Wow, changing my thinking in 21 days may not be as easy as it sounds – I know as I am busy with some new habits and that is not easy! I have a small app on my phone called habit bull that I use to chase my habits. This app is supposed to remind me that I must still do something. It was easy when I had a fairly strait forward task there like do ten push ups, but when I added a difficult task like phoning ten people it was crazy. I just could not do it. Then I did not want to look at the habit bull as it made me feel guilty about what I did not do.

Why was the push up easier than the phone call?

I had to go and find out why I did not want to phone the people. In my case it was a combination of a fear of rejection on the one side and a idea that I may be wasting their time when I make the phone call. Upon looking at it more in depth it was rather that I felt that I may waste my time with the phone call. I decided that it would not work and that it would be a waste of time. So that is where my thinking was. I needed to change my thinking to, “whose life may I enrich today with my phone call?” That is a totally different approach.

I did not take my 21 days to come to that conclusion. Often an insight like that could come in a minute or five. On the other hand, it is also possible that we may walk with a particular insight or thinking for years and that insight may rob us of our freedom.

“I cannot follow a new eating plan – three days then I stop”

Let us look at this one: “I cannot stay on a new eating plan for more than three days.” This thinking may have a profound impact on your approach to eating. If we can understand what the root of this thinking is, the Father in all his wisdom with the gentleness of the Holy Spirit may remove and replace this root in total. In certain cases the Father may remove this without us even understanding where it comes from. This thinking may come from one or more experiences that you have had that made it difficult to stay on a new eating plan. You may have eaten a mountain of vegetables of three days and in the process only received 1000 kcal of energy over three days in stead of 5400 kcal. Then you would run out of energy, you would feel lethargic and you may even get sick as a result of that.

If my thinking could be changed to “The Father and I will discover an eating plan that will give me energy and help me feel great while I am losing weight”, it will be totally different. This is one example of how my thinking will have to change to make me stick with a new eating plan if that is a challenge for you.

Deep, deep hurts

There may be deeper reasons that may have a major impact in my life as well. One of these could be,  “I was deeply hurt by someone. Now I will eat and build a layer of protection around me so that nobody will ever hurt me like that again.” Of course the Holy Spirit is my real protection and Healer. I need healing from the hurt(s) of the past and from the self-protection that I have put in place.

There are many cravings and food is only one of those. Often these cravings may have a physical reason. I did not get enough protein and I feel tired and I eat carbohydrates for the tiredness to go away. It goes away for a short while and the comes back with a vengeance. So clearly here I need to get to know my body and what is good for it and I need to train the body. I need to tell it: “You do not live on Coke and chocolate alone, but on the Words of the Father”. Then of course we need to make a plan with the Coke.

Ask God for restoration

I wish you well on your journey to become the best you that is possible. You may not run a five km in 19 minutes, but you must be able to run/walk at least 1,6 km at a fairly rapid pace. So to get there, you need to get the body in shape again. Where there are aches and pain now God could restore totally. So trust Him and ask Him.

Hansie Louw

August 2017

Some researchers reckon that it takes 66 days (some 63 days) to entrench a habit. They say you can change anything in 60 odd days!