Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Instant gratification.
Instant results.
We want instant everything.
The thought that we are in this for our lifetimes often challenges us. We aren’t so interested in the character development as we are to have a body that we aren’t ashamed of.
God is doing a deeper work…and a work that–dare I say it–will result in us feeling no shame for our bodies! We want the shame to go away and think that it will go away when our bodies look different. The shame will go away when we think differently and learn to see ourselves with the eyes of our compassionate, loving, creative Father God. The shame will go away as he teaches us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith instead of some physical flaw about our bodies.
I will stand firm…today.
I will let nothing move me…today.
I choose to give myself fully to the work of the Lord…today.
I trust Him that this labor will not be in vain like all of my “weight loss” efforts have been.
This was such a perfectly timed word for me…thanks, Heidi.
My pleasure, Aprille. 🙂
Can I give you a big AMEN! I am definitely not perfect. God wants me to run the race, focused on the goal of serving my Lord. It is Jesus blood and his grace that makes me perfect not my feeble attempt to be perfect. Being a Christian is not a place but, a journey. Heaven is the reward. I am in the road taking one step at a time singing my traveling song.
Heidi, A personal note. Thank you for choosing to share your thoughts in this blog. It is such a blessing to me.
Happy Sunday to all, Joyce
Oh, Joyce. Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. I really appreciate it. God never ceases to amaze me.
Pressing onward in my journey with Jesus…Never give up! Amen. 🙂 Have a God blessed Sunday lady’s. : )
” The joy of the Lord is my strength”
AMEN, my friend!
Needed this, thank you!
So glad, Body Beautiful!
I SHOUT AMEN to this lesson–exactly what I needed to hear right NOW –thank You, God. 🙂
This past week I seriously struggled with the WEARINESS and ANGER of trying to obtain the “Holy Grail” of THIN, whether by dieting or by 0-5 eating, you name the it, I’ve tried it. Every program or method I’ve attempted to lose weight in my past has originated from my OWN EFFORT, whether it was “spiritual” or secular–I believed it was MY JOB to clean up my unacceptable fat body and THEN, when THIN, I would merit acceptance and love. Well . . . it’s been a sad, long, disappointing road of fleshly WORKING and failure, and BOY, I’m tired. I know now that all my working on my bod and hustling around with my eating has been because I was trying to MAKE myself acceptable by “achieving” the “promised land” of THIN, and when I couldn’t get TO THIN, I felt like a failure and an outcast. This, of course, is a LIE from satan designed to keep me depressed and not living the abundant life. I have believed this lie and lived accordingly for 43 years.
TRUTH from GOD: what my body looks like and whether I’m acceptable by our culture’s standards does NOT change who I really am or if I have WORTH . . NOT MATTER what I FEEL. (that’s big for me . . . ) I am precious and WORTH-FUL because, like Heidi said, “JESUS did the WORK.” 🙂
It’s a NEW DAY today, and I choose to begin to RENEW my mind with the TRUTH that I don’t have to achieve the “perfect” body when Jesus has already made me “perfect” (COMPLETE) in Himself. I accept myself TODAY as BEAUTIFUL CHILD of GO . . .just as I am. 🙂
I’m quitting “work,” Girlies–I’m RETIRED!!! 😉
AMEN, Debbie! I love what you have said here! Thank you SO much for sharing your insights with us! (I could SO relate to your story, too!)