Full Armor of God Diet

I'm getting ready to download a song by Avalon called "Testify to Love." I'm getting it free, too. It's so exciting. My son talked me into buying Pop-tarts. Pop-tarts of all things! Not exactly your nutritious breakfast. I told him it would be a treat, like having a cookie, and not to just eat a pop-tart for breakfast, that would be like eating a cookie for breakfast! So, guess what? There's a free prize inside my poptart box. I picked a box with a free $15 iTunes gift card. So I have my gift card and I heard this great song by Avalon. I had heard it many times before, but this time it really sunk in. "For as long as I shall live I will testify to love...With every breath I take I will give thanks to God above." I want this to by my approach to live.

Giving thanks to God. I've been thinking a lot about my purpose here on earth, the talents God has given me, His plan for my life, what it is He really wants me to accomplish for Him while I'm here on this earth before He comes again. I've been thinking about this more because this came up in a conversation with my son last night. "God has a plan for your life," I told him, just like Elisha. We were reading about how Elisha was faithful in small ways and because of this, he was able to be faithful in big ways. So I'm thinking about the small ways I can be faithful to God, and I'm getting ready to download my Avalon song and it just occured to me...Wouldn't it be great if God's plan for my life was as simply to praise Him. He tells us "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." But I get all stressed out with so many things, keeping up with caring for my family (taxi driver, meal planner, house clutter buster), making time to exercise, work work work at my job, use my talents for Him by helping the church and my kids church school, on and on and on. I get stressed, but Jesus has said "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

You know, I want my main job to be simply to praise Him. That would be the greatest job, the easiet job He could ever give me. If Jesus said to me, "Hey, here is your job on earth, my purpose for you, I will bless you and I want you to use your talents to praise Me and tell others about these blessings." Wow, what a great job! What a great and easy purpose for me on earth. I like that job. I want that job. Give me that job!

So, let's start today with a praise. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I want to let go of all the old bad health habits and be a walking, living, breathing example of how God's ways are better than my ways. I want to follow his plan for health by eating all the great foods he made to lift up our health and avoiding all the junk food that tears our health down. I want to be an example of the blessings that come from following His ways. And then guess what? I want to do nothing else but praise Him for it!

That's my passion today. I'm getting ready to go for a walk before it's time to taxi my kids around to piano lessons. I'm going to get that song by Avalon to remind me to give thanks to God above with every breath I take.

That's my purpose here on earth. I just want to fulfill it!

Have you heard the saying "Follow your heart?" Sounds like good advice, and sometimes it is. But what if your heart deceives you? It could happen, you know. Jeremiah recognized this when he wrote

"The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

I've been pondering times when my heart might deceive me and get in the way of my quest for good health. It happens when I crave things that aren't good for me. How long has it been since you craved something that wasn't good for you? And you knew it? For me, oh I would say, pretty much always! I'm tempted by junk food at least daily. This is an example of my heart and mind in conflict. My emotions tell me one thing, but my head is telling me something else. The thing about this is, my heart wins this battle when I rely on my own strength. My heart doesn't always want what's best for me and it can be pretty demanding when I'm facing chocolate ice cream!

One of my favorite Christian authors (EG White) wrote about this conflict and encourages us to rely on Jesus to fight these heart battles for us. Here is how she decscribes it:

"But you must remember that your will is the spring of all your actions. This will, that forms so imporant a factor in the character of man, was at the Fall given into the control of Satan; and he has ever since been working in man to will and to do of his own pleasure, but to the utter ruin and misery of man. But the infinite sacrifice of God in giving Jesus, His beloved Son, to become a sacrifice for sin, enables Him to say, without violating one principle of His government: 'Yield yourself up to Me; give Me that will; take it from the control of Satan, and I will take possession of it; then I can work in you to will and to do of My good pleasure.' When He gives you the mind of Christ, your will becomes as His will, and your character is transformed to be like Christ’s character. Is it your purpose to do God’s will? Do you wish to obey the Scripture? 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.' There is no such thing as following Christ unless you refuse to gratify inclination and determine to obey God. It is not your feelings, your emotions, that make you a child of God, but the doing of God’s will. A life of usefulness is before you if your will becomes God’s will. Then you may stand in your God-given manhood, an example of good works. You will then help to maintain rules of discipline instead of helping to break them down."

I like this passage because it reminds me to give up my own will (my own desires, the things this heart of mine craves) to the will of God. It’s amazing to me how a simple prayer at the time I’m facing temptation helps “Lord, please help me not to follow my will but your will. Please make the desires of my heart what you desire for me.” It’s the moment of decision, deciding to give up my will to Him, and it’s marvelous when His will becomes my will and the annoying temptation goes away.

I need to remember I can't always trust this heart of mine. I want to trust the Word of God. He does understand my heart, and He knows what's best for me. Instead of following my heart, I want to follow Jesus' heart. How about you?

PS: Shaun Groves sings a song about the heart, which I love and which also inspires me, called Welcome Home. He wrote the words and music. If you have never heard this song, you might want to track it down and listen to it.
Welcome Home lyrics

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2008 is already starting to speed by, but I still feel the joy of a new beginning. I love a new start. I love that God gives us a new day every day to forget about the past (past mistakes, of course). And I love a new year to renew my commitment to God, to living for Him, and remembering this world is not my home, it's only a short time until Jesus comes. Have you been filling up your calendar for 2008 with all the many projects and meetings and commitments already building up for this year?

Did you know that Martin Luther said that “today” and “that Day” were the only days on his calendar?

In 2008, I want to focus on each new "today" as another gift from God and remember with all the priorities of "today" that what happens to our destiny on "that day" is the most important thing of all. I want to remember that what I do "today" can make a difference on "that day."

I thought about this a lot last month when my Grandpa Sorensen passed away. I started thinking about his first wife, Evelyn (my grandma), who passed away when I was very young. It got me thinking about that day when Jesus comes and we are reunited with family and friends.

When I was growing up, at church campouts all us kids would sit around the campfire and sing “Side by Side we Stand.” Some of the words were “meet me in heaven, we’ll sing songs together…” I remember the words to this song now and think about who might be looking for me in heaven. When I think back to all the friends who sang that song around campfires with me, I wonder “Are any of them thinking about seeing me again when they think about heaven?” I doubt it. I can’t think of a single one of them who today might be thinking about meeting ME in heaven. Oh, I know we’ll all be happy to see each other there, but I’m talking about people who will be looking specifically for me. There is only one person who comes to mind. When I think of who will be looking for me and wanting to meet me in heaven, it’s Grandma Sorensen, Grandpa’s first wife, Evelyn. My mom has a photo of me in Evelyn’s arms when I was 2 years old. She was holding me over a kitchen sink washing my feet under the faucet. I was wearing a diaper. She died before I ever had a chance to know here, and I miss not knowing her.

When I think about “that Day,” she is always the first person I think about. What an amazing impact she had on my life by keeping the faith and by teaching her children the faith, which my father (and mother, of course) taught to me, and which I’m teaching to my children. Maybe I think of her as looking for me because she is someone I’ll be looking for. It’s odd. But now that my Grandpa has passed away, I find myself missing her. I can’t wait to see her, in her vibrant healthy body, rejoicing because she is so happy to see me.

Like me, is there someone you are anxious to see on "that day" who will also be looking for you? Let's live 2008 with today and that day in mind, so we'll be ready for that day when we can embrace our family and friends from previous generations and praise God that our journeys through life on earth are over, ready to be with Jesus and praise Him for eternity in Heaven.

I have a new favorite Psalm. Read the whole thing in NIV. It's all about God saving us from distress. When you're hungry and thirsty, when you sit in the darkness in the deepest gloom, when there is no one to help, if you're in chains, when you feel like you're near the gates of death, when you're courage is melted away, when you're at your wits end, you can cry out to the Lord and He will deliver you from your distress.

When you're in the middle of a raging storm, listen to verses 29 and 30.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.

And here is verse 43. When things aren't going well. I mean when things are bad and completely hopeless, remember God's love. He will lift you out of your distress if you call to Him.

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things
and consider the great love of the LORD.

And since this is a blog about God's armor and choosing health, remember not to use food as a cruch when you're sad, mad, frustrated, betrayed. Turn to God for deliverance from life's problems. Here is verse 9
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

He is such an awesome God and He loves you so much. Cling to Psalm 107 when life gets rough. Remember God's amazing love.

I know I'm not the world's greatest at any sport, but I just might be one of the world's greatest wobblers. Let me explain.

On the USAT USA triathlon Web site (usatriathlon.org), author Alan Ley explains wobbling as a personal discipline trait. I can go for days, weeks, or sometimes even months running, walking, riding my bike, exercising for about 60 minutes for at least 6 days a week, feeling great, eating right. It feels so good. Then something (and it does always seem mysterious in hindsight) gets me off track. Before you know it, I feel like a blob. I'm feasting on desserts. I can barely run a mile. Finding time to exercise seems like a chore. My clothes get tighter. Then, I get re-motivated. I start back on my quest for good health. I get my muscles in motion and find that I can run a 5K once again. I'm exercising daily. I'm eating right. My clothese fit better. But I better look out, because the blob days are likely to find me again. It's a cycle I've repeated over and over. People ask me "Are you a runner" and I explain how I go in spurts, telling them that sometimes I do really well and stick with running and other times I don't. Sometimes runners look at me like they don't understand this, like it's sort of odd. But after reading Alan Ley's article I now have a name for this sport -- it's wobbling!

Being the world's greatest wobbler isn't something I necessarily strive for, and Alan suggests to break this cycle, I should use a journal. He suggests I write down all of my goals and then write down every day how I'm doing in meeting those goals.

This makes such great sense, and of course, I'll try it. I've found that when I blog I stick to my goals better. Blogging includes writing but also putting the words where other eyes can see them.

Do you know, God too knows the importance of writing things down? He has a very special place to write the most important things. God describes this in Jeremiah 31:31-33 while describing the new covenant He would make with His people. Notice the very cool place where God chooses to write what He considers most important.


31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,"
declares the LORD.

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

God originally wrote His 10 commandments in stone when He gave them to Moses. But now God's special place to write is in our hearts. True, God's laws are written in our Bibles. We can go to them, just like a fitness journal, and see the goal God has for our lives. But isn't it the most awesome thing that God wrote them in our hearts?

God writes His law in our hearts so we will learn to love His law just like He does, so we will recognize His law is a law of love, so we will see that following His laws bring us happiness and prepare us to live in His kingdom of love, so we will want to follow His laws because we love Him.

I think Alan Ley is on to something when he says we should write down our fitness goals in a journal. He says there is something magical when we write it down. We pay more attention to it. We follow the plan.

God must have known this. Do you think God wrote His laws (first in stone and then with the new coventant in our hearts) to keep us from wobbling?

I'm ready to get down to the business of writing to keep my fitness goals in focus and reach them. While I might be one of the world's greatest wobblers when it comes to my fitness goals, I sure don't want to be the world's greatest wobbler when it comes to following God's laws.

Let's pay attention to what God has written and stay on track, following His lead, and if you happen to be a wobbler like me, let's not be wobblers any more!

Last week I set a goal to do a biking event in Kansas City called the Route of Champions, a 36-mile charity ride in association with the Tour of Missouri. The very day my friends and I set this goal, I made my way over the health club. I knew I had to get ready. There is nothing like a goal to set me in motion. If I didn't have the goal, I wouldn't take the necessary steps to meet it.

This reminds me of another goal. An event of all events. A one-time event coming our way soon. It's the day Jesus comes again to take us to heaven. I have a goal to be ready for that day. When I plan my day, I want to do whatever I can today to be ready when Jesus comes.

Martin Luther said he only had 2 days on his calendar -- this day and that day. That day being the day Jesus comes to take us home with Him.

I love that focus. These are the two days that matter most.

Do you want to be ready when Jesus comes again? What are you doing this day to be ready for that day? Stephen Covey wrote the popular book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People." One of the habits is "Begin with the End in Mind."

Let's live this and every day with that day in mind. Are we keeping and building our faith? Are we reading God's word? Are we praying? Do we accept Jesus death on the cross as our salvation and accept the Holy Spirit into our hearts to transform our lives?

Let's plan today to be ready for that day!

I was just reading along in Daniel one day when all of a sudden I read something that made me stop and think. Daniel 9:23 tells us how Daniel was viewed in heaven.

“As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed..." (Daniel 9:23).

An angel came to talk to Daniel. The angel told him he was highly esteemed. Now think about this for a minute. Can you imagine an angel coming to you and telling you that (in heaven) “you are highly esteemed!” Wow. How cool that would be. I so often feel like such a failure. Of course, that is Satan talking. In heaven, we are not considered failures. In heaven, we are all loved. Jesus came to die for all of us human beings to save us from our sins. But Daniel was highly esteemed. To me, this sounds like he was famous in heaven – not like Hanna Montana who is famous here on earth to my daughter and her friends! I’d much rather be famous in heaven, just like Daniel, than famous here on earth. How about you? Let's live our lives doing great things for the Lord so we can be famous in heaven!