by Kimberly Taylor | Your current body is mostly a snapshot of the hundreds of small health choices you made daily in the past.
This morning during my Scripture meditation, a weird thought occurred to me regarding how to lose body fat. This is the Scripture on which I meditated:
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Prov. 1:7)."
Although I usually focus on the first part (to reverence, honor and respect God), this time, the second part stood out. Then a new thought came: What if we could see excess body fat as our body's attempt to give us wisdom and instruction?
Now, please stay with me.
I spent so many years despising my excess body fat. To me, she was like an unwanted house guest, one who had long overstayed her welcome.
But suppose you see excess body fat as wisdom and instruction to use, not something to hate? This powerful feedback usually means something is out of balance in your body.
Your current body is mostly a snapshot of the hundreds of small health choices you made daily in the past. Depending on the severity of the excess fat, that typically means you made a few or many errors in judgment. These errors have compounded over time to yield the excess fat you see today. This is useful information.
I'm going to ask you to do something radical. If you've been despising your excess body fat, stop right now and really look at it in the mirror. No more hiding. Touch it. Consider it well.
Then, I recommend that you embrace the wisdom and instruction your body has been trying to give you. Someone once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over but expecting a different result.
Wisdom says if you want something different, you must do something different.
Here's a sample prayer for this situation:
Lord, I praise you for my body! You designed it to make fat out of the food I eat as an energy source. My body is telling me now that I ate more than I needed in the past or ate too many foods that weren't good for me, so it stored the excess. My body is working according to your wise design. Thank you!
But now, I am ready to heed the wisdom and instruction my body is giving me. Oh Lord, help me not to despise its wisdom and instruction. Help me to stop ignoring what my body is trying to teach me.
Your Word says in Proverbs 23:24, "The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise child will have joy of him." I want to do what is right according to your Word. Your Word says all I need to do is ask You for wisdom, and You will give it to me. So show me, Lord, the errors in judgment I have been making each day that are hurting my health. Give me the strength to make wiser choices that cause you to rejoice and my body to heal itself.
I think carefully about each daily choice that will impact my health. I want to walk wisely. Help me to make fruits and vegetables the cornerstone of my diet to heal, energize and nourish my body. Because my body is more than 60 percent water, I must drink the proper amounts so that my fat burning process will work properly. I need your help to minimize my exposure to food that would harm my body also. Show me how to redeem the time by investing some of that time into useful exercise.
Thank you, God, that you care for all my needs, both big and small. Thank you, God, for being near to me and that I may call upon you for any reason.
With this attitude of thankfulness, take a moment to write down any wisdom the Lord gives you regarding what you need to do to change your body for the better. Start with the smallest change, and as you gain consistency, you will have confidence to do more. Act on that wisdom now, while the motivation (reason to move) is strong.
Consider this timeless wisdom from the book of Proverbs:
"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles covered its surface, and the stone wall was broken down.Then I saw, and considered it; I looked on it and received instruction: Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so your poverty will come like a stalker, and your need as an armed man" (Prov. 24:30-34).
As you act on godly wisdom daily, even in small steps to weight loss, time will start working for you rather than against you. And you will truly see how God works all things together for your good, including this situation.
Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify of God's healing power to end binge eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.
For the original article, visit takebackyourtemple.com.
