There have always been seasons in my life when I have started a discipline and I’m pretty good at seeing it through as long as I have made a deep decision to do it. I don’t call it a diet because frankly I don’t like the word. It’s more of a decision to give something up or do something like intermittent fasting etc… I will admit that it is normally because my jeans are tighter than they once were and I want to sort it out, so I brush the dust off the weighing scales or ‘liars’ as John and I like to call them! haha! And here we go – again – I write my starting weight in the journal and usually accompany it with a sad face and with determination I go into a healthier life style.

When weigh day comes around, it’s with hope, that as you tentatively get on board, you will see a smaller number than the last weigh in. When it’s the same reading as last time, it’s rather depressing isn’t it? I’ll admit to moving the scales around the bathroom, even taking it into another bathroom just in case it’s not correct, alas, it’s the same unless you do it on carpet and then you’ve lost half your body weight!

The temptation (after you’ve thrown the scales out the window) is to quit, eat a whole chocolate gateaux and forget the whole thing! STOP! That’s the last thing you should do. Don’t quit. I’m not only talking about health here, I’m talking about anything that takes determination which is just about everything in life! You won’t get anything without determination.

Jesus did promise an abundant life but he didn’t mean we don’t have to do anything in order for it to come to pass. Back to the wise and foolish builder’s analogy, building takes hard work, building a foundation isn’t fun, no one sees it – ever – no one sees the hours of private prayer, the fasting, the travailing, most don’t see the training, swimming, walking, running. When the scales don’t tip in your favour, the easiest thing to do is to quit. Quit praying, fasting, eating good things, training etc…

Some advice before we get to the encouragement bit. I’m doing you a dis-service if we just go straight to the encouragement. Two things to always check. 1. Is there anyone in my life that I need to forgive? 2. Is there any unconfessed sin in my life? I firmly believe these things really matter. They disconnect us from God. Not from our eternal security, but from our clear communication with the head. Someone brought this illustration to our prayer meeting recently, if you put a light switch on, but it isn’t connected to a power source, the light is NEVER going to come on. Same is true with God, if you’ve lost your connection, until you reconnect, I believe you’re wasting your words in prayer.

Encouragement for this week, if you’ve ‘fallen down’ in any area of your life, get back up, keep ‘getting on the scales’ until you see the tipping point, it will come, don’t take no for an answer. Until you’ve clearly heard God say no, keep going. We sold our house in Wales back in December 2021. We’d been praying, declaring it’s sale ‘right price, right time, right person’ for almost 10 years. Now, it is done. There’s a tick by that prayer.

And, if you have eaten a whole chocolate gateaux recently in response to the ‘liars’, don’t worry about it!

Until next time, D xx

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