Tell Me the FACTS!

**If you would like to listen to this blog post, scroll to the bottom for the audio version.

Can I recap for those who may have not read/ listened to my last two posts?

Great! Thank you for sticking with me here.

Two weeks ago I talked about commitment. Why it’s important and how to commit. The take away, commit because the benefits far exceeds the struggle.

Last week I discussed God’s hope versus the world’s hope. The take away, is to commit to stay faithful in the hope (certainty) of God’s promises. Why? Because we can be certain about what He says in His word compared to a world that is very uncertain.

Why the recap? Because, I’m talking about commitment here friend.

Now, I really want to challenge your commitment.

The opposite of committing is quitting.   Would you agree?

When we quit we give up the commitment we made. Remember, commitment is a stance created by you in which you know what you will or will not do regardless of what does or doesn’t happen.

Quitting is having no stance. It’s giving up on knowing what you will or will not do. Committing is moving forward. Quitting is stopping or even moving backwards.

Guess what? Quitting is a habit. A bad habit most of us have. We are actually REALLY GOOD at it.

We are even better at justifying it.

“I know I said I was going to cut out sugar, but then my daughter had her birthday party. I made the cake and needed to try it. Then we had left over cake and I couldn’t let it go to waste. After that, my friend had a Cinco de Mayo party and she makes the BEST margaritas. She is so sweet and I couldn’t say no to her offer. Then it was Moday. The weekend was so busy so I just got lunch from the cafeteria. The ladies make these Scotcheroo bars. Oh my goodness! I couldn’t resist. I never can resist those!”

 Sound familiar?

We justify because we never really believed we could do it in the first place.

After enough justifications, we just quit. We think, “I haven’t been able to do this in the past” so subconsciously we doubt our ability to do it now.

The temptation comes and we give in.

 It is a cycle of committing, quitting, feeling miserable and recommitting.

How many times have you said.... “Lets see what happens.” or “Maybe this will work out.” or “Hopefully, I’ll just have the willpower in the moment.”

Think about marriage for a minute. Our society often approaches commitment this way; “Lets get married! We’ll see what happens. I think we’ll work out. Hopefully, I will want to stay married to you and life will be happily ever after.”

Now, look at the statistics. The divorce rates are around 40-50% for first marriages in the U.S. They are even higher for subsequent marriages.

When you truly commit to something, quitting is not an option.

I think of my marriage this way….

I AM NOT LOOKING.  There is no quitting.  He's got me and I've got him and we are going to work it out, NO MATTER WHAT.

This is serious freedom my friends. I know what my stance is. I know what I will or will not do no matter what situation, no matter what guy comes along. I don’t have to debate with myself or reason with myself. The commitment is made.

Now, let’s apply this to the rest of our life. 

What excuses do you use to justify quitting on your commitments?

• I can’t do this.
• This is too hard.
• I’m too busy/ tired.
• I don’t know how.
• I’m not good at this.
• This isn’t working.

Pick one that you use the most.  Write a about a time when you used one of these statement. Describe exactly how and why you quit. Then look at the facts of the situation. Not your thoughts, not your feelings but the FACTS. (You have to be able to prove it in a court of law for it to be a fact.)

I had a client once that was trying to lose weight. For two weeks she was rocking out her plan. Unfortunately, after two weeks she hadn’t lost a pound. Her statements to me were, “This isn’t working. My body doesn’t like this. What’s the point of all this work if I’m not even going to get anything from it?”

The fact of this situation was that she hadn’t lost a pound. We didn’t know if it was working or not. Losing weight takes time. Her body wasn’t gaining weight. She was feeling good otherwise, so it wasn’t that her body didn’t like it. But she wanted to quit. And if I had let her quit, she would never have seen three pounds down the next week.

See, God plan isn’t always in a nice straight path. He has twists, turns, bumps and forks in the road. If we go on how we FEEL about something, we’ll screw up and quit. If we lean on Him, that’s when we can use His strength to succeed.

But we have to see through the evil ones lies.

That's why we look at the FACTS.

“Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Here is the deal.

Committing is hard.

Quitting is hard.

Which hard are you going to pick?

But the constant cycle of quitting and re-committing is probably even worse because it undermines your confidence. It undermines your trust in God.  And, it makes you just plain crazy.

Quitting may feel like relief at first and sometimes even disguises itself as self-care. But, that’s exactly where Satan wants you.  He doesn't want you to see the truth or the facts of the situation.

Don’t let him stop you from finding the truth.

Don’t quit.

Refuse the temporary indulgence to feel better in the moment.

Figure out the facts.

Then, you can commit to God’s plan.

Lets talk about plans.  Do you need help with planning your weekly meals?  Ready to ditch the stress and commit to making feeding your family easier on yourself?  I have you covered!  Grab my Thriving Mom Meal Planning Guide to prepare for you week in just 20 minutes!  Find it here!

Oh, and don't forget to stop by my Facebook page and check out the live videos and post this week expanding on this post!