Blessed

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed.  James 1:22-25
For so long I was like the first person in the verses above.  I knew that my body was the temple of God and that I should take care of it.  I had read it so many times.  Yet, I would simply walk away from God's word and forget what it told me to do.
Now, I am like the second person.  I finally got it.  Six month ago today, I acted upon God's leading and had my surgery.  I had decided to face what had been shown to me as truth(through scripture and with the help of Made to Crave).  No longer could I sit by and let my addiction destroy God's temple.  I found freedom.  Sweet freedom from the guilt of my actions.  Freedom from the holds of my addiction.
Now I must continue on in my journey.  Never forgetting to give thanks to my Lord for all that he has taught me and for all the blessings he has poured out in my life in the last six months.  Oh, how blessed I am! 
I am so glad that I stopped circling that mountain of food addiction!  I am glad that I finally realized that I needed to take action.  I needed to face my sin and follow the instructions I found in the bible! 
As of today I have lost 79 pounds and 57 inches.  I am starting to see the consequences of living in sin for so long.  My skin in saggy. This irreversible damage that I have done to God's temple is a daily reminder of where I have come from.   It saddens me to think of how careless I was for so many years.  But, it must have saddened my Lord even more.

I still see "yuck", but I pray that one day I will see beauty.  I have found it is harder to love yourself than to lose the weight.  The inner soul work is really the hardest.  But, with each passing day, I am trying to embrace God's love for me. 
Lord, thank you for bringing me this far.  May your glory and your faithfulness be evident in this journey.  You haven't left me even for a moment and for that I am so grateful.  Please, continue to draw me to you as we finish this weight loss journey and beyond that point.  Help me to conquer this last 40 pounds of weight.  Most of all, help me to find the beauty that you see in me.  Amen.