Guest Blogger: Discovering the Best God Made is YOU!

Julie’s Note: I love encouraging writers no matter where they fit in the field from a mom appointed to design a newsletter for a first time to an author not sure if that second or twenty second book is meant to be. Today I introduce you to a guest blogger who is experiencing what I call the “stir of the pen.” When you meet this person they won’t say their name followed by the words writer or author. At least, not yet. However they feel like God is calling them to write and when I know about such callings I’m all over it. I want them to succeed in any way God is directing.

The guest blogger wants to remain anonymous but don’t miss the huge praise here, they are being in obedient in not just writing, but sharing with others. I’m honored they would choose this blog to share their work and I’m believing it’s not the first work we’ll see in a public way.  God, bless this writer for their surrendering fear and prosper them in all ways! Amen.

Enjoy and feel free to leave comments to encourage!

“My business is not to remake myself, But to make the absolute best of what God made,” wrote the 19^th Century English Poet Robert Browning. I think about what that means to me and the thoughts I have had toward myself for thirty-five years suddenly shift.

I have recently embarked on a writing journey about my adventures in developing proper nutrition habits. I write daily on the challenges and victories of learning how to eat healthy and drop a few pounds along the way. In order to lose weight, one must create a calorie deficit. And experts recommend that by combining exercise and a nutritious eating plan, this can easily be executed. The exercise portion has always come easily to me, because I really do enjoy working out, but I have discovered many “thinking” obstacles that have made losing ten pounds, well.. down-right war.

I have been trying to lose 10 lbs for about a year and a half. And, for me, the experience has felt like being in a tug-of-war, while riding on a rollercoaster foraging ahead at lightening speed, winding around a loop-de-loop.. One day, I would feel strong and eat all “healthy” foods and track my calories perfectly. Then the next day, I would feel stressed and eat five brownies, two servings of bbq potato chips, and a Hershey’s special dark bar. I don’t even like potato chips…

I have tried everything from counting calories, reading self help books, talking to specialists, joining a gym, running out doors, ect. until I just couldn’t find anymore excuses for my inability to lose the weight. I am considered healthy and “in shape.” I had to get real honest with myself, however, and so I prayed. I asked God to show me what I needed to change about myself in order to reach my goal weight of 128. Rather than an immediate answer, I was made aware of questions that I, myself, needed to answer. So, I started writing a book to explore these questions. (The book is not finished at the time of this article.)

At the time of my prayer I weighed 138, not bad, but not where I wanted to be. But where do I want to be? Do I want to weigh 128 or do I want to love and accept myself exactly as I am? And, am I able to do that if I have a negative self image? Am I able to do that if I have a love/hate relationship with food?

We are born with the basic personality traits that we will have throughout life. And we are born whole. However, through out life we adopt traits from others, we “try on different hats” to see how they fit us. We may borrow these hats from relatives, friends, co-workers, TV characters, society’s suggestions about “what we ought to be” and so on. But we lose a sense of who we were made to be. Have you thought about the “you,” you were before life happened and took its toll on you? Can you still sense the freedom of being an individual? Consider yourself for a moment. When you meet yourself again you may discover a desire to be the best you that you can be and, there, is where possibility will meet your hopes and dreams. And it’s my prayer for you today to discover the absolute best of what God made.

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