My friend, Chad, and I started our health journeys at about the same time. We also both have a good amount of weight to lose. It's a tandem journey.
As these last couple months have gone by, I've seen him get progressively smaller. He's losing weight every day, and I'm SO happy for him. He's also trying REALLY hard. We use a fantastic product that can help you with your weight management goals, but it's not magic beans.
It just makes it possible for you to put forth the appropriate effort.
Then there's me.
I haven't been working out every day like Chad, but I have been consistently working out about 3 times per week...which is more than before.
I haven't been AS careful about what I eat, but I am being careful with my portions and eating pretty well...which is more than before.
I'm definitely drinking more water than before! Heck, I had to pee 4 times yesterday just at church!!
I've lost a few inches overall, but other than an initial 6 lb water weight loss, the scale hasn't moved. As a matter of fact...it's moved a couple pounds back in the opposite direction.
Now, I know all the answers. I know I've gotten more lean muscle again; I can feel the muscles in my legs re-forming. I know I've lost a few inches; I can feel the very slight difference in my clothes.
Nevertheless, I have been discouraged...very discouraged.
IT'S NOT FAIR!! I've screamed to God in my head. Yes. I scream at God in my head sometimes.
But yesterday, as I was brooding in front of my closet before church (because that's when I have a tendency to do that), the answer hit me like a lightening bolt...
God doesn't promise results.
That's depressing, right? Yes...but true.
You see, in everything, God just wants me to trust Him and be obedient....no matter WHAT that means.
God says I'm to honor Him in how I treat my body because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own;
you were bought at a price.
Therefore, honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
My body is not my own. I need to treat it well. However, nowhere in there does it say that if I treat my body well, I'll look great. I've scoured the Scriptures; it never says God will appease my vanity by helping me lose weight. God doesn't promise that what we want will be exactly what we get.
Bummer.
Guess what that means? It means if the scale never moves, then I still need to honor God with my body.
God led me to the products we're using, and I feel better than I have in YEARS. He led me to promote for a company I love, and that has helped us catch up on bills more than I ever thought possible. Isn't that God being faithful?
No matter what the directive, we are ordered to be faithful and obedient DESPITE the results we see.
Even if your husband never changes, you were told to treat him with respect.
Even if your wife never changes, you were told to treat her with love.
Even if you never see a changed heart, you were told to continue sharing the love of Christ.
Even if....
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us...looking to Jesus, God's son, God Himself (the mystery of all mysteries), who was obedient to the point of death. Jesus understood that the results of faithfulness go so far beyond what we want here on Earth, but have eternal consequences.
So today, I will run the race set before me. I'll have to run that race a little tubbier than I'd like; nevertheless, I'm running it.
What race is set before you today? Will you respond in obedience no matter what the results?
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