Lose the Old Clothes!

This is not my stomach...yet ;o)

So there is a problem if you can pull your jeans on and off like jogging pants...there is an even bigger problem if you don't see anything wrong with the aforementioned jeans and their fit.  It took a friend of mine not just pointing it out but pulling on the extra material hanging off my bum yesterday to convince me to go buy some new jeans.  It's not that I didn't have the money, it's not that I didn't have the time...it was my subconscious clinging onto what I was used to that made me think I wasn't ready for new jeans even though looking in the mirror and the 40lb loss on my bathroom scale said differently.

Even when I went shopping, I immediately picked out the same exact pair in the same exact size to go along with the other two pair in a size smaller that I picked up.  It was almost a security for me, in my mind I thought, "don't get your hopes up too much...maybe these are just stretched out."  I tried on the size smaller first, they slid on very easily and zipped up with no problems.  I looked at myself in the mirror and still thought that they were a little too tight.  Then it hit me...the jeans weren't too tight, I was just used to having my jeans hang so loosely off my body everyday that I forgot what jeans that fit felt like!

Isn't that always the way?  We want a new thing, but getting our minds to wrap around the concept is a different story.  So many of us are so used to hearing the word "no" that hearing a "yes" is almost inconceivable.  For me, I understand that I am in a process moving forward to all that I have ever wanted and needed in my life, but I still fight the thoughts that these things don't happen to me...maybe for other people, but not me.  This is the mentality that kept me in an abusive relationship while in my christian walk "well, I must not deserve someone who treats me right with the way I lived before I came to Christ..."  This is the mentality that shyed me away from good relationships and opportunities that were presented, "honestly, this can't be for me...I'm too flawed for such an opportunity!"  I reminded myself of all the wonderful things that God has brought into my life, my husband, my child, our church family, our home...

But not anymore...I am mentally shedding the old clothes daily.  Especially in this season of transition in my life.  I am not settling for anything less than what God has for my family and I and I will not allow lies to keep me from receiving it.  I teach our kids every week that God is real and He really cares about you, and I refuse to not live what I preach!  Now that I am realizing this ugly little mentally, I'm attacking it with truth.  I'm telling you...THIS IS IT!

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen"  Isaiah 43:18-20