February 7, 2011
Nothing Tastes as Good as Peace Feels
Lysa TerKeurst
"... seek peace and pursue it."
Psalm 34:14 (NIV)
Devotion:
Nearly two years ago I set out on what I thought would be a three-month fast from sugar to lose weight. Here I am today and I'm still fasting from sugar. And I can honestly tell you, I never thought this would be possible for me.
As a matter of fact, at the beginning I mourned over giving up sugar for three months. Big, crocodile tears dripped from my eyeballs on many a day during the early part of this journey. We're talking the ugly cry. I was breaking up with a lifetime love affair with sugar. And, excuse the pun, it's really hard to break up with something when it is really sweet.
However, in all honesty, sugar wasn't being sweet to me. It was sweet to my taste buds, but it was not sweet when it made my energy level skyrocket and then crash. It was not sweet to my attitude which went south every time I hit a sugar low. It was not sweet to my complexion nor to the ever increasing size of my backside.
Most of all it was not sweet to the battle that raged in my brain.
Before my sugar fast, I was constantly bouncing between feeling deprived and guilty. All. The. Time. I was either feeling deprived because I was trying to watch what I ate or feeling guilty because I'd slipped back into the 'eat whatever I want' phase. Deprived. Guilty. Deprived. Guilty. I couldn't stop this incessant bouncing until I stopped the sugar.
I realized after fasting from sugar for a month, my cravings started to release their awful grip on me. The sting of sacrifice started to not sting quite as much. Slowly, I made the choice to change one fundamental thought.
In my new book, "Made to Crave," I reveal the switch that changed everything. I switched from feeling deprived to feeling empowered.
Don't read over that too quickly.
I can now look at my kid-friendly pantry laden with treats galore and not sigh. I can walk by the bakery counter at Starbucks and say "no thank you." I can go to a party without being riddled with "pitiful me" thoughts about how unfair it is that everyone else is living it up sugar style.
Instead of being sad that I can't have something, I feel so thrilled to be courageous enough to say no. Shifting from feeling deprived to empowered is the most crucial change I've made on this journey. And it's what made me decide to keep going past the three month mark.
So, am I still fasting from sugar to lose weight? No. I lost my excess weight and reached a healthy place a year ago. Now my goals have nothing to do with a number on the scale. My goal now is peace.
Peace.
And I can assure you, no treat in this world tastes as good as this peace feels.
Dear Lord, help me to see how the temporary sting of sacrifice will be worth the peace I will find in You. Please help me to have the courage to say no to things that distract me mentally, spiritually, and physically. I long to be empowered with Your strength and Your peace today. I admit I need You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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