When I started working with a trainer last spring/summer I had a friend ask me "so what's going to be different this time?" As innocent as that question was probably intended to be, it has paralyzed me with doubt, fear, and insecurity. What I heard was "you've failed at this weight loss thing several times so how are you going to keep from failing this time?" And you know what...I did fail.
So what's going to be different this time?
The Lord has been incredibly gracious in dealing with my heart and emotions in regards to this issues which honestly has never been one that I have prayed about or asked his help in battling. Pretty dumb right? Through a series of different things the Lord has drawn some pretty amazing connections that I wanted to blog for my own sake so that they are documented for me to come back and read.
1. I am reading Chris Powell's book "Choosing to Lose" which emphasizes that the first part of winning the battle with your weight is changing your mind. Our minds are far more powerful than our bodies. The body will want to quit long before the mind. So it has to be mind over matter. So how has that made things different...I've been praying and asking those closest to me to pray for the Lord to change my mind, renew my mind and help me see that this monster can be defeated once and for all. An "I can do this" kind of mindset.
2. I am in the process of working through some discipleship material with my friend Lizzie. This past week our focus was looking at the doctine of God's Word...more specifically the clarity, authority, sufficiency and necessity of God's Word. One thing we talked about yesterday was that to disbelieve or disobey God's Word was to disbelieve or disobey God if we believe the Bible is true and the very word's of God intended for us.
3. In my LifeGroup on Wednesday nights we started going through the book "Forgotten God" which is all about the Holy Spirit and how as a whole believers have neglected to acknowledge the Spirit or live with the power of knowing they have the living God of the universe dwelling inside of them. We just unpacked a little of that last night and one of the things that we discussed was Galatians 5 where Paul talks about the fruit of the spirit. In other words....if we are being filled and led by the spirit what will result? The fruit of the Spirit is (will yield) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control.
So what is the relationship between these three things? Well it all hit me last night like a bolt of lightening. I realize that my mind is the first place I need change and through my understanding of God's word I know that can only come from God. And if I believe his word...which I do...then I have his power at work inside me. If I seek him and pursue being filled daily with the Spirit then the result will be SELF CONTROL. Oh self-control....something I have never had, clearly, or I wouldn't be this "jolly" today. But it is the Spirit who will produce self-control in me to have victory in this battle. My job is to continually be filled with the Spirit, making this issue a matter of constant prayer and seeing how God will use it for his glory. And here is the kicker....if I fail this time it's a bigger issue than failing to lose weight...it's failure to believe God is who He says He is and failure to believe He can do what He says He will do.
I'm am not in the camp of the prosperity gospel (name and claim it....God's ulimate goal is to bless me) but I am in the camp of taking God up on His promises and that is where I rest all my doubt, fear and insecurity and choose to trust this time will be different.
(thanks for the encouragement from those who've contacted me....keep praying!)
2 comments:
Kabes - my first thought when you tagged me was, "I hope that I wasn't that friend who asked that question." If I was (which it kind of sounds like something I would say) :) then please know that I meant nothing by it. I mean, let's be real....I have ZERO room to critique on this topic. My second thought was that maybe you included me because you know how much I LOVE reading your blogs....especially your TFG ones! Thirdly, I wondered if you tagged me because of your dig on the prosperity gospel. :) Lastly, I wanted to share with you a book that I have been reading. "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst. Here is what her dedication says....your post reminded me of it this morning. "This book is dedicated to you, my friend. While I don't know your name, God does. I believe He led you to pick up this book because He wants you to know your issues with food are not a curse, but a gateway through which He can touch the rawest places of your heart and help you discover a deep satisfaction only He can give. Go ahead and dare to believe that this time around THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT." I love you much, lady. Thanks for being transparent. God is going to use this, for sure!
This is not meant to sound like one of those, "if I can do it you can too" kinds of things. But I just wanted you to know that it is so true that your mind is stronger than your body. I won't go into the long story about why I know that, but I will certainly pray that God will continue to put that in your mind. Ya know, Scott tells me all the time when I really don't want to go out to the garage and do a workout. He'll say, "it's a choice and you just have to say yes." Sometimes I want to find the nearest object and launch it at him but it's so true. Dude! You can do this!
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