Overcoming Brokenness: Proverbs 14
Note from Chelsea: This is a guest post from one of my CHC members. During the month of July, each of us was assigned a day to post a reflection of a different Proverb. I was so impressed by her post and found it so full of wisdom that I wanted to share it with you. All pertinent names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.
“The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the godly will flourish. There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”
🚘 I was on a nearly month long road trip with my children. We had to leave New Orleans a day early on a Wednesday morning, due to flooding there. (I was literally loading our car in pouring rain as flood water rushed passed and through my legs and was almost up to my knees).
🌊Had all of that not happened, I wouldn’t have met a homeless man named “John” sitting on a crate outside of Waffle House in Birmingham, Alabama. (I know Waffle House isn’t the greatest food-wise, but hash browns and eggs were the best I could do for the kids that night. In case anyone is worried, I truly just knew he wasn’t dangerous or a threat in any way. Also, my kids were safe and sound in our hotel room with my 14 year old babysitting).
🔗After talking with John for quite some time and praying with him, He shared that he is an alcoholic. He had recently been clean for several months and then decided one day that he was doing so well with his job, finally driving a car again, and paying rent, that he could handle having one drink. And with that one drink, He has been off the wagon for some time now. He realizes now that it was pride and his attempt to be “self sufficient” and not rely on God, that drove his decision to have a drink.
🎯I know John’s particular situation doesn’t seem to pertain to most of us here, but it struck me, because I know I can go off course with pride (seems to happen when I’m tired, busy and/or just not asking or listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and I think that will be okay). I could easily say, ‘well I’m not homeless, and I’m not an alcoholic, so I can’t learn anything from this man,’ but that isn’t the case. We all have places of brokenness in our lives. It made me consider Proverbs’ teachings even more.
😇👹In reading the proverbs so far this month, the consistent theme that appears and reappears is righteousness vs. wickedness, and that isn’t any different with Proverbs 14.
👹So, I looked up wickedness to dig a little deeper, and the “wicked” definition in the Bible dictionary pointed me to look up “sin.” In the sin definition was a reference to the verse that lists 7 sins. To be honest, I was thinking, I don’t consider myself “wicked,” but I also know wrong thoughts, words, actions can be a snare if I allow them to be.
📖God reminded me of what He has taught me about how to avoid these sins and how to walk in righteousness where my health is concerned and so much more...
❌Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, and Sloth.
💡Pride: Relying on the Holy Spirit and not myself in making healthy decisions.
💡Envy: Pursuing health for the right reasons, to honor my temple, to be strong and healthy to serve my family, and not to try to attain some magazine cover looking body.
💡Gluttony: Enjoying compliant food/heck yeahs intentionally and in moderation, not in a free for all.
💡Lust (post from CHC Member Jennifer Winter) We cannot find satisfaction in the things that don’t belong to us, and we can’t put our hands on things that God hasn’t yet gifted us with. In fact, both of those things breed discontentment.
Psalm 37 says “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This doesn’t mean he will give us whatever we want...but when we truly delight in the Lord, his desires become our desires, and it is then that we have all we could need or want.
💡Anger: Eating right foods that nourish my mental health, in order to stave off anxiety, depression and angry outbursts, allowing me wife and mom that I want my kids and husband to have fond memories of when remembering these years in which we are all living together. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
💡Greed: Remembering that some food is my food and some food is definitely NOT my food.
💡Sloth: Work out regularly and don’t linger in the gray area of righteousness. When I think of “gray area” I think of the song by Hollyn:
“Fell for You first day that I met You
Never dreamed that I ever could forget You
But black and white make a mess
When they turn to grey”
⚫️⚪️Black and white for me is that some foods are beneficial for me and some are absolutely not, and probably won’t ever be. They don’t align with my living His best for my life. I feel sluggardly when I’m off track. And guess what the first definition of slothfulness is? Sluggardly!!
To me, surviving in the gray area is kin to death. When I don’t eat well, I am just surviving.
🌟I want to LIVE vibrantly and THRIVE, not just survive autoimmune illness, and the only way to do that is by walking the right path, and for me that includes food and everything having to do with honoring Him.❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻