Thursday, March 25, 2010

How does God see my obesity, & my ongoing journey back to health?

I just got a link to this article today in my inbox, someone had written Kimberly asking her if God cares about her weight, & I found her answer & the article about it very edifying & inspiring...
http://www.takebackyourtemple.com/christian-weight-loss-does-god-care-about-your-weight/comment-page-1/#comment-1096
(you can subscribe to her awesome newsletter on that page, with the little pop-up that comes up when you arrive at the page.)
...& it got me thinking more about my own health issues {some of which have been caused by my obesity, & some have just been greatly aggrevated by it}. I've been pondering for awhile now how God has been seeing these things in my life, not only in the past when I was too exhausted & in pain to do much of anything, but also lately, as I'm finally gaining some ground in regaining my health.
God's shown such mercy, compassion & grace towards me in my struggles with my health  & He's definately been the source of my strength, especially lately, as I've been learning how to push through my limitations without pushing so hard I wipe out & quit (which has been a regular occurance in the past, due to my fibromyalgia). I see now that the times in the past I've felt defeated, hopeless, unchangeable, & too far gone I've not been looking at my health from His perspective, but my own limited one.
One of the things I've been reminded of lately is that much as I know that God wants me free of the things that have hindered my health in the past, if Jesus returns or I leave this earth before this is complete, I will still be given a perfect & whole resurrected body to dwell in for eternity in His presence! How awesome is that!! & most awesome of all, we don't have to earn that incredible gift, He offers it freely to ALL!
And not only will we be completely free of the things that have caused us so much distress, pain, & frustration here on earth, they'll no longer even be remembered! Knowing that is part of what helps me get & maintain an eternal perspective about the physical realm we live in here, each with our own particular limitations, hinderances, & daily struggles & pain, & it helps me {even as I get more focussed on conquering my particular health challenges} to not get distracted from the eternal perspective He's been giving me more each day.
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do ALL to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31
 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."  Romans 1:3
I love that He tells us that He's given EACH ONE OF US a measure of faith! He knows how much faith we'll need, as individuals, first to come to Him, & then, as we grow in Him, to learn to be overcomers, & no longer be overcome!
 I'm praying for you to be enabled by the power of His Holy Spirit to get & keep things in an eternal perspective, too, even as your attention must be on the physical realm sometimes in order to get as healthy as possible in order to serve Him & others more effectively.
As I'm learning to surrender daily to only eating the things He created for food (& no longer the health-destroying man-made immitations) I think about what Manna must've tasted like, perfectly created to meet ALL the body's physical needs, & how much God loves us to create fruits & veggies & things that enable our immune system to operate as the self-healing health restorer it was created to be.
And as I work out each day, I sometimes find myself close my eyes & imagine what it'll be like to be in that heavenly body He'll give me when I finally get to see my Beloved Lord face to face, free to dance before Him with the joy He's filling me with, even now, as He heals me, free of pain & disease & the slow process of dying we undergo here on earth.
The Bible promises us that death is the last enemy to be conquered...as I think on these things, I'm so thankful for His incredible gift of eternal life that we can begin to walk in now as we're being prepared to enter into things we can't even really imagine!
The moment we're there, the light of the truth will expose all the fretting we do here about things that are irrelevant eternally for the foolishness that it really is.
As we're being given glimpes here of all that is to come, help us, Father, to keep our focus on You, & not on the things of this world, including these mortal bodies we put on for a season, until we're ready to put on immortality there by your side. Help our pursuit of health here be for your glory, to enable us to serve you more effectively, & especially help us not to use our victories & renewed health as occasions to live more in the flesh, but teach us to contually grow in our ability to crucify our flesh-nature daily, as You've asked those who love you to be willing to do.
~Amen~

1 comment:

  1. Wow, Anastazia - a wonderful, powerful thoughts message! I love how you talk about the mercy, grace, and compassion God showed you during your health struggles. I discovered the same thing and found it is without limit. No matter how many times I stumbled, God was right there to pick me up and show me the right way. And now, almost 7 years later - he's given me the honor and privilege to help others just as he has given to you! Like you said, He is so amazing to give us everything we need to restore our health - right there in the foods he designed for the body to begin with. But I too am looking forward to the day when I get my glorified body and am able to dance before the Lord in it. I'm smiling even as I type that. I stand in agreement with your prayer. Many blessings to you in your ministry!

    Kim
    http://www.takebackyourtemple.com

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