"Tina, You Fat Lard Come Eat Your Dinner"

"Tina, you fat lard come eat your dinner." Yes, I said fat and yes, I said lard. Two words that we think of in a not so nice connetation. Some of you are laughing hysterically because you know the movie and you remember the phrase. I must confess it took me a while to "get" the Napolean Dynamite movie. I'm still not sure if I really get it or I just watched it with people who do and it became funny, but nevertheless, Tina is my favorite character. First of all, she is content to eat leftovers when the rest of the family is always eating steak. So I guess you could say she has a "content heart." (Something I struggle with.) Ok so I'm reaching...bare with me. I also like her because she was the only relatively "normal" character if by chance a llama as a pet can be normal. Anyway, I decided a few weeks ago that I really needed to get serious about loosing weight and I needed some motivation. I have friends that have hung bikinis on mirrors, pictures of themselves in bikinis on the frig. or even had a pair of "goal" jeans. Well, that's not workin for me cause this body "ain't never seen a bikini." (Yes, I know that was a double negative.) And I don't have a pair of jeans that I would want to fit it. So I had this "bright" idea that if I became dissatisfied with how I looked and was constantly reminded about the way I looked then maybe I would do something about it. Do you ever feel thin, think you look good and then walk by a mirror and wonder who is walking with you? Oh wait, that's Just ME! In my thoughts I am thin and I am beautiful. (So glad there is no self esteem issue here.) Well in order to remember what I look like I decided that every time I looked in a mirror or sat down to eat I would address myself as "Tina, you fat lard!" (For those of you who have followed my blog until that statement and are now totally repulsed and have lost total respect for me...thank you for your support and God bless you.) For the rest of you, hang on, I know some of you get this...I really thought that hearing the words fat and lard throughout my day would be a motivation, but here I am "Tina, the fat lard, 2 weeks later and not an ounce lighter." The Lord has revealed to me in the last couple of days that this is not a physical issue. Yes, I do have some medical issues that make it harder to loose weight,(this is true, but way too big of a crutch) but the Lord has shown me that this is a spiritual issue. This is about me learning to "die to the flesh and render my body as a living sacrifice unto Him." I like to think I have it all together "most" days in most areas, but I know that in the area of my health and treating my body as a temple of the Most High God, I fall very short. I have struggled with this for some time. What if I try again and fail? But God, I have thyroid issues! I've tried every excuse. Nothing is working! After struggling for 2 weeks and seeing "Tina, the fat lard" in the mirror every day I have come to the place of knowing that this is something I have to lay down at the foot of the cross. This is going to have to become a covenant that I make before a Holy God to honor Him with my body. Yes, I want to live a long life. Yes, I want to watch my children have children. Yes, I want to feel good. Yadda Yadda yadda! I've said all this before. Do you know what I really want? I want to glorify God with every ounce of my being. Right now that is a lot of glorifying. I want to stand before my Father blameless, knowing that I can give up those things that gratify the cravings of the sinful nature. I know that once I click this "publish post" button, this is public and the proof will be in the pudding,(oh, no more pudding!) but what I know even more is that the longer I wait the longer I live in disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience! My children know this and I know it too. I've made comittments to myself before and those are easily broken, but I have never taken my weight loss before God as an act of obedience or as a comittment to Him. It's scary because I can break a comittment to myself, but I can't break a comittment to God. So, I ask you to join me in laying at the foot of the cross that sin which God has called you deny. What has He been tugging at your heart for a while to do? For you it might not be physical, it might be spiritual, it might be obeying Him in the area of a ministry or a job. Maybe he wants you to give up music, facebook, tv, coffee, biting your fingernails or saying certain words. Maybe it's not giving up anything, but picking up something. What has mastery over you or your body right now? What keeps you from standing blameless before your Father? It won't be easy, somedays it won't be fun. It will take work! It will take discipline! Whatever the cost for the sake of obeying and glorfying the one who died for me that's what I want to do! So my friends say one last good bye to "Tina, you fat lard!"

If you want to make this heart commitment too, then write a comment below and let me know what area of your life you want to surrender to God. We can walk this road together and encourage one another. For me this must be a lifelong surrender, but how about for fun we say 40 days from today (November 20th) we will check in and see how it is going for us all. Remember to post a comment and let's encourage one another as we seek to glorify Him.

I Corinthians 6:12 "Everything is permissable for me" but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissable for me" but I will not be mastered by anything."

I Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship."

I Samuel 15:22 "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To OBEY is better than sacrifice..."