A GUEST POST ~ BY CORALEE KULMAN

From time to time I run across someone else's writing that just plain says it like I would like to be able to express myself.  Coralee Kulman has done this in this entry.  I met her (via e-mail) in a support group of newcomers to Overeaters Anonymous Online.  With her permission, I reprint her encouraging words that she shared in an "e-mail loop" from that support group:

Hello My Fellow Loopmates:

I have not been sharing and welcoming new members to our loops lately. I have
missed sharing my experience, strength and hope. It always keeps me focused on
the most important thing in my life -- my recovery. It has been an unusual
month and it could have ruined our Christmas. It taught me a great lesson. I
wrote this to help me understand. I hope it might be helpful to you also.


I FOUGHT FOR THE GOOD LIFE I HAVE


It is not the kind of fight you might think. Yet, that is what I did and now
after a month of “fighting” my world that had gone out of control, I now know
why I have a good life.

DAY BY DAY BY GRACE

Day By Day By Grace
by Bob Hoekstra


"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me...My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (Luke 9:23 and John 10:27)


As we have seen, following Jesus as a disciple is another way to relate rightly to the Lord in humility and faith. Discipleship begins with renouncing the self-life and confessing death for the self-life. "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily." Initially and continually, these humble and trusting responses to Jesus deal with self, which is the basic obstruction to following Him.

 Ultimately, three simple words express the very heart of
discipleship: "and follow Me."


All of the Christian life can be summed up and fulfilled in this profound relationship--a humble, dependent walk with the Lord.

"I'LL START AGAIN ON MONDAY" A guest post by Lysa TerKuerst

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37 (NIV)



Have you ever caught yourself compromising your healthy eating plan with the little "I'll start again on Monday" escape clause? Me too.


That cheesecake does look good. The Mexican chips and dip are irresistible. It is a special night. I can start again on Monday.


It is so tempting to give in. Set things in reverse. Pretend it won't matter. But it does matter and not just for the physical or mental set back. It's the denial of a fundamental spiritual truth that will make our healthy eating plan fall apart time and time again. What is this truth? We were made for more than this. More than this failure, more than this cycle, more than being ruled by taste buds - we were made for victory. Sometimes we just have to find our way to that truth.


When I was a senior in high school I was invited to a college party. By the end of the night my friends and I were giggling over the attention of two good looking college boys. As the party died down, they invited us over to their place.

ANOTHER GUEST POST FROM MY DOCTOR

Dr. Steve Gordon has been my doctor for almost twenty years. He has recently left his partners practice for a year and is writing of his adventures as he travels the country filling in for places that need a temporary doctor.



Dr. Steve is greatly responsible for giving me the right push at the right time in order to get me to the weight loss center and get healthy again...he is also a good friend. To read more about what he did for me please go to my "How Did I Get Here?" page.


His blog address is here: http://walkaboutdoc.wordpress.com/ and this is how he describes what he is doing:

I’m a family practitioner in Sioux City, Iowa. I’m going to leave my job of 23 years. For the year that my non compete clause remains in force, I’m going to go to a lot of places, and so far I don’t have much agenda. The Australians call it “going walkabout.”

Real people who lose a hundred pounds do it slowly