Back to Square One

Well, today I desire to start my weight loss journey yet again. I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty frustrated at myself. I did really well two years ago and lost 50 lbs...only to gain most of it back in the last two years. I’ve got plenty of excuses, but nothing that justifies that. I do think I’ve found a reason, however.

Any time we lose self-control in our lives, it is an indicator of an entirely deeper problem...something is broken inside that individual. There is something broken in me. I have begun to see that I am a truly broken man. I am strong in many areas, but I am also weak in others. I have set my reliance upon myself. I feel as though “I deserve” things, so I deserve to eat how I want. I find my “solace” in food. When things aren’t going well, I’m an emotional eater. This has caused my “relapse”, if you will, over the last two years. Life has been hectic. These last two years have been the hardest I’ve had in ministry. There’s been victory, there’s been pain...some deeper than anyone knows.

I can no longer rely on anyone else but God. This does not mean that I will not place my trust in people, but my reliance must be upon the God of the universe that has called me His child. I am his and his alone. If I go to the heavens, he is there. If I descend into the pit of hell, he is there. He is my refuge, my strength and my portion. I cannot please people, but I CAN please my God. I AM pleasing to my God, right where I am! That is something that we all miss. We don’t have to DO ANYTHING to be loved and accepted by our God! HE PLACES VALUE ON ME BECAUSE HE CREATED ME AND LOVES ME! As I learn to live into this, then my life will change. Little things are changing in my life once again.

I do not desire to be on a diet because I am unhappy with who I am, what I look like and what I think others think of me (even though that is a daily struggle for me). I want to get healthy because my God has called me to have self-control and the life that I am living physically is NOT what he has for me. It is NOT the abundant life that God has called me to. I want to be the daddy that my daughters can look to as an example of what Christ is and how Christ feels about them...this means I need to allow God’s Holy Spirit to continue to mold me and shape me into the man he desires me to be. This means I want to allow the Spirit to teach me to bear his fruit! (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) I need to be the best Josh Yates that I can be through Christ!

I am not there yet...I will never be “there” this side of eternity...BUT...

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Tyndale House Publishers. (2007). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (3rd ed.) (Php 3:12–14). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Will you pray that God will work his will in and through me? This is not a journey that I can travel alone. I do not travel this alone, but I need your prayers...and your encouragement.