Resting in Jesus
The Doctor who attended me on that rugged North West flight to Tokyo and Singapore was very helpful. He immediately had the attendant give me an aspirin and a nitro pill. Then he took my blood pressure and said, "It is pretty high. Give him another nitro."
Of course my BP was high. I was high! 50,000 feet above Alaska with chest pains, of course I was stressed. My mind was going crazy with thoughts bot rational and irrational. First, I knew that during a heart attack stress and anxiety increase the chances of damage. So, I was saying to myself things like, "Calm down! You are going to kill yourself by irrational al thinking!" followed by "It is not irrational to think I am dying because I may be dying." Then I would say, "Be calm Gary. Be calm."
The Doctor said something like, "You need to get your BP down, sir. It is dangerous to have such a high level of blood pressure." I wanted to protest and tell this guy I already knew all that but thought better of it. So, I said, "Go away for ten minutes and come back and my blood pressure will be lower."
His eyes opened wide and he asked sceptically, "What are you going to do?" (I think he assumed I was going to do some dope or drink some of the free alcohol.)
"Well, Doctor, I am going to pray."
"Oh" he said, "that can't hurt."
He left and I closed my eyes and began to pray in the Spirit. I still had to practice all the disciplines I had learned and taught in Renewed Thinking and I started to thank God for His mercy and grace. First, I thanked God for teaching me the principles of RCT. Second, I thanked Him for having a cardiologist on the plane with me. (The Doctor was a heart transplant specialist.) Third, I began to thank God for everything I could think about and I used RCT to stop the ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts) that kept insisting that I pay attention to them instead of God.)
I also prayed and sang in English and the Spirit and I began to feel myself relax and release the tension in my chest. It wasn't perfect but it was better than average so I was able to reduce my BP and my anxiety. When the Doctor returned with the BP cuff he said, "It is better but still too high." I laughed and said, "You came back too soon. Let me pray some more and it will come down more." He left and I prayed until I went to sleep. (Which was a blessing and evidence of God's favor.)
What do you do when the ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts) of life crawl out of their ANT Hills and attack your mind and body? Do you know how to pray and focus on God or do you find yourself defenseless to the ravages of stressful thinking?
I am very thankful I learned the processes of Renewing My Mind as the Bible says. When a crisis occurs, and it will always be just around the corner, God has given us the ability to stop the Stinking Thinking and develop a Sober Mind and Peaceful body. Write me if you would like to learn how.
Gary Sweeten
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