Do you dread seeing the words #motivationmonday pop up on your social media feed at the start of a new week?

Maybe you are still weighed down by what you didn’t finish or fix last week. Or maybe you’re worried you won’t be able to stem the tide of to-dos on this week’s list.

Or maybe, like me, it’s not about your attitude. Maybe you struggle with mental health challenges that make the idea of “motivating” yourself to do more—to do anything, for that matter—a near impossibility.

When it feels like your nervous system is in charge, “mind over matter” motivation isn’t always useful. However, let me suggest an alternative: mind renewal.

When I struggled with daily physical anxiety symptoms, I returned to the promise of Matthew 6:33:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

I couldn’t control how my body felt from day to day, sometimes minute to minute, but I could control where I put my mind’s attention and choose to meditate on God’s word to combat anxious thoughts. I started a note called “key verses” on my phone, saving scriptural truths to refute the lies that would plague me during anxious moments so I could refer to them easily.

As Paul explains in Romans 12:2, we are “transformed by the renewal of your mind:” The word “transformed” in this passage, metamorphoo in Greek, means a literal metamorphosis—to change into another form. It’s the same word used to describe the transfiguration of Jesus in Mark 9!

I was desperate for a physical transformation (permanent relief from anxiety symptoms), but God’s word provided me with a mental transformation. Rather than focusing on how I felt or what I could or couldn’t do, I learned to redirect my thoughts to what is true and what God’s word says about it.

Although we won’t be physically transformed like Jesus until He comes again (1 Cor. 15:51), I’ve seen the “proof” Paul says our renewed minds will produce.

I don’t dread Mondays anymore, and I have memorized truths to adjust my perspective. I’ll be sharing these verses here and on my Instagram account @thepaceofgrace_reneegotcher every week for “Monday Mind Renewal” so you can easily save them for when you need these reminders and spread the encouragement by sharing them.