Making the Right Choices!

Happy Valentine's Day! Do y'all celebrate V-day? If you do, I hope you have a wonderful one! Morgan and I really don't celebrate many holidays anymore, as far as exchanging gifts. The other day, Morgan was like, "Am I supposed to buy you a card?" and I was like, "I sure hope not, because I'm not planning to get you one." LOL!!

I just finished reading Lysa TerKeurst's book, "Made to Crave". I'm also reading "Lies Women Believe" and following along with the study of it over at Kelly's blog. Last night, as clear as day I had this realization and I wanted to share it. I was thinking about how the reason people are overweight is because they choose to eat too much and not exercise. I wouldn't dare pray to God, while I'm stuffing my face with a twinkie, and ask Him why He has not healed me from being overweight. I wouldn't wake up one morning and expect to all of sudden be skinny. I have made choices that have caused me to be overweight, and expecting God to miraculously heal me would be kind of ridiculous! That's not even logical. Anyhow, when I was reading the Lies book, it was talking about how we justify our sins. I just realized how worrying and fearing and having anxiety is a sin. I make a choice each day to worry about things beyond my control. And so I was just thinking how I keep waiting around for God to heal me. I keep thinking if I just believe and have faith and trust God, He will heal me one day. But at church, our message yesterday was talking about how we have to be obedient and we have to GO and step out in faith. So, just like I choose to eat badly, I have been choosing to have anxiety. How can I logically expect the Lord to heal me from something that has resulted as a consequence of my bad choices? If I want to get fit, I need to exercise and choose to eat right. If I want to not have anxiety anymore, I need to step out in faith and choose to trust that the Lord will sustain me through whatever situation causes me anxiety.

I really believe the Lord had me reading both of those books at the same time so that I could make that connection. Those books and our sermon all kind of tied it all together and I had to open my eyes and realize that if I want to feel better, I have to do something about it. God often cannot work until we make the choice to do something. In this world, there are consequences when we sin and while God is in the business of working miracles, it wouldn't make much logical sense for Him to heal me from something that is a result of my own bad choices. I have allowed anxiety to become my identity.

I was watching Lifechurch.tv's online sermon on Saturday and it was about how we are ambassadors of Christ, chosen by Him to represent Him here on Earth. We never represent ourselves; we always represent Christ. The Pastor was talking about how people always expect pastors to be perfect, but we don't hold ourselves to the same standard. That's not what God expects. Just as an ambassador from the US goes to other countries and they represent our country, we are here on assignment from God and we represent Him at all times. It is an amazing thing to realize that if we are in a situation to minister or witness to someone, it is because Christ Himself chose us to do it! Think about that! Christ Himself has enough faith in us to put us in those situations, for us to be His ambassador, to represent Him!

So, I just put all these things together that I have listened to, or read, this weekend and I realized that I am an ambassador to Jesus Christ. Allowing anxiety to be my identity, choosing to be fearful and anxious, is a sin and it is a choice that keeps me from being able to do my ambassador job! God is not going to heal me from the consequences that result from my choice to not trust Him and to worry about things beyond my control, just like He is not going to make me skinny while I stuff my face with brownies. I have to make the right choices, and rely on Him to help me do that.