From the archives:
Have you taken the tools God provides and turned them into guilty pleasures? My name is Linda and I stand guilty as charged. I have spent most of my life overweight. I was never very athletic or physically active. I was more the type to curl up with a book or grab a pen and paper. However, if I had stopped misusing my tools it may have made a difference.
When my husband and I met, my all-purpose tool was my hammer, which he took away from me for years. He loved to tell the story of how I beat a screw into the wall or tried. I didn’t have a proper toolbox or the knowledge to use one. Thank God He sent me a handyman! Some things take longer to get through my stiff neck.
A huge misuse of God’s provision has become crystal clear to me now, as I am about to be sixty years old. It concerns the tool of food. My favorite foods have always been bread, pasta, and sweets, which equal a recipe for diabetes. Recently, my husband and I have changed the way we eat and for the first time in my life I am at a healthy weight and my diabetes is under control. By God’s grace, I don’t suffer many cravings.
Another tool, often misused, can make you spiritually healthy, when ingested properly–the Bible. How many people use a Bible in the decor of their home but don’t realize the quality of the fuel between the covers? “Commit your way to ADONAI [the Lord]” trust in him, and he will act.” (Psalm 37:5) What is your guilty pleasure? Put it in the Lord’s hands today and spend some time in his Book. “Taste and see that ADONAI is good. How blessed are those who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:9 (8))
Yes! He with us all the time!
I love this! My husband and I have been working hard since last fall at honoring the Lord is the foods we eat. We have dropped weight. He is close to goal, but I still am quite a ways away from it. I have been told that I have a survivalist’s metabolism. When my body detects weight loss, out of striving to survive what it fears is a famine, it shuts down burning calories and causes exhaustion to prevent me from moving/burning calories and hunger to try to force me to eat. I feel confident there is a devotion in there somewhere. He will reveal it at the right time.
Lord, help us to feed on your Word and find our satisfaction and peace in our relationship with You, the God of all comfort. Teach us to honor You in our temples and walk in the freedom of right relationship with You. In Jesus’ Name ❤️🙏❤️
Oh, my friend, I am sure you are correct; there is a testimony in your test! May Father honor you and your husband for your faithfulness and desire to honor Him! May your reward be more than worth your efforts <3 You are a warrior and you will be blessed!