My small God

I am nearing the end of my weight loss journey. Another pound or two and I will be done. I see some fat left, my wife says it is just skin. I want all excess fat gone and I want it to stay that way. To God be the glory for the great thing He has done.

To have lost 64 pounds is something beyond my wildest dreams. Once in a while I would think about losing weight but my mind would quickly change channels. I now realize the problem was that the BIG god in my life was me. I thought it was up to me. I was limited by my ability. It scared me to think of my inability to change. I forgot what God could do. He was small and me was big. What happened to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?" Philippians 4:13

I want to be a follower of Jesus and have Him in control of all of my life. It really bothered me that I had such a big area in my life that I couldn't change. That was the problem - I/me. I had made God small. He was too little to help me.

I am now greatly encouraged to let God be God. Shouldn't there be a power in my life beyond all the self-help I can do it crap the world promotes as the way to get it done. Shouldn't the power of the Holy Spirit mean and do something beyond just being a nice religious phrase? Shouldn't I be able to confront other problem areas of my life with confidence that if change needs to happen then God can bring it about?

It's mysterious how God and I fit together on all this. I know that I have a part. There are things I must do to cooperate. In weight loss I had to make daily decisions to eat less and differently. I had to track what I ate so I knew if I was on track. The scale became the judge of my progress. I will have to continue in these behaviors so I don't drift back to where I was.

But, it isn't just me. There has been something sweet and awesome going on. God has done what I can't. He has changed my desires. I haven't had to grit my teeth and pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I have become different; I have become new in this area. The old is passing/has passed away.

I celebrate this victory but tomorrow is a new day. There is plenty of other stuff in my life that needs to change; the other things I hide from; the areas where God is still small. The other things I am trying to overcome by willpower; by my strength. Wouldn't it be nice if a lesson learned in one area was automatically applied everywhere else?

Here is a link to posts about my weight loss journey.

Philip

You Can't Outrun Your Mouth