Tuesday, February 11, 2014

"Everything is Permissible..."

God has been working wonders in my life lately and I'm so thankful I'm finally in the position to share with you (meaning that I finally have a working computer at home, so hellooooo having more time to blog!)

(Almost) every morning, I listen to Rick Warren's daily podcasts called "Daily Hope." His sermons are broken up into 25-minute podcasts, which is short enough to listen to on my commute to work, but his messages are so incredibly deep. He is blessed with the ability to take dense content of the Bible, break it into bullet points, and clearly explain the depths of each verse. He's incredible. Please, please, download the Podcast app, or listen to him here.

I've always admired Rick Warren for his bravery in unapologetically living the life the Lord designed for us to live. So, shortly after I was diagnosed with MS, my sister told that he had a sermon on Daily Hope called "How to Get Through What You're Going Through" that she really enjoyed and thought I would too. Yearning for guidance on my new journey I jumped at the opportunity to download the three-part series.


 How to Get Through What You're Going Through


Absolutely life changing.

After the first part of the sermon, I was hooked and downloaded all of the other previous podcasts as well as subscribed so the new podcasts would download automatically each day. 

I'm currently listening to Rick's (we're basically on a first-name basis) podcast series on the Daniel Plan - a revolutionary plan that encompasses faith, focus, friends, fitness and food into a healthy lifestyle. 

Get this!

For the first time in history, by the end of the century, as many people will die from malnutrition as weight-related issues such as diabetes and heart disease.  This is an insane statistic! It's so incredibly sad that while 1.1 billion people are dying of lack of food, 1.1 billion people are dying because they consume too much food!

Think about that for a second. I'll wait.

Now then, several months ago, I had a hit a point of low self-esteem because I ate too much and was uncomfortable. I came to the hard realization that I am so abundantly blessed and I have too  much money and too much access to food that allowed me to overeat. Then I thought of the little girl Luke and I sponsor (through Compassion International) in Burkina Faso whose family of seven lives on the equivalent of $12 a month.

$12 a month. In the US, people don't think twice for paying $12 for one meal!

And here I was miserable because I ate too much food, that probably wasn't very nutritious. Fast forward to last week when I was listening to Rick's sermon on God's Prescription for a Health (click for Part 1 and Part 2) and he said something that struck me to the core:






I began to wonder what I do, specifically what I eat, that isn't beneficial. I opened a can of worms.

Automatically these things came flying into my head:

  • Diet Coke
  • Candy
  • Cookies
  • Cookie dough
  • Margaritas
  • Chips
and the list has continued to grow. And sure, in moderation the above things are not bad (they are permissible) but they don't do anything for me. In fact, they tend to make me irritated because of the sugar rush and crash.

Then Rick said something that made me want to fall to my knees in repentance: 






God created my body. Jesus died for my body. God's spirit lives in my body. I'm connected to Christ's body. One day, God's going to resurrect my body. I'm expected to take care of my body.

I decided right then that I was going to look further into the Daniel Plan.

When creating the Daniel Plan, Rick Warren consulted Dr. Oz (from TV!), and best-selling authors Dr. Amen and Dr. Hyman to create this amazing and uplifting plan for others to see how the five elements (faith, food, fitness, focus, friends) play a significant role in being wholly healthy. I can't wait to dive further into the program!

I have so much to say because the Lord is working so quickly in my life, so stay tuned to the blog for my journey through the Daniel Plan, and to see how the Lord continues to work in my life!



Kristen

No comments:

Post a Comment