Category: Thinking and Beliefs

Accessing Divine Power 

Do you know that you have access to God’s divine power? So many of us live defeated lives when we don’t have to. Why? The reason we live defeated lives is because we give the devil too much power in our lives. Remember, we are spirit beings in a physical body, and we live in a spirit world within the physical world. If you can grasp this reality, your whole perspective will change.  

When you read the Bible, you can see how the spirit world interacts with us. Angels meet people and give them messages or rescue them from prison and the lion’s den. Angels caused invading armies to kill themselves. Read the book of Job to see in detail how the spirit world affects the physical world. 

How to Access God’s Divine Power and Nature. 

The good news is that we have access to God’s divine power and can live victoriously with His divine nature through Jesus Christ. 2Peter 1:3-4 states, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” 

Last week’s post was about receiving life-giving power through the Holy Spirit and how to have a divine life. In this and the following posts, we will explore how we can have God’s divine power and nature; 2Peter 1:3-4 explains how. 

  • Through the knowledge of Him. To grow in knowledge of God, you need to read your Bible daily and go to a Bible-believing Church. 
  • Know that you are called to His glory and excellence. Every day, you should put off wrong beliefs and behaviors and put on the excellence of Christ Jesus (Rom. 13:13-14; Eph. 4:22-24). 
  • Claim His precious and very great promises through prayer. Do you know what God’s promises are? You can find them in the Bible or order my book called Unlocking God’s Promises. 
  • Through God’s promises, we become partakers of the divine nature. 
  • Partaking in His divine nature helps you escape from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

Sources of Divine Power 

The first source of divine power is found in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16), when you receive His sacrifice for your sins, believe in His resurrection from the dead, and in His ascension into heaven (1Cor. 15:3-4). 

The second source of power is from the Spirit. Ephesians 3:16 states, “That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” 

The third source of power is from God. Psalm 68:35 states, “Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!” 

Why Do We Need Divine Power? 

It says in 2Peter 1:3a that “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” I cannot live victoriously or triumph over the trials of my life without divine power. I cannot grow in my spiritual life and godliness without divine power to put off my old thinking and deceitful desires, and put on new thinking and right beliefs (Rom. 12:2). I wrote a series of posts about godliness.

You also need divine power to escape “from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Galatians 6:8 states, “For the one who sows to his own flesh [sinful desires] will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Sowing is the process of planting seeds. If you want to stop a weed from sowing more weed seeds, then pull the plant. We need to do the same in our hearts: pull out the weeds of sinful desires or thoughts and plant good seeds in the form of godly thoughts. We need God’s divine power to put off our sinful desires, so we don’t face God’s wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). 

Conclusion 

Can you say that you are experiencing God’s divine power to overcome the world’s corruption or the trials of life? This truth was life-changing when I read it because I don’t have to try to do better with my own strength; I can claim God’s divine power through prayer. I can also claim His precious and great promises because God keeps His promises. Not only do we have life through the Holy Spirit, but we now have access to divine power to overcome our sinful desires, fears, and oppression. 

I pray you are blessed and encouraged. 

“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love (2John 1:3).” 

RELATED POSTS 

Spiritual Warfare Posts 

Posts About God’s Promises 

Four Realities of the Spirit World 

How To Use God’s Divine Power 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name so I know you are a real person making the request. 

How to Experience the Spirit’s Power 

How often do you experience the power of the Holy Spirit, or do you feel lifeless inside? What does inner power look like? To experience the Holy Spirit’s inner power, you first must possess His life. The most powerful attribute of the Holy Spirit is to give life. What? I am breathing and living, so what is the Holy Spirit’s life?  

In my last post, I shared how I overcame anxiety disorder and fear. That is an example of experiencing the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, because as I put my trust in God to help me and be with me, I was not afraid. In this post, I will share how you can also experience the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit in your life. During the first half of the year, I wrote about the power of the devil and how to defeat him. The devil wants to kill, steal, and destroy you, but the Holy Spirit through Jesus wants to give you life and life abundantly (John 10:10). 

Who is the Holy Spirit? 

The Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit empowers us through belief in the Son, Jesus Christ, whom the Father sent, to overcome sin and live a holy life (Jn. 3:16 & 1Jn 4:9). You will learn more about that in other posts. You will also learn that He is your helper and teacher, how he gives you power to witness, and so on. This post is just a brief overview of His life-giving power.  

How Do You Know You Have Life? 

Our spirits are dead and separated from God because of sin. To experience the Holy Spirit’s life-giving power is to receive and believe in the name of Jesus (John 1:12). When you believe and receive His forgiveness of your sins, the Holy Spirit will dwell in you. Also, Romans 8:10 states, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We become righteous because of the life of Jesus we received. And Romans 8:11 tells us, “If the Spirit of him [God] who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” You will not only have a powerful spiritual life but also eternal life with God. 

1Corinthians 15:45 also states, “Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam [Jesus] became a life-giving spirit.” If you have not invited Jesus to come into your life and forgive your sins, please do that to experience the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. 

Life-giving Thoughts. 

Now that the life-giving power dwells in you, you will experience the power of the Holy Spirit through continual prayer and trusting God (Father, Son, and Spirit) to keep His promises. The Holy Spirit is sent to help and guide you into all truth (John 14:26, 15:26). A helper does you no good if you don’t ask them to help. Our spirit prays, and the Holy Spirit in us hears and is prepared to help or teach us. For example, I pray for the Holy Spirit’s help every time I write a blog post because writing is not a natural gift, but I write the wisdom from the Holy Spirit, who teaches me the truth. 

Next, if you’re concerned with the things of this world and satisfying the pleasures of your flesh and sin, then you will be powerless against your enemy, the devil. But when you set your mind to think on the truth and what pleases God, then you will experience peace and life. Romans 8:6 states, “For to set the mind on the flesh [sin] is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Take an inventory of your thoughts; yes, write them down. What do you think about most, and how much time do you spend there? 

Conclusion 

Experiencing the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit begins with inviting Him into your life, then actively praying and seeking His help in every situation you face. This post reveals a small portion of the Holy Spirit’s power in your life. In the following posts, you will learn much more. So, did you do the inventory of your thoughts yet? I hope you do. The more you focus your mind on the things of God, the more you will experience the promises of God.  

When you read about God, know that he has three parts or roles, and is not three persons. God plays the Father role, the Son role, and the Spirit’s role. In John 14:10-11, Jesus says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11) Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Also, Luke 4:1 states, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” 

I pray you are blessed and encouraged. 

“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love (2John 1:3).” 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

How to Overcome Fear and Anxiety 

Have you ever been afraid? Did you feel anxious about doing something new, or speaking to a group of people? Fear is a normal reaction to the unknown. Sometimes our imaginations can generate fear. Say if you meet a bear or mountain lion, you may be scared.  

Many people have anxiety disorders, which cause panic attacks when a trauma memory is triggered. This is different than being afraid to speak in front of people or go to a job interview. I overcame fear by changing my thinking. I overcame my anxiety disorder by healing and changing my trauma memories. I also relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to help me take my thoughts captive and transform them with the truth of God’s word. I knew I was free from fear and anxiety when I went to Africa. 

How I Overcame My Fear. 

I just came back from a 17-day trip to Africa, and I was not overcome by fear, nor did I have any panic attacks. In contrast, when I went to Israel eight years ago, I had to take anxiety medication. I chose Genexa, which is an all-natural chewable pill that worked great to help me relax. I was very fearful because my thoughts would conjure up all kinds of events that would never happen, but what if they did? This time, when I went to Africa, I practiced what I wrote about in Who or What Controls You? When I would begin to entertain fearful thoughts, I would take them captive by  

  • Acknowledging them,  
  • Putting them out of my mind in Jesus’ name, 
  • Then think or speak the truth to replace fear with trust. 

For example, when the flight over was turbulent for 15 hours, I prayed and kept my mind on the power and protection of God. I pushed away fearful thoughts of crashing into the ocean and centered on trusting God. I imagined that angels were flying with that flight to make sure the plane didn’t split apart from all the turbulence. I maintained my peace and did not have to take my anxiety medicine. I realized I was still internalizing anxiety because I could not urinate for the whole flight, so by the time I got to Cape Town, I was in excruciating pain. It took a while to get to the bathroom at the airport, which also caused some anxiety, but I did not panic.  

The next piece of evidence that I had overcome anxiety was when we got a flat tire on the safari through Etosha, Namibia’s National Wildlife Park. It included lions and other predator animals, and you were told not to exit your vehicle. We all had to get out of the car to help lift the car to get the jack under it, which was a sandy road. My husband was the only strong person, as our hosts were 81 and 77, respectively. Then there was me, who was not much help. I asked, is it safe to get out of the car? Our host was driving his son’s vehicle and did not know how to get to the spare tire. Thankfully, he had a satellite phone and could call his son. We finally got back on the road, and not even a mile down the road was a herd of elephants. I got afraid when a hippo chased our fishing boat on the Okavango River. The captain assured me that he was just playing with us, then told the story of a hippo that bit the side of his boat and nearly sank it. I had many opportunities to trust God instead of being fearful. Do you find it hard to trust God?  Why? 

Overcoming Anxiety 

Anxiety is situational fear. Many people are disabled because of situational fear or must take medication to stay calm. People say they can’t go to church because they get anxiety around a group of people. You don’t have to be anxious about anything when you pray about everything. Anxiety usually is the result of a bad experience or a traumatic event. For example, when you have an accident, you may be anxious every time you get into a car or pass the place where the accident happened. The level of anxiety depends on how much emotion was stored related to the painful event. Or, how much fear is stored related to the event. Freedom from anxiety occurs when you seek God to heal the emotional response and change the negative experience by being thankful for something. So, when you have a panic attack, do the following. 

  • Ask God to show you why you had the panic attack. 
  • Forgive the people who caused you pain to remove the power they have over your reactions. 
  • Ask God to remove the negative emotion of the memory from your Hippocampus. 
  • Implant a thankful thought into that memory to remove the trigger. You can be thankful it wasn’t worse, or you weren’t alone, or that God rescued and healed you, etc. 
  • Transform the unhealthy beliefs you adopted because of the painful event with a Biblical truth. See my worksheets for truth samples you can adopt. 

Most people know Philippians 4:6-7, which states, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 )And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Prayer and thankfulness are necessary to achieve the peace we desperately desire. Prayer is a humble submission of trust that God keeps what you commit to Him. That He is able to protect and provide for you, to answer prayer, and so on. 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 also tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

Conclusion 

I was paralyzed by fear and anxiety for many years. I can assure you that you don’t have to be paralyzed by fear or anxiety. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, fearful thoughts can be replaced by trusting God, who keeps His promises. Anxiety-inducing memories can be healed and replaced with thankfulness and the truth in God’s word that helps you trust Him. If you have a problem with fearful thoughts or situational anxiety, there is hope. I give many practical tips on how to be an overcomer in my book, which is found on my website. You can also read my posts on the power of thoughts and on trusting God. 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  My post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

How to Cultivate Hope

We all hope for something most of the time. God gives lasting hope, but the devil destroys your hope. All of us have experienced the influence of the devil and demons in our lives, and many have given evil spirits power to control their destiny. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize how much power they give to demons. I explained how to overcome the power of evil spirits on the Spiritual Warfare Posts page. Have you experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?

I will teach how to be controlled by the Holy Spirit’s power. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit requires submission to God. James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” I am amazed by how many Christians do not know how to submit to God and resist the devil. This verse is key to living victoriously as a Christian. Obedience to the Word of God is how you submit to God and resist the devil (John 14:21; Rom. 8:7).

How to Submit to God.

Submission is a mindset that gives God authority to direct your steps. The following Scriptures describe where our thoughts are to be set.

Psalm 81:11 states, “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.” 

Do you desire to listen to God through praying, reading the Bible, and keeping His commands? When you don’t set your mind on the truths and commands of God, then your mind will be set on your fleshly desires and pleasing yourself, not God.

Romans 8:6-8 states, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 

7) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 

8) Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

9) You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” 

The flesh is our sinful nature and worldly pleasures (Titus 2:12). God wants us to set our minds on the Holy Spirit, which is the power of God. When you have peace and joy, then you know your mind is set on the Spirit, which is God’s presence.

Romans 10:3 states, “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”

You get God’s righteousness when you believe in and receive Jesus Christ as the ruler of your life (2Cor. 5:21). Doing works to obtain righteousness does not achieve God’s righteousness; instead, we are to submit our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13). If you do not believe in Jesus as your savior from the consequences of sin, then you are spiritually discerned, that is, unable to know or discern the truth. 1Corinthians 2:14 states, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” If you do not understand the things of God, then believe that He sent His Son into the world to be the savior of the world, and ask for understanding (1John 4:14-15). When you believe, then you will receive the power of the Holy Spirit and have hope.

Hope is Waiting with Patience for God’s Will.

The Bible is filled with hope. We all need hope. Hebrews 11:1 explains, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:24-27, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25) But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26) Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27) And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” 

  • We hope for what we do not see. 
  • In this passage, they hoped for salvation and redemption. We don’t see it, but we hope for it with patience.
  • You may be weak in faith, but the Holy Spirit helps you.
  • The Holy Spirit helps us pray when we don’t know what to pray.
  • The Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God.

So when your faith is failing, pray for the Holy Spirit to help your faith and to intercede for you. You may not be praying according to God’s will, so your prayers may not be answered as you want. The Holy Spirit wants God’s best for you. I wrote about why prayers go unanswered on my page called Posts about Prayer. 

Hope Gives Joy and Peace.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” I love this verse. We learn the following.

  • God is hope.
  • He fills you with all joy and peace when you trust in Him.
  • You will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

How encouraging. Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for you, but he will give you overflowing hope. And when you trust God to do His will in your life, you will have joy and peace. So, when you lose your joy and peace, it shows that you have stopped praying and trusting God.

Conclusion

The power of the Holy Spirit gives you hope. Satan and the demons steal your hope, joy, and peace, and lie to make you believe there is no hope. They want you to be depressed and suicidal. God wants you to have hope, peace, and joy. BUT you must submit to God by obeying Him and resist the devil. Where do you set your mind? Isaiah 26:3-4 states, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” Do you trust God and put your hope in Him?

*********************

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website. 

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.  

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts. 

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.

How To Be Controlled by Love

You have heard that you cannot control what others say or do; you can only control yourself. Do you give Satan control over your life by not resisting his temptations and lies? The Bible says we should be controlled by God’s love through the Holy Spirit. Loving as God loves is sacrificial and very hard to do in our human flesh, which is why we need the Holy Spirit’s power. Satan and his demons do not want you to love others or experience God’s love, so he will cause you to be offended or tempt you to offend others instead of loving them. 

In the first half of 2026, I wrote about what to do about demons/evil spirits. In this post, I want to explain how the Holy Spirit (part of the Trinity of God) gives you power to love sacrificially. God the Father (also part of the Trinity) loved us so much that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ (also part of the Trinity), as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins (John 3:16 & Eph. 1:7). 

Are You Controlled by Christ’s Love? 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church the following in 2Corinthians 5:14a: “For the love of Christ controls us.” Are you controlled by the love of Christ? For many years of my life, I was controlled by my emotions and the actions of others; read last week’s post to learn more. My mind was focused on the things of this world that made me angry or worried, rather than on God and His truth. I could not love others well. Since then, I have been healed of most of my trauma memories, and I am more focused on the truths of God. I sometimes react when I feel wronged by someone. But love shows mercy to those who wrong us. Mercy is hard to do when you want to punish those who hurt you. But God said we are to show mercy because He showed mercy to us (Luke 6:36 & Eph. 2:4-7). When you are mentally and spiritually healthy, you can be controlled by the love of Christ. 

Do You Love Sacrificially? 

Jesus said in John 13:34-35 the following: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35) By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Loving others is hard when you never felt loved or feel worthy of love and don’t trust that people love you. But God will heal the broken areas of your life when you submit them to Him and forgive.  

I knew God loved me and I wanted to love others, but I couldn’t because I felt as if His love went through holes in my heart. The holes in my heart were healed when I sacrificially forgave those who hurt and betrayed me. Forgiving is a sacrificial act of love toward those who don’t deserve it, just like we did not deserve God’s forgiveness. Romans 5:5 states, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” When your heart is healed, you can retain His love and give it to others.  

Are You Rooted and Grounded in God’s Love? 

The Apostle Paul explained in Ephesians 3:16-19 some amazing truths: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  Let’s face it, sometimes it is hard to love the unlovable, mean people in our lives. We are promised the following in this passage. I could write extensively about each of these points. Take time to really comprehend what Paul is writing here. 

a. You will have strength with power through His Spirit in your inner being. 

b. Christ would dwell in your heart through faith. 

c. You will be rooted and grounded in love. 

d. Comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth and to know the love of Christ. 

e. Be filled with all the fullness of God. 

These promises are yours when you do what is written in Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” When you believe in your heart, then you will receive the promised Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:14). Then the love of God will be poured into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), and we will be filled with ALL the fullness of God. WOW! Have you ever considered that God indwells you? Do you think that if we truly comprehended this, our lives would be different? 

Do You Love from a Pure Heart? 

Lastly, we are to love from a pure heart. 1Peter 1:22 states, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” When we obey the truth and forgive those who offend us, we will have a pure heart and be able to love others sincerely. Also, when we obey the truth to lay aside selfish ambition and humbly honor others above ourselves as Christ did, we will love from a pure heart (Phil. 2:3-8). Do you earnestly love others from a pure heart? Ask God to show you where you are not loving well, then ask Him why. When He shows you, then forgive those who wounded your soul and ask God to heal that memory and purify your heart of that resentment. Read my online book to learn more about healing your soul. 

2John 1:3 states, “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.” 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

Who or What Controls You?

Are you emotionally affected by what people say or do? How do you feel when someone is unkind to you or is upset with you? Some people couldn’t care less about what others say or do, yet others like me are very sensitive to the slightest criticism or rejection. A co-worker told me that I don’t have to give people power over me. I think of that statement often. So today, I am going to write about how to overcome controlling thoughts. 

Last week I wrote about “How to Increase Emotional Intelligence.” If you haven’t read that post yet, please do so. In this post, I want to expand on the concepts in last week’s post. Without a healthy spiritual life, you will be tossed about by every wind of doctrine or someone’s feelings or convictions that may not be based on truth (Eph. 4:14). 

Controlled by Our Thoughts. 

We all want to be accepted, respected, and loved, so when someone is rude or critical toward us, we feel offended. The offense may not be intentional, but we interpret their words or actions as offensive. So, we are really being controlled by our thoughts and how we interpret the other person’s words or actions. For example, I was working on transforming a cargo van into a camper van. My mother-in-law criticized my work. I became offended and upset. What should I have done instead? 

  • I should have taken captive her critical words and said, “That is your opinion (or something like that). Remember, we all want approval, so I took her comment as disapproval, which made me mad. Then she got offended when I became offended. 
  • I have a choice: either let other people’s words or actions into my mind or put them out as I do the trash. 
  • I could have thanked her for her observation and let her words drop to the ground. I have the choice to take offense or let it go, unless a personal boundary is crossed. 
  • We become offended and controlled by our thoughts when we are disappointed. So, recognize that you are disappointed by an unmet expectation, voice your disappointment, but do not give in to the temptation to say something mean or demeaning. Do your best not to phrase your disappointment as a criticism, but say, “I felt… when you said (or did)….” 
  • Not returning a mean or sarcastic comment when you feel offended is hard; that is where emotional intelligence and Spiritual maturity come in. I must admit, I am not as quick as I need to be at taking offensive thoughts captive. But I am getting quicker at recognizing and correcting them and not letting them control my feelings or ruin my relationships with people. 

How To Stop Being Controlled by Other People’s Feelings. 

Because we instinctively want approval, most people want to please others to win their approval. How do you feel when someone is unkind to you or is upset with you? I feel hurt or rejected. How about you? How do you feel? Again, we are allowing others’ feelings to create thoughts of insecurity, anger, or sadness. So, what should we do when someone’s feelings control our thoughts and emotions? 

  • Recognize what you are feeling and the thoughts you have about the situation that is controlling your feelings. For example, my husband was trying to be helpful, but he felt I was not appreciative enough (his expectation was not met), so he was mad. This controlled how I felt, and my pride showed up to back up that I was appreciative, and I didn’t need to kiss his butt. 
  • I took my hurt feelings captive and humbled myself to talk to him about not meeting his expectations and how my expectations were not met, which hurt my feelings. He then justified his hurt feelings and said mean things, so I left. I humbled myself again and said that we should not go to bed angry, so I put off my hurt feelings and focused on what I could be thankful for. 
  • Remember, Satan does not want us to live in peace. He is always sowing strife to create chaos and division. Recognizing this will help you put off your pride, humble yourself to apologize for not meeting the other person’s expectations, and ask for their forgiveness. 
  • Forgiveness is the key to peace and joy. If the other person still wants to be hurt and angry, then you may need to set boundaries, but let them work through their hurt. Sometimes they will stay offended no matter what you do. Recognize that you cannot control how someone feels or what they do; you can only control how you feel and what you do. 

Conclusion 

People will have a bad day or feel like being mean; you don’t have to let their feelings or words control you. Be mindful to give grace because you may need grace from others when you are having a bad, frustrating day. For example, I have a neighbor who is ornery and yells at everyone. He came over, yelled at me, and threatened to call the EPA because I was putting leaves in the stream that flowed by my house. I live in the woods, and tree leaves blow into the stream all the time. I did not allow his unkind words or threats to affect my mood or thoughts. To learn how to do this, read my last post on how to increase your emotional intelligence. 

RELATED POSTS 

Posts on Thoughts 

Healthy Boundaries for Toxic Emotions and People 

How to Respond to Criticism 

The Link Between Disappointment, Resentment, and Self-control 

How to Develop Emotional Resilience 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

How to Increase Emotional Intelligence 

So, what does emotional intelligence and complete healing look like? I discovered that complete healing encompasses three key areas of your life: mental, physical, and spiritual. These three areas affect your level of emotional intelligence. (I had to take a break from blogging because I broke my hand and couldn’t type.) 

Emotional intelligence is your ability to make a thoughtful, healthy choice about how you respond to a stressful situation rather than reacting. I am a reactor because that is how I was conditioned in my formative, dysfunctional home life. I am learning to respond by taking my reactive thoughts captive, setting them aside, and choosing to respond according to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 22-23). Are you a reactor or a responder? Do you respond with thankfulness or complaining? Do you respond with grace or anger? Do you respond with love or hate, malice, or scoffing? Do you respond with humility or pridefulness? 

My blog focuses on achieving complete healing in the three key areas of your life so you can respond with love and a sound mind to stressful situations. Stress can range from stubbing your toe to facing a cancer diagnosis. I determined that spiritual health is the key to physical and mental health. Spirituality is the third dimension of each human being. In the last 13 posts, I explained how to recognize your spiritual adversary (i.e., the devil and demons). The unseen spirit world attacks you spiritually, physically, and mentally, so being spiritually healthy mitigates these attacks. Your spiritual health also determines how you respond to stressful situations. 

A Healthy Spiritual Life. 

1. A healed spiritual life begins with believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior, who saves you from the wrath of God for sin and the devil’s control. (Rom. 10:9-10; Rom. 5:9-11; Col. 2:8-10). 

2. Repent of your sins (Luke 13:3&5; Acts 3:19, 26:20; Rom. 6). 

3. Accept the help of the Holy Spirit to forgive and love others well, which is proof of a healthy soul (Eph. 3:16-19; Col. 3:12-16; and 1Pet. 1:22). 

4. Trust God as your healer, provider, and protector (Ex. 15:26; Ps. 68:5; Phil. 4:19). 

5. Put off your old way of thinking, which leads to sinful behavior (Eph. 4:22-27). 

6. Focus on God’s truth, love, joy, peace, forgiveness, faithfulness, humility, and so on; then those traits will also become yours (1Tim. 6:11 and 2Tim. 2:22). 

7. Show mercy and grace by forgiving those who hurt and offend you (Matt. 6:14-15). 

8. You cannot be spiritually, mentally, or physically healthy if you are bitter, prideful, and unthankful (Heb. 12:15; 1John 2:16; and 2Tim. 3:1-5). 

9. Read your Bible, go to church, pray, and work through the painful issues of your life so you can love from a pure heart (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1; Heb. 10:24-25; 2Cor. 7:1; 1Pet. 1:22). 

10. Spiritual health is evident in humility, complete surrender to God, drawing near to Him, and repenting of sin (James 4:6-8). Submission to Him means obeying Him and resisting the devil, who wants to keep you in bondage to bitterness, pridefulness, and complaining. 

A spiritually healthy prayer life supports sound mental health. Especially when you submit your painful memories to God for healing and forgive those who sinned against you. Without God, your memories won’t be healed. Painful memories negatively affect your mental and physical health, which lowers your emotional intelligence because you react from your pain. You can learn to manage your emotions from the pain of your past, but they will still cause you to react negatively instead of responding positively to stressful or painful situations. Also, Satan cannot read your mind, but he knows what you say and will use the negative experiences you complain about to keep you in bondage to offense, which lowers your emotional intelligence. 

For example, I have a family member who has a lot of mental and physical health problems. She hasn’t purified her heart from the trauma of her past, and she is still bitter and prideful. Her trauma memories prevent her from being spiritually healthy, which is evident in the quality of the fruit of the Spirit in her life and reactions (Gal. 5:22-25). 

How Does a Healthy Person Respond? 

A completely healthy person values themselves and others, and their emotional intelligence will reflect that. They’re going to care for themselves physically by eating well and exercising. Next, they receive God’s forgiveness and love, so they can love themselves, love and forgive others well. If you don’t love yourself and take care of yourself, you can’t love others. But if you have a lot of traumas in your past where people did not love you well, it will affect how you respond. So, you need to deal with the trauma of your past through God’s healing power and love. For you to respond with love, you must receive His forgiveness of your sins and His mercy and grace; then you can give His love, His mercy, and His grace to others. Who has offended you or hurt you? Understand that they may be acting out of their own trauma and pain in their life. Or they may be reacting from their sinful flesh. Spiritually healthy people forgive and show mercy. 

In 2025, I discussed various mental health issues and ways to improve them. You will find those posts on my mental health page. I later discovered that physical health and mental health are related to your gut health (see Dr. Mark Hyman podcast). My physical and mental health improved greatly when I gave up sugar, corn, most wheat products, and began eating God’s way in Genesis 1:29, “And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” These are recognizable foods in their whole form and not highly processed. Exercising regularly and fasting are also good for improving both physical and mental health. You can learn more in my post, Healing Depression: The Role of Gut Health and Diet. 

Conclusion 

The devil is constantly waiting to distract you and to cause you to be offended at God or others. Satan wants you to give up your faith and walk away from him or be offended at the church and people who go to church. And that’s why I just wrote a series on how the devil and demons interact with humans. You can read all these posts on my Spiritual Warfare Posts page.  Spiritually healthy people understand the spirit world and how it affects their mental and physical health. Emotional intelligence depends on strong spiritual health.  Praying through a stressful situation helps you respond with the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) instead of reacting from your sinful flesh or painful memories. Are you spiritually healthy?

Does this make sense? If not, please comment below on what does not make sense, so I can clarify it. 

RELATED POSTS 

Are you Spiritually Healthy? 

********************* 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.  

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.   

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.  

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. 

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

TRAINING YOUR THOUGHTS IN FOUR STEPS

Where do your thoughts take you? What do you think about most? I asked the inmates in my Bible study these questions. Training your thoughts takes practice, but you first have to be aware of them. What am I supposed to think about, and how do I change my thinking? One of the girls hated her neighbor, so we used her situation as an example. Your thoughts direct your feelings, and your feelings control your behavior, which is why you need to learn to train your thoughts, so you bring glory to God in your responses.  

In my last post, I shared a prayer of protection to help you overcome fear and the attacks from the evil one, Satan. Prayer is the key to training your thoughts to think as God would have you think. Reading your Bible is the next best way to train your thoughts. Attending a Bible-believing church and Bible study are other ways to train your thoughts. 

What God wants us to think about. 

Philippians 4:8 states,“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, 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, think about these things.” These thoughts can be formed by reading the Bible. Meditate on Galatians 5:22-24 — “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24) And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. What do you think “crucify the flesh (passions and desires)” means, and why should we? Crucifying your fleshly desires and passions is to consider them dead and not to let them control you anymore. Put on Jesus Christ and make no provision for your flesh (Rom. 13:14).  

When you think about the different fruit of the Spirit, then they will come out in your behavior. For example, if I am aware that I am not patient with people, then I will make an effort to change how I think so I can be more patient. I will pause, pray, and think about how to respond with patience and not react negatively, and not want my way. 

The Bible tells us how to transform your thoughts from flesh/self-pleasing to God-pleasing? 

Ephesians 4:22-27  “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.  

25) Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.  

26) Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. 

Also read Colossians 3:5-10. 

Four steps to transform your thinking and your life. 

  1. Recognize your wrong or negative thoughts.  Your feelings reveal your thoughts.  Your words reveal your thoughts.  Negative thoughts create negative feelings that sap your strength and ability to think clearly because you are not using the front of your brain. Do you speak negatively about yourself and others?  (Matthew 15:18-19 and Luke 6:45—what comes out of the mouth reveals what is in your heart.)   

Recognize the sources of thoughts if they are from your memories, present circumstances (what is happening, what you are doing, or planning to do), or the devil.  2 Corinthians 11:3 states, “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”   

This is why we need to also put on the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:11-12 states, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  12)  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”  

Who are you submitting to? This also answers the question of why there are evil people. James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves (your mind) therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” If you are not resisting the devil, he will continue to influence your mind. You resist the devil by putting the negative thoughts and unhealthy beliefs out of your mind, in Jesus’ name. Then dwell on the true, right, and pure things instead. 

  1. Change your thinking.  Capture the unwanted thought by saying, “I put off the thought of _______ (offence, hurting someone or myself, self-pity, unfairness, wanting to do what you don’t want to do, etc.) in Jesus’ name.” Then replace the negative or temptation thought with a positive thought of thankfulness for something.  See examples of putting off old ways of thinking and putting on new ways of thinking in Ephesians 4:17-32 and Colossians 3:8-15.  
  1. Evaluate if you have a wrong belief from negative feelings by listening to your thoughts.  Such as, “They don’t deserve to be happy. Or, God doesn’t care.”  Ask God to show you wrong beliefs, and He will.  When you know you have a wrong belief, say, “I put off the wrong belief that _________, in Jesus’ name.”  Then say, “I bind in the truth that ___________, in Jesus’ name.”  See my book (link)for unhealthy beliefs and truth statements. 
  1. Train your mind to dwell on God’s truth.  Memorize scripture, beginning with Philippians 4:8.  Turn every thought into a prayer.  For example, give all your concerns to God and be thankful so you will be filled with peace (see Philippians 4:6-7 and Isaiah 26:3, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”).  Ask Him to help you when you are tempted (see Hebrews 4:14-16).  Commit all your difficult situation into His care.  Trust His purpose for you is good, and submit to the character and faith-building process.   

Romans 8:26-29 states, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27)  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  29a) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”   

Roman 12:2 states, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 1John 2:17 states, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 

RELATED POSTS 

Victorious Thinking to Live a Successful Life 

POSTS on Thoughts 

********** 

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website. 

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of promises relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.  

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts. 

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and the truths behind them. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request. 

Three Great Ways to Increase Dopamine and Feel Good

What makes you feel good, happy, and secure? Depression is the top mental health issue around the world. It can be treated with medication, but it can also be treated by increasing the hormone and neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. Dopamine gives you pleasure and regulates your mood. It helps us focus, work towards goals, and find things interesting. Warning: dopamine is the root precipitator for all addictions.

Achieving Goals

How do you feel after you accomplish a goal? When you achieve a goal, does it make you feel rewarded and good? That is because accomplishments increase the feel-good hormone dopamine in your brain. At one time, I was addicted to the dopamine hit from reaching goals, and I became a workaholic. I would make lists of goals I wanted to accomplish, and with each achievement, I would feel a sense of satisfaction. I used achieving goals to cover my mental health problems, to forget about my past. Once I healed my past issues through prayer and memory healing, I was no longer addicted to achieving goals, though I still like the reward I feel when I do achieve a goal.

Exercising

As we enter a new year, most of us have a goal of exercising more and losing weight. Exercising every day is the best way to increase dopamine in your brain. Exercise not only increases your quality of life but also reduces dementia risk, increases energy, and improves your mood and sleep. There are many articles written about the benefits of exercise, so I encourage you to read them, write down the benefits, and review them every day to remind you why you need to exercise. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the less I feel like exercising, even though I know it is more important now than ever before.

Do you know people who are addicted to exercise? They exercise for hours a day. This is because they seek the dopamine highs. I never had this problem. Some people are addicted to food because it gives them the same dopamine hit. I will blame my grandparents for feeding me candy and cookies when I went to their house. I became addicted to sugar-laden treats for the feel-good dopamine high it gave me. If you think you are addicted to increasing the dopamine hormone response, then please seek professional counseling. Recently, Jelly Roll was in the news talking about his 300 lb weight loss. Yikes, what an accomplishment. In the article, he admitted to having a food addiction that he got therapy for. Most addictions cover up the effects of painful memories. So, healing painful memories is important to overcome addiction. See my onlinebook to learn how I overcame my addictions.

Helping Others

The third way to increase dopamine is to help other people, especially if they can’t return any benefit to you. Here is an excellent article called “The Surprise Science Behind Why Helping Others Helps You.” I love to help others, now I know why.

I had a long list of goals when I retired, and one of them was to finish a 43-hour Child and Youth Mental Health Coaching program from Light University. I finished the program on December 31, 2025, after two years. I learned how to coach parents to understand their children and help them build emotional resilience. I wanted to equip myself with the knowledge I needed to be the most help to hurting people. Do you find you don’t want to be around messy, dysfunctional people? But they are the ones who need the most help. I love to read how my website has helped people and given them hope. This makes me feel good. 

With each class I took on Youth Mental Health Coaching, I learned how dysfunctional my family was and how messed up I was as a child and a parent. I also realized that by the grace of God and His healing power, I am now emotionally resilient and secure. There is hope, which is why I developed the Hope for Complete Healing website and wrote the book with the same name. 

Mental Health Coaching Programs

If you are interested in enrolling, go to LightUniversity.com and select Mental Health Coaching. I wrote about the first Mental Health Coaching program I completed in this post. Here are some of the great topics you will learn about in the Youth Mental Health Coaching program.

Childhood Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences – Shannae Anderson, Ph.D.

Managing Stress and Anxiety in Children and Teens – Gregory L. Jantz, Ph.D.

Moody: Understanding Depression and Mood Disorders – Gregory L. Jantz, Ph.D.

Battling Loneliness and Bullying – Mark Mayfield, Ph.D.

Buzzed: Winning the Alcohol and Substance Abuse War – John Eklund, M.S.W.

A New Normal: Helping Kids and Teens through Grief and Loss – Jennifer Ellers, M.A.

Anger, Defiance, Rebellion, and Violence: When Kids Go Awry – Gary Sibcy, Ph.D.

Pornography, Sex, Sexting and Sexuality – Jim Cress, M.A.

Walking a Thin Line: Health, Diets, and Eating Disorders – Amy Feigel, M.A.

Guidance and Support for Children with Developmental Disabilities – Stephanie Holmes, Ed.D.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD): Behavior Patterns, Issues and Intervention – E. John Kuhnley, M.D.

Everything is Changing: Brain Health, Hormones and the Neurobiology of Youth and Development – Gary Sibcy, Ph.D.

The Use of Psychiatric Medication in the Mental Health Treatment of Children and Adolescents – E. John Kuhnley, M.D.

Love and Limits: Parenting, Boundaries and Structure – Mercy Connors, Ph.D.

Emotion Coaching and Regulation for Children and Adolescents – Gary Sibcy, Ph.D.

Connecting with Kids through the World of Play – Daniel Sweeney, Ph.D.

Decisions and Consequences: Making Wise Choices When It Counts – Karl Benzio, M.D.

Conflict Management and Resolution – Karl Benzio, M.D.

Cultural Identity – Mark Crear, Ph.D.

Performance, Pressure, and Identity: Managing Sports, Academics, and Life – Zach Clinton, M.A.

The Wired Generation: Technology, The Brain, Social Media and Behavior – Mark Mayfield, Ph.D.

Helping Parents Teach Their Youth About Healthy Sexuality – Jim Burns, Ph.D.

Gender Identity and Ideologies: Helping Parents and Families When Youth Come Out as LGBTQ – Kathy Koch, Ph.D.

Family Systems: Understanding Generational Patterns – John Eklund, M.S.W.

Childhood and Adolescent Development: An Attachment Perspective – Anita Kuhnley, Ph.D.

Prodigal Children: Helping Parents Stand Strong and Trust God in the Midst of Heartache and Brokenness – Mark Mayfield, Ph.D.

Divorce and Living in Blended Families – Jay Daughtry, M.A., and Tammy Daughtry, M.A.

Family Strong: Helping Families Survive and Thrive in the Storms of Life – Shannae Anderson, Ph.D., and Mercy Connors, Ph.D.

There is hope for complete healing. Reach out to me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com if you have questions or need free mental health coaching.

How to Successfully Navigate the Seasons of Life

Do you like change? How about the change of seasons? Each season has beauty and challenges. But all seasons bring change. What season of life are you in? You may be in a difficult season of sickness, a relaxing retirement, or a busy season with many demands. Whatever the season you are in, God is with you, so don’t forget about Him. He is there to help you and to give you peace, strength, and wisdom.

When Multiple Seasons Coincide

I am still in the season of caring for my handicapped mother since 2012, who has dementia. For many years, I cared for her in her home, which was a three-hour drive; now she is in a local Nursing home. This season was challenging because it coincided with working full-time, attending grad school part-time, and attending endless sporting events my youngest teenage son was involved in. At the same time, my oldest son was a drug addict for ten years. I say all this to encourage you, that God is my help, and He sustained me through it all. God will sustain you as well. 2Chronicals 16:9a (NIV) states, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” Is your heart fully committed to God?

My favorite uplifting scripture is Isaiah 46:3b-4 (NIV), “Listen to me, …, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you, and I will rescue you.” Sustain means to support, provide for, hold up, to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction. Sustain also means to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life (Dictionary.com 2025). Psalm 55:22 states, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Also, Isaiah 50:4 states, “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.” I pray that this post offers words of hope and encouragement to sustain you in your seasons of change. 

Enduring Difficult Seasons

You can trust and rely on God when you are in or facing a season of difficulty, even if you feel overwhelmed and can’t sense God’s nearness. He is there, carrying you whether you are aware of it or not. God (the “I am”) promises to sustain you and even rescue you. Read over Isaiah 43:4 again. Note the phrase “I will.” These are promises. You can trust God to keep His promises. I have written about many of God’s promises in my book “Unlocking God’s promises.” Jesus promised to give you peace in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 1John 5:4 explains, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” And Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Transitioning to a New Season

I am entering a new season of change and uncertainty, but aren’t all seasons like that? This is why we need to hold onto God to help us navigate each season of our lives. I retired about six months ago, which was a breeze. I loved it. I got so many projects done. Retirement is great, but my husband is retiring next month, which will drastically change my retirement season. I like to be in control of what, when, and how I do things. I also pace myself throughout the day to get everything done. Having him home all day will be difficult, as he will want me to be part of his agenda. I am already getting very stressed about it. But remember, all thoughts are in my control, and I will take every thought captive. I may not be able write posts as often as I have in the last eight years, but everyone who reads my posts is in my prayers.

Here are ways to navigate life’s seasonal changes with grace. 

  1. Find something praiseworthy to focus on. 
  2. Embrace the changes and know that you will find a new normal. 
  3. Discuss common interests and potential conflicts, and how to mitigate them. 
  4. Talk about expectations and concerns. The more you understand each other’s expectations and concerns, the easier the transition will be. For example, when I began working full-time, I would not have time to do all the housework. So my husband and I worked out a way to split the chores.
  5. Commit all your frustrations to the Lord, and seek His wisdom to overcome problems that inevitably occur in any season you are in.

To help with the transition of having my husband around every day and all day, I suggested we buy a van and turn it into a camper van, then take short trips around the US while we still have our health. This will give us a common goal rather than being annoyed with each other for interrupting our individual agendas. Does this make sense? If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them. Please leave a comment. I understand that this plan can backfire, and other issues will sneak up. Gary’s parents are old, and so are my mother and my aunt, so they could die or suffer a major health crisis, which will bring in a new season. The key is to trust God and rely on Him to sustain you and help you.

**********

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of promises relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91. 

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and the truths behind them. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles. Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.