Being a nurse, I have the privilege of sitting with many patients during their consultations with specialists.  This particular day, I was sitting in on a session with a psychiatrist and a gentleman who is not just dealing with depression. Still, he is also facing life with a deteriorating physical illness.  He expresses during the session that he just wants things to be "like they used to be".  The psychiatrist went on to explain to this gentleman that each night we go to sleep, thousands of brain cells die. So, each morning, we are without some of the brain cells we had when we went to sleep, so things are never really the same.  He went on to encourage this man that we need to retrain our minds so that birth will be given to new cells in that new state of our lives.  This becomes our new normal, that essentially changes on a daily basis.  God brought to my mind that this doctor  (who I must also add is a self-proclaimed atheist) really illustrated the very biblical principle of renewing our minds.

Romans 12:2 reads, "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."

The hard truth for this man is that things will never be like they once were,  but isn't that really the truth that faces all of us. Following Jesus, studying His Word, and renewing our minds daily are vital to keeping our hearts and minds fixed on Him.