In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. Psalm 118:5

Friday, February 11, 2011

Perfect Love

As Valentine's Day approaches, I thought I would share this forwarded email I received from a friend.
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“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.” 1 John 4:17

As children, we all dream about happily ever after. We pine away waiting for the knight on the white horse or daydream about love that is never anything less than perfect. When you think of perfect love . . . who do you think of? While most of you probably said Cinderella and Prince Charming; when I think of perfect love, my thoughts turn to Adam and Eve.

Kind of a bad choice for “perfect love” you might say; but Adam and Eve, while best known for the single worst mistake in history, were still the first couple ever made for each other in the literal and spiritual sense. God made Eve especially for Adam. She was made for him and from him. Their relationship was God’s handiwork and despite the whole forbiden fruit thing, they created quite the life together.

Just like many love stories today, I have never turned a pumpkin into a carriage and my husband has never trotted in on a white horse to save me from some wicked queen. However, I have turned lemons into lemonade many days and he makes the cutest neigh when he gave our kids piggyback rides around the front lawn. We bicker from time to time. We don’t go dancing on Friday nights or awake every morning to breakfast in bed. He snores. I nag. He watches too much Sports and CNN and I work too much. But while we two are far from perfect, we love each other perfectly. God created our marriage in His perfect manner, in His perfect way . . . as only He can do.

God tells us in 1 John 4:12, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” So even though Adam and Eve were the epitome of imperfection, even though Adam probably forgot to take out the trash and Eve probably forgot to wash his leaf now and then, their imperfection was made perfect in their love for one another. No matter how flawed they were, their marriage was created in perfect love because the Master created it and He dwelt within the midst.

Don’t stress over living up to the fairytale. Your love story, no matter how simple or how elaborate, was designed by God. He perfected it. He wrote it. He even illustrated it and signed his name on your copy. He’s the author and the finisher. (Hebrews 12:2)

Happily ever after doesn’t always come with ball gowns and white horses. Most of the time, it comes with sweat pants and minivans . . . but that’s ok, because if it comes from God, it’s perfect and nothing less.

By Brooke Keith

Monday, February 7, 2011

Whose Power?

In the last week or so, God has been showing me something, something critical to my success on this journey to freedom. I've made huge strides so far and learned many things. However, I've come as far as I can get myself. This is a beautiful truth I'm trying to fully digest and come to grips with. This means I can no longer count on myself. My strong will and independence aren't gonna get the job done, like society and pop psychology would have me believe. I've been trying to listen to God and understand where this truth leaves me on my journey. How do I move forward from here if it's not my own self-control and white-knuckling that's gonna get me the rest of the way?

As God often does with me, He offered me more food for thought (pardon the pun) through a timely guest speaker in our church yesterday. While I won't detail the entire message (mostly because I only wrote down what spoke most to my personal circumstances), the crux of the message was that when we are saved and take the leap of faith to believe in Christ as our Savior, we get ALL OF GOD. Not part of Him. All of Him. I have the same power in me that made the heavens and the earth, parted the Red Sea, freed the Israelites, and raised Jesus from the dead. Hearing this, I asked myself, why do I continue to draw on my own power to conquer my addiction to food. It's ridiculous, isn't it? Once we realize we have the power of Christ within us, we will cease drawing from other shallow and limited man- or self-made wells. Yes, self-control and self-discipline can get you a certain distance. But there comes a point when you...when I...must lean on the One greater than us. He alone is God.

While still pondering this new truth this morning, God took me on a tour of His word and showed me a steady stream of scripture citing His power. I indeed do not have His power (and I surely don't want it, to be honest), but I do have access to His power. I have the Holy Spirit in me, and it is He who will set me free from this addiction. It is His power I must draw on, not my own. As I begin the next leg of this journey to freedom, which includes a commitment to exercise and close attention to portion control, it's critical that I understand this and behave like I know it is truth.

Join me on this trip to trade self-control for God-control. Self-esteem for God-esteem. Self-discipline for God-discipline. Self-empowerment for God-empowerment.

I want to challenge you this morning to take a tour of God's word also. I'm going to give you a list of the scriptures God led me through, and I want you to dig in. Your trip will certainly vary from mine, especially as you use the references in your Bible. God is beautifully intentional and personal with His love, and He desires to give us each inidividual attention daily, if we'll only take the time. God has something important to show you on this personal guided tour today, and I'd love to know what He teaches you.

Colossians 2:9, Php 2:13, Php 3:3, Php 3:14, 2Tim 1:7, Col 1:11, Eph 3:20, Eph 3:16, Eph 1:18-20, 2Cor 10:3-4, Acts 1:8, Php 4:13

PS...If you have contacted me in anyway, in response to this blog, I want you to know I love you and pray for you often. I know I am not alone on this trip, and I likewise know we can be free if we cooperate with the work of the Spirit. God Bless <3

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Competition!

In this race we're running, this race to be healthy and free from addiction to food, there are multiple components. While I still struggle with my internal dialogue and decisions I make about what and when to eat, I am generally experiencing tremendous freedom in this area. The area I am struggling the most with right now is exercise. And I know I am not alone.

I was talking to one of my girlfriends yesterday morning on Facebook, Terri, like we do nearly every morning. She too struggles with her weight and her desire to be fit and healthy. We were discussing how exercise seems to be the missing element in our success, and how we wish we could help each other exercise, despite the distance. And then, God gave me an idea.

We are excited to share it with you, and we want to invite each of you to join us.
We are going to have a contest. Unlike other weight-related contests, this one will not encourage any type of weighing or measuring. All you have to do is keep a simple exercise journal, and pay $10 to enter the contest. From February 7 to March 7, you will simply write down every time you exercise (down to the minute). At the end, whoever has logged the most minutes, wins the POT (if 10 people participate, the POT is $100).

Let's deal with some key points:

First, what qualifies as exercise? Pretty much anything. If it takes you 3 minutes to take the stairs at work, then log 3 minutes. If you take a 55 minute class at the gym, then log 55 minutes. If you walk for 30 minutes...you get the idea. If you cleaned your house in a more strenuous fashion than usual and broke a sweat...you decide. Exercise is usually considered to be activity that raises your heart beat and makes you sweat.

Secondly, honesty amongst ourselves will be key. I have to trust you, and you have to trust me. I will require that anyone participating send/give me their $10 contribution to the "pot" at the start of the contest. I will hold the money until the end of the contest period when it will be awarded.

Next, I will provide each of you with a log to keep a record of your exercise times. This will be required in order to be considered for the prize at the end of the contest, so DON'T LOSE YOUR FORM! When you pay in your $10, I will give you the form (probably through email). The form is due by March 8, the day after the last day of the contest.

So, finally, we have a contest that does not pit my metabolism against yours and we have no incentive to starve ourselves. Even my skinny friends can participate!! We are strictly competing to fit the most exercise into our lives, and we're giving God the freedom to reward us with the physical results. And to top it all off, there's a little moolah involved as a bonus.


Some of you may not be interested in the financial "wager," and we understand that. We don't want that to deter you from competing with the rest of us, though. If anyone wants to participate without the $10 entry fee, that is perfectly fine. If someone who does not submit the $10 donation to the "pot" happens to win, then the financial reward will go to the next runner up who did contribute to the pot. The glorious title of WINNER, however, goes only to the person who submits the most exercise minutes (regardless of financial contribution made).


If you're interested, respond to this blog post in a comment, for everyone to see, and commit to join the friendly competition. Also, if you have any questions, let's post them here for everyone to see. You may not be the only one with that particular question.

Are you ready? I know I am.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Run with Endurance

"...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12: 1-3

I have been running the race. And I've grown weary. I will not give up, though. I will keep my focus on Jesus, who endured much worse than me, and I will not give up.

So many things in our daily life weigh us down on this race. Trip us up. Distract us. For me, it's been my health and my family's health. I have experienced a lot of freedom recently, but I had a fall yesterday. A big one. God's grace really is amazing though, as my favorite hymn says, because today I get to wake up, lace my shoes back up and get back in the race.

In this race, we are required to be endurance runners, not sprinters. We have to shed the things that slow us down and focus on the goal (freedom in Jesus). What bulky things are you still trying to carry with you in this race? What do you need to lose in order to win?