Revigorated

The first month of the year bounced out quickly. The good news for me--I made it!

Let me explain. I felt a strong, urgent prompting from the Lord to choose a new dietary lifestyle this year. Not a fad diet, but a permanent lifestyle change. The Lord has been dealing with me on this issue for many, many years. I’ll start out obedient, but relapse. So here I start again this year with a resolve in my heart like Daniel’s resolve not to eat the king’s delicacies.

I started easing into my new lifestyle choices after Christmas. One of the first choices I made was to cut out obvious sugar. Then at the beginning of January, I eliminated all sugars from my life. I’m 32 days sugar-free. What I learned to eat and enjoy are fresh lean meats, fresh and/or frozen fruits and vegetables. Simple.

As I started this process, blogging and twitter friends, Duong Sheahan and Noelle Mena invited me to participate in a body cleanse with products developed by Jordan Rubin. I agreed. I ordered the products and his latest book, Perfect Weight America. When I started the cleansing and reading Rubin’s book it confirmed this was the direction the Lord wanted me to take.

Due to a healthy dietary change, toxins were purged from my body. My skin changed as pimples showed up. I felt drowsy and irritable. But I must confess; now I feel so much better. I no longer desire sodas, candy, chips or the previous “regular” foods I was accustomed to consuming. My skin cleared up. I have more energy than before. I have more focus and clarity of thought.

I believe the Lord desires for me, and all of us, to experience good health by choosing to eat healthy foods. Toxins had to be purged from my body before I felt better. Toxins enter into our bodies through a myriad of means, but must be cleansed from our bodies on regular intervals.

Like toxins, sin enters our lives regularly. We must take time with the Lord to purge sin from our lives.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ~~Ephesians 5:27-27 NIV

The word cleansing is deep scrubbing, not just a washing of the hands. The kind of scrub we give our toddler after he rolled around in a mud puddle. Inside each ear, behind each ear, between each toe, finger, everywhere scrubbed thoroughly in the bath. I can recall how my son screamed. I remember his declarations of torture during this type of bath. But oh how he smelled so clean; looked so clean and how much more I enjoyed holding him afterwards.

As a child of God, we’re to be cleansed by the washing of water through the word. The Word of God changes our lives as we get a good scrub down. Usually what I go through physically, I also go through spiritually. Last week I got a good spiritual scrub down. I screamed, bawled and cried like a toddler. I didn’t want to go through the process, but now that I have, I feel better as sin has been removed from my life. I smell better and I’m behaving better.

I thank my Father that He loves me and each of us enough that He won’t leave mud caked on us from the mud puddle allowing toxins to soak into our lives. But He takes us, bathes us and cleanses us in the Living Water, Christ our Lord. I’m revigorated in my body, soul and spirit.

What about you; have you had a good cleansing lately?

Engrafted by His Grace--