According to an October 29, 1994, story from Reuters news agency, a Chinese woman named Zhang Meihua began to suffer mysterious symptoms when she turned twenty. She was losing the ability to nimbly move her legs and arms. Doctors could not find the cause, and the symptoms continued.

Two decades passed, and Zhang began to also suffer from chronic headaches. Again she sought help from the doctors. This time a CAT scan and an X-ray found the source of the woman’s mysterious symptoms. A rusty pin was lodged in her head. The head of the pin was outside the skull, and the shaft penetrated into her brain.

The Xinhua news agency reported the doctors expressed amazement that the woman “could live for so long a time with a rusty pin stuck in her brain.” After noting the position of the pin in her skull, they speculated that the pin had entered her skull sometime soon after birth and before her skull had hardened. Zhang, now fully recovered, said she “had no memory of being pierced by a pin in the head.”

Like the rusty pin in this woman’s brain so negative thoughts can get stuck in ours. Many people have formed a model of living from the negative experiences and fears they have come to live with. This model becomes the framework they carry on to adulthood. Without being aware of the “pin” inside their mind they are governed by its symptoms. The symptoms include…loss of faith, loss of risk taking, loss of trust, loss of positivity, loss of hope, lose of joy, loss of optimism…basically loss of everything God intended for us to live with.

The question we have to ask ourselves is, “What pin is inside my head?” You see we all have a “pin” that plagues us. It paralyzes us from the ability to move forward in life. However, the pin can be removed. We can experience freedom from the limiting factors that hold us back. Jesus came to set us free so that we could walk in His ways.

Here are some ways we can remove the pin…

1. Know What The Pin Is

Every person has a different “pin.” Though we all struggle with similar issues each person has their own “pin” they deal with. For some it is their self-talk, for others it is their lack of self-worth, for some it is their fear of failing. You have to know yourself in order to grow yourself. If you want to step out and experience all that God has for your life it will take you identifying your limiting factors and eliminating them.

2. Get Help With Your Pin

In order to keep the “pin” out of our mind we must surround ourselves with those that don’t support the “pin.” This means we must be intentional about being around those that will be life-giving not life-taking. We need others that will push us and challenge us to become better not hold us back and limit our potential. Get around mentors and coaches that will spur you on.