There's a Camel in Front of Me!!

So this is an exciting day!  The first of the month, which means I got to weigh this morning for the first time since New Year's Day.  And guess what???  I lost another 13 pounds!  That makes a total of 30 pounds since Thanksgiving!  I think I really like only weighing once a month...seeing that big number is so much more motivating than seeing little numbers every week or tiny numbers every day.  It makes me feel like I'm on The Biggest Loser!  LOL!

But now things could get hard.  Let's face it....I've lost all or part of these exact same 30 pounds three times over the last five years.  And this is where I have always gotten stuck.  So what's different this time that will help me get over this giant hump staring me in the face?

God is so faithful to put the exact words I need right in front of me every morning.  Today I was reading my Made to Crave devotional and Day 13 is titled  The Tower of Impossibility.  And she was writing about the exact same concept as my "coins of obedience", except for her, they are bricks on the path to victory.  She has towers, I have humps....she has bricks, I have coins...so cool.  Anyway, she's piling up her good choices to build a new foundation for her life and after piling them up high enough, one day she woke feeling empowered and hopeful.  That was me today!  Except I didn't start out very hopeful.  I approached the scale with fear...and a lot of excuses.  I travelled out of town for a week this month...I was sick and didn't exercise for a couple of days....I was surrounded by sugar and chocolate for a bake sale this weekend....Two birthdays in our family meant two birthday dinners....all the reasons why I might not make my goal.  The goal that GOD had given me through much prayer in how to approach this thing.  "Just be prepared, girl....with all that has happened this month, a couple of pounds below the goal will be okay."  Then when I stepped on the scale, I couldn't believe my eyes!  I jumped off then got back on again to make sure it said the same thing!  Then I moved the scale to a different spot on the floor and weighed again...just to be sure!  Hope and real confidence that I truly could do this thing flooded my soul!

Then in my devotional, she put it this way:

"...Brick by brick (or coin by coin for me!), prayer by prayer, good choice by good choice, my hope soared.  I'm making positive physical changes, but even more importantly, I'm making wise spiritual changes.  As Proverbs 24:14 reminds me, walking in spiritual wisdom secures my hope that this healthy journey will not end in defeat:  Know also that wisdom is SWEET to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF."

What an awesome promise!  If I continue to walk in wisdom, my hope will not be cut off!  I can face that scale every month with HOPE and not fear.   And even if the numbers do not look like Biggest Loser numbers every month, God's purpose is being done in my heart and in my life.  I will get past this camel!