June 18, 2012 - Living vs. Existing

Good morning and I hope your Monday is off to a great start! I am back from camp and WAY full from what I saw God do in our young people! God's heart is so big and so real and he never desires that we compromise in any area of our lives, as he never compromises with us. Over and over again while at camp we heard the cry of God, "just surrender......quit trying to have your own way........give up........it's easy." As I listened I was reminded that the "fight for life" is STRONG within each of us. People cling to life, and I understand that. But in God's economy, simple giving in and letting go of "our life" is really the best way. Now, I know that at camp God was stressing to these young people, let go - "I've got it." But I really feel that sometimes that "let go" is perched right in the heart of "but what if I fail.......again." Sometimes, in relation to our health, letting go means we really LET GO and there's nothing to which we can return. My husband and I had this discussion on Saturday as a follow-up to a discussion I had early in the week with a dear friend. We KNOW that choosing health is the best option - each of us really knows it. But our past way of existence is always a possibility........right? "If this eating healthy doesn't work and I don't end up a size ????, then I'll go back to what I know - my old way of existence." We simply cannot do that any longer! Living and existing are 2 different concepts. While engulfed in 65 pounds of extra weight, I was simply existing. I got up every day, did my stuff, and longed for Heaven so I could be free from this prison of a motal body in which I found myself trapped! I worked hard at covering my pain and hiding and a lot of times I did that by cheating. However, as I said to someone last week, I don't look at "cheating" the same any more, because I am living now and not existing. MY RATIONAL: I was existing in a "situation that God knew about and allowed (obesity) as I had prayed many years for HIS deliverance - and God didn't take it away - so it must be my LOT in life." I simply "accepted" existence with the thought that someday I would be in Heaven and never have to worry about my weight again. Ever thought that??? That way of thinking totally allowed me to cheat - after all this obesity is God's fault, and someday it won't matter anyway. NO! That's a LIE! BUT LIVING - which is where I find myself currently, has a whole broader picture. In my old life, cheating was indulging GENEROUSLY in the wrong foods with a PROMISE to do right again tomorrow - that's an existence mindset. LIVING, on the other hand, doesn't consider indulging in those things as an option because that old life is gone. SUGAR IS NOT A PART OF THIS LIFE AND THEREFORE CANNOT BE USED AS A "CHEAT." IF IT DOESN'T EXIST AS AN OPTION, IT CANNOT BE "RETURNED" TO AS A CHEAT. RIGHT? I don't cheat because I can't. Cheating is death to me and I choose life! I simply LET GO and burned the bridge to my old way of thinking about food AND THERE IS NO PLACE IN WHICH TO RETURN. Therefore, cheating is not really cheating. NOW.....if I am extra hungry - I refuel. But, I eat extra fruits, another piece of lean protein, something in MY LIVING PLAN and I stop when I am satisfied BUT NOT GORGED. That, sweet family, is living and not simply existing. I love this scripture: 1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.t4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. That is SOOO good - let's make certain today to choose LIFE - burn those bridges to your place of compromise and existence, and let those "dying bodies be swallowed up by life." YEA! Have a great Monday, PK