Spiritual weight loss
Last week we came across an interesting documentary on the LIFETIME channel that followed the story of an overweight woman. Now, when I say overweight, I am not meaning by 10 or 20 pounds. This particular woman weighed in at 650 pounds! For most of us we think an additional 10-20 pounds weighs us down, but can you imagine what life would be like for such a person weighing over 600 pounds?
This woman was just like most of us. She made her home with her husband. She had dreams. She had plans. She had God-given abilities. But unlike you and me, she was a prisoner in her own home. She was completely and totally dependent on her husband and others to be her caretaker. She could not get up out of the bed by herself. She could not go outside. She could not bear children. She could not get a job. She was totally incapacitated by her excess weight.
Her story unraveled as we continued to watch this program. The first step to her weight reduction was having a gastric bypass which was followed by a couple more surgeries, as she shed weight, to remove excess skin. In one surgery, removing the excess skin took off over 60 pounds! We were able to follow her story for a period of over 6 years and were absolutely amazed that in the end she got down to 190 pounds!
Shedding 460 pounds is amazing by itself. But what truly amazed me was the difference the weight loss made in this woman’s life. No longer did she need help in daily activities, and one of the greatest thrills for her was stepping outside for the first time by herself. She finally could make some of her dreams come true. She not only could walk outside now, but she could mow the yard. She finally had a baby. And she got a job, working for the same surgeon who helped her. She now was helping and motivating others that were just like she once was.
Truly a remarkable story.
Some of you may ask the same question that many of us would ask…how does a person get that overweight in the first place? I don’t know the answer to that but I would guess it has something to do with slow fade. After the first couple hundred of pounds, it doesn’t get noticeable until one day it is just too much!
I don’t really see much difference in her story and the story of the one who refuses to unload their burdens to the Lord. I hear so many Christians talk about how stressed they are or how they worry about everything. All you have to do is scroll down your news feed on your facebook account to see that Christians and unbelievers alike carry so much excess weight on their shoulders.
Job security. Finances. Relationship problems. Sickness. Death. Unemployment. Divorce. Loneliness. Depression. Anxiety.
It almost seems like one leads to another. If each burden weighed in at 100 pounds, can you see how easily it would be to gain an excess 400 pounds?
If you struggle with holding onto your burdens, you may be experiencing some problems that go along with weight gain. When we carry too much weight on our shoulders, we become isolated, imprisoned and not able to do all that God has called us to do. But like the woman in the documentary, we need to do whatever it takes to shed some weight …
” …lay aside every weight that so easily besets us.” HEBREWS 12:1
Think about what the writer of Hebrews is saying…”lay aside” or in other words, “put down” or “get rid of”. If only we I could learn that when I pick my burdens back up, it is only weighing me down. Today is a good day to allow God to take control of our weight issues…
PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You for the promise that You would never leave me nor forsake me. Help me to trust You in everything. In good times and bad. In difficulty, I pray that I would turn my burdens over to You. I am weak but You are strong. You can carry the weight easier than me, I ask You now to remove this excess weight that binds me. In Your name, AMEN.
PSALM 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
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Such truth spoken here, thank you.
So true, Laurie; let us cast our burden onto Him who can help us to overcome difficulties.
Thank you for your encouraging words this morning.
I needed this so much today. I am burdened with the unemployment and financial issues our family is having. I have been down for 2 days now. My husband got laid off almost 2 years ago. Still no job in sight. Our unemployment benefits recently ran out. Still no job in sight. I have no idea where our money will come from now… It has to come from the Lord. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I MUST trust him. Carrying this burden is not making things easier, that is for sure. I would appreciate prayers as I strive to trust the Lord for my daily bread, mortgage payments, gas for the car, electric bill payments… and the list goes on.