Stability

I've been in Alabama for 10 weeks.  I've had two different jobs during that time while also some time between jobs.  I'm still not real excited about where I'm working.  I haven't locked into a church home yet.  I haven't found a CR program yet.  I spend some time with my family in the area but most of my time I'm by myself.  I've described the experience as being unstable or lacking stability.  And a lack of stability creates higher stress for me and my natural response is to want to eat. 

So in the last month I have put back on some of the pounds I had lost and even the month prior to finishing the fundraiser weight loss challenge I struggled - I completed the task but it could have been more. 

God is trying to teach me something in this.  I haven't been listening very well yet or paying enough attention so I'm only starting to get it.  And it's something I've taught before - I just never had to make it as real in my own life as I do now. 

Stability or lack of is determined by where your feet are planted - not the circumstances of life going on around you.  It's the simple lesson we learned in Sunday School so many years ago - but now I have to put it into practice.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."  Matthew 7:24-27.

When my feet are planted solidly on The Rock - Jesus Christ, I have stability in my life.  When they aren't, I don't.  The circumstances or winds of life are not what determine if I have stability.  They actually don't really matter at all.  What matters is where my feet are planted.  In the last 10 weeks I feel like maybe I've been slipping sometimes - like my feet while on the rock have not been planted so well.  This is the lesson God is wanting to teach me right now in real life - real time - and not just a Bible story.

God, plant my feet on the rock of Jesus and keep them there.  Help me to keep my focus on where my feet are planted rather than what's going on around me.  Through this grant me the stability that allows for continued good choices when it comes to food, exercise, and how I spend my time.

Less of me.  More of Him.

-Eric