I slowly closed my eyes and savored the taste of the cookie I had just sunk my teeth into. As I was reaching for another one, there was a nagging voice inside my head saying "you just blew your diet!"
I inwardly groaned, and pushed the cookies across the table, eyeing them with that hunger only someone on a diet can feel...you know what I am talking about right? That feeling of starvation that feels as if there is an animal inside your stomach clawing to get out. Well at least that's how I feel when I am dieting.
As I sit at the table fidgeting, my "diet voice" starts to talk to me. (you all have a diet voice too right???or is that just me?)
"Go ahead, eat another one...you already blew your diet for the day!"
"One more isn't going to make you gain too much weight."
"why do you even bother dieting, you blow it EVERY TIME!"
"this is why you are fat...you have no will power"
"doesn't matter if its a cookie now or chips later...you know you are going to give in"
"You are a failure."
It goes on and on....and while I didn't reach for another cookie, I dealt with the disappointment that I had ruined my diet all day. I carried that guilt around and it effected everything I put in my mouth. It made me feel like a failure.
Have you ever felt like that...One thing...it was just a cookie...ONE COOKIE...but it ruined my whole day.
I'm sure you are asking how One cookie could ruin my day, and I will tell you.
It ruined my day because I LET IT!
I let the guilt and disappointment of one act, follow me around all day and eat away at me.
I was going to bed and as I sat and calculated what I had eaten, I realized that even though I had "messed up" my diet wasn't ruined. I made a mistake, but it did not mean that I was a failure. on the contrary, I worked harder because I didn't want to make another mistake.
Its amazing how God chooses moments like this to teach me a lesson. While I was worried about my diet, God was showing me something more. How many times have we made a mistake and thought "oh well, I have already messed up doesn't matter what I do now."
Sin sometimes slips up on us, and we don't realize that we are sinning until the moment has passed. (Now I am not talking about intentional sinning, I am talking about gossip, envy, white lies, etc). How many times have you caught yourself in a conversation that has turned from just talking to gossiping? I will be the 1st to say that this has happened more times then I care to count. I am blessed with friends who hold me accountable (and vice versa), but I have had to stop conversations and say "I am sorry, that was wrong of me to say."
How many times have we caught ourselves saying "Man, I wish I had their car (house, money, looks)?
Or have you been shopping, and get to the car and realize that you forgot to pay for something. Do you stop and run it back in, or do you laugh and place it in your car, patting yourself on the back because you got a "discount" at the store? (check out my response to this here)
You are probably wondering how any of this ties into me eating a cookie and "ruining" my diet...well just like that one cookie did not ruin my diet, one sin can not ruin your walk with God.
Even when the devil whispers in your ear that...
"You are a liar"
You are a thief"
"How can He still love you"
"You are a failure"
"no one will ever love you"
We are human, which unfortunately means that we are bound to make mistakes, we are going to fail, and we will sin.
But we do not have to dwell on it. Our God is a God of grace and forgiveness.
Micah 7:18-19 states...
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Do you know what that means for us sinners? It means that once He has forgiven our sins, he will not remember them. He is not sitting there, waiting for us to sin again, so he can call us out and say " remember when you did this exact same thing."
No, He has FORGIVEN us.
Its us who dwell on our sins. We refuse to forgive ourselves and we get caught up in the guilt of what we have done that we are unable to move on from the "failure" that we see ourselves as.
Im not saying that we should not feel guilty over sinning, I think that if you are sinning and not feeling guilty about it, then there might be a bit of a problem.
What I am saying, is if you have asked for forgiveness, give the sin to God and allow His grace to cover you and your sin.
Grab tight to His mercy, and allow your self to accept His forgiveness...then forgive yourself.
Easier said then done...Trust me, I know.
When the devil reminds you of your past, Remind him that you are a child of God, and that he has forgiven your past.
Don't let the devil drag up your past.
I can just see him...pulling up a chair, sitting back with his feet propped up on the memories you have stored away in the depths of your mind, just so he can bring up every moment that you have failed or sinned in your life.
The devil is a liar.
And he has already been defeated!
Its time for us to take the Mercy and Grace that God has extended to us, and allow ourselves to move forward in our life.
Just like the cookie didn't ruin my diet, something you did 5, 10, 15 years ago will not ruin your walk with God.
We are a walking, living, and breathing testimony of the Grace of God...Its time we start acting like it, and make up our mind that even when we fail, we are NOT Failures!
I inwardly groaned, and pushed the cookies across the table, eyeing them with that hunger only someone on a diet can feel...you know what I am talking about right? That feeling of starvation that feels as if there is an animal inside your stomach clawing to get out. Well at least that's how I feel when I am dieting.
As I sit at the table fidgeting, my "diet voice" starts to talk to me. (you all have a diet voice too right???or is that just me?)
"Go ahead, eat another one...you already blew your diet for the day!"
"One more isn't going to make you gain too much weight."
"why do you even bother dieting, you blow it EVERY TIME!"
"this is why you are fat...you have no will power"
"doesn't matter if its a cookie now or chips later...you know you are going to give in"
"You are a failure."
It goes on and on....and while I didn't reach for another cookie, I dealt with the disappointment that I had ruined my diet all day. I carried that guilt around and it effected everything I put in my mouth. It made me feel like a failure.
Have you ever felt like that...One thing...it was just a cookie...ONE COOKIE...but it ruined my whole day.
I'm sure you are asking how One cookie could ruin my day, and I will tell you.
It ruined my day because I LET IT!
I let the guilt and disappointment of one act, follow me around all day and eat away at me.
I was going to bed and as I sat and calculated what I had eaten, I realized that even though I had "messed up" my diet wasn't ruined. I made a mistake, but it did not mean that I was a failure. on the contrary, I worked harder because I didn't want to make another mistake.
Its amazing how God chooses moments like this to teach me a lesson. While I was worried about my diet, God was showing me something more. How many times have we made a mistake and thought "oh well, I have already messed up doesn't matter what I do now."
Sin sometimes slips up on us, and we don't realize that we are sinning until the moment has passed. (Now I am not talking about intentional sinning, I am talking about gossip, envy, white lies, etc). How many times have you caught yourself in a conversation that has turned from just talking to gossiping? I will be the 1st to say that this has happened more times then I care to count. I am blessed with friends who hold me accountable (and vice versa), but I have had to stop conversations and say "I am sorry, that was wrong of me to say."
How many times have we caught ourselves saying "Man, I wish I had their car (house, money, looks)?
Or have you been shopping, and get to the car and realize that you forgot to pay for something. Do you stop and run it back in, or do you laugh and place it in your car, patting yourself on the back because you got a "discount" at the store? (check out my response to this here)
You are probably wondering how any of this ties into me eating a cookie and "ruining" my diet...well just like that one cookie did not ruin my diet, one sin can not ruin your walk with God.
Even when the devil whispers in your ear that...
"You are a liar"
You are a thief"
"How can He still love you"
"You are a failure"
"no one will ever love you"
We are human, which unfortunately means that we are bound to make mistakes, we are going to fail, and we will sin.
But we do not have to dwell on it. Our God is a God of grace and forgiveness.
Micah 7:18-19 states...
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Do you know what that means for us sinners? It means that once He has forgiven our sins, he will not remember them. He is not sitting there, waiting for us to sin again, so he can call us out and say " remember when you did this exact same thing."
No, He has FORGIVEN us.
Its us who dwell on our sins. We refuse to forgive ourselves and we get caught up in the guilt of what we have done that we are unable to move on from the "failure" that we see ourselves as.
Im not saying that we should not feel guilty over sinning, I think that if you are sinning and not feeling guilty about it, then there might be a bit of a problem.
What I am saying, is if you have asked for forgiveness, give the sin to God and allow His grace to cover you and your sin.
Grab tight to His mercy, and allow your self to accept His forgiveness...then forgive yourself.
Easier said then done...Trust me, I know.
When the devil reminds you of your past, Remind him that you are a child of God, and that he has forgiven your past.
Don't let the devil drag up your past.
I can just see him...pulling up a chair, sitting back with his feet propped up on the memories you have stored away in the depths of your mind, just so he can bring up every moment that you have failed or sinned in your life.
The devil is a liar.
And he has already been defeated!
Its time for us to take the Mercy and Grace that God has extended to us, and allow ourselves to move forward in our life.
Just like the cookie didn't ruin my diet, something you did 5, 10, 15 years ago will not ruin your walk with God.
We are a walking, living, and breathing testimony of the Grace of God...Its time we start acting like it, and make up our mind that even when we fail, we are NOT Failures!
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