Which is more difficult?

I have been on my diet now for a week and a half. It has come with its challenges, such as bringing my own food to Carburetion Day, skipping out on Mexican food and eating a salad instead, or bypassing mom's yummy punch and brownies. Though giving up some comfort food may be difficult, a wise man (My wonderful fiancée) offered me this perspective on the matter: "Which is harder, the bag or the diet?" I have to say that really made me appreciate this diet and the good food and nutrition it is bringing to my body.

I know the Lord has beautiful plans of prosperity for my life. If it is for me to have surgery, I am totally accepting of that. So many blessings will flow from my surgery, but I would definitely not mind postponing or omitting the surgery all together if possible. (I'm still trying to work something out with him...)

I keep thinking that all of this has been a faith building exercise, and I faithfully believe that God always gives you what you need when you need it. In my thoughts, I am reminded of the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son. Like Abraham, I am about ready to sacrifice a pretty vital organ. I am willing to do that too. It is my hopes that maybe at the last moment, God will provide me with an alternative solution (like maybe a Specific Carbohydrate Diet) to prevent this surgery from happening like God provided Abraham with a ram as he was about to sacrifice his son.

Only time will tell if this diet is working or if surgery is inevitable. In the meantime, I will choose to walk by faith, hope, and love. With love being the greatest of these three, I will be fulfilled and content with my circumstances because I know my heavenly Father only has my best interest at his amazing heart! He will hold me in his arms and carry me through whatever my future holds.

Bible Story:

Genesis 22 New International Version (NIV)

Abraham Tested

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”