HE SAID NEVER GIVE UP

Lord, why do people give up?

My child, they get tired. They see life as a struggle or a fight with success unreachable. They expect defeat instead of looking for victory. They try with all their strength to meet a goal only to fall down again. After perceiving continued failures they quit trying. Life seems too hard and just not worth it. They lose hope.

Lord, I’ve done this so many times over the years. I’ve tried many diets to lose weight.  Success would come for a short time, but then frustration and boredom came. Self-pity showed up too. “Why cant I eat everything like that girl. She’s so thin. Look at what’s she eating. How can she stay thin eating that? I smell food and gain weight. I have low thyroid too. I bet she has hyperthyroidism. No wonder she can eat like that and not gain weight. Wish I had hyperthyroidism. Then I could eat anything I want just like her. Why was she blessed and I’m cursed with this body? It’s just not fair.”

How many times have I complained with those exact words? Then after 41 years of struggling with all my failed diets and excess weight, I cried out to You Lord. You heard my cry and answered my prayer.  Thank you for setting me free and saving me from myself.

Now I’m concerned about my friend struggling to lose weight. In the beginning she had success, just like I had so many times before.  She’s following all the rules, yet victory’s hiding from her and she’s so frustrated now.

I understand her feelings for I’ve attempted to lose weight with one various diet after another, 41 years of failed diets. If I lost weight, then I gained it back plus more. I’d follow all the rules strictly until something in me screamed. If the scale numbers didn’t go down, I screamed louder. Then I ran to my false lover, ‘food’ for comfort. Eventually this false lover became my captor, and refused to let me find freedom. Lord, I don’t want this for my friend. Can You help her?

I shared with her about my weight loss this week, thinking that’ll encourage her. Duh, like my weight loss would help her. No Lord, what she needs now is a reward of weight loss for her efforts. I ask You now to strengthen her in resisting temptation and grant her success this week at the scales. Lord, could You give her at least a two-pound loss? How about three pounds lost? That would be great. Thank you.

My child, I will help her. Ask and ye shall receive.  Seek and ye shall find. Come to Me for My yoke is easy and My burden is light. I’ll help your friend and heal her body too. Now you watch and see what I WILL DO.  You tell her I said, ” Never give up.”

This is a picture of my Grandfather, Gardener W. Davis. He fought in World War I. From the front lines, his superiors sent him to get  medical treatment for frostbite on his feet. After treatment, he walked right back to the front lines to rejoin the battle. He taught my Mother, “Never Give Up.”

Once when Mom was a little girl,  she walked to the grocery store for her Dad. As she headed home with the change, a bigger girl beat her up and took her money. When she got home crying to her Dad, he told her, “You find her and get your money back. Fight if you must. If you don’t return with your money, I’ll whip you myself. You never give up.”

Now that sounds cruel, but my mother learned to fight and never give up. Throughout her life, she struggled and fought with her weight, back pain, depression, and other issues. At her lowest point depression tried to steal away her victory.

In the end, God granted her victory. She lived to 79, suffered with excessive back pain, Alzheimer’s, and a broken shoulder. Dad and my R.N. sister took care of her very well. One morning, she sat up and then laid back.  Dad realized what was happening. He wanted to keep her, so he did everything he knew to do. Finally he said, “I love you, do you love me?”  Before she had always smiled and answered, “I love you too.” This time, she just nodded her head, “Yes,” and took her last breath. God gave my Mother victory. He allowed her to take her last breath expressing love to the one she loved most on Earth. Victory. Never give up on your victory.

On October 29, 1941 Winston Churchill gave a famous speech that’s still quoted today. He said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.                      1 Corinthians 15:57

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  2 Timothy 4:7