Port Aransas is my sweet spot for replenishment. Lots of good memories. Nothing bad has ever happened there for me. I was there a while back, intently reading God's Word. I was in the middle of speed reading the new testament.
While sitting in the sand looking across the jetty and into the channel, a pelican flew up and landed next to me. I mean he literally flew up and landed within 3 feet of me and sat down. He stared at me and snuggled down into the sand with the idea of staying a while. I contemplated with God what the purpose of this loony pelican was. I have to imagine there are few of you that can say a pelican flew in and camped next to you.... Right?
I took it as an encouragement that God was near and kept reading. That was about a year, ago. A couple weeks ago, a new facebook friend and disabled veteran (Joey) told me to read about how the brain can be reprogrammed. I thought that interesting because of the Biblical concept of taking thoughts captive.
Part of the process is to identify those things that trigger negative feelings and retrain yourself to use the things to trigger some positive thought. I wondered what the positive thought might be. I knew what the negative thought was. Then, I believe God reminded me of the pelican. I imagined that God sent the pelican to roost next to me as a sign that He was close and cared for me.
Maybe this is true. I don't know, but in my imaginations, I believe the uniqueness of the pelican hanging out with me was identifying God's presence. I figure if God can speak through a donkey, He can speak through a pelican. Now when the events occur that typically trigger negative responses, I am retraining myself to think about that pelican. I am surprised that possibly a year ago, God sent me the pelican for such a time as this.
Might you need to do a little retraining on your own?
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