Three Things to Keep off your Plate to Maintain a Healthy Heart

There have been many changes I have made over the years. Some changes good and some not so good…..  One of those changes I’ve made is how I eat.  I had adapted the American lifestyle over the years of eating fast and processed foods.  To only discover that these foods aren’t very nutritious.  In fact over time they cause decreased energy, increase fat and bloating.  What we put on our plates and into our mouths matters over time.  

Here are 3 Things that I Keep off my plate to Ensure a Healthier Lifestyle:
1.  Foods with High Fructose Corn Syrup– are actually made with 2 biohazards chemicals that a person has to wear a hazardous material suit on just to handle the chemicals.  HFCS is a chemical and should be taken out of the diet.  
2.  Dyes or food coloring–  are not food and the body has a difficult time digesting them.  There is no nutritional value to dyes. 
3.  Processed Foods–  When looking at labels if there are a bunch of ingredients that you are not familiar with, start looking up what the actual ingredients are.  Chances are they are something you do not want to be eating.  

Just as foods with HFCS, dyes and processed foods have little to none nutritional value, there are things in our spiritual lives that have no value as well.  In fact they do the same things these chemicals and processed foods do to us;  take away energy, make us sluggish and unhealthy.  

What we put on our spiritual plates matters, meaning what we are putting in our hearts.  

Here are 3 Things that I try to Keep off my spiritual plate to keep my heart healthy:
1. Fear– “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  2 Timothy 1:7  
2. Worry– “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  Matthew 6:34
3. Doubt– “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”  James 1:5-7

These three things I like to call robbers.  There are so many times that our fears, worries and doubts, rob us of our joys.  These things will only take away and not give.  Allowing fear, worry and doubt to reside in our hearts only grows into places of deeper anger and bitterness.  Allowing God to have our fears, worries and doubts allows room in our hearts to be filled with what God has intended for us;  abundant joy, peace, hope, love and freedom.  

“The Thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  John 10:10

God’s love is the perfect ingredient in our lives.  When our hearts are free from the clutter of the busyness and surrender our burdens to him, it allows us to live life how God designed it to be; a life of love and freedom.  

Being free from our burdens and struggles allows God to turn them into something so much better.  Life’s moments become so much sweeter and richer.  

Our family has been on quite the journey over the past four years after our son Bowen passed away.  This past year we had a life interruption that changed the course of our lives.  We had just build our dream home, we both had very good jobs, we had almost all of our family living in the same town.  We were happy, comfortable life was good.  And then God asked us to leave it all.  We now live in Alaska very far from family, living a completely differently life.  Sometimes God asks you to go to that far away place to discover the very thing that he’s been trying to tell you all along.  This is the life I have designed for you, one that is filled with more than you could ever ask for or imagine.  I do not have all the answers.  But there is only one answer I need to know;  that God loves me.  I know that I can trust in his love to take care of all my needs even in my fears, worries or doubts.  

When our faith and trust is put into God’s love, it allows us to celebrate life’s precious moments.  I hope you don’t mind me celebrating this moment with you.  Below is a picture made by my daughter, asking ‘What was your favorite memory you did this summer?  Her answer was ‘Camping with her family.’  How sweet was this moment.  It made everything we left behind so worth it.  Sometimes God asks us to take things off of our plates and give it to him, not to punish us, but to replenish our hearts with something better that we didn’t even know we needed!  You never know what God has in store for you, but I know that it is more.  May you be filled with his peace and joy as you go through your week this week!

What has God asked you to take off of your plate to make room for what he has in store for you?

What moments were you able to celebrate because there was room for more of what God had intended for you?

This is a picture of our RV we spent traveling around Alaska this summer

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.