The Crisis of Belief and the Discipline of Self Regulation

Yearsssssss ago we did a study, Experiencing God, at church. In this Bible study, Henry T. Blackaby used a buzz term called "the crisis of belief". Here is an excerpt from the study;

5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.

This phrase and thought behind it stuck with me for many years and I believe it carries over into secular things as well, although for myself I believe I am searching for God's will in my journey for better health, even if I weren't, the crisis of belief still applies.  The reason it applies is at the end of the sentence there > faith and action.  (yeah that serenity prayer comes in handy again!)

Faith - no matter where the faith comes from or what it points at  - you must have faith to achieve any goal!  ANY GOAL....ANY GOAL!

Looking at faith, my thought process is I have faith in a higher power.  Actually I am a Christian if you want all the details. I believe in a creator God and I believe in my relationship with Him. But I also must have faith in myself, faith in my body, and faith in those people I invite on the journey with me that they will help me in the right ways. I have faith in the knowledge I have gained over the years that tells me if I follow the correct formula I will in fact be healthier and lose weight.  ( Sometimes I think we have to tweak that formula to get it right)

Action - no matter where the action comes from or what form it takes- you must have action to achieve any goal!  ANY GOAL....ANY GOAL!

Yes, action!  I have chosen several forms of action to reach my goal. I spent a lot and I do mean a lot of time thinking about the action before I ever put it into action. Even now, the action is hardest part.  But I am learning and it is exciting to have break through moments. 

I wrote yesterday about the falling into the pit after the being on the mountain thing.  I do believe I was having a Crisis of Belief.  I was questioning my faith in this process and faith in myself and questioning my action and my commitment to my action. I was questioning my husband's action and my faith in him.

As it turns out I was also mad at myself.  Yes, mad at myself.  Why? I was angry because I hadn't been taking the proper action.  Two weeks ago my husband's first term ended and second term started.  This meant his schedule changed.  When his schedule changes everyone's schedule changes.  Because of my husband having clinic or class every morning we were unable to walk in the mornings.  We were starting to miss our walking all together on most days.  When I thought about this yesterday I realized I was good and pissed because I knew I could not reach my goal if I wasn't walking and walking a lot! 

Solution?  Self discipline equals self regulation.  As soon as I identified my fear and anger I talked to hubby who agreed we needed to start a new routine. And we did.  We walked yesterday afternoon and this evening.  Faith in me restored, faith in him as a support restored, action identified, and action taken. Mood elevated. Problem solved. 

So my crisis of belief led me to question my faith in my goals and myself.  My faith being fairly sound (although I did have a little sit down with the weaker me) led me to question my actions.  My actions being lacking led me to self regulate which is what I call, knowing I need to get off my ass and then doing it which in a nutshell is self discipline. This takes us back to the Divine Wisdom I received Monday, Do the Next Right Thing and then yesterday when I asked God for the courage and wisdom to keep doing that, Well here we are and its a new day. 

Special thanks to my husband Steve for partnering with me in my dream to be healthy again and lose some of this awful, debilitating weight!!  Go Steve!

 

That's all!   ~    Thanks Y'all!