40-Day Detox: 6 Day Update

Last weekend I laid out my plan for "detoxing" my life and refocusing on God's will for me. My plan includes living a healthier lifestyle, becoming more active, limiting unnecessary world influence, and spending more time with God daily. I am now 6 days into the 40-day detox and there is a lot of room for improvement. I created a tracker to keep track of the progress I made, the intention being that I would use it daily, but I haven't filled it out at all, which is indication enough that I could use improvement. This week has been crazy. I have been rushing this week to finish a project while also studying like crazy for a test that I had to take for work. So while I have still been trying to keep up with the detox plan, I haven't been keeping up with tracking each day's progress. 

This week I have been successful in spending less time on YouTube or watching TV and spending more time with God. I completed a  5-day devotional plan on the topic "When God Could Have, But He Didn't" in addition to the Bible reading and devotional I normally do every day. I was not successful in living a healthier lifestyle or being more active each day. I am hoping to improve on these aspects of my detox plan as I move into the second week. In order to ensure improvement on living a healthier lifestyle, I am implementing changes today, which include planning a healthier grocery list. I already meal prep my lunches for work most weeks, but I have noticed that if I don't have a lot of variety it is harder for me to eat my lunch without buying something else. Buying your lunch daily is not necessarily a bad thing, but for me the only options are expensive and not that healthy. I am still planning my lunches for this week, but if you want to see what I meal prep for my lunches, leave a comment below letting me know. 

My overall impressions of this first week of "detox" is that I need a lot of improvement in reaching my daily goals if I hope to see any progress at the end of 40 days. I have noticed a lot of bitterness in my heart about my circumstances and that bitterness is creating an awful attitude. This is not the way I want to live my life and I have been struggling a lot with my attitude this week. My general approach was that God has a lot of work to do during the 40 day detox, but the reality is that I have a lot of work to do. This isn't God's problem, but mine and I need to put in effort to fix it and then God can do what I am unable to do. 

I made some progress yesterday during my 2 hour drive to take a test for work. The radio station I usually listen to went to static after 45 minutes of driving and I was left in silence the rest of the drive. I only like silence when I am trying to sleep so it was a difficult transition for me, but I used the time to just talk to God. I spilled my heart out to Him as I drove on the freeway and when I reached my destination, I received my answer of sorts. Of course, an answer after a long period of silence is confusing, but again I spent my time alone to pray about the meaning and this morning I woke to a devotional email on the topic that God is Faithful to Keep His Promises. Silence is a good thing because it gives us time with God and it gives Him the quiet time He needs to give us an answer. Yes, He can answer us in the loud, chaotic times of our lives, but no one wants to shout to be heard. 

These last 6 days have not been very successful for me, but my experience over the last few days has reminded me that I need to renew my commitment. I need to work hard to improve in these areas that I have identified as in need of "detox". Transformation is not going to happen overnight, but I hope that next week I am able to share improvement on my way toward a more God-focused life. How is your journey going? Let me known in the comments below.

November Challenge: Day 1

Today is the first day of November, which means it is day one of the intentional gratitude challenge. Each and every day we are given dozens of reasons to be grateful, giving hearty thanks to God, but most of us forget we are blessed and overlook the very ways God is blessing us. When we overlook or forget God's blessings, it becomes very easy to be weighed down by life's circumstances and even become bitter. A bitter heart doesn't produce fruit. Much like the withered fig tree, as long as our heart's our bitter the heart will not produce fruit. Our heart is not a withered fig tree and this is where we are blessed. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it didn't produce any figs and the tree withered up, removing all possibility of producing fruit, but He didn't curse our hearts, which allows us the opportunity to remove bitterness, through pruning, and go on producing fruit. We can prune bitterness from our hearts when we are intentional about our gratitude and remember our blessings. A few days ago I presented this challenge and I really hope you join me in pruning our hearts for a fruitful harvest. 

Today's blessing came to me in the form of an email. Going into this challenge I had some ideas of what I wanted to write about, areas I knew I should be grateful for, but this morning as I read my email I knew that this (email) was what I needed to be grateful for. A few months ago, through FaithGateway, I joined a 40 Days to Glory memory verse challenge and after completing the challenge I started receiving a Devotionals Daily email as a thank you for participating. The Devotionals Daily emails are today's blessings. Every day I receive them I am given a blessing, an excerpt from a Godly person's book, and insight into my own life. Each devotional has a way of speaking to my present circumstances and encourages me to think about the impact that topic has on my life. One day was about evil and spoke about how our battle wasn't really with others, but with evil (Satan). This was encouraging because we know God already won that battle through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

While today's was about the danger of looking for a savior in anyone other than Jesus and in trying to be a savior to someone else. Today's devotional was surprising. Most people, when asked, would deny seeking a savior in someone other than Jesus or in trying to be a savior themselves, but often times this is exactly what we end up doing. We create a dependence on other people or other people create a dependence on us for their source of happiness and hope in the future. The result is a crushing weight and often the cutting of ropes. Relationships are ended and hearts are devastated. All of this because we had unrealistic expectations in ourselves or others. This harsh truth comes at a time when I need to analyze my own role and actions in relationships and I am grateful for the wisdom of this devotional. I am thankful there is one who still exists to save me and I am blessed by our relationship. With every breath I take I can be grateful that Jesus Christ is my savior. 

Today, what are you choosing to be thankful for?