Thursday, September 10, 2009

Never Apologize....(part two)

Sorry about that last post. I had just barely started to write. I had only written two sentences when Joe came and asked me if I wanted to go shopping. He didn't have to ask twice. I minimized what I had written hoping to come back to it. For some reason the computer went ahead and posted just the title which is a terrible thing to say when you don't know the rest of the story.

So what you should never apologize for is giving Him the credit for the power behind your successes.

Two different friends of mine, who also have weight problems, have said that when they have lost 15 to 20 lbs. and tell it to someone, anyone for that matter, immediately they start to gain it back again. That has happened over and over again to all three of us.

Finally we got it! We were boasting in our own glory. Anytime we start to boast the natural result is that the spirit of the Lord is grieved and withdraws and we are left to ourselves, to our own strength, which in the case of a major difficulty or weakness (like trying to overcome an addiction to compulsive eating) is just about nil. Is nil, I should say, not "just about."

What we've learned from this experience is that it is Heavenly Father, not us, who gives us His power to overcome something that we've lost to power to do ourselves. Anytime an act or behaviour becomes an addiction willpower is not enough. It just doesn't function because we have abused the natural function (in this case eating)so badly that we have lost the ability to make good choices. We have lost the right to eat as a normal person would. So what it all boils down to is that we MUST draw on a power greater than ourselves. And if we take the credit for that power we suffer the condemnation of God, who is actually the power we are trying to claim. That was Lucifer's problem - he wanted to take God' glory for himself.

Anyway, what I've learned is that if I give the credit where credit is due, I can lose weight and keep it off. It's taken me 10 years in Overeaters Anonymous to learn that one fact. So now, I don't boast in my own strength. I try never to say I have lost x number of lbs without giving God the credit. Now I boast in my Heavenly Father's strength. I give Him the glory, which is where it belonged in the first place.

I never apologize for that.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Okay, that's a good non-apology. yay for help where we need it.