Brothers and sisters, I [still don't] consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
You might think that the Lord's allowing me an 80+ pound weight loss and keeping the vast majority of it off for over 30 years, was the prize for my efforts. If you thought this, you would be greatly mistaken! Sure, I have wanted to loose all my excess weight from the point I first realized that kids were pointing at my pudgy body, and were laughing at me. They tried to do it secretly, but I knew what they were doing when they were pointing at me, giggling with their hands over their mouths, so I wouldn't hear the words.
I thought the weight loss was the prize, for so many years! Everyday, I would pray and ask the Lord God to help me loose all my excess weight, but it didn't happen. This happened for so many years, I finally got to the point that I was giving up, and I told the Lord God, "If you ever want me to be thin, You'll have to do it Yourself, because I'm giving up on the diets and all things related to them."
Well the thing is, that very same day, the Lord God made a major change in my life. He took away my desire for towers of food, lots of sweets, and pastries. I knew in my mind that I had liked those things, but I no longer desired them. It took a couple of days to realize that the Lord God had taken those urges away from me. The more I realized this, the more I put all my fears, anxieties, and stress into the Lord God's very capable hands. After the weight was lost, I wondered why this happened, since I'm a very sinful human being, and often put food first before my faith and my family. What the Lord had on my heart was that, when I said that prayer, that was possibly the first time I quit trying to be in control of my weight loss and stress, and started putting them over to the Lord. That relationship with the Lord God was the prize, and the weight loss was just the icing on the cake, so to speak!
