This Is All That I Have To Offer

I Thessalonians 4:16-18
 ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Today we buried my oldest sister Margie and I am hurting. Almost two weeks ago I was with her at the hospital when her doctor told her that he was going to let her go home on Valentine's Day and five days later she was dead. I'm hurting. There was five of us and now there are four. My oldest sister is gone and I am hurting.  Over the past few years my sister and I had become very close. I could confide in her and she in me, but that will not occur any more because now she is gone.

In the funeral procession today, my oldest brother Willie told everyone now that Margie is gone, that they would have to look to me. What can I offer? Nothing other than the Greatest Gift that has been offered to mankind. That is the Person of Jesus Christ.

One day while talking to Margie. I asked her if she were to stand before God and He asked her why should He let her into His Heaven, what would she say to Him and she told me that she would tell Him "because I asked Jesus to forgive me of all of my sins and I asked Him to save me".  My sister told me that she trusted in Christ. If this is the case, I am not to sorrow like those who have no hope, as someone told me recently "I am to trust that Jesus is faithful to keep what my sister had entrusted to Him".  Hallejah what a Savior!

If any of my love ones or anyone else for that matter were to looked to me, the only thing that I have to offer them is Jesus Christ. I pray that they will take hold of this and run with it, but if they do not I will not be deterred. Because Jesus is my refuge. I am no fool. As I look around there are a lot of my  love ones who have died and I do believe that they loved me but they are no longer here, but Jesus have always been by my side and He promised me that He would never leave me nor forsake me and He is faithful to keep His promises. So love ones, Run to Him! Run to Him! Run to Him! It is Christ alone who can bear your grief, show you grace and extend to you mercy.

 Lately I have been wearing the word mercy out. When I feel the darkness trying to consume me,  I cry "Jesus have mercy on me", and He does. Jesus did not choose to raise my sister from the dead like he did Lazarus or the widow of Nain's son but He said to me in her death "Gladys my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness." What will I do? I shall likewise be like Paul and say  "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  I am hurting and weak but Jesus is strengthening me daily.

In the car today I whispered "Jesus I Love You".  He loves me too. Even So, Come Quickly Lord Jesus. And this is all that I have to offer.

Inside Outside

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7)

I have been really silent about my weight loss. Because at first I thought it was going to be another failure. I have never been a slim girl. I was just blessed with a small waist and small chest which helped me not look as large. That all was wonderful in my younger years but as everyone knows as we age we tend to put on weight. The first time I put on weight was in 2005. I was tired of carrying the weight around so in February of 2008 I started working out about 4 hours a day 6 days a week. I ate whatever I wanted but managed to go from about a size 16 to a size 4 and from 200lbs to 145lbs in about 6 months. But working out had pretty much become my idol and I planned my days around my workout schedule. So I really didn't have much of a life. I also had plenty of time to follow this difficult regimen because at the time I was unemployed. Well August of 2008 I started a job and had a hard time keeping up with my strenuous workout schedule and by the middle of 2009 all my weight had came back plus more. And by 2011 I was weighing in at 216lbs and I was wearing sizes 18 and 20. My blood pressure was sky high, my childhood asthma was back, I was very depressed, my anxiety was out of control, I hated looking in the mirror, and food had become an idol in my life. Where in the past I use to plan my life around working out I would now plan my life around my next meal. I was very depressed and felt a void in my life. So this past Christmas 2011 I happened across the YouVersion App on my iPhone. I would read and listen to the Word of God on a daily and I begin to feel that void start to fade away. I started hungering for more so I started back attending church, listening to only gospel and praise & worship music, listening to Christian pastors, reading Christian books, and having regular daily email chats with other brothers and sisters in Christ. This all led to me recommitting my life to Christ. I begin to reevaluate unhealthy relationships and letting go of many habitual sins and strongholds in my life. I temporarily deactivated my Face Book page and I really took some time to fall in love with Jesus. When Christmas came around I ordered myself a Christian book called Thin Within: A Grace-Oriented Approach to Lasting Weight Loss. I had this book years ago but never made it through the first week because it really gets to the root of things and at that point in my life I was weak in my faith and I wasn't emotionally or spiritually ready to deal with those issues. But years later I was finally at the point where I was ready to deal with my junk and baggage. Around the same time my Mama was trying to find a way that she could lose weight and happened across this free online program called Lord's Table which is very similar to Thin Within but more in depth and it last longer. I loved them both so I decided to do both programs since they were so similar. And believe it or not I begin to drop weight not from dieting or tons of exercising. Just by building a healthy relationship with the Lord and eating only when hungry and pushing away from the table when my stomach was comfortably full. I still have my days when I relapse and eat past my comfort level but that's the good thing about God's Grace he forgives me when I stumble. I also have a wonderful Lord's Table mentor who is with me every step up the way and prays for me and my journey on a daily. My Mama and I are each other accountability partners and we are very tough on each other but we also build one another up when we mess up. When people mention my weight loss my response is always "God is allowing the changes He is making on the inside of me to show on the outside." I get many confused looks when I say this but I can't take credit for any of the weight loss all glory goes to God. ~Naturally Reecee