotional or mental hoarder too. Sometimes in the episodes I have been amazed at what the hoarder wants to keep. There are things that look like what most of us would just toss into the garbage or take down to donate to DI. When it’s comfortable and familiar---when it’s “our junk”---that can be a more challenging process.
When it comes to our own minds; however, sometimes mental hoarders is exactly what we are. We hold onto the trash: the lies, the messed up or skewed truths, and those things that really aren’t serving us in the highest or best ways.
When we refuse to go through our minds and take an inventory of what is in there, the lies and truths can take over our lives just as much as if we had a house overflowing with things we don’t actually need. We need to keep some things, but not as much as we have allowed to be in there!
It will take courage to do this, but remember what we have already looked at together? Remember how you took the time to recognize honestly that you need help with the fallen man and natural man tendencies---that no matter how hard you have tried in the past, you can’t overcome alone?
Remember how we planted that seed of hope in Christ---that He can help you somehow, even though you may not be entirely certain yet how? Remember you won’t be going into this alone! He will be right there and you can draw from His power and His love from moment to moment as you take an honest look inside in order to then turn and reach outside of yourself.
We took the time to build up your trust in God. Do you remember the heads up that God will sometimes ask us to do really hard or uncomfortable things? I could be wrong in my guess. Maybe because of our time together you are not only ready to do this, but you are actually excited to take this step.
If you are more like I was, maybe taking a good, honest look at your life like this is one of those hard things He is asking you do to. He needs each one of us to do this! If you have a firm anchoring in those first three steps, this may still be very difficult, scary, and even painful to do, but I know you can do it! It won’t be accomplished in your own strength, but because of Jesus Christ’s grace, He can give you the strength you need to take a fearless look at what is actually here.
Maybe you are like I was. You are afraid by what you might find if you start looking, so you just put it off. This fear led me to try to just keep a tight lid on it and attempt to step around it. I hope in our discussions throughout this chapter you can see that just skipping over this isn’t what God needs us to do. We can’t. It’s part of coming to know God.
This part of our journey is a vital step in allowing Jesus Christ to cover us...to cover you, personally. How can we expect Him to cover us if we don’t even know how we need Him to? In fact, one of the greatest discoveries we can make in taking the time to evaluate what is in our Belief Boxes is finding that we need Jesus Christ. Realizing that you need Jesus Christ desperately and personally is one big reason we must also take this step. As we come to know this for ourselves through experience, we can then turn and support others as they find their own footing in this same process.
I would guess you know what is coming. Before I give you the chance to start on this, let me tell you a few more quick things. After wrapping them up, I will give you some instructions on a couple of ways you might approach the inventory of your Belief Boxes.
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