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If your right hand offends you.....
Posted on March 24, 2006
Posted By Shellie in Godliness

Since my pastor's last sermon, I have felt that a self-imposed period of mourning, a fast*, is in order. (Skip to the footnote if you're concerned about my public profession of a time of fasting.)
 
On Monday I felt I must have that self-imposed period of mourning. Daily. Since Tuesday, I have stopped eating after 2 P.M. every day. I use the hunger pangs to focus my mind on my Lord, to spend time in prayer and worship and devoting myself to the Word. I have sinned against Him time and time again by indulging my lust for food. I just like how it tastes and consistently focus on it. What restaurant will my next vacation be near? ::shudder::
 
The truly amazing thing to me is that I have not found myself overeating in the A.M. to compensate. No. If anything, I am sensing a release from the magnetic pull of food. That can only be from the Lord. Today, everyone was having lunch from the Food Court. I recently forbid myself to order the 12-inch Subway Spicy Italian. So today I had the 6-inch and half my daughter's regular fries. I ate one half of my share of fries and just half of that six inch. Granted, I told myself "It's a long way to bed. You're going to be hungry..." but I didn't want to overeat. I would rather be obedient to Christ. Lord, please grant me repentance and freedom in You.
 
Everyone won't be called to this measure of mourning. But if, like me, you've found yourself in bondage to your yo-yo-ing weight for half your marriage (at present count: 16 years) because you routinely overeat beyond what the body requires "because it tastes good and I enjoy it," then maybe ask yourself "How sorry am I to be sinning against the Lord via gluttony and idolizing of great tasting food?" and determine what level of mourning is appropriate.
 
I just know that God is touching me and bringing some quiet changes into my life. And I am grateful.
 
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Matthew 5:30 




Quote:
*Many people are reluctant to tell others that they are fasting so they will avoid the sin of the Pharisees: fasting just to gain recognition for themselves. I strongly believe that attitude is a result of a wrong interpretation of our Lord's teaching and that it is a trick of the enemy who does not want us to fast, nor to share with your loved ones, neighbors and friends the benefits of fasting. Bill Bright: How to Fast



Comments from our visitors...

ouchhh...
Posted at 6:46 PM on March 25, 2006 by PinayMom
this is just what i needed to hear. i have been doing that yoyo diet for close to 3 years now and im really struggling to loose weight especially with all those tempting food out there. we just get home from having dinner with a couple at church and yes i ate the whole plate whereas i should have been full eating just half of it. i should do that mourning fast, as soon as we get settled and all, i told my husband i have to get really serious in trying to loose these unwanted pounds.

by the way, i love your website, you have a beautiful family! and i like it that it matches your blog. i would love to do that with mine sometime soon. i love web design but i have so much to learn. i love photography too. i used to do frontpage 2003 with our website and i just give up fighting with it because i do not know much about it and i end up working hours and hours playing trial and error before getting the look that i want so i end up having to do template. i told my husband i wanted to study html.

thank you for visiting my blog. i am looking forward to getting to know you more by reading your blogs as well.

~ melanie
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Thank you, Melanie
Posted at 5:45 AM on March 26, 2006 by shellie
For visiting and for the comments. About the weight loss, I think we moms should support one another more and be more transparent.

Thank you for your compliments. I think FrontPage is too complex and I prefer to write my own code whenever possible. If you visit my Favorite Links page, you'll see under the Reference section a few places that might help with your coding and the last one, Open Source Web Design, has some free templates you can grab for your website.

Shellie
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Untitled Comment
Posted at 1:17 PM on March 31, 2006 by robyx5
This is great, Shellie.
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