657 Pounds

Good morning,

I watched a show last night about a girl who is 23 years old and she weighs 657 lbs. Her legs have so much fat on them that they look like rings and rings of small tires stacked on top of each other that cover her feet on each leg, and she can hardly walk. She narrates her story and all she says for the first half-hour is what a disappointment she is to her parents and that she is a failure. Over and over, she says she fails. Her parents and brother, no matter what they say positive, she just says, “I don’t believe them. Look at me.”

They finally get her to go to a specialist who is the only hope for someone that large and he tells her he will help her if she will do two things to show him she wants to be well. She has to see a therapist and lose–on her own–20 pounds. She agrees, yes, she will do that. She goes to the therapist and as soon as she sits down she starts to cry and says she is so mad at herself. She says, “I have ruined my high school years; nothing will change that and I am a failure.” All the therapist says is, “Yes, you have.” The girl just looks at her waiting for I don’t know what, but the therapist says, “First, it is OK to be mad at yourself, but you will have to let that go. You can’t change the past no matter how mad you are. However, you can change today and stop saying you are a failure and start a new conversation with yourself.”

It was like a switch turned on and someone gave her, with a few words, the tools she needed to begin.

Now, she lost the 20 pounds and they gave her gastric bypass surgery to help her and within one year she had lost over 300 pounds. She still had 200 to go but her narration was: I am doing great. I am succeeding. I am changing my future.

Does this seem familiar? A person that overweight cannot hide their negative problem. Other problems with alcohol, money, integrity, divorce, jealousy, self-pity, you name it… Are we hiding things and telling ourselves negative things because of something we did that we are not proud of? Are we for ourself?

Jesus, when He walked the earth always asked the person if they wanted to be well. We listen to ourselves more than anyone else in the world. We get the choice every day to tell ourself that if Jesus thinks we are awesome and He died so we can be forgiven, anything, we can be healthy and healed… then we can! We can make today a great day for a great day! We can read scripture that encourages us. We can pray for people to come into our lives that have the tools or know where to find the tools that will help us.

Jesus wants you well, living in abundance, prosperous and filled with joy that comes from within and no one can steal that joy! Joy is a special present for believers. What a wonderful thing!!

Love you, Teri