Little by Little

I will not drive them out from before you in one year, least the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and posess the land.

That's Exodus 23:29-30, very shortly after God squashes the Egyptians in a very theatrical and mighty display of power. If I were an Israelite, I'd probably be wondering, "why not do that to all these other guys on our land?" But as God so gently explains here, the Israelites needed some time before they could posses and thrive in their promised land (a land previously said to be flowing with milk and honey...yum!).

My journey with food/health/weight loss is something of an exodus story. I love food. I've worshiped it, turning to it for everything from comfort to celebration. I've been enslaved to it, especially the super processed imposters posing as food. They have ruled my world all the while breaking me down.

Jesus displayed his power, might, and great mercy in a grand gesture, coming to earth as a man, dying for my sin, and rising from death so that relationship with God is a possibility once more. I am no longer a slave to food, ruled by my passions and cravings. I am a new creation and the promised land is my inheritance. But the driving out of old habits is little by little.

There has been a shift in my thinking lately. A change in my soul. Almost as if my head knowledge and my heart knowledge are finally on the same page, reading the same book! When I look at where we are, how we eat now versus a year and two years ago, I know we have made progress and lots of positive changes. (Hello - quinoa anyone?!) But I was starting to feel stuck. Overwhelmed. Unproductive.

I fasted last week from coffee (part of the Jen Hatmaker study 7: Staging Your Own Mutiny Against Excess). Literally the only thing I gave up was coffee. It was representative of the excess and luxury I take for granted in my kitchen. I missed it, but I didn't pine after it. And maybe that is what God needed from me before he could drive out the chemicals and the cravings that are before me. I put my little yes on the table and God is moving with it, little by little.