Discussion Board

Welcome to our March thread!

Consider this: One date on our calendar (in oral English) is both a sentence and a command.

Do you know what I mean?

Do not wait until Friday to...March forth for the Master!

Please share your struggles, victories and words of encouragement here. Let us pray for one another as we look up to Him and try to take good care of the wonderful bodies He has given us!

I love that March Fourth.
I am having some frustration with my blood sugars. So am praying for guidance to see where I have left the path.
Don't want to go into details here, rather want to stress the turning over of the problem. And the listening for the answer. You know.
For starters I have been going through my pantry. Repackaging my beans, and grains. Sort of taking stock.
Feels nice to find more order.
Plus to find exactly how much I have.
For instance, I decided to put my quinoa in an empty water bottle.
Gallon. Turns out I have 2 gallons of quinoa. Kept grabbing a package here and there.
I even made a cut lable for it.
Also have lots of lentils, which I need to learn to use.
So new month, new focus.
Love to all.

If you don't mind, our family could use some prayer. I don't want to re-type it, but in my Journal, you'll find the summary of our past 2 weeks if you want details.

It's all temporary, and could be much worse, but still we're feeling our weakness right now.

And of course, His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Blessings,
Jubilee

Merriweather & Jubilee, I am glad you are both in the house!

I pray that God will enable your mind and body to work together to regulate your BG better, MW.

Jubilee, I read your new journal entry. I pray for healing and comfort for you, your man and your daughter. I also pray for strength of will for you. When I read what you wrote about expecting to gain weight when you feel better, I felt sad about that. I suspect you are feeling overwhelmed by life now. Jubilee, please look up and think about victory in regard to glorifying God with your BODY and your spirit.

Here are some verses for meditation for all of us:

'12 "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything.' (1 Corinthians 6, NIV)--I do not know how you will relate these verses to weight management but for me this means that I must not put anything in my mouth that causes me to lose control. For some people that would be wine or beer. For me it is ice cream, other desserts etc. With His help, "I will not be mastered by anything."

"4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4, NIV)--The One in us is greater than all of our problems. Let us trust Him to enable us to overcome.

" 33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."'(John 16, NIV)--These verses remind us that our troubles are temporary. Jesus was about to enter into the great mental and physical tests of betrayal, arrest, flogging and the cross. His eyes of faith were on Sunday. May Father help us to look up to Him with Sunday in our hearts as we face our trials. This shall pass. Victory awaits His faithful.

Thank you for the verses, Pink.

When I said that I may re-gain some of the lost weight from being sick, I wasn't saying that I'd be pigging out. I wasn't too clear, perhaps. Nothing to be sad about. My total daily intake has been equivalent to one meal or less when I'm well. I've lost 4.5 pounds in 5 days during this flu. Normally, I work hard to lose 2 pounds per week. I expect as I refill my now empty digestive tract, I may take on some of the lost weight. If so, I won't be too negative about it. I still plan to eat healthy and continue on, with the Lord's strength (or, fail without it!). I also expect to hold onto some of that loss, and not re-gain it all, of course!

Thank you to anyone who has prayed for our family. We're off to our evening services where my daughters will be playing the piano quartet. And one of them will be using her badly broken elbow. *wince*


Blessings to each of you,
Jubilee

The verse that I'm clinging to right now:
The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble. Prov. 19:23

I used to think that verse said if we feared the Lord properly, we wouldn't have troubles (based on wording in KJV). I now realize that it says I won't be *touched* by those troubles. According to Strong's, the root of "touched" has this idea: "to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for". So, I think it's saying that I don't have to attend to, look after, number, etc. the troubles. I can rest content and let that be God's job to sort out the troubles. Only He can take care of them anyway! My job is to fear Him alone, and to rest in His love. Sounds too easy, and frankly I still try to help Him look after the troubles all too often.

Hope you are all, like me, striving to keep your focus on the Lord, and fearing Him only.
Blessings,
Jubilee

Thanks for sharing these good thoughts, dear Jubilee! What is new with you and your family's health issues?

He is with us IN trouble and we may feel that is not enough...but it is!

"3 We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (2 Corinthians 6, NIV)

Thanks for asking, Pink.

My daughter's elbow repair surgery is tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. Please pray that she can regain full use and flexion of her arm. We had to deal with a seemingly unscrupulous ortho surgeon yesterday. We haven't met the surgeon doing the work tomorrow.

Her supervisor is upset about her having to take time off of work, and twice demanded that she get a cast that doesn't go past the wrist so she can still wash her hands and do clinic appointments. (My daughter is a midwife). So, it's been stressful for her.

Everyone else is doing better.

Thank you for your prayers.
Jubilee

I am grateful for the progress and praying for your girl.

"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. And only he who sees takes off his shoes, the rest sit round and pluck blackberries."
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Father, help us to see Your glory. I ask this in the name of the One who is full of grace and truth. Amen.

Ofcourse we are praying for a great outcome of the surgery. How odd that some one in the Midwife field would be so stress adding. I mean the whole point of Midwifes is to be intune with natural ways, isn't it. Well, let us hope all goes well. Actually, it will. And what changes it brings will be for a reason. Just is so often to see the reason. That is where faith comes in.
I want to share some good news in my sons life.
Earlier this year he faced so much stress due to his wife who is an alcoholic. He stayed with her for almost 14 yrs. THe life was worse and worse. He did not want to leave his son with her. After much prayer, things simply began to change.
Not, as we had hoped that she got sober. That just did not happen. Instead she acted out in public, and the state of Tenn. became involved and ended by taking her out of the home. They eventually sent her to her sisters in another state.
That is not the good news. The dissolution of a family, is sad by any discription.
BUT, my grandson is now in school==she was home schooling him because she had some real paranoia about going out. Not that she was capable, just she did not want him going out.
ANy way he entered at 5th grade and is doing fine. THe school is working very closely with my son, and it is good.
Today is my son's 31 birthday. He has some friends--also a new thing , as she did not even want to go with family. Any way his friends are taking he and his son out for dinner tonight.
Mostly, he is feeling so hopeful about life. THank you for all who prayed for us during the crisis. The Lords hands were so evident in so much of this. Truely awsome.

First, I applaud your son's patience, Merriweather.

Second, I am so grateful that your grandson is doing so well in school. I know this is a big relief to you and your son. Friendships, how nice! God is providing. I am grateful for the friends here!

Yes, Pink, we are so blessed.
Today, I was asked to sub for the Sunday School teacher.
She is a great teacher=has a PHD and all.
So I was nervous. Then I realized there was something I was meant to bring to this particular lesson. That is why I was the one teaching it.
It was about taking upon us the Yoke of Jesus.
Ended up sweet. I like to draw, so I drew some things instead of writing words, people responded so well.
And I think how much our health journey has been aided by being Yoked to Him.
Also how much it helps in difficult times to have like minded friends to turn to, to pray with. Unity is so important.
Of course , we need to pray diligently for Japan just now.
How is the quake effecting you in China?

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Merriweather! I know what you mean about thinking that you were there teaching for a specific reason. I think you are a good teacher (here and there)!

In regard to the quake, we know that the losses are beyond comprehension. This was one was 10x more powerful that the one that hit us in Sichuan in 2008 (70k killed) and that is hard to fathom. However, it hit the NE side of Japan and most of China is to the SW of Japan. So I am not aware of any significant effects in China.

However, many of the Japanese and Chinese have hated each other for many years and I hope that this quake will give the Chinese some opportunities to help their poor cousins over there. We pray for healing, peace, open doors, open hearts, transformation. Such events remind us of our human limitations and of His great power.

In regard to McDougalling, I think that Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest for today (March, 14) is a good one to challenge us:


'Yielding
Mar
14
2011
. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you obey . . . —Romans 6:16

The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.

If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,” whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).

When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.' [http://utmost.org/yielding/]

We have expanded the war into Lybia. Well, not even sure who "We" are. Seems many nations are joined in this time. I do not even begin to know what is the right thing to do.
This man seems entirely corrupt. But will the ones we back be any better.
We have so much not working in our own country, it is frightening to see us spreading all over.
Well, I just Pray, and hope some of you will join me, that there shall be wisdom and justice.
My son has been in Iraq four times. He says you could not believe the conditions of the people.
I hope there is hope in all of this.

I do not try to figure all of this out either, Merriweather, but we can call on the Almighty and trust that He will bless with peace on earth and good will toward men when the time is right. He will provide.

Dear Father, we hold up all of the conflicts and suffering on earth and we ask for Your powerful, loving hands to provide the peace, comfort and healing that are needed. Our hope is in You, dear Father. Help us as we look up to the Beloved Son. Amen.