A New Kind of Resolution
Are you a person that likes to make new year resolutions? We are surrounded by advertisements and social media telling us to improve ourselves. "New year new you!" This might be one of my least favorite phrases. Maybe you've resolved to workout more, eat less sweets, read more books, quit smoking, make more money, the list goes on and on. I just finished reading a book called The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson and I was really inspired by this passage:
This passage is preceded by a story of a man who battled with a sexual addiction to pornography for many years. However, I think it applies to all of us in our daily struggles. Like many women I have often struggled with body image issues. I have spent unhealthy hours at the gym, counted calories, and tried restricting my diet so that I could look the way I think I should, or the way I thought others wanted me to. I have been so convicted about how much this breaks God's heart. I was once told the analogy that when we think these types of thoughts it would be like telling Da vinci that he messed up the Mona Lisa. Who am I to tell God that he messed up? We are named his master pieces in scripture.
I have started doing hot yoga at a studio near my apartment and one thing I have started doing is taking the still moments during the class and simply saying, "Thank you for my body Jesus," (in my head of course). I don't always feel grateful, but I do know that my body is a blessing and I should be thanking my creator for it.
So what resolution will you make this year? Will it be about being better, or will it be about being closer to your creator? Maybe reading your bible is the best way to do that. Maybe spending 10 minutes in silence just listening for God's voice each morning will help you do that, and maybe going to the gym more will help. Will you decide each day to fight your battle? The war is already won.
Standing in awe of victory,
Sigourney
"Make a resolution not to defile yourself. Then circle it [in prayer] again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Some of us don't start fighting the battle because we're not sure we can win the war, but the war has already been won nearly two thousand years ago at Calvary. All you have to worry about is winning the battle today. God can take care of tomorrow. Can you keep the resolution for a day? Sure you can. That defining decision will lead to a daily decision, and together, these defining decisions and daily decisions will lead to a different destiny."
This passage is preceded by a story of a man who battled with a sexual addiction to pornography for many years. However, I think it applies to all of us in our daily struggles. Like many women I have often struggled with body image issues. I have spent unhealthy hours at the gym, counted calories, and tried restricting my diet so that I could look the way I think I should, or the way I thought others wanted me to. I have been so convicted about how much this breaks God's heart. I was once told the analogy that when we think these types of thoughts it would be like telling Da vinci that he messed up the Mona Lisa. Who am I to tell God that he messed up? We are named his master pieces in scripture.
I have started doing hot yoga at a studio near my apartment and one thing I have started doing is taking the still moments during the class and simply saying, "Thank you for my body Jesus," (in my head of course). I don't always feel grateful, but I do know that my body is a blessing and I should be thanking my creator for it.
So what resolution will you make this year? Will it be about being better, or will it be about being closer to your creator? Maybe reading your bible is the best way to do that. Maybe spending 10 minutes in silence just listening for God's voice each morning will help you do that, and maybe going to the gym more will help. Will you decide each day to fight your battle? The war is already won.
Standing in awe of victory,
Sigourney
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