Getting Back on Track

Today I was wondering...Why is it SO easy to get off track?

I guess it's just something about our human nature that makes us get distracted. In one of the old hymns it says "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." How true is that? We are not just prone to wandering in our Christian walks but also in the day to day mundane things of our lives.

Back in September my husband and I moved to Saint Joseph, Missouri, to start a new ministry. Over the past couple of months things have been going absolutely great in the youth ministry. We are really holding tight and not straying from the path God has laid out before us. We even had a really fun event on Friday night that had a much bigger turn out than we expected.

However, we were sub-consciously allowing ourselves to wander in other areas. Since we moved our routine has been disturbed and the first things to go were eating healthy, exercising and living by our budget. We realized these things at different times. At the end of last year we took steps to try and get our budget back in order, but it wasn't until the last week or so that we have really been trying to find the path of eating right and exercising again.

The hard truth is that once you wander off the path it is SO hard to find your way back. I think this is for two reasons: #1 Laziness - you know how hard it was to get where you were before and how much work it is going to take to get back to that point and you are just to lazy to put forth the effort and/or #2 Excuses - Let's face it...it's easier to make excuses and find other distractions to fill our time. If we aren't thinking about what we should be doing then we don't feel guilty about it.

So pray for me and for Jimmy as we try to get back on track. We will pray for you as well. We all have those things in our lives that we need to get back to. So this week ask yourself, do I want to? Because if you do then God is faithful to come alongside you and help you with the rest. You just have to ask.

Dealing with Weight Issues & Food Addictions

Yesterday, I started reading "Idol Eyes" by Mandisa. For anyone who doesn't know, Mandisa is an AMAZING Christian music artist. She has the most beautiful voice and even better than that she is a beautiful person inside and out. Like most people I was introduced to Madisa through the TV show American Idol. Although Mandisa didn't win, she was a very well known contestant for 3 reasons. #1 She was an outspoken Christian witness. #2 She rocked her vocals almost every week she performed. #3 After she left her audition, Simon made comments about her weight.



In reading her book, I am beginning to understand a little more about her world and her struggles with eating and being overweight. These are not things that are foreign concepts to me. I know exactly where she is coming from. Although I don't look it, I am just over 100lbs over my healthy weight range (although I really hate the whole BMI scale because it doesn't take into account build and muscle mass). Also, my husband, Jimmy, deals with major weight issues.

For the past 19 months, Jimmy and I have been making major life adjustments when it comes to eating and exercising. I have to admit that Jimmy is doing much better than I am. When it comes to food I find that I cave WAY too easily. Mandisa would say that we are both "addicted to food" and it's true. It's not that I eat when I am stressed. I eat when I am bored and when I socialize. Unfortunately those two things happen often which makes temptation great. The question is...

How do you overcome an addiction to food?

The only true solution is to trust God and work really hard to overcome it with His help. Does that make it easy? No way! To believe that just because you asked for God's help your struggles are automatically going to go away is naive. God equips us to "do all things through Christ who gives [us] strength." (Phil. 4:13)

Practical Tips for Overcoming a Food Addiction:

1. Eliminate Easy Access

If you are a snacker, throw away all your junk food. Get it out of the house, apartment, office, car, or other snacking locations. If you really must have something try replacing it with healthier foods.

2. Find a Support Network

You need people who support you and will pray for you as you try to make lifestyle habits that will help you overcome your food addictions and weight problems. If there isn't anyone to ask you the hard questions then what's to stop you from falling right back into your bad habits?

3. Make a Plan

If you fail to plan then you plan to fail. Create a food plan. Know what foods and how much of them are okay to eat. Plan to exercise. Plan to report in to your support network. Plan your benchmarks and goals. Plan to succeed.

4. Pray and Memorize Scripture

This really could be number one but I like to list this hear because by the time you do the other three steps you will have more specific prayer needs and you will know what kinds of weaknesses you need to memorize scripture to help you with.

Although it won't be easy, you can succeed. You might mess up but it you get up and get back on track then you can keep going. God wants you to succeed. He wants you to find freedom in Him. He will give you the tools. Just ask Him. That's a great place to start!

Learning to Run

One-one thousand…two-one thousand…three-one thousand… I count while I run to keep my pace. I feel my clumsy feet hit the feet with each word. I breathe heavy and feel like I am going to die but finally my time is up and I can literally gasp for relief. Betcha didn’t know that I was a runner, did ya?
For the last three weeks, I have been learning how to run. Yes, I have run short distances before and I played games as a child that required running, but not like this. In three short weeks I have progressed from absolutely no running to running for three minutes! It sounds so small; try it if you don’t believe me! It’s hard! The first time is the easiest but when you do it in cycles (walk, run, walk, run, etc.) for 30 minutes, each running session gets harder no matter how long or short it may be.

Running takes focus and determination, especially if you aren’t that good at it yet. The more focused I become the easier it is to “go the distance” and the less clumsy my feet become, but get me started thinking about how tired I am or how much I would rather be inside taking a shower and suddenly everything changes! In an instant I am breathing harder, sweating more, tripping over my feet more, and wanting to quit.
For the first time in my life, I think I fully understand what Paul was saying to the Galatians…

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” Galatians 5:7

They were running smooth and steady and growing in their Christian walks, but then they got distracted and lost their focus. They began to let their minds wander and they confused fact for fiction. Soon they were tripping up in their walks and making silly mistakes. Some of them even quit trying all together. As Christians, we must focus on what’s important so we may run a good race. We want to please Christ and finish strong. We can’t let the world cut in and distract us or we will not obey the truth.

Run a good race! Keep your focus! Follow Christ!

What a joy to be able to say…
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7