Foodie Walks and The Sweet, Sleek, Fit & Fun Weight Loss Tool Kit

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The God Who Loves You / Salvation Plan / Prayer
The God Who Loves You:

God loves you so much, he sent His only Son to die for you.
If you were the only person in the world, He would have died just for you.

Look all around you to see the beautiful world He created for us to enjoy. He made the blue skies and green trees and all the beautiful flowers. He made men and cuddling and love and babies and puppies and kittens and the ocean and mountains and lakes. He made talented people that make beautiful buildings and paintings and music and dance. He made friends and good times and laughter and gentleness and kindness.

But man, wanting to be as good as God, disobeyed Him and fell. With the fallen nature came disease, suffering and sin. But God, not willing that any should perish, sent His only Son to die for our sins.

The story Jesus told about the prodigal son, who had squandered his inheritance, demonstrates God's love for us:

And he [the prodigal son] arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. 25 Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ 28 But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ Luke 15:20-32

God's Plan of Salvation:

1. Admit your need (I am a sinner). "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

"This sinner thing really doesn't apply to me. I'm a good person."When I thought about it, I realized that I was a good person because I got to choose whom I was comparing myself to. When I compare myself to Adolph Hitler, who killed several million innocent people, I look pretty good. But when I compare myself to Mother Theresa, who gave up her life to live in poverty and comfort the sick and dying, I know I'm too spoiled and selfish to ever consider doing that. I don't look very good.

When I compare myself to a perfect God, I realize how imperfect I really am. Yes, I'm the person that throws parties at County Children's homes and Retirement homes and occasionally feeds the homeless (and I will be the first to tell you that). But I'm also the one that gets irritated if somebody bumps into me at the store without saying "excuse me." I'm the one who entertains all kinds of nasty thoughts and bitterness, when I've been hurt. So even though I'm good, I'm also bad.

When I was twenty-seven years old, I had a good friend introduce me to Overeaters' Anonymous.
I learned several important things there. One of which was that everyone messes up. Until this point, I knew I was a mess and I thought I had to hide it because everybody else had their act together. What a huge relief to find out that everyone does things that are wrong. It's just that most people don't talk about it. I am so grateful for the people who were secure, healthy and honest enough to admit their failings.

"This sinner thing DOES apply to me. But I'm so bad God could never forgive me."
That's not true. No matter what you've done, if you ask His forgiveness and repent, God will forgive you.
God sent only His Son, Jesus, to die for your sins. He asks only that we ask for forgiveness and turn from our sins.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9

The Lord is ... "not willing that ANY should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him " John 3:16-17

2. Turn from old ways ( your sins). Repent - be sorry and stop sinning.

"That sounds like a drag at best and impossible in practice."
As far as being impossible, because we are imperfect, that's true - it is impossible. But God loves us unconditionally. He doesn't stop loving us if we sin. If we do sin, He does ask that we confess it to Him and try our best not to repeat the sin after that. God, also, changes our heart so that we really WANT to do what's right.

As far as being a drag, sin is very enticing from the outside. But from the other side, it doesn't look so good.

For me personally, the bag of candy or six-pack of ice cream bars or monster hot fudge sundae looks great before I eat it. Since I'm sugar/carb addicted, I don't stop with a few bites. After I've eaten way more than I ever should have, my blood sugar is low, I'm ashamed, depressed and guilty. I feel bad physically. So given the complete picture, the rich gooey sundae wasn't as great as it looked going in. (Please don't get me wrong, I'm not calling eating a hot fudge sundae a sin.)

If I let my thoughts run wild (instead of "taking every thought captive") and allow myself to revel in being bitter and angry, I deplete my serotonin ("the sense of well-being and fullness" neurotransmitter). I start to crave sugar, which will restore my serotonin levels.
I already feel bad that I'm being an ugly, angry person to begin with and now my solution is going to cause all the bad stuff that goes with abusing sugar, carbs, etc.! So even though I felt perfectly justified to have the pity party, it hurt me and made me into a person that I was ashamed of.

When I was on a date with the man I loved, the natural conclusion to the evening was to go home and go to bed. From the outside it was romantic and wonderful. But at three o'clock in the morning, when he was leaving, I felt empty and alone. And when that man that I loved more than life itself walked out the door for the last time, it just about killed me. Had we not been intimately involved, I wouldn't have been totally devastated when he left me. Nor, fifteen years later, would it seem like only yesterday that I kissed him goodbye for the last time and watched him walk away through streaming tears.

3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.

4. Pray to receive Jesus into your life.

Please click to go to prayer.

Frequently Asked Questions:

"How could a loving God allow my grandma to suffer with cancer, toddlers to be shot, my mom to die or become paralyzed when I was little, etc?"

I have a friend who once told me that he couldn't understand how a loving God would have made his mother suffer with Parkinson's Disease. I just sat there not having any idea what to say. It really bothered me because I didn't have an answer.

Then one day I was at his house and there were some ants on his kitchen sink. He sprayed poison on his sink quite liberally. Although I was only in his house for about a half an hour, I had a splitting headache when I left.

I thought back to someone I had dated a few years before. He told me about his thirty-five year old friend who had just been diagnosed with Parkinson's. The interesting thing was that he was fifteen years younger than the normal age for Parkinson's. He had been an exterminator for years. I did a lot of reading in natural healing books at the time. It seemed to me that there was a strong possibility that he got sick because of all the pesticides that he had been exposed to. I seem to remember that at the time I found information that showed a correlation between that disease and pesticides.

When my friend was spraying the ants, I wondered if his mother had innocently used pesticides and that the Parkinson's Disease was a result of that.

I've heard one of the reasons that bad things happen is because God gave us free will so that we could choose to love Him or not. Love only has meaning if it's freely given. But because we all have free will, sometimes other people's free will causes people harm. If I'm in a bad mood and I choose to yell at some innocent person, then that innocent person will suffer because I'm doing something wrong. Taken to the extreme, if someone goes on a shooting spree and a toddler gets in the way of the bullet, that innocent child suffers because the other person chose to do something wrong. And sometimes we just suffer the natural consequences of our own actions. Because I have chosen to be a hundred pounds overweight, I suffer with numerous weight-related health problems.

"But I'm Young and Healthy and My Parents Lived Long Lives. Can't I Wait Until I'm Eighty or Ninety to Deal with This?"

You never know. Life is so uncertain.

When I was twelve, my mom was walking into our house and her legs went out from under her. She had no power, truly one of the worst memories of my life. Within two years she was in a wheelchair and totally incapacitated.

One day, a few years ago, I was on the freeway, going to church. The freeway traffic stopped. The guy behind me didn't see it stop and hit me going 60 MPH. I had just purchased a new, huge car and sold my cute tiny two-seater sports car. I thought buying that car was the biggest mistake I ever made. Within a few months that huge "mistake" saved my life. I believe God made me fall in love with that great, big, old car because He knew it would have to save my life five months later.

Last week I was on the freeway and next to someone (in a tiny car) who swerved to miss a wooden captain's chair in the road. He lost control and went across four lanes of traffic. He was hit by a half-ton pick up, turned around and sent back across those same four lanes. I went from 65 MPH to a dead stop. I took my chances that the guy behind me would stop. It was 100% certain that I would hit the guy that was out of control, if I continued. I sat there in horror as I saw the big truck approaching and realized he was going to hit him. I begged God to protect him so he wouldn't be killed and that he wouldn't spin into me head-on. He was hit hard but he was okay. He didn't hit me. Thank God for both.

During both of those accidents, I didn't once think about an afterlife or making things right with God. I was too busy trying to deal emotionally with what was happening at the time and trying to make the best decisions to survive.

Despite the fact that life seems guaranteed until old age, life is actually pretty fragile.

"Christians are mean-spirited, judgmental and holier-than-thou. Who needs that?"

Some Christians are judgmental and holier-than-thou. But Jesus says in Luke 6:37, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven."
In John 8, Jesus is asked about the woman caught in adultery. He says, "Let he who is without sin, throw the first stone."

Prayer:

To accept Jesus Christ into your life, please pray the prayer, below.

Right now, you are coming to Jesus Christ.
He loves you, He died for you, and He wants to come into your heart and be your Savior and your Lord.
He will never leave you or abandon you from this moment on.

In the following prayer, you will acknowledge that you sin.
You'll ask for God's forgiveness and you will ask Christ to come inside.
Pray this prayer out loud and mean it from your heart and God will hear you.

God, I'm sorry for my sins.
But I thank you for sending Jesus, the Son of God, to die on the cross and shed His blood for every sin that I have ever committed.
I turn from my sin now, Lord, and I come to You by faith.
Jesus, come into my heart. Be my Savior, my Lord, my God and my friend. Fill me with Your spirit and help me follow You from this day forward as Your disciple, Your servant, and Your child.
Thank you for accepting me and forgiving me.
Thank you that I am going to heaven and I am ready for Your return.
In Jesus name, I pray.
Amen.

God bless you.
Now, take some practical steps to grow strong spiritually: read the Bible, pray and find and go to a good, Bible-based church.

There are several excellent ministries dedicated to helping new Christians.

Two of them are:

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
P.O. Box 779
Minneapolis, MN 55440
Call between 7AM to 7PM CST, Mon - Fri, 1-877-2GRAHAM (1-877-247-2426)

Harvest Crusade
P.O.Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000.
Spiritual counseling is available from 9AM to 5PM PST at 909-687-6902 .