Skip to main content

Talk is Cheap



I’ve been overweight most of my adult life. My two babies, a thyroid condition, poor eating habits and little physical activity had me packing on the pounds. As a former collegiate athlete, I’ve always wanted to get back closer to my competition weight. I’ve started and quit working out more times than I can count. I’ve tried just about every fad diet there is. I will say I want to lose weight, and I genuinely do. But then I will shove ice cream, candy and cokes in my pie hole. Countless days, I've chosen to forgo the gym because I’m just exhausted from being a single working mom. So if I’m not willing to put in the work, how much do I really want to lose weight?

It takes an extraordinary amount of sacrifice and discipline to lose weight. Or to get anything you deeply desire, actually. What God showed me a while back is that talk is cheap. I can say I want to lose weight all I want, but until I put action into those words, they mean nothing.

I started to think about how this same “talk is cheap” flows over into other areas of our lives. We want a close relationship with God, but we aren’t willing to wake up just a bit earlier to have a quiet time with Him. We say we want to get married and have an amazing love story, but we are unwilling to forgive and set aside our pride for unconditional love. We say we want a better job with better hours and pay, but we aren’t willing to sacrifice the time it may take to get the education or training to make it possible.

Having an intimate relationship with God isn’t easy. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily (Matthew 16:24). Denying myself sounds uncomfortable and hard. There are things I want; things I desire; things I feel I need. But if I ultimately want that relationship with the Lord, I have to be willing to sacrifice my own fleshly desires to get what I truly desire in my heart of hearts.

It makes me think of a child with a lollipop. The child wants that lollipop, and it tastes good. But it’s dinner time, and she needs to eat real food. Afterward, she can have a delicious piece of pie, which is all so much better than that silly lollipop. But she indignantly holds fast to the lollipop, not realizing it will never fulfill her or satisfy her true needs. If she would just sacrifice her temporary desire, she would be able to attain her ultimate desire.

Last summer, I started keto and lost about 50 pounds. I felt great, and I looked the best I had in years. But I got tired of the sacrifice, the meal planning, the lack of chips and salsa. So I quit. God is showing me that I need to get back on the wagon, not only with my diet, but with my relationship with Him. I have to deny myself, because the end goal is so much more rewarding than the temporary pleasures. Because once I marry the love of my life, I’m going to need those skills to be the wife God designed me to be.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jesus Would Advocate for Civil Disobedience

In March, executive orders from governors across the country forced us to stay home, to close schools and churches and to shut down private businesses. Businesses were classified as either "essential" or "non-essential." All businesses deemed "non-essential" were forced to close. This included markets, clothing stores, boutiques, dine-in restaurants, and beauty salons. State parks, city parks, beaches, walking trails, lakes, and other wide open spaces were closed as well. Many people feel that the "social distancing," as it has come to be known, and stay at home executive orders violate their constitutional rights, such as our first amendment right to freely exercise our religion, our right to peaceably assemble, and that we shall not be deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some of the people who feel their rights have been violated have decided to exercise their First Amendment right to protest. Some have even chosen
3 comments
Read more

Covert Red Flags: The Real Things You Should Be Looking Out For in Relationships

Your relationship with your spouse should be the closest human relationship you ever have. As we are dating, we are assessing whether or not that person could potentially fit into our inner circle. This causes us to be on high alert for red flags. Most red flags are obvious--lack of communication, anger issues, irresponsibility, controlling behavior, abuse, etc. A quick Google search will bring up list upon list of red flags we should look out for. Being rude to waitstaff, not making your relationship public, not caring about XYZ, stone walling, gaslighting, and more can all be found on most lists. But what about the covert red flags? Those things that are less obvious. My first marriage taught me to look out for the overt red flags like the ones found in every advice column. My second marriage taught me to look out for covert red flags, ones that I never even realized were red flags until I could look back. The entire time we dated, I kept looking for the overt red fla
2 comments
Read more

Because of Who I Am

Someone posted on Facebook the other day the following: Why would you fight for someone who clearly doesn't want you? Please let them go. You are valuable, just not to them. I thought about it for a minute, because I indeed fought for my husband when he clearly didn't want me. I fought for our marriage, even when he had zero interest in making our marriage work. He had already checked out and told me point-blank that he just didn't want to work on our marriage, but yet I fought on my knees before the Lord. Throughout the first few months of our separation, I prayed day-in and day-out. I beseeched the Lord to intercede. I rebuked Satan, and I prostrated myself before the Lord God Almighty. I went to therapy, and I watched sermons online. I listened to every Jimmy Evans podcast I could find. I journaled and devoured God's Word. I wrote my husband scriptures and prayers daily. I soon filled a 100-page journal front and back. Shortly after he left in June
Post a Comment
Read more