Ron + Hope: Unfiltered - How to Overcome Negative Thoughts with Guest: Heather Lindsey

Hello. Here we are again, Ron and Hope. Unfiltered, real, raw, relevant. We are coming into your house. We are so glad to be here today.

The first time I said it, you said I messed it up. Second time you said I said it too fast. So now that my feelings are hurt, I'm just gonna let you be the one that says it.

Every time that we come on here, I'm the mc.

Okay. Do I smell good, by the way?

Let me see.

I put on right before I came in here. Right before I come in here. It's brute.

It is not brute.

Go ahead and tell us what we're talking about today.

Well, we're gonna have a guest on our show today, and she's no guest to our family. Good friends, Good friends of ours, Heather Lindsay. But we're going to just bring her into your world today. Just an amazing, sweet friend. She's done all kind of things. We're going to let her tell her.

Story, but get them with the topic. You got to put the hook in. Tell them what we're going to be talking about, because there's nobody in the whole world that has not had this thing bombard them at certain times of their life. So we're going to be talking about.

How to overcome negative thoughts.

Huge.

Is that even possible? Can that.

Because one of the scriptures that is a theme that runs through everything I preach is as a man thinketh, so is he in his heart, so is he the action. Verb. Think is the state of being. Verb. Is there's only one action that describes your state of being and it is your thought life. And you have to. You can't. You can't stop everything negative that wants to come through your head. But like I heard one man, it's.

Going to come like a firing squad.

But like I heard a mentor of mine say when I was going through a rough time, he said, you can't stop all the birds from flying over your head, he said, but you can keep one from making a nest.

That's right.

And so you have to know what to do with those thoughts. You have to know how to manage them because life is full of them. And so Ms. Heather is going to come and be sharing some thoughts on that about how she overcome that. But I'm excited because I like those topics that I know are going to hit everybody. Sometimes we hit those niche topics where, you know, there's only a certain part of the crowd that may, you know, may really be dealing with that. But there's. Let me tell you something. A negative Thought does not discriminate. It doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care what color you are. It doesn't care how much money you got or your education level. Everybody has to know what to do when they're bombarded with those thoughts.

So let's bring her on in. Come on, Heather.

Hello, Ms. Heather.

Hey, how are you guys?

Aren't you pretty today?

Thank you guys for having me. You guys are so humble. Yes, we're friends. We started off friends, but you became me and my husband's pastors. We're just so thankful for you guys. You guys are amazing.

We love you guys. Gonna be seeing you soon.

Yeah.

And be hanging out together for Easter. So when we tell you that we're friends, we're not just saying that we really do care about these people. They've become very precious to us. I'm gonna probably let y' all do more, and I'm just gonna throw some stuff in here and there, but I wanna. I wanna hear what she's got to say. You know, if I get started, I'm gonna preach.

Ron is not go.

What'll happen? I'm going to put my cough drop in my mouth, and I'm going to be quiet.

If you would, across the room. So, Heather, tell them. Tell them. Who is Heather? Lindsay, how did you live on Earth?

So, first, I'm married to Cornelius for Cornelius Lindsay for 12 years. We have three precious babies. I'm obviously a believer. I've been saved since about 2003. I am a speaker, an author. I've written probably about 10 books. I started a women's organization called Pinky Promise that grew to probably about 100,000 women really fast. And we had small groups all over the world of women coming together and building community and all that other good stuff. But I'm very much a businesswoman and an entrepreneur as well. I trade stocks, and I teach people how to trade stocks. I dabble in a lot of things. I've always been an entrepreneur and a businesswoman in that sense, so I like to keep my hands in multiple pots.

Yes, you do. Talk to us, Heather, about your upbringing. It's so interesting to me. It's so special and unique. It just warms my heart. So tell. Tell all the listeners about your family.

So I think I got my entrepreneurial spirit for my mother. I'm very resourceful. I'm like a very resourceful type person. And the reason I am is because first, I was adopted at the age of six months, and I have 24 sisters and brothers, y'. All.

What? Wait. Huh?

You need to stop right there and let everybody. What?

24, and we're all adopted except one. Wow. So you're being raised with people who have so much trauma, mentally, emotionally, and then 70% of my family members have some type of special need. Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, or just feeling rejected because you've been given up adoption. So my parents had this motto that they felt like love could heal anybody, right? So come on. So my mom always said, if I just love you, I can heal you and help you with the process. And she was so right. Like, she planted so many amazing seeds. But I still had a lot of junk in me that the Lord had to really just uproot out of me from even before I got into my family at six months. So I grew up watching my mother be a homemaker. My father worked for Ford in the factory, so it's not like he made a ton of money. But I watched my mom be very resourceful. I watched her flip horses and flip donkeys, and I joined 4H with my mom, and I said, okay. I watched my mom meet up with other parents, and they'd have the animals mate, and then they would sell the baby.

Wow.

I need to stop you right there. I was raised on a farm, but how do you flip a donkey?

So you flipped donkey?

I've never flipped a donkey.

So say we have the girl donkey, right? And the donkeys come together and mate. And then I delivered multiple donkeys and multiple horses. And what we do is we sell the baby. So we have sellers lined up.

Who's buying donkeys?

I would help my mom, and I would make $30 a month by helping her just take care of the farm. So every morning at 5am I'd be out there cleaning, you know, and we're from Michigan, so there was, like, snow everywhere, and it was a disaster. But I watch my mom figure out ways to provide and hustle, because Obviously my dad's one paycheck was not paying.

For everything, not for 24 kids.

I can only imagine our urban viewers in urban places when we sit here talking about flipping donkeys. I'm. I'm sure they said, who are these people? Listen, I thought she meant, like, flip it. I wanted to hear her. I. I wanted to hear her explain that resell, like, flipping a house.

They flip donkeys, we flipped animals, and that's how, you know, we made profit. But from there, I just grew up, ended up graduating, going to Michigan State University. I got radically saved and I just. The Lord put this fire in my belly, like, to say yes. He told me I was called to preach the gospel of Jesus, and millions of people would come into the knowledge of who he is through the ministry that he'll give me and my husband. And so he's put this fire in my belly. So I would preach to whoever would listen to me. And I didn't step on a stage until 10 years after I got saved. But prior to that, the Lord put me in the entertainment industry, so I did some hosting on television. I worked at a Universal music group, Isla Def Jam. So I just. It was so cool because I was able to connect with and plant so many seeds into the music industry. I worked with Kanye, Jay Z, Rihanna, you name it, I worked with them. And I worked in marketing, and it was so cool to be able to, you know, share Christ with them.

Absolutely.

I worked with Kanye a little bit, but I hadn't seen him in about four or five months.

Oh, my gosh, Heather. He is being Ron right now.

Yeah. Pray for Kanye for sure.

Yes, we do. We have to pray for Ron right now because he's telling stories.

I'm having negative thoughts.

You are a whole mess.

Go ahead.

You are a whole mess. Okay, so here you are in the secular world loving Jesus. Did you have any. Did you have any conflict?

Oh, yeah. It's funny. I remember the artist would come in and they would try to talk to me, and finally, people kind of started to catch on and say, oh, she's not interested. And I remember overhearing one of the VPs of A and R at the time say, she's a waste of a woman because she don't give up nothing.

Wow.

And I was just thinking, like, I'm glad I know my identity's in Christ. I'm not a waste. I'm valuable. Right? So I remember just being like, I don't even think to this day he knows that I heard him say that. But, you know, it's. They're not saved, so what do you expect, A boundary or standard? I played worship music, y'. All. I had a curse jar. Jay Z would come by and put a wad of hundreds in it and say, I have credit so I can curse. Right? So I knew. I knew I was in a dark place, and I knew God wanted me to be a light there, and I knew I couldn't bend. And I wasn't in awe by Beyonce. I wasn't in awe by all of them. I wanted everybody to get saved, right? So I just felt like God was using me to be a light in a dark place.

Absolutely.

You know what? This is not the topic that we're heading down, but I. So that's Kingdom to me.

It is.

Because the fact is, God didn't tell us to salt the salt. He said, you're the salt of the earth. And there's a lot of people that have been so Christianized, they can't function in a non Christian environment. And we got to learn how to get in those environments and let our light shine without being religious. The Bible says, let people see your good works and glorify God, not hear your verbiage all the time. And so I just salute you on the fact you are able to be in that environment and light it up. And I guarantee you've planted seeds you don't ever know about. You'll never know about them.

I believe it. And I've had bosses get saved after that. And I still talk to them to this day, and they're like, I was on my way to hell, but God used you. I've never seen anybody love the way that you love me and served me. And, I mean, it's just. I look back and I still talk to probably about 75, 80% of the people I work with at Def Jam, and they see me now and they're like, wow, everything you said you're gonna do, you're actually doing it. Like, I've watched you walk it out, and it's inspiring me to live for Jesus. So it's really cool.

I love it. Heather, at that point in your life, I mean, did you have any other, like, close friends? Did you have any Christian friends? Do you have anywhere to go? Did you have anywhere to fit? Did you. Were you part of a church?

Yeah, I found a church home. I went to about 33 churches looking for a church home. I'm one of those personalities where I'm going to keep going until it feels like home, right? And I'm like, God, you got to show me. You got to reveal it to me. So I would go. I went to everybody and their dad. I asked around. Tell me what church you go. You know, tell me what church you're going to. So I found a church home. And we didn't have a singles ministry because it was a new church. So I created the singles ministry and. And like, 30 of us would go out on a regular basis because I was like, I need community. So I would just invite all of them out, guys and girls, and we all just hung out. My very best friend, Delon who was with me when I got saved. She lived in another state, but she was like the person I went to to vent to. And today I still go to her to vet.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, because we have to have somewhere to go.

Yeah.

And I mean, you know, I vent to you even now you'll vent to me. You have to have these safe places and, you know, where do we go? Where does the church world go when we need help? And I want to just throw in right here while we're talking about this, you know, this, this group called Talkspace. Have you ever heard of Talkspace? It is an amazing place to go if you're struggling, if you're struggling with low self esteem or anxiety or these intrusive thoughts or your body image or problems in your relationship. And listen, with Talkspace, you get unlimited access to a licensed therapist. Where do you get that is not even heard of. Unlimited access with a licensed therapist who are trained in every field that you can think of. This gets you the one size fits one support that you need. You know, sometimes we feel like, well, this person only specializes in marriage and this one only specializes in mental health. But this place, Talkspace, all you do is sign up today, you go to talkspace.com and you get $100 off your first month with the promo code RONINHOPE. So that's $100 off on talkspace.com promo code RONANDHO. So go get you some help today. Don't say that. There's nowhere to go. We just offered you somewhere to go. All right.

I want to turn her loose in this topic and give her as much time as we can. And I'm going to tell you something. You've been around me long enough to know if I hear something and I get jacked about it, it's going to be hard for me to be quiet.

He's already shaking his head.

I mean, I brought my bible in on this one. This is the first podcast I brought my bible to. I mean, I'm ready. But there are people. You have the enemy talk, you have God talk, then you have self talk and the enemy throws things in our heads. The bible calls them fiery darts. But also not only that, sometimes if we have bad self image or we've been through trauma, been through hurt, abuse, whatever, our talk to ourself is not healthy. I just want to give you the platform now, Heather, to just talk about this was your struggle and this is how you overcame.

Sure, sure. When it comes to negative thinking, I'll be honest, even when I work at Def Jam. I can stand here and look back and say, wow, God did so much when I was there. But the amount of spiritual warfare and attack that I got on a regular basis was unreal, right? And I would get attacked every morning with thoughts of quitting or leaving. And it would get so hard. I would get cussed out on a reg basis. I would get, you know, people throwing stuff at me, like, while I'm working. Like, it was very toxic environment. And I had to let. I had to spend time with the Lord on a regular basis. I mean, it's so simple. But just going back to the basics, what are you filling yourself up with? I wasn't filling myself up with the music. I wasn't filling myself up with tv. I wasn't filling myself up with anything else. Then, okay, Lord, I'm gonna sit before you. I'm gonna get this word. I'm gonna listen to sermons. And now we've had podcasts, but now you have podcasts you can listen to, like, your guys's po. It's like, what are you feasting off of? That is what's going to fill you up in the midst of a hard time and in the midst of those times where those overwhelming thoughts are just coming against you. And something really practical that I do when I get attacked with negative thoughts is I had to do this. I had to step back because I felt like I was getting attacked nonstop. I pulled out the notes section on my phone, and I began to, just like you, budget. I began to budget and write down every single thought I was having morning, noon, and night if a negative thought was coming in. And then I began to notice, oh, I get attacked with more bad thoughts at night than I do in the morning, because in the morning I'm excited and ready to go, but at night, I'm really getting attacked. So what happens is you only need to do it for three or four days, and then you begin to recognize. Whoop. That negative thought. I reject that. In the name of Jesus, I speak this over that particular thought. No, I reject that. No, I'm not going to receive that. So doing just an audit on your own thoughts has helped me to recognize bad thoughts that are coming in.

Yeah, the enemy, he studies us.

Oh, yeah.

He knows our weakness. He knows when we're tired. He knows what ticks us off. So just. He knows when to attack us. He knows when to throw those fiery darts at us. So just as much as he studies us, we have to study his tactics as well.

I think the nature of a podcast is you get a side of people that maybe you don't get in the pulpit or in another environment. And I will tell you this, just being very transparent. I know what you're talking about. I didn't do what you did. You're extremely structured. I'm structured, but probably not as structured as you. But you actually tracked it. You tracked your attack. I don't know that I did that, but I do know when I'm more vulnerable than at other times. Like Sunday night. This is going to blow people's mind when they hear this. That is the most vulnerable time of my week is Sunday night. I cannot explain. I've asked, Hope, you know, if you're going to go out with two or three of the lady friends or you're going to make plans, don't do it Sunday night. I need you there with me on Sunday because I'm vulnerable to thoughts that I don't need to be thinking. I'm vulnerable to feeling ways I don't need to feel. I'm depleted, I'm empty. And you've given out on. Yeah, I've noticed that on Sunday night, if I get left alone, I start having thoughts that I don't seem to have the strength to fight because I'm so depleted that day. So I understand what you're talking about. But in my own life, those, usually the times after I've seen God do great things, is where I take the biggest dip and really have to fight those thoughts coming in and trying to take you, trying to suck you down in, like, a depression, you can get low. So that's interesting to me how you actually went in your phone and you tracked when is the worst time of the day. I think that's. I think that's wisdom.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah. I had to, because I'm like, I need to figure out where these thoughts are coming. Why am I thinking like that? And then I would look back and be like, okay, why am I thinking that? What door was opened? And then it helped me say, oh, you're mowing social media more at night, so now you're opening up yourself to more attacks. Right. So maybe at night I'm not on social media. I'm reading a book. I'm, you know, I'm doing other things. I'm reading my Bible, playing with my kids, just doing things, recognizing when I'm going to get attacked and saying, you know what?

Covering yourself.

Exactly. I'm gonna arm myself so I don't keep walking down that same road every. Like, if you get depressed every night, and when you're scrolling on social media, it's probably a sign. Maybe you're 19 and chilling every night by yourself and you're getting depressed. Okay, maybe you need to stop watching the dating shows. Right? Planting seeds in you that are gonna grow a harvest of depression, anxiety, worry, fear, doubt. And then you wake up the next morning, you're like, I don't feel good about myself. That came from somewhere. You gotta trace that trigger.

Absolutely. And Heather, I know because we have a relationship, you and I value so much the journey of healing, the process of healing that, you know, people probably listening think, oh, well, I've got so much going on in my life, and I've got X, Y, Z element of P that I deal with, and I don't know if I'll ever get out from under this. And Heather looks like she's doing great and got a great marriage and great kids and. But it is a journey, right? You overcame that years and years ago, but you're still overcoming this right now.

You still fight it.

It's a daily chore, every day, every single day. That's why it's like, some days and some seasons, you'll be fine and you'll be good. And then you realize, like, you know what? I'm not filling up like I used to. Now I'm burnt out. Now I'm tired. Now I'm overwhelmed. And so I've learned that just going back and feasting daily on the Word and getting back to the basics, getting back to the heart of worship, spending time with Jesus, giving him that portion of my day, has just changed my whole life. Because I realized when I'm not doing it, I'm irritable, I'm tired, I'm worn out, and then I'm out of balance. It's funny. The other night, the Holy Spirit called me Martha. As I was going to sleep, I was like, excuse me. And the Holy Spirit said, no, you're acting like Martha. And I was like, you know what? You're right. I need to practice being more like Mary. And Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, and she was so content in that she didn't feel like she had to hustle and work nonstop. Right. She was okay with resting so she could hear the voice of the Father and get instructions on what he wants her to do.

Yeah.

Can I. Can I tell you something right here? You're. You're not throwing out pop psychology. You're not. I didn't know where you was going to go. When Hope told me what the topic was I didn't know where you were going. You're talking so practical and I love that because the things you're talking about, people don't do. And it's the simple thing you're talking about. Just having a worship life, having a life of focus on Jesus, devotional time, putting good things inside yourself. You know, it's amazing to me, people watch horror movies and don't understand why they have fear, right? And they do not put the two together. They don't put the two together and they don't understand. Well, I couldn't sleep last night. I was up till 4 o'. Clock. Well, what did you watch? Well, we watched Friday the 13th, Part 3, 4 and 5. I mean, you know. So in other words, you have taken a very practical stance. This causes this. But if I do this, this causes this. And the fact is, it is a simple process of sowing and reaping. What you put in you is going to determine your thoughts and feelings.

Just like Heather being a vegan. She can't put certain things in her body or certain things will happen.

Okay, I need to tip on out during this next little segment, right?

She doesn't eat. What don't you eat, Heather? Come on, tell us what you don't eat.

I don't eat meat. I don't eat dairy. I don't eat anything with a mama.

Nothing with a mama.

Nothing with a mama.

I'm gonna cook her a big old ribeye. I'm gonna cook her. I'm gonna cook her a big old ribeye.

We've tried to cook her a ribeye and a hamburger and all kind of things. She won't do it.

You couldn't pay me to eat meat. But do you know your own cells regenerate after 35 days based on what you're eating? And I just, I took that same practical tip and I said, okay, what am I putting in my spirit, right? Am I spending time with God? Am I being intentional? Because as long as I'm renewing my mind and being intentional, I'm going to see the results I want in my life.

That's so good.

If I'm not guarding my heart, I'm not renewing my mind, then what's going to come after 35 days is a harvest that I don't want, right?

You're saying after 35 days, hope. Sales could regenerate off Ruffles potato chips.

Yes.

Yeah. And they regenerate in the form of fat.

Exactly. That's not good. You could do a fast or a diet for 35 days, and you'll begin to see right results. Your skin will start glowing spiritually, as.

It is in the natural, so it is in the spirit. As it is in the natural, so it is.

People don't want to hear this practical stuff, you know, they just don't want to hear, you know, oh, well, when have you spent time with the Lord lately? You know, what are you putting in your ears? What are you reading? What are you listening to? People don't want to hear that.

No. And I love that Pastor Ron, he just preached on this a couple of weeks ago. It's like, sometimes you become so spiritual, right? But sometimes you need to be practical ways, right? Like, some of y' all are so spiritual that you're imbalanced with the practical. You're like God, you know, give me a six pack. But in the natural, you're eating donuts every single night. Right? You see what I'm saying? Or you're working out nonstop and your body snatched, but you feel empty on the inside. So we figure out a way to balance that.

Yeah. Bishop Jakes told me many, many years ago, sitting across a table at lunch, he said, ron, you are a physical being. You're an emotional being. That's what he told me. He said you're a sexual being. He said you're a mental being. He said, and if any of those parts of you are neglected, he said, there's consequences. And I came from a background where it was all spirit. Nobody took care of their body. Nobody taught. I may have even heard mental health even mentioned. Nobody. Nobody took care of their soulish man and their emotion. No, it was all get down at the altar and warfare and pray it through. And so you had people that were spiritual giants, but they were dying when they were 45 of heart disease and this and that and other. So I know when I was a few weeks ago and I said that, I think the exact quote was, so many times we get more spiritual when we should be getting more discipline. So good, we need to be putting disciplines in place. Because the same thing with these negative thoughts is the same way with sin. I preach to men about porn. I preach to men about other types of addictions. The Bible says, make no provision for the flesh because the flesh will seize every opportunity afforded it. And I'm saying, some of you, your freedom is just as simple as closing a door. Close the door, close the access points, remove it. I tell people, when I came out of my teenage years and I got saved and I wanted to serve God, I did not Want to be a hypocrite, Man, I hate hypocrisy. And I didn't want to be a guy who had a public life and a secret sin. And so I had a lot of porn in me. And the only way I knew to overcome it, I didn't have a book, I didn't have a counselor. But what I did was I put barriers between it and me. I tell the story. When I used to go preach when I was young, back then, it was TV and cable. It wasn't Internet. So you could get all the little movies and stuff in your hotel room. I would literally call the hotel manager before I got there and tell them, take the cable box out of the room.

Wow.

Take it out of the room. Well, sir, we don't do that. Okay, well, I'm not staying at your hotel tonight. I mean, literally, I was that adamant about it, and people say, well, Pastor, I'm so disappointed. I figured you'd be free from that. I'm like, I don't know if I'm free from it, because I'm not going to test it. I'm going to put so many walls between it and me that it can't get to me, starve it. I just had to throw that in.

It's like an alcoholic saying, you know, I can go to a bar. Why would you do that?

And you're going to end up drunk.

Yeah. Why would you do that?

So we keep jumping in. Go ahead. I want you to tell some other practical ways where you deal with the intrusive thoughts you were talking about. I got to find out where they come from. What do you think the origin was? Was it past hurts? Where do you think that came from?

Well, I think we have the generation before us, right, Was very much like, sweep it under the rug. Just pray about it. Just let it go and don't talk about it. Right? Don't talk about it. Really just, you know, because that means that you don't believe, right? But I had to go back to that place and figure out why I'm bleeding. Like, why do I keep thinking rejection thoughts? Why do I keep thinking depression thoughts? Why do I keep thinking like this? Like, why am I overspending? Like, where did this come from? Let me go back and figure out why I'm bleeding and stay there long enough so I can get healed and so God can start to renew the right foundation within me. So, again, practically, I mean, just going to therapy. I know we've talked about this many times, going to therapy, you know, listening to Sermons, just watching what you're putting on the inside. Watching and guarding your heart against certain people that you know are speaking negatively into your life. I don't have relationships with people that speak. Just speak negatively. Like, unless it's a mentor, mentee relationship where I'm pouring into them. But I don't surround myself with toxic people because I know what's on them will get on me because bad company corrupts good character. And I'm really just working on something. So I have naturally distanced myself from people that are constantly toxic. Like, I'm here if you need help. I'm here to pray from you. I'm here to encourage you. But you can't keep dumping that on me over and over again.

Right?

Yeah. And I love the scripture. Think on these things.

Yeah.

Four, eight, something like that.

Think on these things. It is a clear map roadmap to tell you where to put your mind one, so that you stay in peace. And it's all positive things. It's all good things. But our natural tendency is to think about everything that's wrong. Oh, we're dwelling on, oh, my kids are struggling in school, or, oh, my marriage is this. Or, oh, my body is sick with that. And we dwell on it and think about it and talk about it. And the Bible says, no, no, no, no, no. Think on these things. Think on the good things. What's right in your life, not what's wrong in your life. What's praiseworthy in your life, not what's dragging you down. I remember with Chaz, our. One of our children really struggled with anxiety and OCD growing up. I mean, severely. I mean, from the time he was 5 to about 12. And the Lord gave me that strategy for him. I took a writing board, and I took that scripture, and I put, whatsoever things are lovely, pure, praiseworthy, good report. And I would make him list it because his mind would go to all the things that might happen that were bad. And so I started every night making him list, okay, chess. What are all the things that are good in your life? What are the things that are. Pray. What. What can we give God praise for today? About your life that's going on. What is true in your life? What is wrong right in your life? And when you start thinking about that, literally, his anxiety and his obsessive thoughts begin to dwindle down lower and lower and lower. And when he was 12 years old, he weaned himself off all medicine and went into public school where he had to be homeschooled. He was on medicine Every day we.

Would record confessions, and he would go to sleep at night and put headphones and go to sleep at night with those things being spoken of. Because his struggle was intense.

It was very intense.

It was very intense. And it was very tough to watch as a mom and dad. But we got in there and we fought with him and we found ways to overcome. But let me talk about the fighting aspect. Let me go here. Let me talk about the spiritual aspect. You said some things practically I've never even thought about, but spiritually, the Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. We're a little bit older than you, not a ton, but we're out in front of y' all a little bit. And I came up. You remember the big spiritual warfare movement? It was. Everything was spiritual warfare. I mean, hunting down a demon, spiritual warfare conferences and deliverance conferences, and we waving our banners and we fighting. I mean, I remember when I got saved, there was this. Yeah, there was this. I remember people coming out in fatigue and preaching. You know, it was just this big spiritual warfare movement. So, you know, my concept of a stronghold was this demonic figure out there with long teeth and drool dripping from its mouth, you know, horns and a red fork tail. But the fact is, a stronghold is not in the sky. Stronghold's between your ears.

It's here.

This is a stronghold. A stronghold, by definition is when you believe a lie to be true.

Yeah.

When you believe a lie to be truth. In the Bible, light is knowledge, darkness is ignorance. And Jesus said, if the light in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? In other words, he said, if the things you believe are dark, he said, how great. I think that's the thing. It seems like the dark thoughts are easier to grab hold of than the light even Jesus referred to. He said, if the light in you, if the knowledge you have darkness, he said, how great is that darkness? So the Bible says right here, let me read it. This is why I brought it out, because I knew we were going here for the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down. So they're defined now. Arguments, high things and knowledge, arguments, high things and knowledge that come against the knowledge of God. When you have a thought that causes you to argue with what God said, that's an intrusive thought. Because some people say what thoughts are bad and what thoughts. Because it's like when you Bluetooth to your car and somebody calls and it comes up on your screen, you can accept or Reject. The thoughts come all the time, but you get to choose if you hit the accept or the reject button. And so when I have that thought that is arguing, well, I know God wants me blessed, but then I have this thought that's arguing.

I see my bank account.

Yeah. And the debt that I have, and I start trying to make a strategy and a plan, and all of a sudden those thoughts start coming that argue against what God said. And I can put that in any category. And knowledge that exalts itself against it's fighting the knowledge of God. Those are thoughts that have to be pulled down. And the reject button, the Bible says, bringing them into captivity. But in a practical sense, you get to choose whether or not the thought gets to stay. And it is a proven fact that I learned when Hope and I went through our marital restoration. I didn't know this, but our counselor told us. We had a ministry counselor then we had a licensed psychologist. The psychologist said, it is a scientific fact, Heather, that if you have a thought and you allow it to stay for 30 seconds or longer, it is immediately accompanied by a feeling. Then you have to fight the thought and the feeling. And the feeling is usually stronger than the thought. So you have a depressed thought. So you got 30 seconds to pull that thought down, because if not, then you're going to have a depressed feeling and a depressed thought. Any more things you would like to tell people who are out there and you know they're being bombarded on a daily basis?

Well, I love what you said. You have to open up your mouth and speak against it or capture that thought and make it submit to God's word. We know that from Second Corinthians. And I just want to encourage you guys. Like, something I had to learn is that I would continue to think negative thoughts. And I realized after I started studying what's happening with my thoughts, that I'm creating neural pathways in my brain. And it's almost like you're walking in a field and you walk the same trail every day. And now there's like this. This trail that's been created because you've been going down that same road over and over again. So I had to say, you know what? I need the grass to grow back on that field in my brain, right? So when I begin to think good thoughts and capture those thoughts and speak to it, because life and death is in the power of the tongue, I begin to speak back to those negative thoughts. And the thing is, you can't speak back to something that you don't know if you're not opening up your word and having the word of God.

You don't know how to combat it.

How can you fight back if you don't have. If you're fighting back with physical means. Right. So saying, all right, well, I feel worried today. Well, what is the Bible? Matthew 6, 33. So it's taking these thoughts captive over and over again. And what happens is the more you practice it, the more naturally your mind will go there and then that field will grow back in your brain. And you say, you know what? I don't used to worry like I used to. And I don't feel down like I used to. Like, it's so amazing. You created a new path, you created a new pathway.

What did Dr. Carolyn Leaf say that physically in the brain about you can literally recreate the grooves in your brain. Yeah. That you have those neural pathways. But they actually, I mean, there's a difference between the mind and the brain. The mind is the consciousness, the brain is the organ. But you can literally, with your thought life, reshape the brain, the organ. That is crazy to me.

That is power right there. Yeah. So your tomorrow does not have to look like your today. That is good gospel news. But it took a while to create your today, and it's going to take a while to create a new tomorrow. But you got to start somewhere.

Yeah. I've done extensive teaching in this area. In fact, the Most popular, most YouTubed, most CD and DVD bought series I've ever had is one called Mind World. And I spent 12 weeks talking about the world of the mind. And basically what I was trying to tell people is, you know, something I hear all the time as a minister, from other leaders, ministers, people, businessmen, feel like they're stuck. I'm stuck, you know, And I tell people, I said, you're really not stuck in your life, you're stuck in your mind. And if you ever move your mind somewhere, your life will follow. And so whatever it is I want to do, my mind has to go there first. Whatever I want to be, my mind has to go there first. And my state of being will follow my thought life. Because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So if I were change my ears, I've got to change my thoughts. Because the situations in which we live in. I know everybody won't say the devil did it and I've been attacked, but the fact is, most of the life that Ron Carpenter is living, it's because I thought myself all the way there. And people have got to understand the priority of making sure it's healthy. What is going on in their head.

Yeah. Heather, tell our listeners how they can find you. And Pastor Cornelius, you are on Instagram. You're everywhere. Tell us what you're doing.

So, yes, you can find me on Instagram, Heather L love. And my husband's. This is Cornelius. And then we're on Facebook. Just Heather Lindsay. Twitter, Heather l Love as well.

And you guys don't live in Atlanta, Georgia, anymore. You're over on the West Coast.

Love la. Oh, my. It's such a dream. Dream here. Yes. The fact. I know we talked about practical tips, but just getting your vitamin D, just going outside.

Right.

It's just. It's so good for your mental health. So good for your.

And you guys are in the process of planting a church.

I didn't know if y' all wanted to let the cat out the bag. Can you. Can you. Can you say a little bit about that?

Yeah. So we're planning a church in the LA area and we're really excited. We're really just, you know, seeking the Lord on it right now. But we just feel like there is a void in our area of a life giving church. So we're really excited about.

And we are walking programs with you.

Yep. We believe in you guys and we love you guys. I just. I want to tell those that are watching this podcast, I want to tell you to be encouraged because, number one, you're not alone. A lot of times people fight battles and they think I'm the only person in the world dealing with them.

There's nobody living, breathing who does not.

Battle the people that get up and the people that get up and write books telling you how to think positive have negative thoughts. Everybody has to struggle with these things where we don't think good about ourself or the enemy throws something in there. And it does not need to be.

In there, but you can dominate it.

You can. You have to learn to manage it. You have to learn to overcome it and make it subject to you and you not be subject to it. There's a lot more that could be said right there, but I'm glad we got to be able to share some of these things with everybody.

Thank you so much for being with us. I love you. You.

Thank you. Love you guys.

Look forward to seeing you guys real soon. Thank you for being our guest today. We appreciate it.

Bye, y'.

All. Bye.

Bye. Listen, if you want to find out more about Ron and Hope Carpenter, we're. We're just a little bit of everywhere aren't we? We're on TikTok. We are on Facebook. Instagram.

Makes me tired hearing you say it. Yeah.

Yeah. We do this podcast.

We're do, pray and slay. We do. Ask me anything. We do I church. Church on the weekends. If you would like to be a part of our virtual if you'd like to be a member, a participant of redemption, but you can't come to one of our physical locations, we have I church, our kids, our youth, our prayer, our groups. We got I everything. And over Covid, it's seen a huge explosion, so I just want to invite people in. We're physically on the west coast. We're physically on the west coast or the east. Greenville, South Carolina, if you're within that region. And of course, the Bay Area, slash Silicon Valley of California, San Jose. Come see us if you're in that area. We would love to see you. And until next time, this is running Hope Carpenter. And we're real raw and we're relevant.

Raw. He said raw. We're real raw and relevant.

Let him go. Let him go.

Bye, y'. All.