With God Nothing is Impossible

I am repeating this entry written in July because I want to stress the one thing that truly made the difference in my weight loss. I fear I do not stress enough that I couldn't have lost any weight without the help of the Lord. I already knew all of the dieting advise, I knew what I was supposed to eat and when and how much, I knew that I was supposed to excercise. The struggle then was to change my "natural man" (vegatitive overeater) to the person I wanted to be (fit, healthy, active mother and wife). I do not claim to be a dietition or a personal trainer, but I can tell you some of the things I was taught through gentle instructions of the Lord through His spirit. Real lasting change happens when we seek the Lord in all that we do. That is what made the difference for me. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and a Sabbath that refreshes and renews.

With God Nothing is Impossible

One week after I "got real" and did everything Dr.Phil and the other diet gurus told me to do, I still weighed the same. I felt like a desperate crazy woman. I got on the scale and cried. I had started the way I thought I was supposed to start. I did some hard things, why didn’t I lose at least 2 pounds?

I didn’t want to be fat anymore, but I still really loved eating. I didn’t think I was eating so badly, why was I so fat? I ate fruits, veggies, whole grains, sometimes French fries, sometimes chips, but not too often, or not too much. I ate chocolate, but who doesn’t? Sometimes I ate ice cream, but not to a degree that it would kill me. Yea, pizza once in awhile, but not very often, and sometimes I took off the topping. As the old saying goes, “I was in denial, and it wasn’t a river in Egypt.

Alma tells his son Helaman:
“Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord. . . He goes on to say “counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good” (Alma 37:36-37)

This is where I had to modify Dr. Phil a bit and ask for some serious help. It really did matter to me. Heavenly Father cares about our bodies too, that’s why we have the word of wisdom. I am sure He wants us running as fast and as well as we can. I tearfully asked my husband for a blessing. This is what I truly attribute to the beginning of my success. In asking for that blessing I was humbling myself and asking the Lord to give me the strength I needed. I know I can do all things with His help, faith then is what I needed. I then started to pray to the Lord for his help and counsel. Do you remember Alma’s counsel to the poor Zoramites?

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if you can no more that desire to believe, let this desire work in you. . .” (Alma 32:27)

I had the desire to get fit, just not the desire to do the hard work. I needed to have the desire work in me to change my way of thinking. I had to ask Heavenly Father to help me to want to do, and learn the things necessary for change, because on my own I was powerless. I needed to seek counsel from someone who wrote the owners manual for our bodies – God.

My plan was this, in the morning, I “counseled with the Lord” In my morning prayer I asked him for strength. For desire to exercise, for ability to eat right, and for knowledge on how I could change. During the day, snack time, lunch time, before and after dinner I asked him to show me when to quit, what to eat, and what I could do to change old habits. At night, in my prayer I would thank him and ask him to help me hear his counsel tomorrow. I even asked him to help me to want to get up and exercise.

This truly was the beginning of my transformation. I know that Heavenly Father cares about me. He told the Nephite apostles:

”Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things”
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (3 Nephi 13:31-33)