Weigh-in--Introduce yourself -- Weight Loss, Spiritual Gain

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Date Posted: 16:30:02 10/16/02 Wed
Author: Tinara Harper
Subject: Weigh-in--Introduce yourself

My (web) name is Tinara Harper.

I was with Weight Watchers for about 2 years and lost about 90 pounds. However, I got stressed out, run down, ill, had no time to exercise, wasn't sleeping right, and slowly I picked up my bad habits again until I gained all my weight back--plus 10 pounds.

Weight Watchers was great, but looking back now, I think that one thing that would have really helped me stay on track (besides not running out of money) would have been to have support of a prayer group--one whose focus was weight-loss, even.

I have been fortunate enough to find a group of people who have helped me deepen my spirituallity, and as my life has started to come back together, with a stronger focus in the Lord, I've started to lose weight again.

Currently, I've lost 9-12 pounds--my scale sometimes lies to me. (Would love to get my hands on a real scale like the ones at Weight Watchers or at least one that was consistent in its lying. . .)

Now, because the Bible says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst," we will start off with a prayer. I feel fortunate that I have become much more comfortable with prayer in the past, and I find that it really does help. Please feel free to pray yourself, but don't feel like it needs to have fancy language. I've found that the "poetry" comes once you've truly begun to be comfortable and go deeper with your prayers.

"Lord,

I ask You to send Your blessings--shower Your grace and blessings down upon all who are drawn to this website. Lead those who need to be here to us--those who can aid us, and those who need our help.

Aid us in our weight-loss or maintenance efforts. Help us to be mindful of what we are doing at all times. Strengthen our resolve. As we test our resolve in little matters like this, it will test our ability later to follow Your will.

Help us to remember that our bodies are temples of Your Spirit. As we strengthen our bodies by losing the weight that makes us unhealthy, let us rejoice in Your Name and give Glory to you, Oh Lord. Help us remember that the temptation we face in eating with unhealthful habits touches our souls when we become depressed after giving into this minor temptation. Strengethen us Lord, and keep us mindful that we must start over, every minute, every time that we fail. Catch us when we fall, Lord, cradle us to Your heart, and set us back on our feet.

Help us to see our inner beauty, Lord--the beauty that our friends and family see, the beauty that You see. Let us see our inner beauty that we may be more resolved to show it to others. Help us to find delight and joy in the world around us so that we may more easily walk this hard path. In our joy, we reveal Your glory to others.

We praise you, Lord, for the blessing in our lives. We thank you for the weight-loss we have known this week, the maintainence, or the blessing of not gaining as much as we thought we would. We thank you, Lord, for the blessings in our lives, and the small successes. We thank you for the little happy quiet moments that bring us through the rough, trying, and unsatisfying days. We thank you for the days where everything seems to go right and the choices are easy to make.

We thank You, Lord, and ask You to be with us always.

Amen."

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