Monday, January 18, 2010

The Body is a temple (the rest of the story)


If you are coming over from Martha’s blog welcome! We are on day 9 of our 21 day journey and I am excited about the next 12 days.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body," (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
I wrote on Martha’s blog today about the fact that the fast is like cleaning house, getting rid of a lot of the junk in our temple. The New Testament talks about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we accept Christ as our Savior the Holy Spirit comes and resides in us.  I felt that I needed to dig a little deeper and share a bit more about my own struggles with my temple.  It's all about being honest and real, and I made a promise to God, myself and my readers (hi mom) when I started this journey with my writing that I would also be honest, no matter what.  The world is full of people that want others to think they have it all figured out but that's not me. But I know who does and He is who this blog is for, to share with people that no matter what we have done or mistake we have made, God loves us, God forgives, and God wants to be the center of our life, He even gave us a temple so that He could live IN us.  So, read on for the rest of the story...

I, like many others, have not honored my body. I have not taken care of it like I should have. I have smoked. I have been obese. I have not exercised. I have dishonored the temple. No wonder there have been so many times I have felt a disconnect with my heavenly Father.

I smoked for many years and felt convicted over and over again that I needed to quit. Finally, in my quiet time one day, I asked God to please fill me with the Holy Spirit. I felt God telling me, “Sweetheart, the Holy Spirit doesn’t smoke.” Ouch. It’s a gross habit and one that I am ashamed of. I do not want anything to keep me from walking as close to God as possible, so the cigarettes are gone and the temple is beginning to smell better and I’m not choking out the Holy Spirit.


My body was also abused due to my being overweight. This is a picture from a show I did a few years ago.  ------>

I looked to food for comfort, and I ate when I was stressed, I ate when I was happy or celebrating something, and honestly, I just really enjoy eating. I made a decision three years ago to undergo surgery. The morning I went in for surgery I weighed 287 pounds. This isn’t a post about the good or bad of weight loss surgery, we can come back to that on another day. I was in pain from the extra 130+ pounds I was carrying. Go to the store, pick up two 50-pound bags of dog food and another 30-pound bag and carry that around for a few minutes. God knew I would not be able to obey His direction until the weight was gone. I had tried many different diets and eating plans and some had worked but I had never been able to keep the weight off. For me, surgery was great and I’m thankful I had it done.

We have to clean out the temple, our bodies, and make them as healthy as possible so that God can use us.


God cannot use me if I’m too exhausted to speak. God cannot use me if I’m unhealthy. God cannot use me if I am going to be depending on something else, such as food or cigarettes, for my comfort instead of Him.


<------ Me now.  Looking back now it felt like I was buried in fat. I couldn't be who God wanted me to be, I couldn't be real, I couldn't be honest and so I kept my mouth shut by putting food in it or by puffing on a cigarette. 

I am not getting on my high horse about overeating or smoking, all I am saying is, for me, I had to get the junk out of my body in order to fill it up with God’s best. God wants me to have His best every single day. Satan wants me to crowd it out with a cigarette when I’m stressed or an entire bag of double stuff Oreos when my feelings get hurt.

God wants me to come to Him when I’m stressed or worried and rest in His promise to provide for me. God wants me to focus on pleasing Him and not get upset or my feelings hurt by what others think.

Who am I living for, God or man? (Thanks Pastor Matt). 

During the fast we have an opportunity to clean out the temple. To purge the body of all it’s impurities. To let go of things that we are using that comes between us and our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Have you given up whatever it is that is keeping you separated from the Heavenly Father? Is the need to have a relationship with Him more important then the relationship you are having with your refrigerator or with the Marlboro Man (no reference to Pioneer Woman's husband)?

Open the door and the windows to your soul, get the junk out and make room for the Holy Spirit to reside in a sweet smelling, healthy, and energetic you. Honor God with your body.
God,
You are an amazing and forgiving Father who wants nothing but the best for all of His children. Help us each to make our bodies into the temples that are worthy of your presence so that we may follow Your leading and live the life You wish for us. I pray for each person that is on a journey to clean out their temple and create a home for You. Amen.

If there is something I can pray for you about please leave a comment or email me at leigh at leighfrance dot com.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for opening up so much of yourself so that others can see what God has done for you.

(WH)