Day 5

As I said in a previous post, I believe God is directing me to go through TW again. I have not worked through it all, and I want to change.
Day 5 is called "My Body, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made."
As I went through the exercise of thanking God for each part of my body, I stand in awe of what God created. It is a miracle that everything functions today. The hands that use the fingers to pick up the smallest of items; the eyes that bless me to see everything God has created (my beautiful grandchildren, God's beautiful creation, the Bible); all these make me want to shout for joy, and I am doing that right now. Thank You God for my toes, my knees, my thighs, my hips, and I am not talking about what they look like but the job they perferm. Thank you for my elbows, my neck, my skull, for every joint, ligament, tendon, for every cell, tissue, organ, and organ system.

My daughter is the doing "The Lord's Table" and since I am her accountability partner, she sends me a copy of her lesson. Today's lesson talked about presenting your body to the Lord each day as a living sacrifice; to do it out loud, to say it to HIM.

I want to do that: Lord, I present my body to YOU as a living sacrifice today. As your power works in me, I can be what you want me to be, do what you want me to do,and say what you want me to say. Help me to lean totally on you, for in myself dwells no good thing. But when I am weak, then I am made strong.

a new day

I decided to review some concepts in Thinwithin, chapter 4 since I have gotten off track.
"A Path of My Choosing" is the title, and the emphasis is on the observe and correct technique (some call it confess and repent).

"'What could I have done differently to produce a better outcome?' If you ask yourself this same question, you will be amazed at how quickly you can learn, grown, and mature on the path of God's provision. Put away your club of condemnation. Instead, experience God's grace in action with the principle of observation and correction.

Enjoy the privilege today of applying God's grace in the present moment. You don't need to wallow in any measure of self-contempt. Observe what hasn't worked, agree with God, correct your behavior in the STRENGTH Hegives you. Then move on down the path of God's provision as you exprience the abundant life."

This is my plan. Today is a new day, and I am asking God for the power and strength to walk in His will.

Beth Moore says in the Bible study on Esther that God gives us the strength to stop sinning, to stop bingeing, to stop any behavior that is leading to a stronghold in our lives. I must believe that He can do this, and I do. I must then obey what He tells me to do.

confession

HereI am after Christmas, having eaten the wrong food at the wrong time.
However, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit just out of control my eating was at this time last year. So I did not gain the usual 10 pounds during Thanksgiving to Christmas. I am very thankful for that, but I wish I had done better yesterday.
Today is a new day, and I am spending lots of time in the Word, listening to Bible study tapes, doing my Bible studies, and working on memorizing scriptures.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

presence not presents

I read my blog yesterday; yuk! All the focus on me; I used the word I too much. Forgive me, anyone that reads my blogs.
Jesus is the reason for the season. Today HE WILL be my focus. Though Christmas has become too commercialized, Christians can gently lead the conversation to Christ. The whole world, or most of it knows about Christmas so I pray today those searching for that light will find HIM. The Bible says there is a light that lighteth every man, so let's pray those people that are searching for true light will find their way now.
HE is the answer to every person's problem, and HE IS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD! HALLELUJAH!

victory

I have struggled so much with homemade candy. I love it, and several of my students brought me bags of the peanut butter chocolate. I had done so well,but I blew it and ate about 12 pieces. I didn't eat them all at once, but over the course of the day, and I was not hungry at the time.

I thought, "Now you've done it, no weight loss in 4 weeks, and you are going to gain." I had been faithful to seek the Lord's face, and have enjoyed my TW workbook, and my Beth Moore Esther Bible study. My daughter's husband has joined us; he doesn't understand it all yet, but wants to try. He is such a blessing to me, a godly man. I am so happy he is seeking God's will in this area.

So this morning, I felt the Lord urging me to weigh. I knew I would gain, but I said to myself, I know this is not me, no way would I weigh today. I was down 3 pounds, because of HIS mercy. I will continue to seek His face, and whatever happens with the weight I can handle it with his guidance. And HIS presence I seek more than the weight loss; HE has met me every morning!

I am starting to see progress here, but I can really see a difference in the pic posted on my profile.

Last night was a struggle; my husband went to a church dinner; I told him not to bring me a plate. However, a sweet friend of mine insisted and I received a plate of desserts, plus a good meal. I think I passed the test, and I chose a small piece of apple stack cake like my grandmother made. I ate some corn and green beans.

Today, though, my flesh has raged and I have craved sweets so I am praying about doing Heidi's type of fast: no sweets. I am praying about it, and I am reading the part about Daniel's type of eating in the book of Daniel. Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Sweets are very tempting, but the plate of desserts still sits in the oven.

He's still working on me

I have not posted in quite awhile.
I know God is working on me, but I cannot seem to open up about it. It is hard to describe.
However, I am going to try to post more often just to see if I can dig into how to explain what is going on.
I am faithful to study my workbook. My worship and prayer time with God is so awesome. My eating habits slip and slide, yet I feel like God is teaching me some things that are so needful to me. I am spiritually like I was physically when I broke my ankle. I did not get to walk on my ankle and I forgot how to walk, truly. I was used to walking with a walker, and the dr. did not allow me to put weight on my foot at all. From January to May I obeyed him, but when the cast came off, he let me start walking. I limped so badly, and was discouraged about that although I was ecstatic to be walking again. I had to think carefully to do something I had done naturally for years.
I must think carefully, pray, and try to listen to God with this eating thing. Yet if I am not very careful, I start focusing on ME. Even though that is not what Thinwithin is about at all.
As God directs me to worship HIM, spend more time with HIM, think about HIM more, I find my focus is off food. YET SOME VERY bad habits need to be broken. I pray for the habit on focusing on God constantly; God is blessing me to do that. It is so easy to slide back into "me" mode at any given point.
God is so good, and the mercy HE has shown me keeps me so humble. I do desire to please HIM in this walk.