Kingdom Mothers Rise Up

Discerning Thoughts, Emotions, And God’s Voice

• Mukkove - The Mom Mentor • Season 4 • Episode 7

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What if the pain you’ve been trying to bury is actually pointing you toward peace? We open up a simple, compassionate framework for turning chaos into clarity by writing down your thoughts, mapping emotions, and learning to recognize the tone of God’s voice versus the sting of accusation. Instead of forcing change or chasing formulas, we slow down and build a practical toolkit you can return to anytime life feels loud.

We start by getting everything on paper—no judgment, just awareness. Then we highlight emotions, separate “I” statements from “you” statements, and link feelings to the thoughts they follow. That one-page snapshot uncovers where shame clings, where fear leads, and where an inner critic has been running the show. From there, we move into the cleanup toolkit: hearing God for specific guidance, choosing curiosity over self-judgment, practicing real forgiveness that releases debt without excusing harm, and engaging in specific repentance that realigns beliefs and behavior with truth.

We also explore how hidden agreements and lifelong vows—like “I’ll handle it myself” or “I’ll never be like them”—quietly power anxiety and perfectionism. Learn how to break those agreements, invite discernment that doesn’t re-traumatize, and set a healthy pace that respects your capacity. We talk about when to seek help, why safe community accelerates healing, and how to receive a word, picture, or promise from God that replaces lies with lasting peace.

If you’re longing to quiet intrusive thoughts, grow in spiritual discernment, and experience God’s kindness in the places that hurt, this guide is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review to tell us which tool helped you most.

Heart Doodling with Jesus is a monthly membership with live workshops and practical tools for growing spiritually and emotionally mature.

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A Practical Framework, Not Theory

Step One: Write Everything Down

Marking Emotions And Statements

Attaching Feelings To Thoughts

Introducing The Cleanup Toolkit

Hearing God And Gaining Guidance

Curiosity Over Judgment

Forgiveness And Specific Repentance

Breaking Agreements And Old Vows

Discernment Without Re-Traumatizing

Community, Pace, And Self-Listening

Receiving God’s Truth And Next Steps

Coaching Invitation And Closing

SPEAKER_00

Could the path to truly embracing God's peace lie in the very pain you've been trying to bury? This video isn't about ignoring your pain. It's about learning to discern the messages that are in it. Discover how to distinguish between your own thoughts and what God is saying to you, and even what's coming from your past trauma. You can unlock spiritual healing that transforms your past pain into a foundation for peace and confidence and a deeper connection with God. This isn't a theoretical discussion. I'm going to walk you through a simple process that I use with my clients where you can develop your ability to know where the thoughts are coming from and what to do with them. Here's an overview of the steps, and then I'll come back and go through them more in depth. The first step is to write down your thoughts and your emotions. No judgment, just writing it down to see what's there. Putting it on paper often brings an instant clarity and it creates a literal space between you and your thoughts and your emotions. After you've written your thoughts and feelings down on the page and grab another color or just use a specific way of marking and go through and just mark all the emotions. We're not judging them or sitting with feeling with them right now, just marking them. Then you're going to go through and do the same to mark I statements in a particular way and mark you statements in a particular way with another color. Then you're going to attach the emotions to the thoughts. And then we're going to go through the cleanup process. So let's look at this going through this process a little deeper. So step one is to write it all down. Every thought and feeling that you are aware of when you are feeling overwhelmed as you think of a particular situation or relationship, or if you're just doing it for curiosity, like just right now. As an example, I did like what are my thoughts and emotions around making this video? Taking the time to write down your thoughts and feelings is powerful. It gives you distance, which changes your perspective. It gives you clarity when you see how they're connected, gives them space to just be. It helps you see you are separate from your thoughts and feelings. You experience them. So take a few minutes right now and write down all the thoughts and feelings that you're aware of around a particular situation or relationship. Like I said, my example was around making this video. You can write in a bullet list, full paragraphs, randomly around the page, or any other way that works for you. There's nothing special about how you write it down. The power is in writing it down. When you're done writing it down, choose a color or a way that you're going to mark the emotions. My example, I used bright pink. I circled all the emotions, and we're just acknowledging that they're there. We're not trying to fix them, we're not condemning them or sending them away. There might be some that you like and others that you rather weren't there, and that's all okay, and that's normal. After you've circled your emotions, we're going to do step three, and you're going to mark. If you have different colors, you can just circle them a different color, or you can underline or make a box or whatever. I did mine in blue. So I statements are your thoughts. And we need to sort those thoughts of whether they're true or not, whether we want to throw them in the trash, or whether we need to do some cleanup around them, or whether we are going to keep them. If you can easily see a thought is not true, then we're going to trash it. If there's something that you're not sure about, or like you know it's not true, but it feels pretty true, we're going to get to that in step six. Step four is to identify any you statements that are on your page. I circled mine in orange. And at first this might seem kind of strange, but you might have written down, I can't get this right, or you might have written down, you can't get this right. And that one-word difference is huge because we don't talk to ourselves in you statements. If we believe I can't get this right, that's one thing. If someone else is telling us you can't get this right, and it's in our head, that's the enemy. It might sound like someone else, like a real person who has told us those things, but really it's the spirit behind that that's still keeping that going in our head. And so we don't want to keep those statements. And sometimes as soon as you see that, like, oh, that's not me, it's easy to trash. Other times it's not, which is why we have the cleanup process. So in step five, we're going to attach the emotions to the thoughts that they go with on the page. And they don't all have to be attached. Some emotions will be attached to more than one thought. Multiple emotions can be attached to the same thought. All of that is good and normal. Emotions are an important part of discerning what God is saying and what the enemy is saying, because what God is saying carries hope and peace, even if it's bringing correction. Versus when the enemy is talking to us, it just feels yucky. Like I can feel the bullying on those statements of like, why bother? And you're never gonna make this work. And it carries shame and condemnation, accusations, because Satan is the accuser of the brethren. So he accuses us to ourselves as well as accusing us to the Lord. And again, if there's statements that you see, like, oh, that's not even my thought, but it still feels true. That's why we have the cleanup process. So don't worry about whether you can think no beating yourself up because you're like, oh, I know that's not true, but it still feels so true, and I'm still acting like it's true. We're just being aware right now. We're not condemning ourselves over where we're at. We're just being honest about where we're at. So step six is the cleanup process. And I'm calling it the cleanup step because it's a lot like cleaning your house. In your house, you have one-time projects that need to be done, you have regular maintenance things that need to be done, and then sometimes there's a bigger project or even like a renovation that you might be doing on your house where you might need some help. And taking care of your soul is the same. There's some kind of one-time project so you can clean that up and be done with it. There's things that are gonna take a little more work and regular maintenance, and there's things where it's really wise to get help with them instead of trying to deal with them on your own. So we've dealt with the easy stuff so far. Now we're gonna go a little deeper. Each time that you go through this cleanup process, it will look different because it's not like a prescription of you have to do all these things in a certain order. It's more of a toolbox, like when you're cleaning your house. You don't use the same tools, the same cleaners on every project. You just use what you need. So this is just like a cleanup toolkit that has different things that you might need at different times. So the tools in your toolbox to talk about today are hearing from God because He will lead you into what other tools you need. So you want to always want to be following His lead. Curiosity, you want to be curious to ask God questions, ask yourself questions, and to be aware, ask yourself questions about why the lies feel true and about why you feel the way you feel. Forgiveness, letting go of the debt that someone owes you, repentance, seeing where you've missed it and adjusting, renouncing, breaking agreement with the lies that you've believed or wrong vows that you've made, discernment. We've been talking about that and sorting out the thoughts that's part of discernment, but there's more to it. Um, listening to yourself as you go through the process. How are you responding and reacting? What's your capacity? What's your experience? And the final one I'm going to share is receiving from God because he always replaces the lies with truth and gives us beauty for ashes. So in hearing from God, I encourage you to daily practice listening for God's voice, however, he chooses to communicate with you. It can be in words, in your mind, or pictures, colors, feelings, scriptures, songs, and more. He's so creative. The reason I encourage you to learn how God communicates with you is because that's what has made all the difference for me. Those intrusive thoughts, the inner critic, the feeling of being pathetic that just wouldn't go away, all become quiet in his presence and the sound of his voice. And it's vital to this cleanup process that he's taught me. Because, like I said, we don't want to take the whole entire toolbox and try and apply it to every situation. We want his guidance to say this is the tool you need now. Maybe sometimes you need all of them, but we don't want to try and apply all of them if we don't need all of them. Because for years I tried following the formulas in the checklists to, you know, have joy, to just let it go and let God and trust and stop being angry and stop treating yourself that way, only to be left the same or worse, because I just felt like, well, I did that and it didn't work. So there must be something extra wrong with me. But once I began to spend time listening to his voice, I saw change. I saw how he could always speak to just the right place so I could believe him. I could receive a little bit more of his love and his grace, and I could experience him accepting me as I was. And that changed me. So that's why that's the first tool in the cleanup kit for, like I said, we want God to guide us through the process. We don't want to be trying to do this on our own wisdom and our own strength. Because he knows if you need to follow every step of the plan someone is teaching, or if you only need one or two of those tools. If you're listening to his voice, then you won't be repenting of something that you didn't need to repent of. You actually need to forgive somebody, or you won't be spinning out in confusion about who you need to forgive when you thought you already did all that. Another important reason to follow his lead is to know how deep to go and at what pace you can handle. Trying to fix things faster than you can currently handle sets you back. And God gives you the wisdom also about if there's a friend or a mentor or a professional that you need to help you get through this particular cleanup process. Remember that when you're first learning to do anything, it takes time to learn. And so having a mentor, a coach, someone that can walk you through the process and show you where you're getting it right and where you need to adjust is powerful in this process, just like learning any other skill. So make the time to ask God questions, make time to listen for the answers. I highly recommend doing this daily, even outside of the cleanup process, just so that you begin to learn how he communicates with you and begin to recognize that. You can write down a question and then reframe the question as the answer so that you can just keep writing. So you can say, God, what do you like about me? And then write what I like about you is and just keep writing and see what comes out of your spirit, see what he speaks to you. And this cleanup process that can look like saying, God, what do I need to do to clean this up? And what you need to do to clean up is and see what he says and what he leads you to. And the act of writing out your thoughts instead of just trying, not writing out your thoughts. The act of writing the question to God and then writing his answer and continuing to write helps you to listen for what he's saying as opposed to trying to think of what he's saying. So we don't want your thoughts, we want his thoughts. So we have to be listening for those. The next tool is curiosity, and that might seem like a strange tool, but it's really important, especially if you grow up in a very legalistic or just critical judgmental environment where you were always evaluating everything and trying to figure out if it was good or bad or right or wrong. Being curious is childlike and it puts you in more of a place to hear what God's saying, to see what he's doing, being open to things, just that curiosity. So, not to be childish and immature, but to be childlike and have that sense of wonder, to learn new things and to be curious about stuff. And why does this work this way? And why is that happening? Why did I respond that way? Why did I think that when I felt this way? Being curious to like, how am I feeling right now? What are the thoughts that I've attached to these feelings or to this situation? Um, so be curious. Ask questions like Jesus, what do I need to clean up? Why did the why I feel the way I do? Or when did I first believe this lie? Who taught me this lie? Where is Jesus? What is he doing? Is there anyone I need to forgive? Is there anything I need to confess? Is there anyone I need to speak to? Is this thought mine? Or is this feeling mine? What does God have for me? Again, these are just questions in the toolbox. You may only need the first one, or you may need questions I didn't put on the list. They're just here as suggestions to get you started. And be curious about your answers. Don't feel like you need to do anything with them right away. If God shows you what to do, then follow his lead. But it's okay to just be curious for a while too, if you didn't get a clear instruction of what to do next. Then forgiveness, that's a big topic. It's gotten confused with making excuses, endorsing bad behavior, and denying your experience and more. But the forgiveness that God asks of you and gives to you is none of those things. Forgiveness is seeing the damage done by someone and deciding you aren't going to require payment from them. It sets you free from being the enforcer of justice, which is a job you can't do anyway. You can set limits, you can create distance and whatever you need to do based on someone else's behavior. Because reconciliation is not the same as forgiveness. You can forgive someone who isn't sorry. Jesus did that on the cross. And not everyone he forgave chose to reconcile with him. They chose to remain separated. So there will be people in your life who will choose the same. It doesn't mean that you haven't forgiven or that you've done something wrong. Repenting is a powerful tool because it means agreeing with God about what's right and wrong, and then aligning your thoughts and actions to God's ways. That's much more than saying, I'm sorry. And it's not a guilt trip, it's not a time for beating yourself up about your mistakes, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's an itation to realignment. And I love to use journaling or heart joodling with Jesus for this repentance process, because by writing down the way that you have been thinking and the way that you have been acting and the role that your emotions have been playing in there helps you see very specifically where you're out of alignment with God and his ways. And then you can very specifically see where things need to be adjusted, where lies need to be replaced with truth, where this behavior needs to be replaced with a healthier behavior. And it just is so much clearer than God, I'm sorry. I'm gonna do better. So being very specific, like I'm sorry I didn't trust you, becomes I was afraid you wouldn't come through. I was believing I needed to fix it. I tried to manipulate and control the situation by trying to make everyone happy. So much difference. I'm sorry I don't trust you. Now I'm gonna try and trust you more, but how am I gonna trust you more? Well, by remembering I'm not in control, I can't fix this. It's not up to me to try and manipulate the outcome. I need to manage my part and let everybody else manage their part, including God. So now you can choose, you can see, you can see specific thoughts and actions that need to change and receive God's grace and mercy right in those places to see things from his perspective. And sometimes in the cleanup process, God will show you where you made an agreement with the lies of the enemy or where you made a vow that gave the enemy access to harass you. Those thoughts that you could see were lies, but really felt true, often have agreements attached to them. Anywhere that you made an agreement with a lie, you need to repent of that and speak out that you're breaking that agreement with the lie, that you no longer are agreeing to think that way. Vows are similar in that you made an agreement with a vow you decided to do or not do something. Sometimes it's just a passing thought or something innocent or that even seems wise. I'm never going to be like my mom. I won't yell at my kids. I can take care of myself. But these vows give the devil a both give the devil a place to harass us. Anytime now that you do something like your mom, he can point out how you failed and broke your vow. He'll even use it against you if you're doing something good, but it's like your mom did. Because you said you would never be like her. So you could be doing something that's positive that she did, and he will still use that to harass you. And of course, he's not using those words or being so obvious. It's subtle and nagging on the inside, which is why putting it on paper is so powerful. It brings things to light where they can be seen for what they are and be cleaned up. So you can look and see, are there any vows that are attached to the thoughts on your list? There might not be. And that's why this is just a framework and not a like you have to do this, because there's not always going to be a vow to break or an agreement to break. But I want you to be aware of the tool in case God's like, yeah, you need to deal with this. So Holy Spirit will lead you to when and where you need to use the different tools, which is why discernment is a tool in the toolbox. So I've talked about using it here to sort your thoughts from your emotions, to sort your thoughts from God's thoughts, God's thoughts from the enemy's thoughts. As you grow, you'll learn to discern between soul and spirit, your emotions and others' emotions, and more. It's a very important skill to learn. And emotions play a big part in that. If you're feeling shame, condemnation, or confusion, the enemy is behind that. Because God brings the fruit of the spirit and his character, peace and kindness and hope. So after you see or discern that you have believed a lie, part of cleaning it up is to understand when you first believed it. What were the circumstances? Allow Holy Spirit to guide you to what you need to know and what you don't. There is no reason to dig up pain and hurt that God is not exposing. This is not a like go back and think of all your trauma. It's not go back and put yourself in that situation. It's just asking God what you need to know in order to clean this up. And he is not into traumatizing you. So don't try and force something that's not there. Because when difficult things happen, the enemy is right there offering explanations and solutions to our situations. And those lies often get planted in our heart when we're too young to understand. Satan loves to take advantage of children and he will tell them the situation is their fault, that God can't be trusted, they need to take care of themselves. So a lot of these vows and agreements happen when we're kids because it seems like that's what has to happen for us to be okay. Along with discerning where the lies came from and what steps are needed to clean them out, you also need discernment to see when to get help. We're built for a community. And the hurts and damage that is done by people often require new healthy experiences with people to be fully healed. And I create that community and that space for my clients in small group coaching programs where you can safely face your hurt and the impact of that and have a new experience to grow and rebuild and heal. Another tool is listening to yourself so that you notice if you're getting overwhelmed, if you're taking on too much, or if you need help. Healing isn't a race. And I understand wanting to get everything cleaned up so you can just move on with life and be done with the pain and the confusion. And I also know that doing too much at once just sets you back and keeps you there longer. So you get farther faster by taking small steps. So listen to Holy Spirit and listen to yourself because God will not push you to do more damage. He only pushes you enough to grow. So do the same for yourself. Learning that balance of when is this pushing myself enough that I'm going to still grow from this, or when is it pushing enough that it crosses that line and now I've re-injured myself and now I have more to heal from. And the final tool that I'm going to mention in this video is receiving from God. And this is a lot like where we started, a lot like listening to him. But what I'm talking about here is more specifically asking him for a word or a picture or a promise that replaces the lies or the hurt that you've just cleaned up in your cleanup process. And receiving that love, receiving the gifts that he has for us can take practice, especially if you came from an environment where what you were told was love wasn't really love. God understands that and he's okay with you practicing. If you would like a safe place to practice, you can reach out to find out about one of my coaching groups. If you want to learn more about using this cleanup process, you can join me in the Healing Generations school community. And I will see you next time.