Profitable Labor

“In all labor there is profit.”--Proverbs 14:23a

Ali'i Kula Lavendar Farm 

Kula, Maui (Feb 2016)

The first Monday of every month, I meet with a group of ladies at a local church for a group called Temple Restoration. This group gathers to discuss honoring God with our bodies, souls, and spirits. We spend a good deal of time discussing honoring God with our bodies through our health choices. I have met with these ladies for a year now and have been so blessed by their fellowship. Also once a month, one of us writes an eVotion in this theme. What I'm sharing with you today is the last one I wrote for the group. It specifically addresses health choices, but I believe this can fit into any situation you are trying to overcome and receive God's victory in. 

Full confession. I am not at the best place spiritually and physically with honoring God with my health choices. If someone were to back up and view from a distance the overall picture of my health journey of late, they could easily conclude she’s been eating more sugar, more processed foods, less fruits, and less veggies than she was about a year ago at this time. She exercises less than what she should, especially less than what she did before she met her husband. Let’s face it. She’s gained weight and she’s gotten out of shape for the third or fourth time these last several years.

And they would be right. However, that voice has the shrillness of another’s voice we have come to regard as our own, but it is not. It is the voice of our accuser, the one who whispers in the ear of our Savior and says, see, she can only be healthy as a single person. She wastes precious time resting when she should be exercising. See, look at her eat (fill in the blank) she shouldn’t eat. What a waste of time You are spending on her in this process and this monthly gathering of ladies for “Temple Restoration.”

And then, my Savior, and His voice of truth comes like a refreshing wind and lifts my spirit, while advocating on my behalf. My child, don’t listen to that voice. I said in my Word, “In all labor there is profit.”

So, while I may not be at my best place toward the health of my temple, the strides I have made do count for something. Am I where I was? Do I know more about honoring God with my temple Biblically? Do I find encouragement and strength walking side by side with others on a similar journey?

Yes, there are struggles. Yes, I find myself taking one step forward, two steps back. But this verse gives me hope. That one time I said no to that extra bowl of cereal at night. There was profit. That time I had a hot cocoa instead of a candy bar. There was profit. The other day, when my daughter was in her ballet class, and I squeezed in 30 minutes on the elliptical machine at the YMCA. There was profit. And in all these little profits, in these small steps of obedience to the Lord in His direction of what to eat and how to keep moving, God in His grace, gives me strength. Oh, that I would walk with Him more deliberately with this truth in mind.