Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Tuesday 10/28/08)

Getting Your Figure Back

Jeremiah 24:6-7 (Amplified Bible)
6) For I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
7) And I will give them a heart to know (recognize, understand, and be acquainted with) Me, that I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

I remember when I had my first child, I gained about 64 pounds when it was all said and done. After 26 and half hours of labor and a 7 pound 2 ounce baby boy I had lost over half of that. So those remaining pounds were not as hard to get off as they would have been, had I had to lose the whole 64 pounds. With my son I was in good physical condition and I ate well and began to work out as soon as my doctor cleared me. It seemed as if I rebounded and returned to my pre-pregnancy weight right away. With my second child it was different. I had physical challenges during my pregnancy and more serious challenges after the pregnancy. Although I did not gain as much weight, it was more difficult to get back on track and get my weight back to pre-pregnancy weight, after I had my daughter. It was because I was not physically as conditioned because of the stress that my body experienced during the pregnancy, labor and delivery. Even though I had suffered a major physical challenge right after delivery, I had major work to do. As I became determined to get better and to get healthy for myself and my children, I applied something that most of us forget to do in everyday life which is the principle of mind ( belief) over matter. Even though, my body was limited at best, I began to believe that I would recover and believe that I could get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and strength. As I spoke to my body and prayed without ceasing I began to see strength return and then my ability to get back in shape became a reality instead of just a dream.

Many times we forget, that God's eyes are upon us, and that He wishes that we are in health and prosper as our soul prospers. We forget that His thoughts towards us are of good and not evil to give us a future and hope. He desires to give us strength to regain our place in Him. H even desires that we regain, even those things that we may have lost because of our own negligence, or through the negligence of others, or even through testing. He can bring us into a place where we end up better than we were before. But it is about our focus, our mind set. If our mind focuses on our limitations and on what is wrong we will more than likely remain bound to our limitations and our circumstance. But it is when we apply mind our circumstance, spirit or reality, it is then that we begin to live Philippians 4:13, that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us!

Even though life, situations and circumstances may stretch us out of shape and mare us, we have the best fitness plan and trainer around and His name is Jesus. It is through our belief in Him and our yielding to His will that He can bring us full circle to a place that equals or is even better than where we were previously. He can strengthen us and restore us. He can lift us up and condition our life to stand up to even the most rigorous of circumstances. Remember if we put our hearts and minds into God's will and His promises, we can get our figures back, we can regain our place of peace, blessing and safety, through conditioning that comes from believing that God can even when we can not!