DAY 1

It's day one and after a long day, I am able to say the Lord gave me the strength and self-control needed to fight the good fight. And honestly, it wasn't that hard! Tomorrow may bring temptations, but for today, I'm thankful for His power on this first day of my journey to find freedom in the moments of life.

HIGHLIGHTS:
*The Merridee's Banana bread in the kitchen at work surprisingly didn't call my name. I'm shocked! Normally I would've eaten half the loaf!
*I spent most of the day in the bathroom going potty...lots of H2O!
*I only ate 2 small peppermint patties instead of 20 (and I'm not exaggerating!) :)
*Wrote down everything I ate & drank to stay on track.
*New discovery - fell in love with Trader Joe's Blackberry fruit infusion tea. Yum, yum.
*Enjoyed a 20 minute Windsor Pilates workout

"The caged bird only wants to sing, to be fully alive." -Scott Reall

Psalm 124:7
"We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped."

My prayer early this morning was...

Jesus, give me Your strength to break the chains; courage to leave the cage; power & might to FLY and SOAR!

I read this excerpt From My Utmost for His Highest daily devotions a few months ago and it's starting to make sense...

"Until we give up our illusion of control over others and God, we will never understand what we do have control over: our own choices and our own intent. Personal power, which is knowing what we do have control over and taking action, eludes us until we accept that we are helpless over other people and God. The paradox is that we cannot move into personal power until we accept our powerlessness over everything but ourselves.

Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.

The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, "I can't believe," it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, "I will not surrender," or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24 ). It is your individuality that refuses to "be reconciled to your brother" ( Matthew 5:24 ). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. ". . . let him deny himself . . ."— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow."