It is
finished!
April
9, 2012
We just finished celebrating Holy Week and Easter. What a wonderful event to celebrate. Jesus Christ’s life culminated in His death,
burial, and resurrection giving mankind the greatest gift ever. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
We took some time this weekend to re-paint the master
bedroom. It was great! Not only do I have a pretty room, but I had
some uninterrupted conversation with Sean (he rolls the big spots and I do the
trim) and some alone time as Sean usually finishes before me. It is funny how often times the conversations
that Sean and I have spark my own private reflections. This weekend was no different.
I was telling Sean about the victories I have been
seeing in my desire to eat healthy and exercise. This has been a struggle for me as long as I
can remember but in the last few months I have seen some real changes that are
so encouraging. I have had times when I
waited until I was actually hungry to eat (using my bodies clues as my
guide). In the past I would eat lunch
because it was time to eat lunch not because I was hungry. Over the holidays I was at a party and there
was a huge platter of Christmas cookies right on the coffee table. Do you know what? I had maybe two cookies and totally forgot that
they were there at all. This is
major! To have cookies within reach and
not go for them is amazing! That comes
from a changed mind and not changed behavior!
I am also not looking at exercise as a “have” to anymore. I see it as something I want to do because I
enjoy how I feel afterward. When I do
exercise I enjoy it and feel energized when it is over. All these are changes that are exciting for
me and are evidence that I am on the right track.
What track am I on you may ask? Well, the answer lies in a conversation Papa
after Sean left the room to clean up from painting. I was telling Him how I was amazed at how
resting in who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and who I am because of this is the
bringing about the good fruit I have tried so hard to produce for myself. I have spent 30+ years trying to change my
behaviors, my thoughts, and my feelings in order to become or to gain Papa’s
attention in order that I would stop craving sweets, want to eat veggies, want
to exercise, and be a perfect size…whatever.
I have often heard the saying “You get an A for effort!” Well, with Papa if that were true I should
have been a size 8 in my early teens. I
was sincere when I fasted to break this hold on my life. I repented of my sinful heart until I thought
that I was a hopeless mess. I memorized
Scripture to change my thoughts. I had
accountability partners to keep me on track.
These are the things I had tried before instead of just resting in the
Love and power of Papa.
When I was sharing my thoughts on how much better my
struggle with food, body image, and weight was going Papa stopped me with on
phrase. I heard His say, “Cindy, you
don’t have an issue or struggle anymore, it IS finished!” I had to stop what I was doing and let that
thought sink in. What does that
mean? What? How does this change my life? Wow!
I have been able to spend some time thinking about this
and to be honest, as of yet, I don’t have any real answers yet. The one thing I do know is that I don’t have
to label myself as having a weight problem anymore. When Jesus walked this earth, He was tempted
and tried just as I am now. He resisted
those temptations and bore those trials perfectly. He died on the cross, having met all the
requirements of the Old Covenant, and breathed His last saying “It Is
Finished!” He came back from the dead,
not a ghost, and showed that He had become the victor over death. He did this in order to re-establish the
relationship Adam had with God in the Garden.
These truths were new in a way that astounds me. There is more in what Jesus did than just
eternal salvation and a get out of hell free card!
The words Jesus spoke before He did really spoke
volumes to me in regard to my lifelong struggle with food. It is finished. Jesus took all of my sins on Himself over
2000 years ago, before I was born. It is
finished. I can say that my struggle
with food is over, finished because of Christ Jesus. I am free of this because of Papa God and the
work of Jesus!
Another thought that came to me while I was talking to
Papa is that in the past I would go to the Cross and pour out my soul and then
I would stay there. This is not where
Papa wanted me to stay though. The power
of the Christian life is not in the Cross-but the empty tomb, the resurrected
Jesus. Looking to Jesus, the author and
perfecter of my faith, is where my strength comes from. We are told we are co-heirs with Jesus and we
are seated with Him in the heavenlies.
We are told we have been given all we need for life and godliness. We are told that when we work out our
salvation with fear and trembling it is Christ working in us to cause us to do
God’s perfect will. We are told that we
have the same power that God used in raising Jesus from the dead. These are the things I look to when I look to
Jesus and where I feel Papa God wants me to look.
“It is finished!” are powerful life-giving words for
me. I am so thankful that Papa and I had
that little talk. I must add an
aside. I called to share this with a
friend of mine and when she answered the phone I said, “I was thinking and I
had a thought. I wanted to share it with
you.” Imagine, thinking and having a
thought all at the same time. Amazing!
Blessings y’all!
Sister Cindy
