Too Much TO and Not enough DAY, by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY 17
Often it seems that I have

too much  TO & not enough  DAY  in 
my Life's  TODAYs :

Too much on my TO Do list,  and not enough DAY to do it in.

Thus  posting this Friday "Daily Devotion" two minutes after   midnight.

But hey, I got lotsa  ideas for it all day long,

talking to God, praying for wisdom before posting any writing about giving Him my TODAY with my love.  My sadly-often-failing demonstration of love to the One who deserves oh so much perfect love.  Not just "on time" but every moment of my day.

PRAYER
Writing 2 minutes after midnight gives me time to reflect on this day:
I failed during another day to show my deep love to You,  my LORD.  
You deserve my obedience -- including
not being self-centered-ly focused on "things of this world"  including food, shopping,
     and my sad remembrances of past joys.

Like a child, I don't want to be punished.
But as Your trusting child, I believe Your Word in Hebrews 12: 5 and elsewhere,

remembering that Your discipline is done out of love. 

Lamentations 3: verses 1 through 19,  I  pray to YOU GOD:
I have sinned and I know it and I deserve whatever You LORD choose to do.  Verse 20--  I remember my sins and my heart sinks within me.  I am so sorry.  Please forgive my selfishness and the wrongs I do.  Thank You for your mercies I do not deserve.  LORD, I praise Your Holy Name and ask Your help as more TODAYs come TO worship You.
      Verses 20 & 21 .... and my soul remembers the LORD's Love and Mercy.  
Therefore I have hope!  All of us who struggle against temptations have HOPE for You've promised to DRAW NEAR TO US  when we draw near too you --

James 4:8.

Help me obey James 4:7 and FLEE To You!!                                

GOD'S ENCOURAGING WORD:  LAMENTATIONS 3

22.  Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23.   They are  new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness!
24.  "The LORD  is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
25.   The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him
26   It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the LORD.

ON TO GOD'S  AMAZING HOPE  &  PROMISE!  ---

31.  For the Lord will not cast off forever. 
32.  Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. 
33.  "For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men."
Like every good parent: God disciplines us for our good.
Including, sometimes, "natural consequences" for not eating well.
============================================= 
ALWAYS  I  HAVE   not enough  DAY  in my Life   TO  give YOU as much worship and PRAISE  as You deserve, my dear LORD and God.

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©2012, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  early version published 1 December 2012.  All rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Driveway Doves Dieting Parable - by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY  16
As I reached my driveway in the pre-dawn gray after an all-night recording session up north, I suddenly saw that a white dove was just sitting in the middle of the little road, staring at me.   I was already down to 5 mph, but quickly realized I'd have to use my brakes until the critter decided to move. 

Reminded me of how we sometimes try to race past God... 
have to put on our brakes and wait on His Love Plan for us. 
Not *my* wisdom. Psalm 46:10. Be still. Know God...... 

Now, me --- After I've been on a diet "suffering" for a week or 3 or 6 if I'm really serious about my health and etc.,  I start whining at God, "I've been good, why can't this weight come off faster??!" 
    Then I tend to get discouraged...... hence, yesterday's blog!

God in HIS Time answers all prayers perfectly.

That's 2nd Peter 3: 8 and 9, if you want verification--- God is NOT slow.

He gives us time to get serious about our relationship with Him.

And dieting or controlling other bad habits (gossip, overspending, too much TV and internet, etc.)  is not about the habits.... it's about our relationship with Almighty God.  
LOVING -- YES.  But also HOLY.  And calling us to call on Him and then WAIT on Him.  Psalm 46:10.
        WHICH CONTINUES  with GOD saying:

I   WILL   be exalted among the nations, 

I     WILL   be exalted in the earth!

Let us CHOOSE to exalt
LORD  God in our daily lives.... before His Holy Righteousness has to demand this from us along with the unbelieving people of earth.

GOD'S  ENCOURAGEMENT
Psalm 27:  7-8, 13-14                                                          CLICK FOR LINK   

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 

When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek." 
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, 
And He shall strengthen your heart;       
Wait, I say, on the LORD!                         


PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I dearly do love You.  Please help me to be patient and not frustrated, thinking that my own timing is best.  Please help me to remember that the entire point of controlling my food choices and controlling my shopping choices and controlling my entertainment time choices --- is RELATIONSHIP  with  YOU.  
And that, during the time while I suffer the consequences of "withdrawal" from old crutches,  all I have to do is WAIT on You.  For You 'SHALL STRENGTHEN [MY] HEART".   THANK YOU!
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©2013, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Master Chess Dieting Parable - by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY  15
There are 2 specific temptations that I repeatedly give in to.
One obviously is over-eating.

The other is discouragement.

And the 2 truly go together..........
a combination of human weakness that we CAN fight with
God's help IF we choose to honestly ask Him (see John 4:3) and
Jesus's TRUTH in John 8:44... Satan is real and the
"Father of Lies" who keeps NAGGING us in our thoughts,
hiding himself as source in the disguise of thinking this is
our own idea always.                                    LINK  to John 8:44  
 

GOD'S  ENCOURAGEMENT in First John 4:

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the [spirit] of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.     First John 4,  Verses 2, 3, 4 and on.

By Now, perhaps you'd be thinking uhmmm hummm.... whatever does End of the World stuff   have to do with dieting???

Consider:

If you were Satan..... or, if you prefer,  the Antagonist in a Major Chess Game,

wouldn't you want your opponent to think that you're all powerful and can defeat him or her?

    That is First John 4:4.  

    Satan wants us to think that good is the opposite of evil so

    Satan is the equal opposite to God.  Wants us to forget that God CREATED Satan.

That's a key issue in the questions about evolution, by the way.... forgetting God's All Power created ALL  things including angels and those who became demons.  But that's for another time....

Consider:

If you were Satan..... or, if you prefer,  the Antagonist in a Major Chess Game,

wouldn't you want your opponent (humans)  

to forget that the Grand Chess Master  (LORD God)  

has offered to sit beside each and every human

and guide him or her through all the next moves,  

to assure your defeat and their human  victory?

    That is First John 4:4.  

    Satan wants us to get discouraged and quit, thinking that

    we'll never have the power to win over temptations.

Satan wants us to lay down our king before the game is done.

Too bad for Satan when we remember God's PROMISE 

in  First Corinthians 10:13.....                                                    SCRIPTURE LINK  

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it]."

VERSE 14: "Therefore, my beloved,  flee from idolatry."

PRAYER.  Lord God, please forgive me when I'm tempted to discouragement.... NO - THAT'S NOT RIGHT!  Even Jesus was tempted, so the thoughts that briefly come, that I refuse to dwell on, are NOT sins.    LORD God, please help me to REFUSE the temptations.... James 4:7 to 8, I draw near to YOU.  Help me remember Your Words like that. And with Your love, I pray You shall help me to obey You.   In faith in You, trusting You and not me and my self-efforts without You.
============================================================
©2013, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Valentine Flowers Dieting Parable - by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY  14
The flowers my hubby gave me for Valentine's Day continue to give me smiles. Each time I pass them, I literally 'stop and smell the roses.' 

I doubt that he notices, though, 

the many-years-old  2 dozen dried-up roses 

that  I have on a ceiling-height shelf.  I not only smile but laugh at the memory of receiving one dozen that Valen-Day morning... and another dozen that he snuck into the house during a lunch break with the note on them: "One Dozen just isn't enough." 

Ah how I love remembering all the moments of shared love between us. And past surprise moments of loving help in unexpected & un-prayed-for ways from Loving Father God. Too many to be coincidental.

We are NOT  on our own as we diet.... as we struggle to stop over-shopping.... as we fight temptations against smoking or slumping in    front of the TV or computer all day to escape   thoughts of sorrows.....................                      

Too many times to be coincidental, you WILL see ---- if you just ask God.  His promises are TRUE.  READ OF HIS LOVE  in the SHORT  little book of First John, for a start. 

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it].  1 Corinthians 10:13.  

            THIS IS A LOVE LETTER            

                   FROM GOD          TO YOU.     

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  SOMETIMES MY SIN-DOING SCARES ME.  I'm afraid You'll stop loving me. You know, sometimes I don't love me.  How can You?  Please help me to trust Your word...
INCLUDING THAT YOU LOVE ME  even when I don't feel like it.
INCLUDING THAT YOU WANT TO HELP ME   even when I don't feel that You would
because if I were You,    I would have given up on me   oh so long ago.    Thank You.
==================================================================

©2013, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Valentine for God Dieting - by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY  13
Today is the day before  the DAY OF LOVE -- 
             VALENTINE's DAY..... 
It's good to consider a different valentine:
Ash Wednesday.  
A depressing day...
Remembering Lent, remembering that our Loving Father God let His VALENTINE to us, Jesus, die as His ultimate
sign of love....       HE first loved US. First John 4  (link)

A day when God's people join in prayers to Him, thanks to Him for All He has done. A day that surely Satan and his powers of darkness must hate as we remember God "more than usual" (Ephesians 6:12). 
A day to remember all my selfish choices.
A day to remember GOD.... When I think of Him first in priority above me,  it's not so hard to diet or make choices that would please God.  Problem is... I forget.  Not exactly.  Hard to explain.  I found (God's guidance) Brother Lawrence's 400-year-old book a few years ago, and it changed my life:  
"Practicing the Presence of God."  The KEY:

   Instead of talking to yourself all day -- just talk to God. 
Remember He's beside you.  Talk to him as your friend (see Jesus's invitation to friendship in John 15).
And work in some QUIET time -- Psalm 46:10 -- to "be still and know that God is God.

SATAN enjoys seeing that FEW people remember John 8:44
       and the MANY other times JESUS said Satan is real-- 
not just a symbol of evil.  Remembering God's power over 
this bitty-to-HOLY-CREATOR-GOD powerless-to-God angel
        will help you and me get through ANY temptation.

First Corinthians 10: 13

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; 

but God is faithful, 

who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, 

but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, 

that you may be able to bear it.

link to multiple translations of God's Word

Remember -- GOD.  Because Remember with God,  

James 4: 7 and 8 -- Satan HAS to flee when you invite God.

It's like "Tough luck, Satan -- God Loves me and ya can't stop Him from helping me!"                        LINK to God's Word

 PRAYER
I  DEARLY DEARLY   THANK  You, LORD GOD that we're not on our own.  Lent celebrates Your VALENTINE LOVE to us.... Reminds us of battles like have led to crucifixion.....
& yet Victories In God's Power that assuredly come! 
If we ASK for help. 
 Ephesians 6: 10 to end.  LORD God, I ask!  Help me to resist temptations to things You call wrong... SIN.... And help me serve You by helping others do the same, I pray in Jesus's Holy Name that I bless.

============================================================
©2013, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Remembering in Dieting - by DianaDee Osborne

FEBRUARY  12
Yesterday I visited a friend in the hospital.
His room was near where I lived for 8 days with my daughter, years ago, after her appendix burst.  I REMEMBERED the room location because I could look outside and see the High School Track field and watch,
from the 5th floor across the road,  my son run his super-important race.
I REMEMBER the date
because I was still "living there"  while my oldest daughter was handed her H.S. diploma.
Some  things we would like to forget.  Like living in a hospital.

   God often brings to our minds   memories 
  that will bring LIFE.   As He  did THAT same week.

For the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong.
And then my daughter's pain got better, so they wanted to release her from the hospital.  But we refused.

SUDDENLY,  from nowhere that I can take credit for,
I remembered someone having told me many years earlier how a specific older doctor was so gifted at diagnosing.  I asked for that doctor.  Although he had a reduced "retirement" schedule now,
 he "happened" to be scheduled at the hospital for the hour after I requested him.  God Providing.  He did a 3-minute exam and scheduled the operating room.  Her appendix had burst.  Had I listened to the doctors, she would have died at home. For it's a common occurrence that after the appendix bursts, the pressure is released so the pain diminishes.  Three months later,  a boy in a nearby town  DID die from that.

What does this have to do with dieting?
REMEMBERING.  God brings to our minds what we should remember.  Jesus promised this in John 14:26.
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,   He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance   all things that I said to you." 


REMEMBERING.  God has MANY words of encouragement in His Word... and warnings we sometimes need to get us focused.  If we ask the Holy Spirit for help, He WILL bring them to our remembrance.  Jesus promised.

PRAYER

Lord,  too often I depend on my own skills, my own wisdom, my own "will power."  Please help me to REMEMBER  Your Truths and to obey them.  I study Your Word.  Please help me to REMEMBER Your promises as I fight temptations and self-centered living.  Thank you.

==================================================================
©2013, 2015 (registered with USCO) by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com

Winter Storms Dieting Parable - by DianaDee Osborne

February 11                                                                                      SUBSCRIBE  
Winter storms  are predicted all along the East Coast of the U.S.
Power outages as snow melts and re-freezes are predicted too.

I've collected buckets of water, and pitchers of drinking water.
I brought in firewood and collected some more dry kindling from the woods.
Checked my batteries supply... ok. Checked all the flashlights.
     I had already trimmed the wicks of the Hurricane kerosine lamps after last use... Ready.
Plenty of catfood, bread and milk. 
Got my supply of books I HOPE to be able to read thanks to not being able to leave home!

Find myself wondering:
Think of all the people over centuries who got surprised by storms!
         Here we are  with two days of warning.
How did they manage? 


They STAYED prepared. All winter.

And if the storm never came, then, ah well: 

        They rested in readiness.     

When you think about it:  That's what a DIET is.
Preparation  for whatever God has ahead for us.
Doing lots of work-- yes--- without any full idea what good it will do...
But RESTING in the readiness of knowing that when storms of life come,
      we've done the best we could to prepare... sacrificed time exercising...
             sacrificed  "comfort food" we would have loved... All to be READY for God.
 
 God's Supporting Word 

“You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected...

If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward."

-- Matthew 24: 44, 46            CLICK HERE FOR LINK      

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  It is SO easy to keep thinking "I'll do it tomorrow... next week..."
Whether it's a task I know I should do to be in Your will,
or choosing to eat wisely.
Please help me to remember:  EVENTUALLY this Time You have gifted to me will end.

Please help me to do what is right:  TO PREPARE,  as You said.

Including taking care of this body.  I dearly, desperately need Your help overcoming
my self-centered desires for "what I want when I want it."
I give You permission, give You this request, to keep reminding me to Follow You.
John 15 OBEDIENCE, to You as my Friend as well as my Savior and my God.


==========================================================
©2014, 2015 by DianaDee Osborne (all material),  
all rights reserved. FREE personal usage; see website.
** But feel free to print with copyright info, & share for nonprofit usage!
With thanks to BlueLetterBible.org  for providing God's Word in easy-to-research format. Earlier format published 11 Feb 2014. Additional encouraging resources at 
http://DianaDeeSongStories.blogspot.com