“They” say that after a significant weight loss, it can take some time to actually see the new you. The thin you. To be able to look in the mirror and see your new reality.
Oh, you know you’ve lost the weight, all right. But it’s hard to see yourself as thin. You just see the heavier you. You see yourself as you used to be and not as you truly are. It’s a mental block, really.
I can attest to it. When I lost 60 pounds in 2009, it took a long time for it to register on me. I’d immediately gravitate to my old size when I tried on clothes. Everyone around me could see it, but it took some time to get a new mental picture of myself.
Sometimes it can take weeks or even months for it to register. And sadly, some people don’t ever really see it – and they get frustrated and gain all the weight back.
At some point, you have to tell your mind, “Hey listen. There’s a new reality here and it’s called ‘I’m thin.’ See it. Deal with it. Enjoy it. Embrace the new you!”
Well, the same thing is true about our life in Christ. There are some amazing new realities about you and me:
You are a new creation. Old things have gone, and new things have come.
You are His masterpiece.
You are healed.
You are forgiven.
The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you to quicken your mortal body.
Greater works than these shall you do.
You will lay hands on the sick and they’ll recover.
Death and life are in the power of your tongue.
He works all things together for your good.
God is fighting for you.
If you abide in Him and His Word abides in you, you can ask whatever you will and it will be done for you.
Sure, we’ve read these things in the Word. We know they’re in there. We can totally see them in other people, and we cheer them on. “Yes! You look amazing! You are healed and forgiven and free!”
But what do you see when you look in the mirror?
Too many of us have not yet “embraced the new you.” Instead, we wrap the “old me” around us like a blanket and cling to it.
“I would never do that!”
Well, if you let guilt and shame cling to your mind, you have not yet embraced the new you. You’ve lost that weight. His blood covers it all.
If you’ve ever hesitated to pray because you doubted He was listening, you aren’t seeing an accurate reflection in your mirror.
If you talk about your fibromyalgia or diabetes or cold or back problems more than By His stripes I am healed, then you aren’t accurately seeing the new you. You’re embracing the wrong thing. You’ve shed those pounds, honey.
“Hey now. This is fact. It’s in my body. I’m just being a realist. I’m not going to believe that until I see it.”
It may be fact, but it’s definitely not reality. If you want to be a realist, you need to believe what His Word says about you. You need to call it like it is and speak His Word. His Word is His potential for your life. You have to believe it. See it. Speak it. Agree with it.
Don’t get frustrated and gain all the weight back. His Word is true whether you experience it or not. It’s up to you. It’s up to me. It’s up to us if we experience the reality of His truth in our lives.
Faith believes what it cannot see until it sees what it believed. And faith always changes what you see. Always.
It’s time we get a new mental picture of ourselves, even if it’s only by faith. It’s time we believe we are who He says we are and that we can do what He says we can do. The only way to do that is to saturate yourself with your new reality.
After I lost weight, the more I looked in the mirror the more real it would become. I. Am. Thin. And the more real it became, the more I acted like it. I gave all my old clothes away except one pair of pants. (I wanted to be able to put them back on when my mind started believing the lie that I was heavy to prove to myself I wasn’t. 🙂 )
His Word is supposed to be a mirror to us. And the more we look into it and saturate ourselves with it, the more real it will become to us. The more real it is, the more we’ll believe it and walk like it and talk like it and see it.
His Word is truth. It’s your new reality. See it. Deal with it. Enjoy it. Embrace the new you!