Renew

“The pathway to change is to renew your mind.” —Joyce Meyer

There was a mirror in the bed-and-breakfast entranceway where I lived during university—an old, rectangular mirror with ornate gold trim. Every morning I walked by and caught a glimpse of myself. I looked at the young woman in the mirror and thought, You’re not good enough. You never will be. Those thoughts drove the rest of my day—I was always striving to do better, to fit in, to belong.

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For most of my life my thoughts felt like fog—thick, drifting, and familiar. I didn’t realize how many of them had been shaped by rejection or how profoundly they influenced the quality of the mental and emotional air I breathed. Renewing our minds is not a soft idea; it is a transformational, whole-person shift. I did not understand that at first. For years I lived inside the old patterns of rejection—breathing stale emotional air, unaware of what it was doing to my spirit. Have you felt that? The heaviness of thoughts that circle, spinning like storm clouds gathering, pressing down on your chest and whispering lies you don’t want to hear?

As I learned about the brain and YHWH’s design for human thought, it became clear: the way we think shapes the way we live. It determines whether we inhale the fresh air of YHWH’s love or stay trapped in a fog of old beliefs that don’t reflect His truth, His heart, or His affection toward us.

When I first read Tommy Newberry’s The 4:8 Principle, I paused at his statement that the average person thinks nearly fifty thousand thoughts per day. He writes that “every thought moves you either toward your God-given potential or away from it. No thoughts are neutral.” I remember sitting with that truth, stunned. My mind wanders like a child weaving through a crowd, losing itself in imagined scenarios—conversations that never happened, fears that never came to pass. And my body responds as if they had. I wondered, How many of these fifty thousand thoughts help me breathe in YHWH’s love? And how many pull me back into the old chains of rejection?

“Every thought moves you either toward your God-given potential or away from it. No thoughts are neutral.” —Tommy Newberry

Throughout this book we’ve moved from breaking the glass of rejection to stepping out into the open air of belonging and love. But a key part of living outside the glass is learning to think in alignment with YHWH’s truth, not our old wounds. Paul’s words in Romans 12:2 offer the clearest direction: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (NIV).

The transformation is real. Neuroscience now confirms what Scripture has proclaimed for thousands of years. Newberry notes that scientists can measure how every thought releases electrical and chemical signals that influence cells throughout the body. A single thought—whether fearful or hopeful—creates a biological reaction. No wonder Paul urges us to think about “whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8, ESV).

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Whatever we dwell on shapes us. Thoughts are the oxygen of our inner world. If renewing the mind is the act of opening a window, then YHWH’s love is the fresh wind sweeping through, clearing the stale, stagnant air, lifting the weight of fear and doubt. Perhaps you’ve experienced that sudden relief when a breeze finds you, loosening the heaviness you didn’t know you were carrying?

Neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf, in her book Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health, writes that “every thought has emotions as part of its structure, and they are stored in the nonconscious mind. When the thoughts move into the conscious mind, we feel the emotions of the thoughts.”

When a thought rises into awareness, we feel its emotion—whether joy, fear, or sadness—even if the situation that triggered it is long past. This validated what I had sensed for years: my body remembered rejection even when my mind didn’t want to. A memory, years later, can still sting.

“Every thought has emotions as part of its structure, and they are stored in the nonconscious mind. When the thoughts move into the conscious mind, we feel the emotions of the thoughts.” —Dr. Caroline Leaf

Leaf’s research echoes Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV). She explains that leaving thoughts unexamined distorts the brain’s wiring, affecting emotions, decision-making, focus, and even physical health. In contrast, capturing thoughts creates healthy neural pathways. A painful memory transformed into a hopeful vision allows us to breathe more deeply, as if the air itself carries YHWH’s promise.

YHWH is not simply giving us spiritual advice; He is offering the roadmap to a healthy life—body, mind, and spirit. Leaf notes that chronic negative thinking acts like stress on brain cells, shrinking the hippocampus, weakening memory, and disrupting emotional balance. This is often seen in depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The good news is this: YHWH built reversibility into the brain. With intention and practice we can change the way we think. He does not ask us to renew our minds without giving us the capacity to do so. Restoration is already wired into our biology.

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For much of my life rejection trained my brain to expect abandonment before it appeared. Can you relate to this? My thoughts bent toward fear, caution, and emotional bracing. And though I loved YHWH, I struggled to believe that He loved me or to feel His love consistently. Maybe you’ve experienced that, too—the dissonance between what you know and what you feel.

Renewing my mind was supposed to feel simple. People made it sound like flipping a switch: stop thinking negative thoughts. Changing my thoughts, though, felt like learning to breathe in a different atmosphere. Slowly I came to realize that I had lived on recycled emotional air for years—like someone trapped in a sealed room, unaware that there was a window or that it could open. The beginning of renewal was unlatching that window and letting YHWH’s love flood in.

Our unconscious thoughts stem from upbringing, values, and experiences—especially painful ones. Rejection creates a distorted mirror, convincing us that we are unworthy, invisible, or hard to love. But Scripture insists on the opposite: “Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God’s dear children. And that’s what we are” (1 John 3:1, GW).

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I recalled Niagara Falls—standing and watching the water surging forward in a wild, unstoppable torrent, gathering speed as it neared the precipice and then hurling itself over the edge in a shimmering curtain of turquoise and white, thundering so loudly that the roar seemed to vibrate through my chest. That is what YHWH’s love is like—beautiful, relentless, impossible to stop. Renewing our minds is what helps us keep breathing in that love, again and again.

When we renew our minds we let YHWH reshape the internal mirror. We allow His truth to become the lens through which we view ourselves. This is not easy, but it is possible. Below are eight ways to overcome negative thinking and emotions:

Eight practices to renewing your mind

1. Pray and ask YHWH for help and guidance. YHWH can turn around even the most tangled inner life. If words fail, simply whisper, “Father, help me.” He hears. He responds.

2. Focus on the strengths and skills YHWH has given you. Every gift reflects His intentional design. What has He placed in you that reveals His love?

3. Make a list of good memories. Return to them when you feel low. Let the joy of those relived moments remind your brain what goodness feels like.

4. Be aware of your thinking and emotions. Notice them instead of suppressing them. Awareness is the first step toward transformation.

5. Speak truth over yourself. Use Scripture as your grounding. Declare the Word out loud when lies whisper in the background.

6. Forgive yourself and try again. Renewal takes repetition. YHWH’s mercy meets you every morning.

7. Recognize when you need to be alone. Sometimes solitude creates space for clarity. Let quiet time reveal what needs attention.

8. Practice positive thinking and feeling. Gratitude shifts mental chemistry. Focus on YHWH’s goodness, and let joy rise steadily.

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Renewing the mind is not about pretending or forcing positivity. It is about allowing YHWH to reshape the internal atmosphere in which we live. When rejection has been your oxygen, YHWH’s love may feel unfamiliar at first—lighter, softer, freer. But the more you practice the more naturally you can breathe in His goodness, His truth, His love—and be transformed by it.

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Prayer

Father, make me aware of my thoughts throughout the day, and gently remind me when my mind drifts toward fear, doubt, or old lies. Help me to retrain my mind to dwell on Your truth, Your hope, Your love. Teach me to see myself and the world through Your eyes, to think the way Yeshua thinks, and to respond with grace, patience, and joy. Guide me as I learn to recognize negative thoughts and replace them with Your promises. Help me to meditate on what is pure, lovely, and praiseworthy and to delight in the unique and wonderful ways in which You have fashioned me. I declare that I have the mind of Yeshua, that my thoughts are rooted in Your love, and that my spirit is free to breathe deeply of Your goodness. May my life reflect the hope, joy, and peace that come from thinking and living in alignment with You.

Application

Record a negative thought you often dwell on. Then rewrite it as a positive, truth-filled statement grounded in Scripture.

Example:

Negative: My life will never amount to anything.

Truth: YHWH has a plan and a purpose for my life.

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11.

Journal prompt

How do you feel after reading about renewing your mind and changing the way you think? Do you believe you can do it? What is one thing you can do today to start the change?

Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting my writing by buying me a coffee.

To read more about healing from early childhood rejection in this series, click on the links: Introduction, Distrust, Worthlessness, Loneliness, Depression, Hopelessness, Anxiety, Fear, Anger, Grief, Unforgiveness, Love Oneself, ‘aheb, hesed, racham, Hosea, Messiah, Agapaó, Apostle John, Holy Spirit, Apostle Paul, Confess, Pray, Worship, Rest, Cope, Exercise, Nourish, Dance OR…