Eeek!! I'm a microwave Christian!!

Like so many people my age, I am a certain product of my generation. We are the generation that saw the microwave enter nearly every American home. We are the generation of "I want it all and I want it NOW!" Remember that song?? 

I see this in several areas of my life. My weight loss for sure! Who of us doesn't want to see the weight come off overnight? Even as much as I tell myself that is not healthy even if I could find a way to make it happen, I STILL want it to happen that way. Even worse, I still get discouraged when the weight doesn't come off as quickly as I'd like to see.

I see it in my parenting. I want to be able to tell my kids how things are supposed to be and have them follow and obey without question. Anyone who has kids (especially teenagers) knows this is NOT how it happens. You have to train them and correct them, then train them and then correct them again. At times it feels like they are never going to get it. But we have to stick with it and they don't become well adjusted, with a good work ethic, high morals and great character over night. It takes years of patient parenting to get to that point.

I realized this past week that I see it in my running too. It's hard for me to slow down and build up to faster speeds and greater endurance because "I want it all, and I want it now!" On ever run I go for now, I remind have to myself to take it slow and steady. I'm going to have to crochet myself a tiny turtle to take on my runs to remind myself of this. Again, it's the patient building of muscles and endurance through many practice runs. This takes time.

I also see it in my prayer life. I've been wanting to learn to pray more effectively and not be so bored in prayer and not have my mind wander as it tends to when I'm trying to converse with Jesus. I got discouraged when I tried to pray the way Daniel Henderson outlines Worship based prayer. 

What I think I failed to recognize is that much like my running, I am in prayer training. It's going to take patient building of my prayer 'muscles and endurance'. That is of course assuming that I'm going into prayer with the correct motivations and with a clean heart before my Lord. But that is a totally different discussion.

So basically the Lord is teaching me to slow down and listen for HIS leading instead of running off half cocked barely having any idea what direction I'm even going.

Ready or NOT!! DAY 1

Probably about 2 years ago now, I participated in a weight loss program called, "The Lord's Table". If you are interested in finding out more about it, you can find it over at, Setting Captives Free. It was wonderful, MyHero and I did it together and we both lost weight.

At the end of course 1 they offer an optional course 2 which consists of a 20 day juice fast. I chose to do the fast. It was extremely difficult and wonderful. I didn't loose much weight during the fast, but I do believe that my relationship with my Lord was strengthened.

Recently my friend, who turned me on to "The Lord's Table" in the first place, asked me to do this fast again, this time with her. She has an amazing and encouraging tale of her own! Check it out at More of Jesus, Less of Michele.

At the time she asked me, I spontaneously said, "I need to do something since I've not been feeling motivated to do anything healthy for my body lately!" The closer I got to actually starting the fast, I started to balk. I knew that this is going to be HARD! I mean who, in their right mind, enjoys denying their flesh?? Michele, graciously encouraged me and I decided that yes, I DO need to do this!

So here I sit on DAY 1, eating my breakfast of fruit. The first 2 days of the fast are transition days. You have only raw fruits and veggies before moving to nothing but veggie broth and fruit smoothies for the next 16 days.

I'm supposed to be giving up my coffee as well. Maybe the Lord will have to convict my heart on this one, but I just don't see it as the vice so many want to make it out to be. I only have my two cups in the morning then I switch to water.

 Along with this fast I am doing my best to FEAST on God's Word! I decided that the perfect Bible study to go along with this fast would be my printed copy of "The Lord's Table" course 1 study guide. It is filled with scripture and will help to set me in the right frame of mind for this fast. So this morning I read Day 1 "Proper Motivation: The Glory of God".

I have to confess that my motivation to loose weight has NOT been God's glory for quite some time now. I'm asking Him to change my heart to want to glorify Him in my weight loss.

One sentence near the end of today's lesson caught at my heart today. It says, "In closing, we must have proper motives to live our lives correctly, including the forming of proper eating habits." I felt the Spirit whisper to me, "Any motive other than to glorify God becomes hypocrisy and idolatry." OUCH!!! I guess I'll be chewing on that one for a while, even as I transition into 16 days of no physical chewing!

My Beginning Weight: 173