Plans. Big Plans.

Hey there!  Hope ya'll are doing great.  I must say that Monica has been doing a fabulous job talking about chapters 1 & 2 of the book we are reading.  Man, oh man, I am loving this book.  If you haven't checked out Made To Crave yet, I highly recommend that you do so.  Monica has the paper copy and I bought the digital edition for my Kindle. (only $3.99 in the Amazon Kindle store)  And no, we aren't being paid or anything like that - it's just the perfect addition to this blog.

So, I am going to talk about Chapter 3, entitled "Getting A Plan."  If you have been following this blog at all you know that I love a plan.  I get so excited about making plans, especially diet plans.  I have latched onto the Weight Watchers plan, Atkins plan, Master Cleanse plan (for approximately 3 hours), Low Calorie Plans, Low Fat Plans, doctor supervised plans, Body For Life, and on and on.  I know that most of these are great plans.  The plan is not the problem - me putting all of my trust in the plan and my subsequent lack of "follow-through" has always been the problem.

In the beginning of this journey I thought that God wanted me to give up all of my plans and just trust in Him to lose this weight and heal my heart.  I now know that this is 100% right but He has also revealed that I need to have some boundaries (notice how I avoided the word "plan" - I am sneaky like that)  I have been afraid to latch onto any plans because of my natural inclination to put all of my hope in them.  God's timing is so perfect.  He knew that I needed these few months to just focus on Him and to prepare my heart to follow a plan while I keep my eyes fixed on Him.

In Chapter 3 Lysa shares how God revealed to her that true change takes intentionality and time.  Real and lasting results will come but they won't be immediate.  Patience - something I am extremely lacking in - is what I need God to work on inside of me.  I am going to be walking out James 1:2-4, "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

Lysa shares the plan that works for her in this chapter.  She encourages readers to find out what plan is best for them.  I love that this book is not about a diet at all - just total surrender in every area of our lives.

So there you go.  This is what chapter 3 has spoken to me.  I pray that we will continually turn our hearts away from the things of this world and fix our eyes on our Heavenly father this week.

Love,
Celeste