Wide path or narrow path to losing weight

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. — Matthew 7:13–14

I could not help but smile when I read this verse. The majority of Americans choose the wide and broad gate on the road to their health choices. I know that most of us have a goal to lose a few pounds. The problem is that we want to choose the easy way to lose weight. The way that does not involve any sufferings or pain.

But the small gate will lead to abundant life. Let our prayer be to embrace the narrow way...in every area of our life. 

Is food controlling you?

““I am allowed to do anything,” you say. My answer to this is that not all things are good. Even if it is true that “I am allowed to do anything,” I will not let anything control me like a slave.”
1 Corinthians 6:12 ERV

Ouch! Is food controlling your body like a slave? I suspect it is if you are like most Americans. This was predicted in the Bible as a sign of the end times.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—”
2 Timothy 3:1-4 NIV

I don't want to be a lover of myself and allow food to make me happy.
if if you haven't already set a few goals, take time this weekend and tie your health goals together with your spritual goals.

Diet Tips

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

What a great promise to us when we try lose weight or begin an exercise program. When we attempt to eat healthy because we are strong or disciplined, it only lasts for a period of time. Then temptation strikes and we eat a trigger food and fall back into old old ways.

But if we rely on the Lord and hold his hand throughout the day, he will show us a way to escape the temptation. The secret is to rely on him and trust his promise to show us a way to escape. God is faithful. He wants us to live in victory. He cares what we eat. He gave us our bodies in the first place!

Praying for each of you to walk close to him today and experience his grace and mercy.

Success in Losing Weight

“So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be ruled by our sinful selves. We must not live the way our sinful selves want. If you use your lives to do what your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.”
Romans 8:12-13 ERV

I don't know about you, but yesterday I compared every bit of food to "red stew." Read previous post. When I was tempted to make an unhealthy food choice, I compared it to giving up my birthright. I had to decide if giving up my birthright was worth that delicious snack(and we had a lot of delicious snacks at our faculty meeting yesterday). None seemed more important than keeping my eyes on being at a healthy weight.

I love what it says in Romans. "If you use the Spirit's help to stop doing the wrong things you do, you will have true life." I really want true life! I don't want to settle for an overweight, out of shape, sit on the couch and watch tv every night life.

At age 60, my family can tell you that I have lost and gained weight so many times. However, for the past three years I have kept off the weight and exercised! What is making the difference? I am seeing that the answers are in God's word and not a diet plan. A diet plan can come after reading God's word. But my success can't come from a human plan. The success can't be a once and for all magic formula. It will be from a consistent searching and seeking of the Lord.

Lose some stuff before you lose weight

Steven Furtick: "There’s always a tradeoff. Before God can bring his promises to pass in your life, he has to strip away all the stuff that keeps you from trusting him wholeheartedly. And that stuff is on the inside. God’s invisible work in you prepares you for his visible works through you."

What does God need to strip away on the inside of my life? I worry a lot about the outside appearance. But the outside won't change until I allow God to work on the inside. The enemy wants us to only focus appearance, doesn't he? If I want to lose some weight, there is some inside stuff that I need to lose first.

Try Again

Wow! I read a great devotional by Max Lucado this morning. Here's part of it.

The Bible says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). Thousands upon thousands of saved saints are looking down on us. Abraham. Peter. David. Paul... and Joshua. Your grandma, uncle, neighbor, coach. They’ve seen God’s great grace, and they are all pulling for you.

Press your ear against the curtain of eternity and listen. Do you hear them? They are chanting your name. They are pulling for you to keep going.

“Don’t quit!”

“It’s worth it!”

“Try again!”

After reading this, it reminded me of how many times I have failed at something and wanted to quit forever. Maybe you have done the same thing. 

Maybe you set goals about trying to implement a quiet time and it lasted a week. Or maybe you set a goal to lose weight or exercise and you were eating brownies by the second day. Perhaps your goal is to really be patient with your coworkers and show Christ to them but after a really stressful day, you found yourself acting like an unsaved person. I hate when I do that.

I have the very best intentions and set wonderful goals about what I want to accomplish. I want to write this blog everyday and I can't seem to do it. But the enemy wants to kill, steal and destroy. He genuinely wants us to fail. And he knows what triggers to push. When he makes me stumble, I want to give up say, "I am not equipped to do this."

This verse was a much needed reminder that "we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses" who are cheering us on. What a smile this brings to my face. Moses is cheering me on and I will thank him one day when we meet. Abraham and Joshua and Joseph and some of my other favorites want me to be "fit" and they are cheering me on. They are cheering you on, as well. So pick up the pieces and get busy!

I praise you because you made me in such a wonderful way. I know how amazing that was! Psalm 139:14 ERV

"Working on your body image is a long-term job. Many of us have spent years comparing ourselves to models and Hollywood stars and we're so used to putting ourselves down that it's a difficult habit to break." ~ Paige Waehner

I was reading this article and I thought about how the enemy wants us to feel bad about the way we look. The more he gets us discouraged and depressed about our appearance, the more we take our eyes off the Lord and become frantic to try to look better. Think about this for a minute…would God ever ever look at us in disgust and say "you are so unattractive!" 

Next time you are tempted to compare yourself to someone else, stop right there and retrain your thoughts. Start praising God about the way we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I start thanking the Lord for the way he made my legs really thick:):):). The world will not ever complement me on my legs. But God made me exactly this way and he loves my legs...and I sure can walk around good with these legs!