Where is my motivation?

Y'all, it is only March and I have completely lost my motivation I had coming into 2017. It is frustrating and annoying how quickly I have left my spirit led desire to be healthy and active. Yes, it was spirit led. I truly believe as a child of God, I am His temple, His Spirit lives in me and therefore I need to treat my body as such. My flesh is so weak. I feel like Paul, when he stated in Romans 7:15 "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." How true is this statement?

I know in my heart of hearts how I should be eating, exercising, sleeping, etc. in order to have a healthy life and body. I know. I promise, I do. If you look at me, you probably wouldn't think that. Why is it so hard to do what we know we should? Whether your struggle is eating or something totally different, I dare say, we all have something in our lives that we know we shouldn't do/use/watch/etc. Yet we struggle daily to stop. So, what should we do? Honestly, what I do WAY too often is quit. I say things like "tomorrow is a new day", or "just one more time and I won't ever eat this again!" or a thousand variations of the same thing. What I want to say to you and mostly to myself, is this; Yes, there is grace for your struggle. Yes, there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). However, God desires us to live for Him and strive for Christ likeness. We can't quit! Romans 6:1-4 says this "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

Newness of life! Praise God! We cannot use God's grace as an excuse to keep on sinning. We are given everything we need to die to our self and pursue a life like Christ. Yes, it is hard and sometimes it downright stinks. However, the joy and peace that comes with living our lives for the Lord is indescribable. Please don't quit. I am shouting at myself right now. Don't Quit!! Shake off the mistakes of last week, yesterday, and even 2 minutes ago. Make the next decision you have to make be a good one. Focus on your next difficult choice. For me, it is what I will eat for lunch. Honestly, I would love a cheeseburger or the leftover mac n cheese in the fridge. However, I know that is not going to be good for my body, God's temple. The struggle is real and hard, but worth it.

Whatever you are struggling with, reach out and get help. Get accountability in your life. Find someone who is not afraid to hurt your feelings in order to help you stay on course. I will gladly be that person for you. :) The year is only a quarter way through and my resolution is so thin most days. I need to refresh my goals and remind myself of the reasons why I wrote this post in January. I want to honor God with my life. My whole life. Not bits and pieces, but all of me. I have to realize and truly let it sink in that I cannot do that when I am treating His temple so poorly. I need to take care of it so I am able to do the good works He has prepared for me to do (Ephesians 2:10). This goes for anything we have in our lives that is a hindrance to our ability to follow God (finances, food, drugs, media, etc.). Let us each take a honest look at our lives and seek to make the changes needed to honor Him above all else. It is hard. We will fail. Let's not quit. Let's get up, shake off the dust, and set our eyes on Him. Time and time again. It will be worth it. I love you all. Till next time.