I contend people behave exactly as they believe.

So, if you want to change how you behave, you have to change what you’re believing.

Sometimes our behaviors (or feelings) do not make sense to us. In fact, they may even seem contrary to what we say or think we believe. But how we behave and how we feel will always agree with what we truly believe.

Consider Judy: every time she received a gift from her husband, she was angry. No matter what her husband gave her, it was never right. She later discovered her husband wasn’t the problem. The problem was her belief: she believed she was worthless and undeserving of good gifts. Once her belief changed, so did her feelings and her behavior. She was able to receive gifts from her husband with joy.

(Click here to read more of Judy’s real-life story.)

Where do we pick up our less-than-helpful beliefs? Usually from our parents – either what they did or should have done – or from other influential people in our lives like our grandparents, teachers, siblings and peers – or from trauma, abuse, disappointments and the difficulties we experience in life.

How do we know if we have false beliefs? Emotional pain is the primary indicator.

So we change the beliefs, and the behaviors and feelings will naturally line up.

The challenge is that beliefs can be difficult to change on our own. The belief feels too real and has been reinforced with experiences we can’t easily explain away.

We need a new experience with new truths that override the previous experience’s conclusions.

But how?  This is where Jesus makes all the difference. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And because He has all authority, what He says goes. Thankfully, He is totally in love with each one of us and is willing and able to heal and restore us. His Love never fails.

If you would like help connecting to God, please feel free to contact me, Catherine, at emotionalrenovation@yahoo.com to take your next step in letting Jesus reconstruct your life.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18

He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:16-21

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16