Good morning…

If you know me, you know I love the first edition of Crenshaw and Snapp’s The Hidden Life, an inspiring book chronicling Betty Skinner’s holy journey from the depths of debilitating depression, which landed her in a psychiatric ward in the 1960’s, to the joy of being reshaped, recreated, reborn, surrendered daily to God’s transformational power. Aside from the Bible, I have taught from this book more than any other in the past ten years. God continues to reveal in fresh ways the benefits of shifting our focus from grumbling to gratitude, from negative to positive, from self sufficiency to spiritual surrender. Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp collaborate with God to bring us this wisdom from the preface of their new edition, The Hidden Life Awakened.

“Since the first publication of The Hidden Life in 2006, many, many people have written to tell us how deeply Betty’s journey resonated with them and blessed them. During the same period of time, neuroscience began to be able to document and affirm the healing steps that Betty had intuitively taken, inspired only by trust and deep desire.

Also since the release of the first edition, Cathy’s professional career has deeply immersed her in this burgeoning field of research. Neuroscience is growing in its capacity to map, through stunning new technology, how our thoughts, emotions, and choices register in the brain by a cascade of physical and energetic changes in the structure of its cells. Scientists now affirm how and where we focus our attention dictates the content of the brain structure we create. By choosing to focus our attention (mindfulness and prayer) on uplifting emotional content (positivity and hope), and sustaining that moment for twenty-five seconds (installation), we little by little change our brain structure, which changes mental activity, which changes biochemical communication in the body, which epigenetically changes gene expression and thus our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Think of it this way: the act of replacing negative thoughts with good thoughts physically impacts the synapses in our brain, causing them to disconnect and make brand new connections, creating new pathways and cells devoted to right thinking. We turbocharge the process by engaging in positive lifestyle choices such as exercising, adding nutrient-rich foods into our diet, sleeping and resting well, and cultivating positive relationships. These combine synergistically to provide critical nutrients to grow healthy brain structure. Literally, in a process scientifically described as neuroplasticity, a new brain can be created to replace the old brain!

The effects of this self-directed neuroplasticity are cumulative, so every time we make a choice for hope, we are turning the part of us that chooses into something different than it was before. Just as it takes more than one footstep, though, to create a new path in the ground, it takes more than one thought to make a new pathway in our mind. We have to choose to cultivate the good we want in our mind over and over again. Somehow, the Apostle Paul understood this when he said, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (p. xii-xii)

In the Amplified Bible translation of Philippians 4:8-9, Paul also encourages, “Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.”

Let’s commit to centering our mind on positive things, implanting them in our heart, as the God of peace and well-being transforms our brain.

…Sue…