Our God is so Faithful in so many ways! TFW

I am praising our Lord this morning for many blessings. I love waking up to see the sun rising again.  Our God is so faithful!  I love hearing my hubby say that he is feeling a little better.  Our God is so faithful!  I love digging into God's Word with our Faithful Weigher's and learning truths about who He is to me and how He created me. About what I may be thinking that is contrary to His Word and holding  me in a place of repeated frustration.  Our God is so faithful! 

One comment I have heard more than once is that "This is deep!"  It certainly is!!  As I have asked God to keep my eyes and heart open to see what is behind my "stinkin thinkin",  He is faithful to my request and I am thankful for this digging deep.   In our walk with Him, isn't it our deepest desire to grow ever closer to Him?  To grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it says in 2 Peter 3:18?   We should never be satisfied to stay where we are but to desire to grow, and change according to His likeness.  If we don't have that desire, then perhaps we are "happy" in our "stinkin thinkin" of being "stuck" in the places that we find ourselves.  For those of us that meet weekly at TFW, we were ready to discover from God's Word, why we continue to think like we do when it comes to the repetitive ways that we have struggled with in our healthy eating journey.  

If you have joined us in this study about "Discovering our Strongholds" with James MacDonald, we are moving from discovering our dispositions to the "Destroying the Strongholds of Family Dysfunctions".  We have included a youtube for today's teaching.  May you listen to this with the prayer that God will be pleased to show to you what He wants you to hear.  Take notes.  Pray about what you have heard and ask God to show you what may be behind your thinking, as you continue your walk with Him.

Many prayers and blessings for each of you this day, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends.

Mary Ann

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSRejiVhSU4

Why a study on Strongholds in a weight-loss support group?

Happy Wednesday, Faithful Weigher's!! God is blessing us with a beautiful, sunny morning with the hope of warmer temps headed our way!  I have to say that this has given me a new "spring" in my step!  LOL 

We were blessed with a couple of new ladies at our meeting yesterday and this is how I explained our current study on Strongholds.  On the surface, one could ask what this has to do with weight-loss and our healthy eating journey.  This is the insight that God has given to me as I asked myself the same question.

Having been on this journey for 4 + years now, along with several of our members of The Faithful Weigh, we know how we should eat, what we should eat, about portion sizes, reading labels, how our body reacts to excessive eating and too much of a not-so-good things in our food choices.  We have been on a multitude of different diets and eating plans for several years. We have lost weight, gained it back, lost it again, gave up trying and have beat ourselves up for failing, once again. 

The statement that grabbed me as I was listening to this series by James MacDonald on "Destroying Strongholds" was this; "Stop thinking why do I do this and starting thinking why do I think this way?" 

Yes, we can stop doing things, even seeking the strength of God to help us.  We are thankful and give Him the glory for those successes.  However, because of our human, sinful nature, we tend to grow complacent in that success and soon, we find ourselves in the same place again, asking the question, "Why do I do this?"

This is where that statement grabbed me.  Am I retreating to these old patterns because of strongholds in my thinking that I have not yet surrendered to God's control instead of my own? 

 What I have learned so far is that my main disposition style is that I can be sufficient in my own strength and accomplishments and step away from the truth that God is my sufficiency and I need to lean fully on Him and not myself. 

If you have questions what this study on Strongholds has on your healthy eating & living journey, I hope that you take the opportunity to listen to the podcasts we have listened to so far and see if this is something that God has brought you to do grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As usual, the truths I am learning from this not only pertains to my healthy eating journey but has already given me such insight on the relationships in my life.  I am learning more and more about grace!  God's grace for me, the grace others have for me and the grace that God is calling on me to have for those in my life and that I come in contact with.  It is ALL GOOD and ALL THINGS from our Lord are good!!  Praise His Name and to Him we give the glory for bringing us to this study at this time.

Hope this is beneficial to you as you continue your journey with us.

Blessings in the name of my Lord and Savior,

Mary Ann