Ask God to help you break the cycle 

Ruth Tong looks at the cycles that frustrate our lives, and how they can be broken

How to break the cycle?  Well, I could suggest that you simply hit it with a hammer! But we all know I’m not talking about a bike… ‘The truth will set you free’ is a well-known bible verse (John 8:32) but how do we know if we are living in truth or caught in a cycle of delusion masquerading as the truth?
 
I will try to answer that, but first let me tell you a story: -
 
At one time in my life I was quite overweight and deep down knew I wasn’t healthy or happy. I rationalised my obesity by saying it was post baby fat or by comparing myself and thinking ‘At least I’m not as big as…’ , then I’d have a piece of cake!
 
I even blamed other people in my life for my unhealthy weight. I sedated the truth with lies such as ‘I comfort eat because my husband works long hours and I’m lonely’ or ‘I need the sugar for energy’. In the moment, these thoughts (and the cake) satisfied me, but the underlying truth didn’t go away.
 
It niggled below the surface of my attention and would soon float back to bother me. This cycle of rationalising, making excuses then feeling frustrated with myself, kept me on a treadmill of weight gain and dissatisfaction with myself for a long time. Not good.
 
God wants us to be fulfilled and satisfied; He paid an enormous price to give us life and life abundantly… So why is it so many of us find ourselves going around again on some sort of cycle?  We will all at some time in our lives become aware of the ‘here I go again’ feeling. The danger is we can deny these cycles of behaviour for so long we become blind.
 
Not convinced? Okay, let’s look at a few others. The cycle of low self-esteem in rotation with abusive relationships – where a person endures ill treatment because deep down they feel it’s what they deserve. Or Pride in rotation with offence – we’ve all observed folks who go from one friendship fall out to another, leaving a string of unresolved relationships behind them. Often these people have the cycles of self-pity and blame spinning at the same time. And we all know the cycle of procrastination in rotation with fear?
 
Can you see the pattern? The sad thing is that rotating through a cycle can make us so dizzy it’s just too hard to focus. So how do we know if we’re living in a cycle of unwanted behaviour that’s rendering us blind?
 

Firstly – STOP, get away from distractions and THINK… ask helpful questions such as

• What frustrates me time and time again?

• Am I really happy or settling for a flavour of happy?

• Am I prepared to do what it takes to be free?

• What changes do I need to make?

• Is there a person to whom I could be accountable?
   

The keys to stopping the cycle are to:

• Take responsibility

•  

• Ask the Holy Spirit to help you

•  

• Do what you know deep down you need to do

•  

• Tell someone the change you’re trying to achieve

•  

• Cheer-lead yourself

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This article first appeared at http://www.ruthtong.com/

The bicycle image is courtesy of https://pixabay.com

reproduced from Network Norwich and used with permission 

Ruth Tong is the Coordinator of Women’s Ministries at Eternity Downham Market, and is the author of ‘Love Drops from Heaven’.  Ruth regularly blogs at ruthtong.com/blog

The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Yarmouth, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users

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