What does it take to move a mountain or to make a monumental problem disappear? No matter what the mountain looks like, it can overwhelm and paralyze us into a state of confusion. Moving it looks like a daunting task, so we stay where we are in an uncomfortable comfort.
The mountain looks too difficult to climb, go around or tunnel through. Our inactivity towards change makes the mountain loom larger and larger and larger.Time has a way of enlarging the improbable to be utterly impossible.
No Action, No Movement
What looks big today, will look gigantic a year from now and monumental 10 years from now. The longer it sits without any action by us, the bigger it grows.
Without action, the mountain won’t be removed, changed or eradicated. For instance, if your mountain is extreme weight of more than 100 pounds, you won’t lose it overnight by going on a diet. You won’t even lose it in a few months.
What has to happen for health to be restored is a course correction, a subtle but meaningful shift which does have to do with food, but involves much more than just what you eat and how much. It is really about the way you relate to food.
Food should not be a substance we use to take care of anger, fear, stress, loneliness, shame, despair, rejection, frustration, overwhelm or even to celebrate. Food is fuel for your body to perform the tasks you have been assigned to carry out on this earth, not to make us “feel” better.
Eat to Live
To lose weight, you must change your perspective of why you eat. You have to decide that you will eat to live rather than live to eat. This small play on words makes a big impact when implemented and adopted completely.
[Tweet “I am eating to live, not living to eat.”]
You no longer eat things based on how they look, smell or taste. You no longer eat them just because you crave them. Your brain must be rewired to think about why you eat certain things, what your body needs for optimal performance and how you will feel in the long-run, rather than your stomach’s immediate pleasure.
Up to this point, these subtle shifts are imperceptible because they all occur in your brain, redirecting your thoughts so eventually your relationship with food change. Then your behaviors follow suit because you have allowed God to reprogram you.
Time-Frame for Mountain Moving
It takes persistent faith to move a mountain. If you have even the tiniest bit of faith you can say to the mountain move and it will move.1 However, the time-frame for mountain moving isn’t described in Scripture.
We think it means immediately because that’s just the type of society we live in. We want things done instantly. Speaking to the mountain begins with believing the mountain can be moved with God’s help.
But, we don’t have to convince God to move the mountain. He is the mountain-mover, chain-breaker, way-maker God. He already knows mountains can be moved.
Key to Move the Mountain
Most of our prayers for mountain-moving focus on convincing God the mountain needs to be moved. “God, I have a mountain of flesh attached to my body. Please, please, please make it move.” It’s good to pray, but God already told us how to move the mountain. He gave us the key in Matthew 17:20.
It takes acting in faith and belief in God’s power for your mountain to move. If you allow God to change your mindset, that can happen in a second. After then comes the application of faith to your actions. You must begin to work consistently and persistently with faith and effort toward your goal of monumental change.
Faith Produces Action
The shifts will be subtle. The truth is there is not a recognizable difference when a 430-pound person loses a pound or even 10 or 30 pounds. It takes a loss of about 50 pounds before any change is really perceived by another person. I know because I’ve been there.
If you are the one losing weight you feel it, though. Your clothes begin to fit differently. You can sit better in chairs. You move the seat in your car a little closer to the steering wheel.
You’ve done the shift in your mind of juxtaposing words. You said and continue to say, “I am eating to live, not living to eat.”
It seemed like a small thing at the time, but this time you believe it. This time you mean it and you are backing it up with faith and actions.
You are putting trust in God, not to do it for you, but to sustain you while you move the mountain.
[Tweet “Put trust in God to sustain you while you move your mountain of flesh.”]
Subtle Shifts—Monumental Changes
These slight alternations in how you think will eventually result in an astounding difference in your life.
One day you’ll be looking through old pictures of yourself and you won’t believe the change that has happened in just a few years.
You will go to your closet to get your favorite shirt from last year and realize it hangs on you now and needs to be given away.
You put on a new pair of jeans that were too small six months ago so you put them in the back of your drawer. Now, they are too big and you didn’t even get to wear them.
You see a photo of yourself sitting or standing beside someone you think of as skinny and you are as small or smaller than they are.
The Mountain Moved
The mountain has moved when you weren’t cognitively aware of the movement.
The ease of the movement cannot be attributed to your own self-effort, though. It was through the power of the Holy Spirit, that same power that raised Christ from dead.2 It was through His strength moving through you as you surrendered every piece of you—spirit, soul and body.
He supported you when you put your faith to action. It was Him working through you, but you were cooperating with Him.
There’s no better feeling that knowing that you were obedient in joining with the mountain-moving God of the universe.
Subtle shifts bring about monumental changes.
And you are transformed.3
P.S. We’re moving mountains over in Sweet Change Christian Weight Loss Coaching Group. We’re talking about emotional eating and Sweet Freedom principles. We help you understand the logistics of moving your mountain of weight, no matter how big or small. Invest in yourself and get going on your healthy lifestyle change. Go HERE.
1 Matthew 17:20
2 Romans 8:11
3 Romans 12:1-2
Teresa Shields Parker has lost over 260 pounds. She is a Christian weight loss coach, speaker and author of three books and two study guides including the #1 Christian Weight Loss Memoir, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor. Through Jan. 31, all three of her main books are on sale in kindle for $2.99. Go HERE to get started.
Teresa Shields Parker is a Christian weight loss author, coach, podcaster, and speaker, who has lost 250 pounds and kept it off since 2013. Her books include: “Reconnecting Jayne: Her Sister’s Support,” “Rebuilding Jayne: Her Father’s Protection,” “Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor,” “Sweet Grace Study Guide,” “Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle,” “Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds,” “Sweet Journey to Transformation: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Live Healthy”, “Sweet Freedom: Losing Weight and Keeping It Off With God’s Help,” “Sweet Freedom Study Guide,” “Sweet Change: True Stories of Transformation,” “Sweet Hunger: Developing an Appetite for God,” and “Sweet Excuses: Stop Lying to Yourself & Start Losing Weight.” She also offers Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy and VIP intensive coaching. Don’t miss her weekly podcast, Sweet Grace for Your Journey, where she shares tips from her personal journey of losing weight and discovering healthy living. Contact her at [email protected].
I’m beyond frustrated…I listen, watch and read and almost know what I need to do, but it turns flat…I know inflammation is a root of my weight. I have fallen numerous times in the last 5 years, and it’s always my right foot that has been the cause or is the injured body part. My ankle and foot hurt continuously. My husband is a super sugar addict. All he eats, other than what I cook, is pop tarts, little Debbie’s (two kinds) and cookies. Plus the Dr. pepper and gatorades he drinks daily. I don’t eat those things, but occasionally I do have sugar cravings and I will eat a little Debbie. He remains silent when I ask him to walk this journey with me to eliminate sugar from our lives. He responds with silence every time. I don’t have the support or encouragement from him so I stop trying. I’m tired, sad and lonely even though I have kids and grandkids. It’s a horrible life.
You are only responsible to God for YOU! Not your husband, YOU. Don’t use that excuse to not get healthy. He has to make his own choice. It may take a long time for him to change. One of the best motivators for change is seeing someone else we love change right before our eyes. I have a ton of resources on this website, both free and paid. Several books. Start with Sweet Grace if you’ve read any of my books. Go through the free #KickSugar course. But really what you need is to get into Sweet Change Christian Weight Loss Coaching Group. That’s where I can help folks one on one.