Day 91 until Easter~~~~~~Death to Self

Dec 12-30-12

When I think of the subject of “death-to-self” the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I get offensive. After all, I’m an adult and have been for several years I should not have to deny myself anything. I have a job I can pay for whatever it is I want. If I want a banana split I can get it, I don’t need mommy around anymore telling me what I can or cannot do.

Wrong!

 

The job of mom if you think about it is to do their job so well that they work their way out of a job. As the child grows up they are to take over where mom or dad left off and are able to care for themselves. One of the lessons to be learnt is the lesson of dying to one’s self. To be able to say “No” once in a while in order to maintain proper discipline and good choices.

Just because I can say “Yes” doesn’t make that the right answer. If I’m eating too much and I’m gaining weight I need to die to myself and the desires I have to eat in a greedy, glutton, selfish kind of way.

 

After doing this for a while I have found that I still manage to live, duh! It doesn’t kill me totally to say “no” to a cookie today because tomorrow I may be able to have one if I’m truly hungry and one cookie doesn’t turn into a jar full of cookies.

 

By nature we are selfish people and we need to learn the lesson of dying to ourselves. Learning quickly how to say “No” and to think of someone more than ourselves. Once again just because we “can” do something doesn’t make it right. We need to be living our lives in a manner that glorifies God and benefits us and those around us. Dying to one’s self doesn’t kill us, it causes us to grow in the right way and mature more and more into the person we need to be.

 

Growing beyond the size I am today into the size of clothes I should be requires death to self and the bad choices I’ve been making that got me to where I am today weight wise. It’s a choice, a discipline worth taking. In the long run it causes me to gain something much more than extra pounds. I gain maturity and satisfaction in Christ.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett at Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing for Growing Beyond

The Need to Care

 Several weeks ago I told a group of teenagers that were boasting about something they like to do that is harmful to their health that some day they were going to care. They may not care now what they were doing that was harmful to their health but some day they would care and it may be too late. The picture the three of them put on facebook for all to see was their act of rebellion to show the world they didn't care as they made gestures to the camera.

Recently my doctor put me on an additional medicine to manage my cancer. Its a drug that could raise my cholesterol level. In precaution to see where my cholesterol started out I had blood work done. Guess what? It was high. Along with my cholesterol, my blood sugars are high, and my blood pressure is high. Go figure!

Two weeks before I was diagnosed with cancer I had lost over 30 pounds and finally got myself under 200 pounds. I was so tickled and proud of myself that I finally was getting somewhere in the weight loss game. After I found out about my cancer I lost my ability to care about my weight. Instantly it was, "Well I'm dying of cancer then what is the point of trying to lose weight and maintain it where it needs to be."

As the result of that attitude I have now in a year and half gained back 37 pounds. When my cancer doctor told me I would have to go on medication to try and get everything down to where it needed to be I thought, "No way." I need to get my weight down first then see if medication is needed.

On my way home that day from the doctor's I got to thinking about how I was no different than those teenagers who were boasting about their choice of lifestyle. To demonstrate my thought I went out and bought a candy bar to take a picture similar to the one they did minus the hand gesture to prove my point. With me no hand gesture was necessary because the wing expansion of my upper arm was all the gesture needed to the camera to demonstrate the fact that I didn't care.

Quicker than it has for the young teenagers my time has come that I better start caring again. I can't stop myself from getting cancer, or stop it from going out of control but I can my weight, my blood sugars and blood pressure. Today I talked to a nutritionist and I told her that I'm not fat, I am undisciplined. And that is the truth with all of us, we aren't fat we are undisciplined. We need to start caring to the point we are willing to take care of that which has been entrusted to us, our bodies.

My rebellious behavior isn't justified simply because I'm an "older" adult and not a teenager. Age has nothing to do with it. Those girls need to start caring now and so do I. We shouldn't wait until we "feel" like doing it we need to discipline ourselves into doing what we know is right and do it now. Right for us, right for our bodies, right in God's eyes.

"The time is now to start caring before its too late." Those were my words to the teenagers' weeks ago, and now they are the very words I find myself feasting upon today. For when we start to care it shows up in our attitude and its rewarded in our actions. After all, why wait till we are brain dead to stop doing dope, why wait till we have destroyed our liver before we stop drinking, why wait till we have a heart attack before we decide to lose weight, and why wait till we have lung cancer before we stop smoking. Waiting is bad for us and good for our enemy. Now is the time, not later to start caring.

**After I took this picture I didn't eat the candy bar I hope you know, I fed it to our three baby pigs. They loved it!

Stepping out in faith

Looking out over the tip of this boat makes me think of Peter and the disciples journey across the lake they were on. All must have seemed fine until they saw Jesus walking on the water towards them. Peter spoke up and said, "If it's really you Lord then tell me to come to You on the water." Without hestitation Jesus said, "Come" and Peter got out of the boat.

As I work on my daily disciplines I can't imagine being so disciplined in my faith that I could step out out of this boat and start walking across Walton lake towards Jesus. Whether our faith walk begins off the side of a boat walking on water or at the the treadmill working out each day the journey still carries the same purpose. Stepping out in faith and continuing to walk forward keeping our eyes on Jesus.

At my last doctor's appointment I was told my blood pressure was too high. Hoping to keep myself from adding more medicine to my daily intake I am going to try to lose ten poiunds by my next appointment in August. To some that seems like a simple task but to others its as scarey as thinking about stepping out of this boat in an attempt to walk on water.

We need to remember that to man some things are impossible but to God all things are possible. I have to rely on God's strength to get me thru mixed with my own desire to be obedient to God and glorify Him with my actions. Actions of discipline and living intentionally to care for the temple He has set up in me the day I asked Him to come into my heart years ago.

One day at a time, one discipline at time. Moving forward in faith and progress with my eyes on Jesus not anything else.

In love W.I.T.H. Jesus,

Karen

Daily Disciplines

As I work on my daily disciplines I find myself making progress in some areas and still faltering in other areas. This means I should give up, right? Wrong! We are way to willing to “throw in the towel” and quit at the first sign of trouble, difficulty, hard work, and tough decisions.

We need to be encouraging one another to go on, to move forward and not let the things in life stop them from achieving what they want to achieve. As I think of our granddaughter graduating from 8^th grade she, like everyone else is going to need to have that ability to stand up and face life head on and not be stopped by it.

She needs to know like everyone else that we will succeed in some areas that come easy to and stumble in other situations that come with great difficulty and pain. Either way it doesn’t matter, the instructions are the same. We need to keep moving forward and the best way to do that is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What He has to offer us goes beyond what we see on earth, it takes us into eternity where we fall alive into the mansions He is currently preparing for us. John 14:2,3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Today as I drop to my knees in prayer one more time my point of pray for my granddaughter, myself, and all my “All UDDERS” as I call them is this, “Lord God I pray this day that each and every one of us will walk worthy of you Lord, not as fools but as wise redeeming the time, because the days are evil as we understand what Your will is Lord and seek it. For every stride forward we take may we do so to Your glory Lord God as our actions draw us closer and closer to the You and the goals needed to succeed in walking worthy. Guide us on this path, show us where we need to go, forgive us when we fall short, be patient with us as we get back up on our feet and try again.

Praise you for allowing us access to Your throne thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ that opens a door that once was closed. Thank you for Your love. Praise you for Your wisdom. We love you Father, thank you for loving us. ”

Daily Disciplines:

My daily discipline today is keeping up on my cleaning. I did well as I found I can take a moment or two and accomplish a lot more than I think.

Another daily discipline is working on my closet clutter. Being a pack rat it’s hard to keep the piles down. I’m proud to say I threw away some denim material the other day and it didn’t kill me. I’m alive to tell about it. You have to realize I have more denim in my house than anyone could possible need in their lifetime.

Now on to the confession….the daily discipline where I falter is my eating habits. That one is going to take some time to conquer, fight, and give up as I strive to replace them with better more healthy habits.

One day at a time, one discipline at a time.