The struggle is real people.
Right now, even typing this post is a struggle. I feel very tired from jogging this morning and that brings me to where this post is stemming from. First of all, hi everyone.. especially old blog readers.
Oh, you guys know my struggle with this exercise and weight loss thing. Started in 2013, peaked in 2014, I fell off the radar, opened a door I shut before and now I am here wondering how to get back up again.
As I jogged this morning in another attempt and cry for God to help me get back on track I thought about how discipline actually deals with all aspects of our lives.
You know, we all struggle with different things. Some people struggle with sexual addictions and some even struggle with toning down on the series and movies thing. And some struggle with sleep or food. Or alcohol. Or shopping.
For some areas of my life I have gotten victory but for the area of discipline in food and exercises I have slacked off. What we actually do not realize is that lack of discipline in one area actually affects all areas of our lives.
For example, I have been struggling with waking up by 5am for months now. I just always snooze the alarm when it rings. So basically I start my day with the wall around discipline for sleep slack. And then it spirals off into food and lack of exercise and all of a sudden, I cannot even get myself to get up and do what I need to do for the day.
A loophole in one area of our lives can actually spill over into all areas.
So what can a person do?
First, know that indiscipline in all areas actually start out with a pattern: One day you became slack and suddenly it became easier to fall over and over again with the promise to stop and suddenly you even stop making the promises altogether because you think “what is the point??”
It all starts with that little door you opened.
For those who struggle with bingeing on movies, you perhaps came back from work one day and decided to watch a little flick and then it became two and then it took up your entire weekend. You didn’t even spend time with God throughout the weekend because you couldn’t peel yourself away from the screen. And after it’s all over, you feel bad,you fall under condemnation again but the next weekend it’s the same pattern all over again.
It starts with opening a little door. If you don’t open the door you won’t go all the way.
But now that we have opened the door to indiscipline, how do we close it back?
Well, I will share what the Spirit told me and what I am trying to do right now, which is to RE-BEGIN ONE STEP AT A TIME.
It actually took you a while to slip back into where you are right now and it will take you a while to get back up. You have to pace yourself and sometimes tackling one area at a time makes more sense. For example, I am tackling exercising daily this week.
For movies, you could tackle deleting all the movies you currently have on your laptop/devices.
And then after that step, you begin replacing the things you are taking away with new habits. In the case of movies you can replace with wholesome messages. Instead of coming home to movies, come home to plugging in your ear with other messages.
This is not easy. I have gone down this discipline road before and the most helpful advice I gave to myself then was that I had to do it God’s way. There is a better way to lose the weight of indiscipline and it is GOD’S WAY.
How does this work? You begin to study on the area that you are struggling with. Get scriptures on that area and meditate on them. Let them seep into you. Basically begin the process of renewing your mind to align with God’s.
It is a long and tedious journey but I reminded myself this morning that I have done it before with God’s help and I will win it again.
Everything I wrote up there is for me too but hopefully, this stirs something in someone’s heart to start back up on the journey to building back the torn down walls of discipline in your life. In whatever area that you are currently struggling with.
One scripture then that used to help me and will help us now again is:
“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!
All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.
So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”-1Corinthians 9:24-27
As always, when I struggle with indiscipline, I know the deal is bigger than what I am struggling with. eg, food. it’s more of ‘why should anything hold the upper hand over me? By God’s power in me I should be able to discipline my body and train it as it should be, not it training me. And it may seem small but if I cannot be discipline over seemingly small matters, how can I be discipline with nations God will put in my hand?
So dears, here’s to digging into the power in us over indiscipline struggles. By God’s grace we can win this. I am putting the steps above into practice and I am not giving up.
I hope you won’t too.
Have a blessed week ahead and remember today is a good day to progressively become like Jesus Christ.
Love,
Frances
*****
A few things you should be a part of in this season:
Join The women at the well for her June meet in Lagos!
The women at the well is our women’s ministry where we basically come to drink of Jesus.
This time around our meet is open to both men and women. It is our debut love, relationship and marriage conference with the theme: BRING ME BACK TO LOVING YOU.
We will be dealing with marital relationships but knowing God I know this is deeper. It will be a time of the outpouring of the Spirit – of the Spirit of love.
Outpouring of the Spirit…that’s the word.
If you have been hungry and thirsty for God in recent times then join us…come drink from the well with us.
Date: Saturday June 24th 2017
Venue: The Oasis, 3 Keystone bank crescent off adeyemo alakija street, VI Lagos.
ENTRY: FREE (OPEN TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN)
Time: 11am
REQUIREMENT: COME WITH A THIRSTY HEART OPEN AND READY TO RECEIVE FROM GOD.
PS: Courting couples are highly encouraged to join us..
2: If you are currently a youth corper with a dream to publish your own book, join the Beautiful Feet publishing training on self-publishing your own books.
The classes will hold on Whatsapp on Friday and Saturday June 3oth and July 1st respectively and you also get my book “Making a difference with your NYSC year” for free. All for 3000 naira.
Mail beautifulfeetpublishing@gmail.com to join up and make the most of your NYSC year.
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