Move Mountains

" 'You don't have enough faith,' Jesus told them. 'I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, "Move here to there," and it would move.  NOTHING would be impossible.' " - Matthew 17:20

I have heard this verse many times.  I even have a necklace with a mustard seed in it and the inscription "Faith" as a reminder of this verse, but I always thought of the mentioned mountain literally until recently.  I have been reading the book Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst (which I highly recommend).  The book is all about how we were made to crave (hence the title).  God put that in us for a specific reason and that is to crave more of Him, but over time we each begin to crave other things instead (relationships, success, and even food).  These overwhelming cravings become huge mountains in our path.  And in my case a well over 200 pound mountain.  I have often shared on my blog about my attempts to get back on track and get healthy, but there is always an excuse (often lame, but an excuse nonetheless). I will do well for a few weeks and then slowly slip back into old habits.  I forced myself to weigh after the start of the year.  I stepped on and off the scale at least 6 times because I was sure there was a glitch on the screen.  "There is NO way that is accurate."  "The most I have ever weighed is almost 20 pounds less than this atrocious number!"  "How in the world did this happen?  I mean, I know I ate my weight in oreo balls over Christmas, but c'mon!" 

Hello, rock bottom.  Nice to meet you.

It just so happened that this horrifying moment coincided with the start of my church's 21 days of prayer and fasting.  I participated in the 21 days of prayer back in August, but I have never done any type of fast (obviously).  I prayed about what I should fast during this time and was led to participate in the Daniel Fast.  Food had become too much of an issue for me, so it was time for me to deal with that.  I decided that in order to deal with this "mountain" I needed to fully sacrifice this issue to God, which had always seemed a little silly to me.  But I have learned that God wants to be a part of EVERY area of my life (no matter how big or small)  and so with open hands I came to him and turned this (huge) mountain over to Him with the faith that with Him I will succeed in dealing with this longtime struggle.  We all have mountains in our path that seem overwhelming to get past, but I think my problem is that I see the mountain of my weight and think "There is absolutely no way I can get up and over this mountain.  I have tried so many times and end up right back at the bottom.  And this time the mountain is higher than it has ever been before."  But God says, "You don't have to scale this mountain.  If you put your faith in me and press into me for strength and self control and perseverance, I'm gonna move that bad boy out of your way!"  Uhm, hello... that is AWESOME! 

Ok, Faithful Father, I'm really ready this time.  Let's do this!  I am declaring that 2012 will be the year that mountains are moved in my life and I am praying that you will ask God to move your mountain, too!