Caution - Having an unbalanced life can lead to weight gain!

Made to Crave – Day 14

“I tell you, open your eyes and look, at the fields! They are ripe for the harvest.” (John 4:35b)

I can’t remember the last time my stomach actually growled with hunger pains. I can’t even remember the last time I even felt a little bit hungry. It probably has to do with the 20 pounds I put back on over this last year, after working hard to lose 35. I haven’t allowed myself to be hungry. But I can tell you I have felt spiritually hungry and even off balanced in my spiritual and personal life.

I began a new staff position at my church in November of last year, which has taken over my life. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my new position. I am the Director of Women’s Ministry and I am so happy for this opportunity to serve women in the church and to actually get paid to do it. I remember Kathie Lee Gifford say on her talk show a few years ago, that the advice her dad gave her and her sister when it came time to figure out what they wanted to do in a career was to do find what they loved to do and figure out a way to get paid for it. That’s me. I love what I do and I am blessed to be able to get paid while doing it.

The only problem with this new position is that I want to reach as many women as I can and I am also trying so hard to show people that this new position is worth getting paid for. I so want to succeed that I have let my time with God and my family be pushed aside and that is what has caused the imbalance in my life. Seeking the balance is hard to do. Right now I feel that I am being pulled in 3 different directions: God, family and job and I am allowing myself to let my job pull me a lot further.

Seeking the balance in our lives is tricky. There is always someone or something that wants to pull us in their direction and so we let the other areas slip. Having an unbalanced spiritual and personal life will leave you feeling insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, unorganized and aggravated. It’s not a healthy position to be in. When I am unbalanced in these areas I feel like I can’t accomplish anything. And the last thing I want to think about is what I am eating and when I’m going to exercise. So what do I do? I reach for foods like; cookies, crackers, chips, anything that I can pop in my mouth and fill that emptiness that I have created in myself from being unbalanced.

When we find ourselves being physically overweight and spiritually underweight we need to remember:

• Food can fill our stomachs but never our souls.
• Possessions can fill our houses but never our hearts.
• Sex can fill our nights but never our hunger for love.
• Children can fill our days but never our identities.

Only time spent with Jesus can fill us and truly satisfy us and he really wants us to really believe that. Only by being filled with soul food from Jesus – following Him and telling others about Him – will our souls ever be truly satisfied.

Instead of reaching for that sweet or salty morsel I need to reach for God’s word. Instead of getting out of my chair and heading towards the kitchen, I need to get on my knees and pray to the One who loves me unconditionally and can give me all that I need and can fill those empty places inside of me that I have created.

Thought for the Day (from the Made to Crave devotional) – "Food can fill my stomach but never my soul."

Blessings,
Jill