As a youngster, I used to frequent the Saturday afternoon shows at the theater with a girlfriend. We both loved watching the latest vampire movies. There was just enough scare in them to make us feel frightened and just enough corniness in them to make us both laugh while walking all the way back home. 

                A Vampire’s Life

We watched enough of these Saturday afternoon matinees that I understood the confines of a vampire’s life. 

First, they only came out at night because the sunlight, for some reason, took their power away. Secondly, they never entered a house through the front door, instead, it was always by way of the balcony. 

Also, if you put a cross between them and you, for instance a piece of jewelry in the shape of a cross, the blood sucking vampire would slink away. Finally, the only way to really kill a vampire was to drive a wooden stake through their heart. Only then would they be dead forever.  

Recalling these old movies about vampires reminds me of how victim thinking, at times, creeps into my mind. It comes stealthily, under the cover of darkness and makes its way to my peaceful repose. Then, it sucks the life right out of me. 

My greatest trap of falling into victim thinking is when I’ve been blamed by someone for something. Intellectually, I know I’m not in charge of anyone’s happiness, I have no control over anyone’s moodiness and it is not my job to make sure no one gets frustrated in life. Yet, that does not stop someone from unloading their emotional discomfort all over me. 

With their words echoing in my head, I forget and fall into the wrong kind of thinking, that is, until I remember to use my tools.

First of all, as a believer, I have defenses against any bloodsucking, life stealing enemy. I remind myself that I belong to the light, and not the dark. Though the blood sucking enemy may have entered unnoticed, I am alerted to its presence by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Even though I do not own any jewelry in the shape of a cross, I know that Jesus’ death on the cross granted me victory to know truth from a lie. 

Once I am alerted to the presence of my victim thinking thoughts, and then remember the victory at the cross, I am no longer a victim to my thoughts. 

Why bother ending victim thinking? We do not need to be a fatality to our thinking. We just need to remember, we have power over our thoughts.