Giving up is the easy way out of any situation. My struggle has been with losing weight. I joined Weight Watchers over 10 years ago and lost 25 pounds. I’ve gained back 1’t5 over the years. So I decided to rejoin two months ago. I started out great, then fell back into not counting points when I didn’t follow plan and not weighing in because I didn’t lose weight. I may as well have given up and in fact have considered doing that several times. But giving up is easy and doesn’t add anything positive to my life.
Is it difficult to achieve any goal? Sure it is. God doesn’t promise us everything will be without struggles and trials. Nor does my Weight Watchers plan. Oh, yes, I see all these younger and more energetic people who are making great progress while I struggle just to see a one pound loss. Easy to believe I’m too old to do this. I have a five pound charm hanging on my refrigerator which I thought would encourage me to work harder to achieve the next charm. It hasn’t worked. I keep listening to the wrong voice encouraging me to give up and just eat what I want to. It tells me I don’t want to spend my golden years denying myself because I’ve earned a time to just relax and pursue things that make me happy.
The problem with this thinking is I’m not happy. I’m miserable about my health and the extra weight I’m carrying. I can’t do the things I used to do. I can’t walk outside or stand for any period of time without suffering back pain. Why? Because of arthritis which continues to get worse. Losing a few pounds might help that or it might not. But losing weight will make it better for my heart and to maintain good blood glucose numbers to control my diabetes type 2.
I’m not giving up. I’m telling Satan to skeedaddle. I will not listen to his voice. Instead I will concentrate on succeeding one small step, one small pound, at a time. I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength. Lifting my cup of tea and claiming success in the future by not giving up!
Carol Ann Erhardt, Author 