Weekly Challenge - Week 46 (November 12, 2013)

Thank God for the clues He gives you.

Pure, clean, beautiful - that is how I describe God's creation such as this small waterfall we happened upon when traveling through Oregon.  Being in areas of nature, untouched by man, refreshes my soul.  So does eating the real foods that God has provided for our nourishment.  I thank and praise God for these wonderful provisions for my senses (both the good food and the waterfalls in life).  It is easy to thank God for these obvious blessings!

 

But this week, I want you to thank God for some blessings that are not quite as obvious.  I hope that you have gone 100% with your diet and that you don't have the opportunity to do the challenge this week!  But when you slip-up, as I did this past week (and I'm sure will continue to occasionally do), this is a very important challenge to put into practice.  If you have fallen way off track with your diet, this may be an extremely difficult challenge for you.  However, I urge you to try.  Let me explain by describing my morning to you from this past weekend.

 

I woke late (for me) at about 6:30 a.m. feeling quite achy.  I stretched and winced from a headache.  As I woke fully, I became aware that I was also slightly congested, my hands felt a bit swollen, and I felt very sluggish.  This is very unusual for me - I typically wake feeling energetic and full of vitality and joy with no aches or pains.

 

Thanking God was not my first thought, unfortunately, but it was my second.  My first thought was, "Why do I feel so bad - ugh".  My second thought was - "Oh, I remember, I ate out twice yesterday.  Thank you, God, for letting me feel bad now and showing me why I make the effort to not eat the typical American diet of processed foods and white flour."  I was not being sarcastic, but genuinely sincere in my thanks.  I hope you can be too this week.

 

The day before I woke not feeling very good, I had eaten a lunch of a chicken pasta dish in a cream sauce, salad with dressing, and a roll.  If I had stopped with this, I probably would not have noticed many consequences the next morning.  But I then had part of a bread bowl with clam chowder for an early dinner, and snacked on a small bag of pretzels later in my hotel room.  I did skip all desserts and did not have any sugar but I still woke feeling quite poorly because my body is not used to all that enriched white flour and other preservatives and artificial ingredients that were in the foods. 

 

I thank God for these clues, these aches and pains, that my body gave me.  What I ate was loaded with toxins that my body was trying to deal with and I was feeling the effects.  This does not happen often, and nothing was overly addictive, so I didn't have to deal with more cravings.  But starting that morning, right when I woke, I was determined to make much better choices or to not eat.  I also thank God that it was so easy for me to see the link between what I ate and how I felt.  If your diet is not yet clean enough for you to understand this,  ask God to give you this gift, to help you to see the connection . 

 

My friends know that when they tell me of similar stories (of how they or their children have gotten sick after eating something they knew was junk), that I typically say - "Oh, thank God for that lesson for you."  I am not being mean by saying this; it is a heartfelt praise that God is so kind to give us these clues.

 

So this week, I want you to change your perspective.  If you have a headache or pain, after drinking a soda or eating a candy bar or eating some other processed foods, don't complain or look for some medication to relieve your symptoms.  Instead thank God that you get this feedback and use it to help you make better choices in the future.

 

After feeling unwell when I woke that morning, and thanking God, I then asked God to help me not make this same mistake again.  I could have eaten some food I had brought with me and skipped the lunch, and I certainly did not need to eat the packaged clam chowder and white bread from the bread bowl.  My resolve to not cheat was strengthened by this experience (again I thank God for how I felt when I woke).

 

Over the past couple months, I had been eating French bread and ciabatti rolls once or twice a week made with white flour (always better quality bread from Whole Foods so I could justify that it was o.k. to be eating it).  No more.  Once I begin cheating, it is easy to continue.   White bread, which is not addictive like sweets with sugar for me, is easy to slowly sneak back into my diet since I don't get any noticeable clues or feedback the next day after eating it. 

Since I don't have intense cravings for more throughout the day or perceptible aches/pains, the fact I'm cheating weekly is less obvious.  The negative effects on my health are more subtle and thus much easier to justify.  Because of this cheating I had been doing, I was easily lured further.  Again, I thank God for the morning of waking and feeling bad to wake me up to what was happening! 

Don't wait to thank God when you experience these aches and pains - do it in the moment when you feel bad.  After getting up, drinking my water, and eating a couple of fresh pears I had brought with me on my trip, I was feeling fine.  If I had waited to recognize the signs and thank God for them, I would have missed the opportunity to strengthen my resolve and I would have gained nothing. 

 

So remember to thank God when you don't feel good after indulging or falling off track.  This is especially true if you have ever gone 100% in the past, eating only God's foods, even if for only a few days.   Thus you know what it feels like to have vitality and energy and no-pains or symptoms (such as chronic infections, sinus issues, etc.).

 

Thank you, Father, for getting me back on track and resetting my resolve to stay.  I pray this week that you too can change your perspective and thank God for the clues He gives you.

"Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.  I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.  If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.  Praise be to God who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!"  Psalm 66:16 - 20.