Counting Calories

Pretty much every girl I have ever met thinks she is fat and wants to loose weight. It seems that, as a lady, you simply can't be skinny enough. Even my Mother (who barely weights 100 pounds sopping wet, and is way beyond her vain teen years) will pinch the skin on her belly and proclaim, "I NEED to loose just five more pounds!" Drives me absolutely batty! Especially since I am carrying around an extra fifty pounds I quite frankly can't blame on my three year old 'baby' any longer. Now that is something to be concerned about!

Everywhere you turn you can hear or read about some sort of diet or weight loss strategy. The way I see it, it only comes down to one thing. It's simply a matter of calories in vs. calories out. With a new baby growing I definitely don't want any more extra pounds to carry around for the rest of my life, so I did some research to figure out exactly how many calories my body (and baby) need. As a result I started the grueling process of counting each and every calorie I ate. As a side note: I now completely understand why I am so fat, the amount of calories in a small amount of food is utterly ridiculous!!

The funny thing about my endeavors in weight loss is that counting calories has taught me a spiritual lesson. Every morning when I wake up and get on my phone I see a beautiful phrase.. "0 calories today." A constant reminder that my success today is completely independent of my successes or failures of yesterday. Isn't that true in our spiritual life as well!?!

Just because I had an hour long quite time yesterday, spent time explaining the trinity on a pre-school level, and managed to get through the day with nothing short of loving soft spoken words to everyone I encountered. { The equivalent of a perfect low calorie day!} doesn't mean I get a free pass for today.

Nor does yesterday's forgotten quite time, the fight with my husband, and non-stop yelling at my children {the equivalent of consuming the entire days calories before noon} mean that today is hopeless.

Every morning I get a clean slate.

Every

Single

Morning

No

Matter

What!

Obviously I have to deal with the consequences of yesterday's sins {just as I have to work out harder or longer to offset extra calories} but I don't have to let those sins inhibit me today.

Is there anything more refreshing?

If you are struggling in your Christian walk and find yourself discouraged often I want to encourage you. Life as a Christian is an uphill battle. If you aren't struggling you aren't trying! When I first started counting calories I was hungry all the time and down right miserable; but, I stuck with it and over time my body adjusted. I am no longer constantly hungry and it is somewhat easier to forgo calories I don't need. Likewise, if you stick with your faith through the tough days, keep reading your Bible and keep talking to God and keep going to church {No.Matter.What} you'll eventually reach a point where it gets easier. Don't be fooled it won't ever be easy. Just like I still crave anything big and chocolate you will be attacked and bombarded with temptations by the enemy in your spiritual life.

Just remember... if the enemy is attacking you're doing something right because if you weren't effective he'd leave you alone!

So share with me, can you draw any parallels between your adventures in healthy eating and your spiritual life?