It is time to do something different.  After a year of great challenges, we have an opportunity in the new year to change.  As a believer, I feel like I have continued to circle around the same mountain in the wilderness for years.  The children of Israel were delivered out of years of slavery and were on a journey to their promised land.  However, because of disobedience against God and not following His ways, they spent 40 years wondering in the desert.  Just like the Israelites, I believe many of us can remain stuck in the same place as we try to get to a place of peace and tranquility in our lives.

However, it requires a new way of thinking and doing to get there.  In health, we tend to follow the ways of the world where they speak of getting good nutrition and exercise.  But then there are fast food restaurants on every corner and more technology is being developed to make our lives less physically active.  The world around us does not support ways of healthy living.  What I know as a believer in Christ is that God has made me new.  He has started me on a journey from cleansing out the old ways of doing things and learning His ways of living.  In this understanding, I am learning God wants to build me up as a house.

“[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 2:5, Amplified)

Therefore, your inner man is important in your journey to health and wellness.  We have to throw away all we thought we knew about health and open ourselves to receive wisdom found in His word.  He does not desire for us to wander in the wilderness any longer but He wants us to arrive in our promised land of health, peace, and wholeness. (3 John 2) Where we live a life of prosperity, lacking nothing in Him.  However, this will require sacrifice on our parts and it will take us getting to know the Holy Spirit, who is our comforter, teacher, and guide on this journey.

I have learned from many experiences that I cannot do anything on my own.  It takes complete and total trust in God.  It requires faith.  It requires belief.  We must trust that God’s ways are perfect and that His desire for us is good.  His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not His thoughts.  So, it is important to fully surrender in learning His ways which are right.  I know this may seem harsh but just like a parent disciplines and trains their children, it may not always be easy.  In the end, we learn that it was good for us to follow the direction of our parents.  So how much more is it for us to follow God, Our Creator, who formed us and knew us before He formed us. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139: 13-14) He knows how we were made and what makes our bodies function the best.

Therefore, we must start with repentance.  Repentance requires us to change our mindset and to behave differently.  It is crucial to turn from what the world has told us to do and turn to the ways of God.  “For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].” (Hebrews 12:11, Amplified) The healthcare system is not based on making us healthy but is based on the management of disease.  Little effort is placed into prevention of disease, it is not until one is diagnosed with a chronic disease that healthy lifestyle habits are encouraged by healthcare professionals.

Living a healthy lifestyle has to begin at birth and extend throughout our lifetime.  Many of the issues we have today comes from our culture and what was taught in the home.  If your parents were not taught about how to live healthy, then they just passed bad habits on to you.  As a culture, we are not taught to eat cleaner, exercise more, and work on our spiritual growth.  It is really about healing from the inside out.  And the world focuses from the outside in.  On this journey, I would implore you to be open to learn the ways of God and change ways that may not have been beneficial to you.  This is not only for you but for your children and those around you.  They need to see someone succeed. 

If you are serious about starting on this journey you will need to ask yourself some questions:

• What does health mean to me?
• Why do I want to be healthy?
• Am I truly ready to do what is required to change my habits?
• Am I looking for a quick fix or a lifestyle change?

Success will be based on our commitment for change.  Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, “How bad do I want it?”  And we need to be real with ourselves because there may be some inner areas of healing, we need to go through first in our pursuit for health.  There is no reason to begin something and then become frustrated along the way.  Frustration comes from unmet expectations.  We cannot expect ourselves to make immediate changes when it took years to acquire the bad habit.

If you really want something then you push past the challenges to get there.  Realize living a healthy lifestyle is a process.  As we progress, we can celebrate our growth and enjoy every success along the way.  My hope is that you no longer go around the same mountain but you move into your promised land of health.  Join me each week for the information, practical application, and encouragement to help you on your journey to your healthy place. We all may have a different vision of our healthy place but with the help of the Holy Spirit we will all get there.

Read and meditate on James 1:1-7 as you prepare to begin your journey to the healthy place.

Next:  Why forgiveness is so important to our health journey.