Fear and Discouragement

Good morning! I woke up this morning and *think* the cold germs may be packing up to leave :-). That thought plus the sun shining has definitely started my day on a positive note!

Part of my devotional readings this year include Beth Moore's "Believing God Day by Day" devotional book. The readings are short, but always thought provoking. Her April 5 reading was based on Joshua 1:9, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." The context of this verse tells the story of the Israelites getting ready to cross the Jordan River into the land God has promised them. God encouraged their leader, Joshua, to move forward in confidence because He would be with them in this new land. Beth Moore noted that "God warned Joshua not to fall for two of the most effective deterrents to a Promised Land existence: fear and discouragement."

Fear and discouragement. Ever dealt with either of those feelings on your weight loss journey? I know I dealt with both feelings, and I know that many of you deal with those same feelings. We really want to get to our goal and live at a healthy weight, but fear and discouragement can often deter us from getting there.

We've failed before - it takes two hands to count all the different weight loss plans we tried, and failed. We're afraid that this will be just another plan to put on our heap of failures. We may be afraid to address the emotional issues we have that led to overeating and obesity.

Or maybe we're afraid to reach our goal. We've put things off for years because of our weight and reaching our goal would mean we would either be able to finally do those things, or admit that we never wanted to do them to begin with. A lot of us, myself included, hid inside our weight for a long time, wishing ourselves to be invisible. Losing weight means we're not so invisible anymore, because people will notice and compliment us. That can be a scary thing.

Then there's discouragement. We all want the weight off yesterday (I know I did!), and when the scale is frustratingly slow, we get discouraged. We get discouraged when everybody else is eating our favorite foods and we aren't. We get discouraged when family members and friends aren't very supportive.

Being aware of these potential traps is the first step in making sure that neither, or both, deter you from reaching your goal. Some of us are more vulnerable to one of these more than the other, but either one can trip us up if we aren't careful.

For me, one of the things that made the difference on my weight loss journey was knowing that God was with me, leading me each step of the way. I had fears and I had discouragement, but as I turned those things over to Him and trusted Him to lead me that day, I was able to keep walking towards my goal.

Don't let anything stand in the way of reaching your goal. Don't worry about what will happen down the road, and don't fret if things aren't as encouraging today as you'd like them to be - just take it one step, one on-plan day at a time.

Blessings!
Cheryl