He is So Much Better Than Ice Cream!

​Hey Everyone...welcome to our new blog site!  Tracie and I are adding something new to Living Well Ministry in the form of blogging and video devotions...there should be new posts coming each week starting today..so we hope you will come along for the ride.  Entering the world of blogging is a venture that can be intimidating and filled with questions....who will read it? who would want to read it? do we really have anything to say? with all the great stuff out there already, do we really have anything to add? These questions have kept us silent too long and we are feeling God saying "do it...please!"  So we are.  Our heart's prayer is that in some small thing we might say or write, your heart will be encouraged and touched by Him.  So...let's get going!

God has taken me on quite a journey these past 6 months in the area of my health and fitness.  It all started with me getting back on the wagon, AGAIN I might add, to try to get the 20 pounds off I've been trying to rid myself of for the past 18 years.  I began by pulling out my journal and writing down my goals, eating plan, and over all strategy to get the job done.  I imagined myself toned and lean all over and looking fabulous for my 44 year old self.  Along with my vivid imagination was a hope that somehow THIS TIME would be different and the weight would fall off for good.  I wanted a miracle.  

So, I began....out of nowhere God entered the journey and BOOM! things began to change.  When He came on the scene and began to deal with me about some habits I had and lies I'd been believing about myself...the journey became about obeying Him, not about losing weight.  So here I am 6 months later, 20 pounds lighter and living in the truth about myself and a different outlook on my health.  I got that miracle....He was the miracle.

So yesterday I struggled all day with my attitude. I had no good reason to be grumpy and impatient and irritable, but found myself battling it all day long.  After dinner I ran out to get some kleenex for my sweet man who has a cold...I found myself wanting some ice cream.  Badly.  I thought " I'll get me a Dove Icecream bar....I deserve it...that'll make me feel better...yeah...a Dove bar...yum!"

Right after that thought came the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart "Elizabeth, I can give you so much more than a Dove bar can...come to Me."  I realized in that moment that I was trying to feel better and feed my flesh with food instead of going to the One who has everything I could ever need.  I began to pray and ask God to come and settle me.  You know what?....He did.He came in His sweet, comforting way and washed over my soul and brought joy to my heart.  Not a shallow joy like a Dove bar would have brought for about 2 minutes, but a deep, satisfying, wonderful, stay with me kind of joy that went deep into my soul.  It was a beautiful moment and I learned that too often I turn to other things to fill me when God is there with what I need and so much more.

Now I want you to know that eating a Dove bar is not sinful...you might just find me eating one sometime soon!  But when we go to those things looking for comfort, peace, rest and happiness...they simply will not satisfy us like He will.  He wants us coming to Him to fill those places...not looking for what we need in something as shallow as ice cream.

So what are you turning to today instead of responding to His call to "Come to Me"?  No matter what it is...He is so much better.

In Him,
Elizabeth