Battle of the Bulge
20/02/2015 12:57
In the year 2013 I gave up eating dairy products, and I found an easy way to lose weight. No more chocolates for this chocoholic. When the desire for something sweet crept up upon me, I’d eat some fruit and that would satisfy my cravings. I was thrilled to find that the kilos were dropping off one by one.
Then came our holiday in sunny Sri Lanka. I feasted there. It was Christmas after all. Sri Lankan food always makes my mouth water and my stomach sing glad songs. It wasn’t surprising then that I was a tad heavier when I returned to Australia in January. It’s OK, I thought. I can shed that extra weight easily. I’d done it before. Right? Wrong.
A 3 month stint recovering after my next foot operation made me a few kilos heavier. Having my fibromyalgia pay a long visit didn’t help either. Even my daily walk was often a ‘No-no’ because of fibro pain and tiredness. Christmas 2014 came and went and my waistline became even more prosperous. Oh dear! I HAD to do something.
And then January 2015 brought an unexpected sad trip to Sri Lanka. We were well fed by caring generous family and friends during the time spent farewelling my beloved Mum. But oh dear… my waistline became still bigger. When I returned to Australia in mid January this year, I knew I had to do something about it or I’d soon have no clothes to wear. I set to work. I was intentional in my eating. Disciplined – mostly. After a dint of hard work, I shed 1 ½ kilos. A big relief but I knew it could be undone in an instant.
A few weeks ago I enjoyed a ladies’ night out at our church. It was a dessert night. Does that sound a good thing? Of course it is a good thing except of course for that diet of mine. Unfortunately, my self control deserted me that day. After I made chocolate brownies to take to the event, I licked the bowl (tut.. tut Anusha). I tasted a few pieces. Yum! Delicious. But…. oh dear. Had I busted my diet?
I didn’t do too badly that evening. Perhaps eating and tasting the brownies had been good for me. The wonderful array of delicious desserts didn’t tempt me. What a blessing. The next morning, I weighed myself in trepidation. Would the weighing scale be way off the mark? Would I have put on the 1 ½ kilos I’d lost with such hard work, just by the binging I’d done on one evening? I stood on the weighing scale. I looked at it. I was surprised.
Very surprised. It registered a weight that was my lightest weight for the year. Wow! How come? Amazing. It was GRACE. That’s what it was. Grace. Pure and simple grace. I deserved to have put on a couple of kilos. Instead the scale told me I’d actually dropped a few ounces in weight. And of course it reminded me of the grace that flows freely to us in Christ Jesus.
If the Good News of the Bible could be contained in one word I think it would be GRACE. What does it mean? The word ‘grace’ comes from the Greek word ‘charis’. It signifies favour. God’s kindess on those who do not deserve it. Grace is freely available to us sinners who do not deserve to be forgiven. Jesus came that through His death and resurrection He would purchase my freedom. Yes, I have kindess shown to me that I do not deserve. If I come to Him - recognising my need for a Saviour, He promises to embrace me into His family. The book of 1 John says “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God. And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1
Are you a child of God? Have you experienced his favour and his grace? If you haven’t yet asked the Lord of Life to take control of your life, to become the Saviour that you (and I) desperately need, perhaps today is the day to draw near to him. Tomorrow could be too late. Sometimes, tomorrow does not come. Or perhaps you are already His child. But have turned away. Or been disobedient to Him. Or have not spent much time with Him lately. And need His forgiveness afresh today.
God’s heart is always open towards us His wayward children. His love is the kind that never runs dry – a fountain that overflows. Grace is freely available to all who seek it. So come to Him without delay. And bask in His presence. His is waiting.
“From the fullness of His grace have we received one blessing after another.” John 1:16
“For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:7
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
