
This past weekend, my husband and I felt led to practice a “device fast” as part of our Sabbath rest. It was SOOOOoooooOOOOo wonderful, restful, refreshing not to use phone, ipads or laptops! I had no idea just how much stress I have allowed in my life that comes to me through email or other online means! I thought I would be fearful without tracking my food (which I do on my ipad). But I was at peace.
So, that experience has given me courage to leave the training wheels behind as I go to see my 26-year old daughter, Michaela, this week who lives near Chicago. I can’t wait to love all over her! To me, it would not be very loving of me to stop and track my food throughout the day while I am with her. I know that I am ok if I listen to my hunger and satisfied signals. It would make me crazy to pack my bathroom scale–no way! I am free from that sort of thing…so, God has given me great peace in leaving my training wheels behind. I am kind of looking forward to it, in fact.
How am I preparing for this excursion off my beautiful, remote, isolated island and out in to the big scary COVID-19 world?
Mind renewal is key. I shared about mind renewal in a previous post. It is the only way I can survive anything well. So, here are some truths I will take with me to wall paper my mind so that I will believe differently so I can act differently.
- My enjoyment of my daughter and our time together is not dependent on eating with her outside of hunger and satisfaction.
- Concern about coming into contact with COVID-19-carrying others can’t be offset by eating or drinking or anything else. Breathing in God’s peace is the only way to experience what I long for in those anxious moments.
- I can keep waiting for 0, stopping eating when I don’t feel the discomfort of hunger any longer, renew my mind consistently, and when I return from the trip–even without the “training wheels” I have been using for the past 5 weeks–I will check on the scale and see progress.
- The Lord waits to show me compassion. Turning to anything other than to Him is a counterfeit. He alone will give me what I need.
- God is the Father of all comfort. He will give me the comfort I need for anything that disquiets my heart.
- This rather unexpected trip is a divinely appointed “training opportunity” that I will pass with flying colors as I lean into the Lord!
- I will not starve and waste away into nothingness if I do not have an opportunity to eat on my travel days. It will be ok. Really.
So, armed with these truths and more, discarding the training wheels I have been using, I will venture off to Chicago.