Have you ever had one of those dreams that smack you upside the head of reality? That happened to me last night. It may have been an actual nightmare because in a sense it made me cry. In my dream I was with a group of people not sure exactly who was all there but I knew I was. We were watching videos of last year. I started to cry and it woke me up.
You see a year ago I was in probably the best shape of my life in quite some time. I was going to college taking 15 credit hours and working out and eating healthy (yes while having 9 children and a daycare. I will just say my husband is an awesome helpmate). So in my dream I saw the skinnier me. The last week of school my son had a doctor’s appointment which had him do labs. So we get a phone call that we need to go see an urologist soon. We already had family vacation planned so we had an impeccable time there trying not to be overly concerned about what the doctor would say. After all I had hardly spent time with my children and husband for two semesters and this was our time to reconnect.
So then starts the downward slope. My son goes up for a visit and ends up staying a week in the hospital. That can produce some stress. The doctors are throwing around words like dialysis and transplant. Through these stressors and other things going on at the time, I had gotten distracted from working out. The workout times began to become fewer and fewer. The healthy snacks started becoming “grab and go” and not care. The doctor appointments seemed to becoming more frequent as well. All these distractions caused me to lose the discipline.
So I started dwelling on this and really not feeling sorry for myself but wanting to look at it in a spiritual perspective. God led me to the scripture in Hebrews 12:11 which reads “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” If we allow God to spiritually train us accordingly, righteousness and peace will be shown.
How do we start this discipline? There are no “fad” diets in spiritual training that can get you to the goal quicker than other ways. We know reading the Word is your healthy eating program. It is the Bread of Life. What about the exercise regimen? I believe it is found in the verse following (Hebrews 12:12) It states “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.” This came out at me like BOLD print. Your arms are made for praising and worshipping. Your arms are to be lifted high in worship or clapping in praise. Weak knees come from lack of prayer time. Prayer and Praise are the best way to stay spiritually fit.
Stressors of life are going to come at you. Do not allow these or attacks of satan to deter you from maintaining a spiritually disciplined workout and healthy eating of His Word. Remain disciplined and receive all that God has in store for your life.
