Mandisa’s Mention

Hi sweet friends.

How I wish I could tell you that I’m all better.

I am not.

I still have a horrible case of the flu. High fever, chills, aches, coughing crud.

My 16 year old took me to the doctor this afternoon. He put me on tamaflu.

Now it appears I am having a reaction to the medication.

Uggghhhh!

Prayers are appreciated as I’m scheduled to fly to Charlotte, NC Sunday to appear on the final Made To Crave webcast.

The same webcast that hosted the beautiful & talented Mandisa last night.

As I sat shivering on my couch, sipping hot tea and watching her appearance, I nearly fell over when she began to talk about the section in Made to Crave where Lysa reprinted a post from this blog.

Seriously. I was a bawling mess.

So, since I feel totally crappy and am waiting for the doctor to call back to tell me what to do next, I figured I’d rerun the post that Mandisa said she could so relate to.

Please forgive me for being lazy.

I just want to sleep.

So, I’ll have to settle for a little rerun.

Hopefully, I’ll be back Friday. I’ll have a Proverbs 31 Encouragement for Today devotion running and a giveaway to boot!

Meanwhile, here is the post Mandisa mentioned. See you Friday!

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I was very hopeful as I hopped on the scale this morning. I kept track of my food, exercised 5 days at the gym for 30-45 minutes and my jeans were zipping up much easier than expected. So I whipped the scale out of its locked down location (I’ll post someday about my need to do this since hopping on the scale more than once a week proves often to be detrimental to me)

It said I lost …. 1.8 pounds.

A measly 1.8 pounds!

What!?!

I was sure it would say at least 2 or maybe even 3.

I felt gypped.

And I felt like running to the kitchen to make a frozen waffle or two, slather it with real butter, spread it with some Peter Pan and douse it with a load of pure maple syrup to drown my sorrows.

Then I stopped and remembered what I felt the Lord wanted me to say to you this week.

Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale.

The scale does help measure our progress, but it can’t tell us everything.

It can’t tell us if the problem was too much salt of late that is making us retain a pound or two of water that might not otherwise show up.

It can’t tell us if we actually lost a pound of fat but gained more muscle from weight training that wouldn’t show up as a total loss on the scale.

And, (in my case this week) it can’t tell us what time of the month it is and then give us automatic credit for the extra two pounds or so that glorious few days brings to us.

So I had to stop.

I had to ask myself the following questions:

  • Did I overeat this week on any day?  No.
  • Did I move more and exercise regularly? Yes.
  • Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last Wednesday? Yes
  • Did I eat in secret our out of anger or frustration? No.
  • Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God? Nope.
  • BEFORE I HOPPED ON THE SCALE….did I think I’d had a successful, God-pleasing week? Yep!

So, why oh why do I get so tied up in a stupid number!!!!!! And why did I almost let it trip me up and send me to the kitchen for a 750 calorie binge? (Don’t worry. I had a yogurt and tea instead.)

Sweet bloggy friends, we need to define ourselves by our obedience, not a number on the scale.

Okay?

Pinky promise?

Good.

Now, how did you do this week? Leave your thoughts and how many pounds you lost (or perhaps gained) if you’d like, but you certainly don’t have to.

I am more interested to see what changed for you? Your thought patterns? Habits? Feelings of hope?

Hop on and leave a comment. Hop on again to encourage someone else who left a comment.

We are all in this thing together.

And we WILL get the weight off, even if it is 1.8 pounds at a time!

Blessings,

28 Comments

  1. I have started the Made to Crave Journey and just watched the last webcast today. I to have yo yo dieted most of my adult life. I have no accountability partner either and like Lysa,cannot go to my husband because of misunderstanding like the one she and her husband had. I am thankful that you started this blog Karen. I believe it will help me to achieve my goal, but also keep me in contact with other women who are craving God like me. Sometimes it is hard when most of your family and friends are not Christians or if they say they are, are not living it right now. I hope you are feeling better Karen. I had a stomach virus over the weekend and felt horrible, but I am ready to jump in and start this wonderful journey.

  2. I have just begun the Made to Crave study. I’m doing it alone…I have no accountability partner. At this point I am just praying that God changes my thoughts on the cycle of weight gains and loss I have lived. So far I “know” I should lose weight to avoid health problems I do not have….YET…I could have problems if I don’t stop and change now. It’s just an area that is so hard to believe that it can be different. I definitely need God to instill the “want to” in me….cause I’m pretty healthy, have a husband who loves me as I am (100 lbs. overweight)and not much family health issues lurking out there. I don’t want to keep going and get into trouble.

    I’ve noticed that so far with just the first chapter under my belt that the Word is coming alive again. I’ve been burned out and going through a LONG dry spell in feeling like when I read the Bible it’s “been there, read this”. More than my weight issue I need my relationship with God to be right…”seek first and all else will follow”. Right? He has kept me from walking away from Him. So I guess I’m trusting that this is the beginning of some kind of journey with this study.

    I’m so thankful God chose Lysa to fight through her own battle so He can stir something up in me. Thank you for your honesty on the webcast….it so helps to hear the reality of others struggles. I was glad to hear about this Wed. blogging. I think I’m feeling more desperate that I NEED this to work…something to click….find me that “want to”.

    Praying His blessing upon your abiding with Him.

  3. OOPS! Haven’t ever asked myself if I’d obeyed God regarding food intake! Praise Him for His grace to me. I am thankful, tho, when I’m down even .2#! The trend is my friend and yours, too! Your post has given me a new way to look at my weight loss journey: I know He wants me to obey Him in several areas, especially moving and excercise more and not eating in secret or in response to emotional upsets.
    Praying that you will be healthy and energetic enough to participate on Sunday. *hugs* k

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