{ Wednesday's Words - Self-Control }

self-control

 

1. the ability to control oneself, in particular, one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations.  
2. 
   
3.    A fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:23

Yesterday was an absolutely awesome day.  Pappy and I were privileged to see The Ark Encounter in Kentucky with our Special Friends from church and we had the most glorious day. The weather was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a better van driver and I made a new friend who is the Mom of one of our kids. If there ever was a "perfect" day, then yesterday was just that. I'll share a few pics on Friday.

What I want to share with Y'all is where we ate.  There's a restaurant on site that is a buffet to beat all buffets, Emzara's Kitchen. They must have been trying to prepare a "banquet table" like in the Bible.  I'm truly not good at eating at those type of places because there's just so much food and it's "free" for one price and you can go back as many times as you want and.....

well, you get the picture.

I limited myself and tried to eat lots of veggies and only took a couple of bites of dessert because I know that I truly have an addiction to sugar and if I get started I can't seem to quit.

(if you are in the same boat, you really need to read "Sweet Freedom" by Teresa Shields-Parker - it's awesome at explaining this addiction and is a story of her journey)

Anyway - this is going to be a long story, obviously - I did limit myself, but it was difficult. I really wanted to go back and get more of the fish and meatballs, neither of which were bad for me.....

in moderation - and that's something I seem to struggle with the most, especially when it comes to carbs and eating at night.

Because of our daughter's own journey with issues related to "sugar" and things she's gleaned from her reading and shared with me, I've discovered that intermittent fasting is something that is helpful for so many conditions. There are several ways to do this, but for me what seems to work out best is setting an 8-hour window of when I can eat.  Y'all, I'm not doing this for weight loss, which is supposed to be an added benefit. I'm doing it so that I can better gain control of my eating habits, which are not good. I want to eat EVERYTHING in sight in the evenings and that's the worse time of the day to eat, right, because we're supposed to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper! Plus - fasting is mentioned so many times in the Bible, so it's there for a reason!

I woke up this morning with part of a verse of scripture on my mind.....

"put a knife to your throat"

Since we were up so early yesterday morning (5 AM) and home so late that I just fell into bed, I failed to read my daily proverb.  When I opened my Bible this morning to read yesterday's and today, my eyes immediately fell upon these verses I had underlined.....

Proverbs 23:2-3

If you are a big eater,

put a knife to your throat;

don't desire all the delicacies,

for he might be trying to trick you.

"Put a knife to your throat" is a way of saying.....

"Use some self-control, Deb! 

God is so good, Y'all!

I love how He speaks to us so gently and through things in our everyday life because He loves us so much - 

even through a huge buffet of food. 

Happy Wednesday, Everybody!