Kicking Knee-Jerk Reactions to the Curb - Encouragement for Today - April 14, 2020

Peace and perspective from God's timeless truths. [View this email in your browser]( Encouragement for Today --------------------------------------------------------------- [Sharon Jaynes]April 14, 2020 Kicking Knee-Jerk Reactions to the Curb [SHARON JAYNES]( Lee en [español]( “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” [Philippians 1:6]( (NLT) One day I was driving home from the beach in July 4 holiday traffic. It was muggy, and cars were a throng of metal on wheels. Everyone was going faster than the posted speed limit, and I was trying to keep up. I was also young and distracted. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was crying my eyes out. When my front right tire slipped off the asphalt and onto the gravel shoulder of the road, I heard the voice of my driver’s ed teacher in my head: “If you run off the road, do not jerk your car back on the road. Slow down to a stop, and then gently guide the car back onto the road.” As I was thinking, do not jerk the steering wheel, I promptly jerked the steering wheel. My car flew across two lanes of traffic to the left, and then, overcompensating, flew back to the right. Finally, I went down an embankment, flipped over several times, and landed upside down in a ravine. I crawled out unscathed — a miracle for sure. Reflexes are strong. I knew what to do, but I did just the opposite. The Bible tells us that when we come to Christ, we are a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” ([2 Corinthians 5:17]( NIV). However, there’s no delete button to erase our old habits. These old patterns are like ruts in the brain, formed by years of thinking the same thoughts and repeating the same actions. The only way to replace those ruts is to form new ruts — renewing our minds with God’s truth and our practice. There’s no more difficult rut to change than the words we speak. It takes practice for the knee-jerk reaction of old habits not to sneak back in. [Continue reading...]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read about Salem Web Network]( | [Subscription Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( --------------------------------------------------------------- © 2020 Salem Web Network. All rights reserved. 111 Virginia Street, Suite 500, Richmond, VA 23219. This email is never sent unsolicited. You are receiving this email because your email address, {EMAIL}, is signed up to receive newsletters, updates, and special offers from Encouragement for Today. [Link](