Proud Of Me? You Bet Ya!

Proud Of Me? You Bet Ya!

You see the Lord has been dealing with me on my health situation. I have been doing better but I started using that as an excuse to eat this or that and some more of this. Really?!  I know better than that. I’m not improving my health and losing weight to celebrate with food and laziness. That’s going backward not forward.

One of the neat ways the Lord began to get my attention has been during the tithe at church. Yep, you heard right, the tithe messages at church.

You see our tithe messages have been on sewing up the holes in our bag and one of those holes are spending too much money at the grocery store on food we don’t really need and/or eating out more than we should.

As we advance in the tithe message we begin to see the sin of gluttony has been left out of many messages in the churches.  (for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.  Proverbs 23:21) Much like adultery, divorce, the Holy Spirit, baptism, and others truths of the Bible are being left out, after all people don’t want to hear that kind of truth they might quit coming to church or tithing. Okay that’s another blog so let me get back to ‘eating’ and my health.

In these tithe messages I began to see just how much food and flavor have control over me, more control than the Holy Spirit and that’s not a good thing. 

Then I began to see how lazy I had become and the excuses I had begun to use. 

It is too easy to fall into this pit when you don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help you. I started bringing junk food back in the house knowing I did not have good self-control and would eat it, sometimes all in one setting.

God is so good and I love the way He equips us to handle temptation. We just have to be listening and willing to obey – to trust Him for the strength.  So today the Lord spoke to my husband and me during our Bible reading and prayer time about our ‘addiction’ to food.  The Lord also spoke about our need for organization in our home. I have a confession here – the Lord has been dealing with me on this for 6 months if not longer – I have repented and that’s another blog story too  lol.

So with this information I bring it back to my blog title ‘Proud of Me? You Bet Ya’ …..

because chocolate chips cookies were calling out to me all night!

I had a meeting at church and the person having this meeting brought in pizza, potato chips and soda, and thankfully a vegetable plate; someone else brought in homemade chocolate chip cookies – did you hear what I said ‘homemade’ ! 

So my flesh was all up in this….you have to have at least one and I hear my mind already reasoning for a second and  a third because I knew if I had just one I’d eat several more. So I walked away. Okay, I walked up to it again and almost gave in the second time...almost but I didn't, I walked away again.

They had 6 or more pizzas and I did have 2 small slices – one was just cheese and the other pepperoni. But I did NOT have potato chips, soda or CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. That is why I’m proud of me. I remembered what my husband and I talked about this morning,  it was truly from God and I resisted the temptation to give in to the food that causes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an oversized stomach So even though the pizza was not the best choice I only had 2 pieces, water to drink and several carrots and cucumber slices.

The neatest thing about all this – my husband and I heard from God this morning and with this confirmation I was able to turn away from overeating and the temptation of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t have to unbutton my pants or come home feeling tired and bloated. I gained strength from being in God’s Word, in prayer with my husband and then in our talking about what we heard from the Lord. How awesome is our God!

Be willing to make the change God is telling you to make.

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Romans 12:2 Amplified

Are You Eager?

there's a couple places where the sound cuts out - I don't know what is wrong with my laptop, sorry - but you will get the message. God worked on me for weeks before I sat down and received what He had for me.
One of these days I will learn to listen, sit down and do it the first time!
Blessings

Why?

Have you really taken the time to ask yourself WHY?

Why do I want to lose weight?

Why do I want to quit smoking?

Why do I want to begin a ministry?

Why do I want to get out of debt?

Why do I want to ........

I know when I answered these questions from a 'me' standpoint - because I want to look good in a certain dress.....because I want to smell better.....basically selfish reasons, temporary reasons.

the I kept me from being successful, the motivation just wasn't there so the laziness and reasons why I shouldn't or can't do it weighed heavily on me. That was uncomfortable so I quit trying.

When I asked myself if this is something God wanted me to do, had a confirmation - then I would ask those why questions again.

So now I ask from a spiritual standpoint, from what God's word says - and I'm more motivated than I have ever been!

I want to be healthy because God made my

body and His spirt lives in me.

I need to be healthy so I can do

Kingdom work.

I want my body to function the way

He created it to function.

I know that stopping the cigarette addiction

will improve my health in many ways.

I want to be debt free so I can start a ministry,

give to missions, enjoy life and

be a blessing.

There is so much to be said about having a desire to accomplish something and moving forward because you know it's Gods will for you. He will equip you. We have to do our part, we can't just sit and say okay, you can start taking this extra weight off of me anytime now God......

No, we have to get up and do what we can. If you can only do 3 minutes on a treadmill or 5 minutes of a workout - do it! As you obey and draw upon the strength of the Lord you will begin to see that move up to 7 minutes then 10 minutes - it keeps going up until you reach a good workout schedule.

I heard part of an awesome sermon that I found interesting. The pastor was talking about passing the offering basket, instead of using the excuse of not being able to quit smoking - put those cigarettes in the basket and say, this is my offering I release my addiction to You, Lord. That's a good first step to take.

I have tried for years to get back into an exercise program and a better way of eating. I failed more times than I care to count. Yes I did lose weight and did ok for awhile but then I would get lazy, not see my goal anymore and the weight came back plus more!

About 6 or 7 months ago I heard (in my spirit) the Lord calling me to get healthy, to be prepared for things to come. Whether that is traveling with my husband as he begins to write music again or in some other ministry, I want to be ready. I have a goal and I have the Lord's promise that He will help me and He has! I have gone from the 3 minutes to 30 minutes on an elliptical. I have found a DVD I look forward to exercising to.

Has every day been easy? NOPE but I now take the time to seek God and see if it's truly a day my body needs rest or if it's a lie. I'm retraining my mind to not fall into the pit of thinking about how bad I feel to - this will pass, I'm feeling better and will feel better when I get some kind of exercise in. I have found that most days all I needed was to get up and get moving.

No more excuses! You can change what you know needs to be changed in your life. My pity party is over!