The Power of Imagination- Pt 1

Ever since I was the age of my daughters, I can recall having a very persuasive realization that world was an incredibly big place.  In my heart, I knew that there had to be something more, something greater than what rested within the confines of my cozy little neighborhood.  And I longed to look into it.  My heart ached for things I knew nothing of, and had not seen.  When I heard stories of places far, far away they seemed more real to me than the four walls of my bedroom. 
I was quite imaginative.   Soon, as I got older, I began to overhear things on the news or things adults would discuss in my hearing that they erroneously believed I had no interest in, and just like that, my imagination developed a new dimension.  I soon discovered that just as I could imagine strange and wonderful kingdoms where princesses used pink parasols to shield themselves from sprinkles and glitter raining from the sky, I could also imagine someone breaking in during the middle of the night and hurting me and taking all of my favorite books and toys.
And for years, I had allowed my imagination to imagine more bad than good.  I imagined that right after training I would probably start to hate my job.  I imagined that a certain professor thinks I am stupid.  I even imagined probable conversations that people were having about me while they were staring at me.
Then I had my children.  From at least 18 mos, children begin to engage in pretend play.  Their imagination is evidently at work.  The more I watched them and pretended with them a light came on for me.  
I realized that first and foremost, God gave us imaginations.  A way in which to conceive ideas for the purpose of working in tandem with our faith.  But like with anything, He said "I have before you life and death."  He goes on to say that we have to choose which one we allow to operate in our lives.  For so long, I imagined death.  I would hear a sound in the middle of the night and imagine it was someone breaking in, and I would begin to imagine how I would get away or fight back.  Now, if I hear a sound, I imagine it is one of the angels that God has assigned to assist me as an heir of salvation, and that hearken unto the voice of His commands, and that bear me up in their hands lest I dash a foot against a stone.  Now in all reality, the sound was probably ice in the icemaker, or the dog on the deck.
But if our imaginations are going to run wild, make sure they are running in the right direction.