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Be Thankful-25

 

Tracie Miles is the author of a new book, Your Life Still Counts. Based on Romans 8:28 she tells her story of having an abortion as a teenager. I learned about her plans to write this book when her post arrived in my email asking for women to share how God had worked in your life.  I wrote and shared my weight loss journey. She decided to use my story along with nineteen other women. The book is profound. This is my story.

It took a long time to realize that my body was God’s temple and I needed to care for it with extreme attention and care. My journey with weight loss has always been a struggle. Many times I met a healthy weight only to soon lose the battle again and regain those pounds.  At 233 pounds in October 2011, I began having serious health problems and was diagnosed as morbidly obese. I was at the end of my rope, and after months of preparation, had a “gastric sleeve” surgical procedure. Today I am nearing the finish line of managing my weight and am no longer letting the scale judge me.  I still have to eat of course, but I do not live to eat, because I realized I was filling my heart with food, when was I really needed was God. Due to the struggles I had encountered throughout my life which involved physical pain, marital problems, and heartache, in addition to obesity, I thought God could never love me, forgive me, or use me. But when I discovered how much He loved me and that He had a plan for my life, my heart was changed forever. God filled me with a passion to encourage other women facing the challenge of weight and help them have hope that God is bigger than their appetite and victory can be theirs.

True thankfulness opens our minds and heals our hearts. This season will you give up any idols that are taking the place of God in your life. My idol was food.

Truth from Tracie Miles book, Your Life Still Counts.

“Do not allow yesterday’s mistakes to weigh down your past, stifle your present, and hold you back from you future purpose.  God can turn your past into your purpose.”

“The decision to trust his Lord and rejoice in His promises, no matter what, even when he didn’t see God’s promises becoming a reality in his life at the time.”

“We are each created with eternity in our hearts and an inner desire not only for a relationship with Jesus, but to fulfill our purpose for Him while we are on earth.”

“He not only has a plan for your past, but a purpose for it.”

“Unless we listen with open hearts, we may never know His plan at all.”

“God does not want us to waste our pain, but let Him turn the darkness into light, hopelessness into hope, and ugliness into beauty with each step we take toward our divinely designed destinies.”

“God has been writing your story since the day you were born.”

“Our hearts must be stripped clean and healed before we can move forward.”

“God is always there to whisper encouragement when we need it the most.”

“My heart could never be healed until I allowed God to use that pain to find help someone else find hope and healing in Christ.

“Your life still matters to God and He is ready to help you see your hidden potential.”

“God is ready to hold your hand and take a walk with you. Are you ready?”

Father God, I am thankful for Tracie Miles and for her willingness to share her story of a time that was so painful. I am thankful that you forgive us as far as east is from the west. I am thankful that you give us a hope and a future, I am thankful for your healing our emotional and physical pain. I am thankful that you give us eternal life.

Your turn, I am thankful for……………………………………

 

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