“Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.”
Proverbs 11:18

It seems too easy to cheat on a diet.
There are so many good things to eat, and it doesn’t seem to hurt anything to cheat just a little. The problem is when we convince ourselves it is okay, we never seem to draw the line and a little cheating turns into a lot of cheating.
When we lie to ourselves, we find ourselves in big trouble.
It is much better to do what we know is right, and avoid the things we know will cause us trouble. When we stick to our diets, we can expect nothing but rewards.

Today’s thought:
There’s no such thing as cheating just a little!

Surely you remember your first car! What was your first car?
Do you have an interesting experience to share about learning to drive or about your first driving experiences?

My sweet daddy bought me a datsun b210 when I was about 15 1/2. I hated it. I was such a brat, it’s pretty embarrassing… I had that car until right after the time I turned 16. The main memory of that car was when I still only had my permit. I was dating Matt (yes, the Matt) and I decided to drive to visit him. I took my bff Darla who had just turned 16 and got her license the week before. She was my licensed driver in the passenger seat. My parents had no idea I was driving an hour away to visit Matt. We took interstates the whole way.

Let me just pause to say that it makes my heart skip a beat to think of my Amanda, who is almost 17 driving that far… let alone on the interstates… anyway, back to the past…

We got there and back fine. Spent only a few minutes at the end of his block long driveway acting like silly school girls (which we were)… he was a big time college boy. It was Summer though. That was my first real road trip.

My bff Darla was given a brand spankin’ new cutless calais for her 16th birthday. She didn’t really want to be in my used car after that point. So, we always took her cool car. I never got to drive it though. I loved her car, it smelled so new.

My dad bought me a 65 mustang to which I said I would under no circumstances drive anywhere. It was old! He and Matt tried to explain the whole classic car aspect and I wouldn’t hear any of it…

So, he finally bought me a Monte Carlo. It was 1985 and my car was 6 years old. I liked it pretty well and kept it until I worked full time for the State of Oklahoma, Historical Society my senior year of high school. I only went for English - O hour and then worked all day. I bought a almost new mustang gt. I kept it for about 6 months and got a transam with t-tops… which I kept until I had Amanda and realized it wasn’t practical for a baby seat.

I wish I could reflect about how practical and content I was … I can’t, I can only offer the truth. Times have changed since and I have learned contentment in many different situations. In my defense, I was a good student and didn’t act up (too much) in other areas of life.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1My grandmother had a favorite picture that showed Jesus stretching out His hand to Peter while they were walking on the sea.
It gave her great comfort to know that if she ever failed in her faith,
Christ would stretch out His loving hand to lift her up.
Whenever she dieted, she kept that picture close at hand.
When the diet got to hard for her to cope with,
she looked at her picture and felt God there with her.
When we try to give up anything, it’s good to admit it will be hard to do on our own.
When we reach out to God, he will always reach back.

Today’s thought:
When my diet gets toughest, God will be closest.