Bicycle Dieting Parable, Part 4 - QUESTIONING .... by DianaDee Osborne

May 27                                                                                     SUBSCRIBE  
Have you ever been SO frustrated after  2 “Good” weeks.... 
or 4.... when the scale still would not go downward.
 But if you had just a few “bad” days, it seems to soar?
If so, you'll enjoy where God's Bicycle parable 
is heading....     hang in  a few more dieting days!

Click HERE  to view PART 1     of the   BICYCLE DIETING PARABLE  
   Click HERE  to view PART 2     of the  PARABLE (where it's going)
     Click HERE  to view PART 3     (slacking off because you see no bad results)

May this   BICYCLE  PARABLE  as it develops
bring you MUCH JOY in dieting or fighting ANY temptation..

THE SETUP  from the May 22nd blog:

1.  Your mom loves you dearly and knows that having a bicycle would give you great joy.

      And seeing YOU have joy gives HER joy.

2.  So Mom makes an offer that you agree to.... You'll do 10 things for 6 months.

PART 4 --  QUESTIONING......

Suppose after a few weeks of trying to do the 

10 things Mom says to do to earn your bicycle, 

you start looking around at all your other friends. 

They might not have a nice bicycle like you're trying to earn,---

          but they have all sorts of other great things. 

            Video games, skateboards, cell phones, 

                 designer clothes, …. and your Mom didn't get you 

THOSE either. Those 'blessings' just 'came' to your friends...

THEY  didn't have to do any work like YOU do.

THEY  didn't have to wait 6 months of hard work first....

The comparison is really bugging you.  What do you do?

My suggestion may surprise you:

ASK MOM. 

      You already know Mom loves you.

       You know she likes to talk with you .... as long as
 you're being respectful.  If you start blaming her for not
 giving you what your friends have, that conversation
will  NOT lead to pleasant results for you.
        But a respect-filled, honest question?  Mom might
             say "you'll understand more later."
    OR she might answer.  What can it hurt to just ask?

As dieters... or fighting ANY thing, 
including illnesses, financial stuff, loss of friends, frustrating jobs.......

  It is a JOY to reach a point of honestly just asking our loving God for answers....
     respectfully, of course.   While asking for help.
It's a logical question:  Why do some dieters struggle while others easily shed pounds as soon as they start cutting back to the same number of calories? (Why do some people seem so blessed by God when others seem to struggle for each "bicycle" in their lives?)

      .... We have 2 choices:

1.  Trust that Mom's method of teaching me to work for the bicycle is for my good.

       Philippians 4:13... Practice in prayers that You'll help me IF I ask.

2.  Get angry that Mom seems unfairly hard. 

Between the two, which attitude honors our God Who knows far more than even the best of Moms?

God's supporting,  encouraging Words:  Hebrews 10

35-36   Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 
38  Now the just shall live by faith; But if [anyone] draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

        God cares more about me than my   
         weight... or my "bicycles" in life.      

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I've often looked at other people get their "bicycles" -- their blessings that I yearn to have -- and questioned why You won't give me the same.  Sometimes I get so irked at this body that will  NOT  lose weight easily when I'm dieting, and gains weight so easily if I get careless.  Please forgive me.  Please help me to look ahead... to see that there's something else far more important to help me grow in faith and trust of You.  But please... if it's Your Will... please also help this body start to become more and more healthy as I seek to follow Your will  in my eating and exercise and even amounts of sleep.

©2013 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

Earning a Bicycle Dieting Parable, Part 3 ...... by DianaDee Osborne

May 25                                                                                       SUBSCRIBE  
Click HERE  to view PART 1     of the   BICYCLE DIETING PARABLE  

Click HERE  to view PART 2     of the   BICYCLE DIETING PARABLE 

  We dieters often struggle.  Not just against   
  weight...     often against other temptations to comfort,             
   like shopping and over-TV.  Even over-vitamin-ing,                   
   trying *anything*.    And of course against annoyance        
  at all the 'lucky' people  who eat all they want without          
            gaining weight :{ grumble..... !                                     

 BUT  LORD GOD  has guided me to LEARN 
        this   BICYCLE  PARABLE  guide to a JOY..

THE SETUP  from the May 22nd blog:

1.  Your mom loves you dearly and knows that having a bicycle would give you great joy.

      And seeing YOU have joy gives HER joy.

2.  So Mom makes an offer that you agree to.... You'll do 10 things for 6 months.

      At the end of that 6 months,  if you have obeyed her,  she will give you the reward.

3.  And Mom promises though you won't get your bicycle for 6 months or any "Pay" for

     your work,  she'll occasionally surprise you with some things.

3.  At first you do your best... but after a few weeks,  you begin to increasingly notice:

      You don't always do all 10 of the things on your
       Mom's list.... and she doesn't punish you.
      She acts like she still loves you.

      You start thinking, "Hey, Mom loves me so much 
       that she's SURE to give me that bicycle, no matter 
       what I do.  After all, she's a Mom of Love."

As dieters... as people who sin .....

  (defined as doing what God says to NOT do.... OR not   

  doing what Father God says TO do,  like helping others or  

  going to church - Hebrews 10:25 plus that "Honor My 

 Sabbath" thing in Exodus 20;  
God has brought ALL of us out of some sort of bondage, and grafted us into these promises for deliverance if -- see Hebrews 11, God's Words.)

      .... we tend to go to two extremes:

1.  I can do all things that  I WANT TO

       Certainly a Satanic re-writing of Philippians 4:13 -- LINK

     and God will still love and bless me. or
2.  God must HATE  me for being a failure! 

Between the two extremes,  who  do you suppose is

easier -- more open to hearing -- for Father-Lord God to help? ..... 

the person who PRESUMES upon God's love -- 

       forgetting He is also Righteous -- or 

the one who humbly cries for help  to do what pleases God,  but fails so very often -- as we all do.  The person who cries out for God's promised un-deserved Grace and  forgiveness?

  The facet  (piece) of this part 3 of the Bicycle    

  Dieting Parable:  We are wrong to presume    

  God will "lower the bar"  and let us choose   

  a thing besides Him for comfort and "fun".   

God's supporting,  encouraging Words:  Hebrews 10

22 -  "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of [our] hope without wavering, for He who promised [is] faithful.  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another], and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

26-28  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  ....

NOTE:  GOD NEVER had a system of sacrifice that would forgive deliberate sins...

     and if we reject Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins -- Jesus our High Priest --  NOTHING

     else is good enough to cleanse.     See Numbers 15: 25 - 31   and  

           Hebrews 2:17,  4:14 to 15,  5:9-10,  7:26-28,   8: 1-6,    9: 7-11,  **10: 12    LINK

... but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses.
                     [We MUST read God's WHOLE Word, remember,  to understand.               
                    Praying James 1:5 for wisdom is essential also.]                                           
29 - Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, 
will he    [you or me]    be thought worthy    [of deserving]
who has trampled the Son of God underfoot [taken it for granted] , 
counted the blood of the covenant by which he  [the person] 
was sanctified a common thing, 
        and insulted the Spirit of  grace?"      

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I've often taken YOUR LOVE and GRACE for granted.  Thought of these as "common".  Maybe even as something natural... that the God Who created the universe would of course love me, His creation.
OH,  I am SO sorry,  LORD God!  Please forgive me.... give me the wisdom You've promised.  Protect me... I pray in Your Name, help me give YOU joy.   Ephesians 6:10...

©2013 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

Where the Bicycle is Joyfully Going, Part 2 ........ by DianaDee Osborne

May 24                                                                                       SUBSCRIBE  
Click HERE  to view PART 1     of the   BICYCLE DIETING PARABLE 

  The   BICYCLE   PARABLE    is a                  
       JOY   for us Dieters:                                     

Here's why:  
Have you ever stepped onto a scale... looked into a mirror...
      and angrily responded  "WHAT'S THE USE ?!"  
The parable tells you and me why.
The parable tells us that when we tell ourselves that we failed, 
        QUITE POSSIBLY   we defined "success" wrong.

I have struggled with weight issues for a couple of decades.

* At first, it was from loneliness.... new town, no friends, jobless.

* Then it was from plain carelessness.

* Then it was from Life's Upsets driving me to enjoy

       SOMETHING  that I could control in life.... delicious foods. 

At this point I was only 35 pounds more than college years...

and I had thought I was fat back then at  112 pounds.  

      Didn't get "thin genes" like so many of the other college girls....

             If you ignore what TV models "exemplify" for us,  I was still quite average in weight. 

My weight "exploded" as I began   angry "So What - It's My Business and mind your own"  eating after my daddy died.  
Ouch.............
not a comfortable confession from a Christ-follower  aka  Christian who truly did and does dearly love LORD God.

THEN  LORD GOD  guided me to LEARN something:

* First of all -- that I not only loved serving Him... I ABSOLUTELY LOVED being
         around high school and college youth... talking frankly with them... sharing
         about why Jesus IS INDEED  still quite relevant in their lives today.

* Then God guided me to "accidentally"  learn that my old failures in trying to learn 
         to play guitar weren't because I was dumb, but because my ancient guitar
         was more of a toy... Difficult for even excellent guitarists as He's helped me become.

* Then in 2006  I prayed for something I never DREAMED God would ever honor me

        with answering.... but 2 years later He did----
    WRITING SONGS to show those youth and others     what a holy yet LOVING and   
    EAGER-to-be-with-us  God  He truly is.            NOT to show off anything about me. 


            AND THROUGH  all THESE, my weight went down as I was busy-er...
                      until actual physical metabolism changes and doctors not finding
                                ways to help until very recent months............

 BUT  LORD GOD  has guided me to LEARN 
        this ESSENTIAL   BICYCLE  PARABLE  guide to a JOY:

    Don't give up!  Have the right GOAL.            
    Have the right DEFINITION  of "success." 
    After all,  you already have the ONE and Right 
    Daddy -- "ABBA"  
                Jesus called  God Father  ABBA (Daddy) (Mark 14:36)  
and    taught us to pray by calling God our Father  (Mark 5:16, 5:45-8, Matthew 6:9 etc)

           and God through Paul tells us it's OK for US to call

           God "Abba", DADDY,  if we choose to obey and love 

           Him.... to accept His 2nd Peter 3:9 and First Timothy 2:4

                call to us.    See   Romans 8:15   and Galatians 4:6.  

who's even more eager than you          
    for you to enjoy the joy of "bicycles"........       

    So:  Coming soon is more description of the             
            JOY of the Bicycle Parable ... see Part 3:)           

      Reminder for now ---  James 1:5  prayers for wisdom

              include asking God to help us understand why
              temptations to over-Anything so easily trap us.

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I've made excuses.  I've reasoned in my mind and ignored YOUR invitation to reason with YOU about things.... Your amazing Isaiah 1:18   invitation.  Instead of
coming to you to confess my "sins like scarlet",  I've enjoyed the sins -- called them 
"earned self-indulgences."  Called them my COMFORTS.  Forgotten that

anything that comforts us BESIDES God  is what 

                                     YOU LORD God call an IDOL.

Please forgive me.... give me the wisdom You've promised.  Protect me... Ephesians 6:10...

©2013 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

RollerCoaster Dieting Steadiness.... by DianaDee Osborne

May 23                                                                                       SUBSCRIBE  
What a rollercoaster of a day... from sorrowing at Karen's 
so-early going to live with God, to the joy of new Bible truths in our fellowship, to the radiance of a new worship music job.... 
 then to the depths of sadness with a dear friend... and sharing comfort amid the ditches confronting 3 more family/friends... 

Today especially there is a comforting joy in the promise of Hebrews 13: 6a and 8, 

            "So we may boldly say: 

            "The LORD is my helper; 

                     I will not fear... 

                     Jesus Christ 

                      is the same 

           yesterday, today,  &  forever."                   

God KNOWS on days like this, the last thing I want is to 'diet.'

I'd like to reward myself for not falling OUT of Life's 'coaster.

Like... finding a nice sale at the store,

or spending hours looking for online sales on dozens of internet sites.  Amazon alone can use a day!

Or  a new video to plop in front of.

a new flavor-of-the-week coffee.  With whipped cream.

       We each have our own rollercoasters --  

              and we each have the option of turning
              to our STEADY Helper.... Jesus... 
              the same love and help always there for us.
                      Unless we sorta push Him outa the way. 

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I'm so flustered on days like today that I barely know what to pray, how to pray.  But thanks to You,  I DO know that I NEED to pray.  Dear Holy Spirit:
I thank You for Jesus's steady promise in John 14:26,   that You will help me pray.
This rollercoaster of my life has me dizzy.  Please help me, through my dizziness,
to turn to the steadiness of The LORD Jesus, our Messiah who saves us... saves me...
from life's ups and downs and zooming-all-arounds.  I pray in Your Holy Name.

God's supporting Words:

"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."  -- John 14:26 New KJV 

John 14:27... the very next promise from Jesus Our ROCK...
our rock who does not move but holds us close if we ask:

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; 

not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

©2013 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

Earning a Bicycle Dieting Parable Part 1 ...... by DianaDee Osborne

May 22                                                                                       SUBSCRIBE  

Let's say your mother loves you *dearly*.
It would be HER joy even more than yours to see you to have a bicycle.  But she knows that if she just gives you one today, you will not see it as her love, but as something you "deserve  from her because she's your mother who's supposed to care for you after all."

So your mother comes and says, "Would you like to make this deal?  I know you want a bicycle.  If you do these things I list for you, then at the end of 6 months, I will give you that new bicycle you want so much.  I won't pay you as you do these things, but sometimes I'll give you unexpected surprises during the six months.  Do you want to agree to this?"

Now.... you're not thrilled when Mom makes her list:

1.  Take out the trash to the yard bin every day.
2.  Keep your room clean -- UNDER the bed and IN THE CLOSET,  too.
3.  Wash the dishes right after each meal.... even the pots.
4.  Do your homework without being told.  AND do it WELL.... the best you can.
5.  Keep the bathroom tidy.... including the seat (uugghhh!)
6.  Hang up your coat as well as putting your clothes away.
7.  Do your own laundry.  You're certainly old enough to do that responsibility now. 
8.  No spending hours in front of the TV or internet... and no whining that you want what others have.
9.  Yes, you MUST be kind to your little brother and help him out often.... without expecting reward.
10.   And yes, you will go to church without complaining, as an honor and obedience to God. 
 
But HEY -- you really want that Bike.   So you tell Mom, "SURE!" And you're sorta excited by the promise of that coming bike!

As days and weeks go by,  that list of 10 seems harder and harder.  Especially taking care of Little Brat.....  errrr,   Brother.
But you keep thinking of that bicycle, so you keep trudging.
Often you miss,  but Mom seems to still love you anyway.
So you start missing a little more, slacking off on doing the 10.... 

after all, 5 months, 4 months.... it's so far away Mom surely won't remember and refuse to give you the bike....  And Mom loves you too much to not give you the bike when your 6 months is up.

Here's only one verse: 
God's Supporting Word of what this is a wrong idea: 

   If Jesus had done away with the 10,       
   why would God have told us through Paul:    

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise:  that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."  -- Ephesians 6:1.

   Here's what this has to do with dieting: 

       #1.    (More in future blogs).
                It's hard to stay STRONG  (see the rest of
                Ephesians 6)  when we start thinking, 'Hey
                God is love and there's no real consequences 
                to sin for Christ-Followers.   Like me.
                God knows I try.   Mostly'

    Are you and I excusing our sins of depending on 
    something besides God to give us joy???
    NOT JUST FOOD.... This blog is really for EVERY sin
    that entangles us..... "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace
     that is in Christ Jesus. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier
     of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of
     this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier....."    -->

Second Timothy 2.

          God calls that "having idols".         

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I need Your help to understand.  James 1: 5-6.  Help me work through the confusion of understanding about obeying Your Law in relationship to the Joy of Your Grace.
I pray in Jesus's Holy Name.


©2013 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

God Walking Dieting Prayer ......... by DianaDee Osborne

May 21                                                                                    SUBSCRIBE  

An intriguing Promise: 
God's  Word  -- And God canNOT lie -- Titus 1:2.
"I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people." Written at the instruction of God, a promise from God about 14 Centuries before God Walked among us physically... Jesus.  --  Leviticus 26:12.

Here's why this is a 

The Joy for us Dieters:        

God KNOWS what we're going through.
God KNOWS what causes us to reach for more food than our bodies need...
to reach for crunchy potato chips to work out frustrations when
      a crunchy apple would be better for our bodies.
God understands.
God still calls us to diligently follow Him.... God still lets us suffer natural consequences
      if we won't take care of the body temple He gave to us....
But God understands.  And still loves.

   We must not wait, keep trying to Conquer that Sin ---
       whatever it is,  whether overeating, -spending, TV-ing...

                  before we come to pray to God.

   He ALREADY knows it and wants to be with us anyway.     
      Fear and pride are Satan's great tools.  
               We must be stubborn against his deceits.        
          See that God is walking BESIDE you....   IF             
                  you invite Him to walk with you.  James 4:7-8.
         A scripture that Satan assuredly detests.                 

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  Help me to remember:  You are only my invitation away from  walking beside me. 
    James 4: 7 and 8.... I draw near to You.  Satan Flees.  
And You COME --- as You Who would never lie have promised me.  Promised everyone.


©2013 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

Job From Hell Dieting ............. by DianaDee Osborne

May 20                                                                                      SUBSCRIBE  
I used to joke that driving a school bus must be the job from hell.
This being said to co-workers in a comfy office with our
personally selected music drifting amid our personally decorated
cubicles.  Beside  windows :)            (ooohh,  aaaahhh!)
      And then the economy "happened",
         the company lost the contract I was on,
               and I had to move to a different contract......
        which seemed to be a real "job from hell":

 My responsibility was to ensure                       
   that the scientists' tech writings were great....
                 but I didn't have authority to keep others from             
        changing the work I'd already mastered.  
  So I'd have to keep doing the same work over and over....     
                Knowing that someone would later "ruin" it... 
 
 YEAH. I'd memorized  Romans 8:28 --
          God IS able to bring good OUT from anything if you ask...
But it sure didn't seem like something God was doing
any time soon for me.
  

And so.... for quite awhile.... I figured I had the "right" to enjoy

anything I wanted to eat since,  after all,  that was something.... 

     one of the only things in my life then.... that  I could control. 

Had anyone even gently suggested that I was harming the body -- 
the "temple"  (First Corinthians 6:19, which is applicable though not about food),  
I was in such a dark period that I would have responded by ignoring the chiding ..... and just eating more.  Probably in "secret".

Here's why I was dumb... and hope to help you fight the same: 

God's Supporting Word:  TRIALS will come.
But God's already with you.... if you've invited Him:  

James 1:2 to 6.  Trials are a JOY when they help us mature. Learn to trust God, who will give us WISDOM. 

First Peter 1:6 and on.  Trials are part of life BUT show other people whether we REALLY trust the LORD God we're telling them about. "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.  You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ's suffering and his great glory afterward. 
They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.   So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.  So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy" 

     "HOLY"  does not mean perfect.  

     "HOLY"  means "set apart for God... used for nothing else." 

The Joy for us Dieters:        

      Romans 8:37 --   I love the old King James wording:
          "Nay, in all these things we are 
      more than conquerors  through him... Jesus....
                         that loved us."    And STILL loves you.

PRAYER

LORD GOD,  I so often try to CREATE MY OWN HAPPINESS.  Please help me to
set aside pride... to HEAR You when You tell me into my spirit that I am wrong. 
Please help me to set aside pride... to HEAR You through any of Your Christ-followers that
you guide to gently ask me.... Am I truly following what I know YOU LORD God want?
      Or am I setting You aside awhile.... which means making me NOT holy for you....
to try to create my own happiness in my own way, with food or shopping or TV or gossiping or....

©2013 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