“But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:5  NIV

Have you ever been in a fight? I have to admit that I have. I grew up with brothers and so wrestling matches followed by punches to the face were part of my childhood. Do you know what I learned from a few of my brotherly altercations? I needed to protect my head to win the fight.

And friend, you do too. 

Whether you realize it or not, you are in a mental battle. Just like your body transformed during pregnancy, so did your brain. You will no longer think as you did before having this baby. You have become a new kind of Momma. With the transformation of your brain can come added worries, depression, and negative thought patterns. Those thoughts are the things that can make our moods and feelings shift to extreme levels. Extremes in any part of our lives are often unhealthy, but they are especially unhealthy when it comes to our mental life. 

So let’s get ourselves back on track!

Throughout this blog, we’re going to examine God’s word and see what He has to say about renewing our minds to His promises. Then we’re going to apply it and transform our mommy minds so that they are back to thinking of things that are beautiful, perfect, and lovely. Our goal is to have minds that are God-honoring.

“Why does this matter, Bethany?” Your mind is one of the most important things that God has given you in this life. Satan knows that and wants to steal it from you, so he can control you. He uses things like postpartum depression, anxiety, and self-image issues to cripple our minds so that we lose our effectiveness at spreading the gospel. But don’t worry, Satan’s plan didn’t surprise God. God knew we would have to fight to protect our heads and He gave us the tools to do so.

So how do we fight to keep our heads? Well first off, we have to recognize that this fight is ultimately our responsibility. Sure, people can support us as we’re going through this postpartum season, but no one else can do it for us. We have to accept the responsibility for the thoughts that reside in our mind. Most people don’t like acknowledging this responsibility because our human nature wants someone or something else to do it for us (and because it’s hard work). But the easy road doesn’t lead to permanent results. When you put in the hard work yourself, you’ll begin to understand the value of your mind and you’ll refuse to let the devil steal it from you again.

Say it out loud right now. “It’s up to me!”

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Let’s start by committing ourselves and our precious families that we’re going to work at this. I find I’m more serious about making a change if I fill out a contract for myself and place it somewhere around my house where I see it regularly. If you feel that this would be helpful for you, print out this page, fill in the blanks below, sign your name, and display it somewhere to remind yourself on the tough days that you’re going to get through this!