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May 15, 2025
​Good morning, my friends!

We’ve all been there - squashed under a landslide of “what-ifs” and “worst-case scenarios.” I would almost describe this sensation as being relentlessly attacked by hundreds of sparrows; swooping in from all sides, scratching your face with their twiggy feet, and plucking at your hair with their itty-bitty beaks. Under the hurricane of winged chaos, there’s you, reduced to the fetal position, shielding your face with one arm and lamely swatting away the shrill chirping horde.

Is there any correlation between such a scene and the moments when your brain spirals out of control? Accusations, paranoia, anxiety, and jealousy all dive in like the maniacal birds, pecking you down into the dust.

That’s me at times – not all the time, but at times. It’s not pretty. Ha! After all, birds (sparrows) aren’t generally beastly or intimidating. They’re even quite picturesque sitting on a porch rail, framed against a dawning summer sunrise... but joined by 200 hundred of her enraged cousins, this “darling” creature becomes a writhing, flying, screeching nightmare.

(Random bit of trivia to wow all of your friends. . . the clinical term for a fear of birds is “Ornithophobia!”)

I’ve never been attacked by a swarming cyclone of sparrows (not yet at least...), but I’ve spiraled in my mind before. I’ve spiraled the night before teen camp (every single year!), before every youth rally, every time I tried to make new friends, anytime someone said the dreaded line, “I need to talk to you,” anytime a superior gave me feedback, before I took my ACT, getting dropped off at drivers ed, after I said something clumsy or awkward, job interviews, performance reviews, closed doors. . . the list could meander down several hundred feet still.

Intrusive thoughts explode out of their ripened pods when there’s uncertainty present. I know that I overthink when someone's face is unreadable, a text or email is misunderstood, lost communication, delayed test results, the waiting room, the application sent via snail mail, or a bad gut feeling.

Stranded in the middle of “uncertainty,” our brains will flail for any explanation. Sometimes these explanations are so far-fetched and overly dramatic that they summon a legion of sparrows into our vulnerable, anxious minds. Then the attack begins... sparrow after sparrow pecks and plucks and scratches with gnawing, toxic thoughts of you, and toxic thoughts of God, and toxic thoughts of others.
Pretty soon, you're in the fetal position, pelted by haphazard claws,
greasy wings and pointed beaks.

The nearly forgotten key to rescue is the serene line between what is and what is not reality. When we spiral and overthink, hounded by an avian attack, the reality is that these birds are projections, only animated nightmares. The liberating truth is that only the true things are real. When I blink nervously at the ceiling, replaying imaginary future conversations, they aren’t real. Reality is real. The truth is real. The truth is that my “what-ifs” and “worst-case scenarios” aren't reality.

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
2 Corinthians 10:5

Imagine I drew a line down the sand and lined up, single-file, all of the thoughts racing through my head. One by one, I labeled each thought as “True” and “Not true.” If I did this, as meticulous as it sounds to comb through all of my thoughts, I would find balance during my chaos. The incessant chatter in my mind would hush. I NEED to know what is fact and what is fiction.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true. . . think on these things.” When my mind is spiraling, and feelings get involved, complicating my life. . . the most elemental step to relief is to think only of the things that are true!

When a skydiver lunges out of the belly of his plane and surrenders to the jaws of gravity, he cuts through the troposphere with his ripcord in hand. No sane skydiver (wanting to live) would disregard his ripcord (as long, as he wants to live.)

Just as the skydiver always has his ripcord within reach, we also have our ripcord at our fingertips–always reachable, always accessible, always at our fingertips, always fail-proof, always intact.

When we are spiraling out of control, we have a ripcord.
Our ripcord deploys our nylon chutes.
Our ripcord dissipates the sparrows out of the skies.
Our ripcord restores balance in the storm of our minds.
Our ripcord stops the spiral.
Our ripcord is in Philippians 4:8 “whatsoever things are true... “

I am commanded to think (in my mind. The place where the battle is happening, where the sparrows are whirling, where the chaos is boiling, where the gravity of 10,000 feet can swallow me whole...) on these things–true things.

Sometimes it's hard to differentiate what is true and what is a worried feeling... but that is why I need to THINK. Think hard! It takes a conscious effort.

What is true?

Start easy.
​Who am I? And what has God done for me?

Double back to the truth!

Who is God? How does the Bible describe Him? What are His attributes?
(Not, how do I perceive Him during my faith crisis!--No! What is true?)
​What is true about God?

Double back to the truth!

What did He do for the men and the women in the Bible? What was the last thing that He spoke to my heart about? What was the last thing that He told me? What did I believe when my faith was strong?

Double back to the truth!

What is a promise in the Bible? What is a verse that gives me hope?
(Not, how does my situation look right now?)

Double back to the truth!

Go back again and again until that truth conquers the feelings.

In times past, I’ve asked silent "questions that Christians never ask.” In my mind, I’ve walked down lonely avenues without God and without His presence because of a feeling that clouded my confidence in God.

• I won’t pour out my heart to God because He doesn’t care anyway; I’ve been forgotten! (Not true. . . double back to the truth in 1 Peter 5:7)
• I’m unlovable. (Not true. . . double back to the truth in Jeremiah 31:3)
• I’m unforgivable. (Not true . . . double back to the truth in 2 Peter 3:9)
• I’m not sure living for God is worth it anymore. (Not true . . . double back to the truth in 1 Corinthians 2:9)
• God wants to hurt me and make my life miserable. (Not true . . . double back to the truth in Luke 11:11)

No matter how realistic my feelings and insurmountable my fears are, they aren’t true. I need to double back to the truth.

In the event one of these fears comes to reality. . . (say I all of a sudden lose my job)-this is now reality. It is now the truth, so according to the Bible, I can think about this. BUT DON’T FORGET TO DOUBLE BACK TO THE TRUTH! In the event that I truly lose my job. . . Psalms 37:25 is also true, Philippians 4:19 is also true, and Romans 8:28 is true

It’s going to be ok. God is still in control. He still forgives our mistakes. God is God all the time. You are not forsaken. . . And I don’t say any of these statements patronizingly. None of these are glossy sayings to paste on cute coffee mugs – it is an elemental truth from the Bible. We are commanded to think on these things. What things? True things!

Double back to the truth!

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​with love,