Lose Weight and Lose Weight

Lose Weight … is almost always my number one New Year’s goal. The fact that it shows up on my list every year gives you an idea of how successful my follow through really is! But this year I want to lose weight and lose weight.

Let me explain. In my last blog I shared that forgiveness severs the hold that dead things have on a person’s life. But in my time of fasting and prayer that kicked off my new year, the Holy Spirit has been dealing with my heart about weights that need to be removed.

Let me explain. After the kids and grandkids left from celebrating Christmas with us, Wayne and I began to clean out years of clutter from the garage and storage shed; the kid’s stuff, the grandkid’s stuff, hobby stuff, remodeling stuff- junk piled and stuffed into every corner. If you are seeing visions from the repulsive hoarder episodes on television, well, let’s not go there. We had put off cleaning it out for years because it looked and felt like a monumental task. So we allowed the clutter to accumulate and we just shut the door on the mess. But it was time to deal with it! No more clutter. No more searching for where we put stuff. It was time to take dominion. So we did it! It has taken some time and hard work, but it hasn’t been a bad job. Actually, we have enjoyed working together on the project. Why didn’t we do it sooner? Because the weight of the task seemed enormous, too hard. Too much work. Too overwhelming! It wasn’t the work I wanted to avoid, it was just the weight, the mental weight I felt every time I tried to plan the job on my schedule. So I procrastinated wasting both time and money when I couldn’t find things I needed and suffered from guilt because I knew it needed to be done. Now it almost is!

Precious Holy Spirit has been dealing with my heart that it is time to de-clutter, clean out, organize and strategize spiritually. That’s where the second weight and my second New Year’s resolution comes in. This year I want to lose physical weight, but secondly and most importantly, I want to lose the mental and spiritual weights that keep me from God’s best. I didn’t even realize I was carrying these weights until Holy Spirit began to open the garage door of my heart and open some boxes that I had stuffed in the corners.

Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

If you are struggling decluttering offenses in your life. Listen to my teaching Ministry Isn't For Armadillos.

Stinkin' Chicken Skins

The garbage only runs once a week. If I cook chicken early in the week, I can’t throw the chicken skins in the trash because they will be stinking within 24 hours. So I wrap the chicken skins in a bag and put them in the freezer until garbage day. I don’t tie them to my arm and carry them around with me. Everyone understands that chicken skins quickly begin to stink and salmonella breeds quickly in room temperature chicken. They belong in the trash.


Yet while we cringe at the thought of carrying around rotten chicken skins, we carry a different stench and poison without giving it a second thought. The poison’s name…un-forgiveness.

We are approaching a new year-don’t carry the poison of the past into your new year. No one can make that choice for you. Forgive! Turn loose of the wrong that was done to you. God will help you! God’s grace is sufficient. Take your pain to the cross. Ask God to forgive you for insisting on your right to hold onto the wrong that was done to you. Ask God to help you forgive. Allow God to pour in His healing.

It can be difficult to forgive. Listen to my teaching Minstry Isn't for Armadillos. I believe it will help you through the forgiving process. It shares my personal struggles with overcoming offenses.