Finally Stepping Into The Light

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. " (Matthew 16:24-25, NASB) I've heard this scripture repeated all throughout my childhood, growing up in a private school as well as in church. It's a commonly known quote from Jesus as he was describing the idea of dying-to-self in order to follow Him. As a teenager/young adult, I never really gave too much thought as to what this really meant; now I believe it was because deep down I wasn't willing to give up my way of life. I allowed my own stubborn devotion to my self interests to rob me of an important part of the process of following in Christ's example. Now that I just turned 31 years old six days ago, I find myself rethinking many of my choices that led me to this dark place in my life, and I can't help but wonder what might have happened had I gras...

  "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God" ~ 2 Corinthians 3:5 ESV     Long have I believed that I was void of any special gift or calling. Instead I lived my life as a victim of circumstance and wallowed in self-pity and resentment toward God for such an oversight. I looked for anything to bring me a sense of fulfillment and to distract me from my inadequacies, and so I hid myself from the rest of the world, gave in to my eating addiction and ate my way into obscurity.    Lately, I've been making an effort to rid myself of  this great weight (speaking both physically and figuratively) and literally reinvent myself. This is no simple task as I've quickly learned, after so many years of living in the comfort of allowing my carnal nature have it's way with both my mind and my body, and feeding on the shadows in my heart. I've begun feeding my spirit with the Holy Word and praying regul...

   Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. ~Luke 10:19 NLT    A couple weeks ago I took it upon myself to begin this blog, to document my journey to better health and regaining the life I had taken for granted; a life I sacrificed in exchange for immediate satisfaction. Each week I sit here at the family computer, and I put on my uplifting music, and I lift up this new entry to God, to use for His divine purpose.    Now, I'm finally beginning to see some of those results I've been looking for. The exciting part is hearing many others comment on how I look like I've lost weight; it's like fuel to the fire for me. I could not be happier with how this is going so far, and the minor improvements in my mobility and stamina are all testaments to my daily efforts to control how much food I intake.    However, this is only half the battle f...

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. ~Matthew 26:41     The above verse is how I would summarize my journey thus far. I desire these things-a healthy weight, lower risk of diabetes among many other things, but my flesh is continually seeking instant gratification. So I'm struggling to keep my goals in front of me, and I find myself settling for less than my best and justifying it by telling myself "hey at least it's better than what you were doing before".    This week I've adopted some good habits, such as tracking calories via the My Fitness Pal app, and it's proven effective in pointing out which foods will consume my calorie limit quickly. My wife and I have been preparing meals at the beginning of each week, which can be time consuming (and expensive) but very rewarding if you can commit to eating only what's in those containers each week.    After taking these couple steps fo...

For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,      and the complacency of fools will destroy them ~Proverbs 1:32    If you are taking time to read this, first of all you have my gratitude. My vision for this series of entries is to reach as many people as possible, and even if it helps just one person, I will have considered it a success. I've always been drawn to writing, and I knew it wasn't just a coincidence; I believe writing is something God has always had planned for me, to share my story, to be a light in a world full of darkness. This is a new adventure for me, so by doing this blog I am definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but the way I see it, I have been comfortable for far too long.    My life has been filled with blessings, I have a great family that loves and holds each other up, and my parents have always strived to be examples of good work ethic and Godliness. From the time I was born, I have been surrounded by l...