"Finally, be strong in the LORD and in his mighty power." ~Ephesians 6:10
I have struggled the past few weeks with spending consistent time in the Word and with God, mainly because I have allowed other things in my life to have power over me. I have allowed ED to creep in and mess with my head, which in turn led to relying on God less and not trusting Him.
The other morning, during my morning devotion after Tai Chi class, it was almost like flashing lights coming through my devotion book as if God was saying "Marybeth! Listen to me! You are struggling because you are not listening and putting your complete trust in me!" It was crazy. To quote The Confident Woman Devotional by Joyce Meyers: "We are not filled with the Spirit of God to do easy things. He fills us with His Spirit so we can do impossible things." Everything that I had been wrestling with the night before and that morning just clicked. I can never completely heal and do anything on my own. The only way I can have a complete, free life is through Christ! He sent his son to die on the cross for me and in that, my sins were forgiven and I was given new life the day I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. I am not here to do easy things and to live an easy life, whether that means getting made fun of or losing people because of what I believe in, living out my faith when no one around me is a believer, or dealing with emotional issues.
"Things don't work out because we have not obeyed God, not pressed on and been willing to take giant leaps of faith." We struggle with things, not because God wants us to, or there are circumstances that "cause" us to struggle but because we are not completely obeying God, we are not spending the time we need to with Him and not "feeding" ourselves spiritually. We are refusing, in a sense, to take that leap of faith and say "God, I know what I am about to do is scary but I am jumping in anyway!" My strength comes from Christ alone and nothing else. I CAN and WILL take that giant leap of faith.
This month, I have made a deal with myself and with God that I am only going to say positive things about myself and I am going to spend time with God everyday because I need to "feed myself spiritually" as well as physically. God made me for a reason. My body is His temple and I should treat it as so.
So, if anyone actually reads my blog, I challenge you to do the same: embrace yourself--not only outward flaws but inward ones as well. Tell yourself the good qualities and not the bad. And most importantly, spend time in the Word with God because that is what you need most.
