...my pursuit of one victorious day...

well, here we are.. day one is coming to a close.. i have decided that for now, am going to focus on the positives of the day and the experience.. there was some negative & trust me, i am sure i will need to vent that from time to time.. but today, i am going to speak the Life that i have found in today..

this morning, woke up & laid in bed for a moment being actually excited about the start of this new experience.. i got out of bed and went into our office/craft room/quiet room (it really depends on the need of the moment).. i decided to devote my morning prayer time to a book that was given to me by a dear friend,, it is "praying God's Word" by beth moore.. it is a great way to actually pray the Word of God.. so, i focused on 2 chapters that are devoted to overcoming addictions and overcoming food related strongholds..

1 thessalonians 5:23-24 "may God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. the One Who calls you is faithful and He will do it."..

i would like to include some exurbs from the chapter preceding the prayers.. "through the might of His Holy Spirit released through the authority of His Word, we are empowered to say no to the things we should -- to our excesses, withholding, compulsions and harmful consumptions -- and say yes to freedom, moderation and better heath."

joshua 24:15 says "...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."

to again quote the book, "obedience to God is not some diet we suddenly blow. it is something to which we recommit every single day, no matter how we blew it the day before. victorious living is not an instant arrival. it is a pursuit of one victorious day at a time until the sun sets on enough to begin forming victorious habits." ... "stop feeling guilty because you don't have any self-discipline on our own...none of us can master ourselves. some yokes may be more obvious than others, but all of us had them. God is the only One Who can sanctify and make every part of us whole...'and He will do it.'...all He wants is our trust, our belief and a little time."

i love these quoted items.. it really gave me hope and got me fired up.. portions of this really touched a deep part to me.. let me explain.. whenever i see the word "victorious", i always get this little tug in my heart.. my name, lori (or loren, which is my birth name), means "victorious".. my parents taught me the meaning of my name from a young age.. i think that is why when chad & i have ever discussed baby names for down the road, i always research the meaning behind the name.. i believe that meanings of names are valuable and important.. if you look in the Bible, often God would change a person's name and it was usually a big deal.. abram/abraham, sarai/sarah, jacob/isreal, simon/peter, paul/saul.. so apparently, there was a true value on the meaning behind a name.. like, i wouldn't want for my name to mean "dishtowel" or "garbage heap".. i love that it means victorious.. all that to say this, whenever i see that particular word, "victorious", i somehow become more attached to the sentence, to the meaning, to what it is saying.. it feels more personal and intimate, because it feels like my name is being used almost.. it really encouraged me and reminded me that all i have to think about is today.. at least for today.. matthew 6:34 says "so do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. each day has enough trouble of its own.".. so today, i wasn't necessarily thinking of all of the "long term" goals i have.. i feel that both short term & long term goals are important.. i do not want to lose site of the direction i am heading.. however, right now, i need to learn how to get through today.. and as time progresses, certain things will become easier.. because new habits will form where the others have been severed.. so, i made it through a day.. and that is a small victory.. just like my name says.. and God gave that name to my parents for a reason, because even before i was born, God knew He was creating me to BE victorious..

...more to come...