As most of my good friends know, one of my biggest struggles in life is to eat to the glory of God. It is truly a struggle for me. I like to eat past the point of being full, I love candy and cake and everything that isn't good for me. To some, overeating might seem like a small thing, but to me, it is purely captivity when I am controlled by food. But over the past two years, the Lord has really convicted my heart to stop eating when I am full, give up the sugar, and look to Him and only Him for my satisfaction. He has reminded me that that piece of cake or candy is not going to satisfy me. I continue over and over to try to meet my needs and satisfaction in food, but it leads me to the same result every time...emptiness.
To that end, the Lord has really been working with me. He has given me so many truths and He has satisfied me beyond anything a piece of chocolate cake could do! A few weeks ago, He gave me a promise. Isaiah 1:19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land.I have been standing on this promise for weeks. I try to remember it when I want to overeat or eat something I know I shouldn't. I realized that IF I am willing and obedient to His Word, God has something so much more for me than food or candy.
Well, in my rebellion, I decided the other day to get some Lemonheads. I don't know if anyone knows what those are, but they are little hard candies. I am driving to the bank and I am eating away. The whole time I am eating, I am remembering that promise and really not caring, if you know what I mean. I'm thinking, I might care after I get done with my candy. Really, I had several days of just rebelling and deciding in my heart that I really just want to eat my candy. So I am chewing away and all of a sudden a hear a crunch, crunch, crunch. I knew it wasn't the candy and I reached in my mouth to pull out a whole chunk of my crown that had broken off.
You know, I just sat there and thought to myself...that's what I get! You know, God's promise to me is contingent upon "IF" I am willing and obedient, then I will get His best. So here I sat, I had just paid $600 to get this crown on not long ago and I was going to have to get it redone at the same price. I even thought I had cracked the tooth next to it.
I went home with a heavy heart. I wasn't willing and obedient and it was clear I was not reaping the best from God. So I went up to my room and I sat quietly before the Lord. I repented and made a committment to Him that by His Spirit, I would look to Him again for my satisfaction and not the candy.
I was so sad that I was going to have to pay so much money to get my tooth done again. So I said to the Lord, "Lord I am turning from my overeating again, for the thousandth time. I know I am back here again, but I ask you to forgive me. This is not too much for you Lord. I know you can redeem my crown too. You can make it cost me nothing if you choose to. But I am putting this in Your hands."
Friday, I went to my dentist and I am thinking anything under $1000 is good (considering I thought I might have hurt the crowned tooth and chipped the tooth next to it). He looked it over and guest what? There was no damage to the underlying tooth and I did not crack the tooth next to it. The crown is still under warranty (If you can believe that...I didn't even know they had a warranty) and it is not going to cost me anything to have it replaced! Nothing is too much for my God. The one thing that really came to me with this experience is not so much the crown being fixed for nothing, but that the Lord just desires me to repent and be right with Him. He WANTS us to have the best from Him and IF we are willing and obedient, He will give it to us. Even if we start out wrong and repent, He will still give us the best. My God is able to do immeasurably more than I could EVER ask or think.
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