A whole lifetime could be spent making excuses, giving in, feeling guilty, resolving to do better, mentally beating myself up for not sticking to my resolve, feeling like a failure, and then resigning myself to the fact that things can't change.

I want the flowers but not the work. Isn't that the way it is with many things in life—we want the results but have no desire to put in the work required?

Don't buy into what the scale says or doesn't say. Trust the effort you are putting into getting healthy. And keep going! Not only are there changes going on in your body that you can't see, there are changes going on in your spirit—with your discipline, your courage, and your willpower. Keep going!

They say time heals—and I think this can be true—but only if that's truly the goal here: healing. Time grows the seeds that are planted, watered, and fertilized. Plant beauty, grow beauty. Plant thorns, grow thorns. Time will allow for either.

I realized that most times it's not the big things along my spiritual journey that tempt me to get off track. It's a culmination of small daily aggravations I know God could fix but doesn't. But what if instead of seeing these aggravations as inconveniences, I saw them as reminders to draw near to God?

Between any trial and the blessing that comes from that trial, there is a pathway we must walk — that pathway is perseverance. Perseverance means having an urgency, firmness, resolve, and consistency. And, while the joy of the blessing may seem a long way off, signposts or mile markers of joy line the way. These will help us persevere with resolve and consistency if we "consider" them.

A Jesus girl who rises up and unexpectedly gives grace when she surely could have done otherwise reveals the power and the mystery of Christ at work — in her life and in the world.

The tension exists because you are doing the difficult work of no longer cooperating with dysfunction.

At first we say it's too soon, then years go by and we say it's too late.

Saying yes all the time won't make me Wonder Woman. It will make me a worn-out woman.

It's not the "how to" I'm missing. It's the "want to" . . . really wanting to make changes and deciding that the results of those changes are worth the sacrifice.

Compromise built upon compromise equals failure. Instead, resisting temptation allowed promise upon promise to be built up in my heart, and that creates empowerment.