I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: I wept as I realized this would be one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. A spiritual journey that would yield great physical benefits.
I recently received an email from a woman who wrote, "Lysa, one of my greatest fears in reading "Made to Crave" is not just letting myself down, but even worse, letting God down."
I understand how she feels. When you've tried and failed as many times as I have, you start to feel gun-shy about trying again. I'd lose the weight, feel great for a couple of months, deceive myself into thinking I could return to old habits, and all the weight would creep back on. I'd failed at finding lasting victory with every other attempt, even with programs I thought were the sure thing. So, why would this one be any different?
And why in heavens would I want to add spiritual guilt on top of my physical guilt? Why would I risk the shame of making God look bad too?
Guilt wrapped in shame is a terrible burden to carry. Guilt always came when I knew I was making poor choices and could see the scale numbers climbing. Shame came when my weight gain became apparent to everyone else in the world. Battling something so raw, so deeply personal was hard; knowing my failures were apparent to everyone else added humiliation to my toxic stew of emotions.
Yes, the physical struggle was hard enough. I certainly didn't want to drag down my spiritual life with this struggle as well.
But here's the problem: whether or not I wanted to admit it, my weight issues were already dragging me down spiritually. When I don't have peace physically, I don't have peace spiritually. I can't separate the two. Nor should I. I need spiritual motivation to step in where my physical determination falls short.
So I started reading the Bible from the perspective of someone struggling with food issues. Though I had read the Bible many times and have even taught Bible studies for years, I'd missed how much God cares about and talks about this issue. Tucked within this book written thousands of years ago are some of the most astounding and life-changing truths directly applicable to this modern-day unhealthy eating epidemic that plagues women.
I wept with joy. I wept with relief. I wept as I realized this would be one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. A spiritual journey that would yield great physical benefits. And what about my concerns with letting God down?
My pastor, Steven Furtick, put that to rest one day with a simple but very profound truth, "How can you let God down when you weren't ever holding Him up?"
I had to choose to operate in the reassurance of God's love, the remembrance of God's grace, and the reality of God's power. And, according to Isaiah 41:10, God is the one holding me up, not the other way around. To that I say, "Amen!"
"Dear Lord, this is one of the most significant spiritual journeys of my life. Help me to focus on You as I battle this raw, personal issue. I need You today. In Jesus'"
" name. Amen."
Credit: way-of-witch.blogspot.com
