Pitiful or Powerful?

This changed the way I think, and I hope you will take the time to read it as well. The whole book so far is very good, I recommend it.


Excerpt from Managing Your Emotions by Joyce Meyer.

“If you want to receive emotional healing and go forward with your life, you must lay down self-pity. I am so convinced of that truth that I will go so far as to ask you the same question that God asked me several years ago: “Do you want to be pitiful or powerful?”

I will also pose some other questions for you on this same subject. The first one is: “Do you feel sorry for yourself?”

Be honest in your response. Don’t do as I used to do and answer, “Yes, but…”

God has shown me that self-pity is like a wall that keeps us from going forward in life. In my own life, I had to learn that everyone has problems. Just because I was abused as a child, I am not a special case. Like everyone else, I have to take responsibility for my own healing and restoration-and so do you. We must cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

My next question is: “Do you have a chip on your shoulder?”

For years I walked around with a huge chip on my shoulder because, “what happened to me was not fair; it shouldn’t have happened to a dog, so I deserve…”

It is a little hard on the flesh to have to admit that our special problems do not make us special cases. We are all special to God, but everybody has been hurt or abused in one way or another. Each of us has to take responsibility for our own behavior and avoid blaming the past or those who have hurt us.

The Bible tells us that those who wallow in self-pity make themselves vulnerable to the devil, who is seeking someone to devour.

If we don’t want the devil to devour us, then we need to resist self-pity, blaming others, and carrying a chip on our shoulder. If we do things God’s way, we will experience God’s victory.

That’s the message that the Lord was trying to get across to me when He asked me whether I wanted to be pitiful or powerful. He was saying to me then, just as He is saying to you now, “You may have a reason to feel sorry for yourself, but you have no right to do so, because I am willing to heal your life. I will deliver you from everything Satan has tried to do to you, and I will use it for your good and My glory.”

All the hurts and wounds you have suffered, even the things you have done to wrong yourself, the Lord can make into the tools and equipment you need to minister to other hurting people.”

Tick. Tock.

I was driving to Starbucks trying my best to arrive on time to meet a friend when I got the text, I’m going to be a little late. One of my biggest pet peeves is waiting on people, even though I tend to be a little late often too…I know I am such a hypocrite. So there I was waiting in my car in the parking lot. I decided that I would make the most out of this opportunity, better or bitter as Aurora always reminds me. I got my nail file out, started talking to God, and listened to some worship music. I then got a second text notifying me that I would be waiting even longer than expected. Normally I would have sent back an annoyed text, but I didn’t. I just kept reminding myself that this was just more time that God was giving me to spend with Him. When my friend finally showed up I was happy with the way I reacted. I didn’t give him the third degree when I had been sitting out there for a good half an hour; I knew it wasn’t his fault that events kept happening. I am so thankful to God that He gave me the time and nudged me to just spend it with Him. I normally would have reacted way differently, but I’m super thankful I was able to control my emotions with God’s help and turn it into something good. The point is, God gives us time everyday to spend with Him, and sometimes He will purposefully slow life down to give us that time, but it’s up to us how we use that time. I could have sat in my car grumbling counting down the minutes, but when I used it for His glory, there wasn’t too much grumbling to be done. There are many opportunities out there to complain about being slowed down, let’s say annoying traffic, but there are also many opportunities to turn that time into a time with God. Thank you God for the reminder.

Ephesians 5:15-20
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm Lovin it.

So I have decided to make healthier decisions when it comes to eating. No, it’s not tied into a New Years resolution; it’s called stepping onto the scale after a semester at Biola and a fattening Christmas and saying, ouch.

Upon this past week of trying to make healthier decisions I found sometimes life just happens and you have to grab some fast food. As I struggled with what to order in the McDonalds drive thru lane trying to make the healthiest in decision I chose a McChicken sandwich with no mayo. I then ate the sandwich with only one side of the bun.

I decided to go online and look at the nutrition facts so next time I would know what to order. I’m no dietician and I don’t know what fats are good and such and such, but if you are just counting calories, this may be some useful information.

I found that just a regular hamburger had 110 calories less than a McChicken. Calories wise, as far as sandwiches go, just a regular hamburger is the lowest coming in at 250 calories. The highest sandwich coming in at a whopping 790 calories was the Angus Bacon and Cheese. Also up in the 700s was Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Angus Bacon and Cheese, Angus Deluxe, and Angus Mushroom and Swiss. Also high was any chicken sandwich that was crispy. That’s going to cost you at least a hundred calories more instead of having it grilled. I found 3 Snack Wraps all under 300 calories; the Grilled Ranch Snack Wrap (270cal), Grilled Honey Mustard Snack Wrap (260cal), Grilled Chipotle BBQ Snack Wrap (260cal). A small order of fries is 230 calories, not including 15 calories per ketchup packet. Calories wise, 4 piece chicken nuggets looked good at 190 calories, but that doesn’t include the extra 50 calories in dipping sauce. So you are at 240 calories for chicken nuggets or 250 calories for a regular hamburger.

When I began to look at their salads, I thought not bad, until I looked at how much calories the dressings had. Your best bet, go for the Newman’s Own Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, which is only 40 calories, compared to 190 calories of New Man’s Own Creamy Caesar Dressing. The croutons are also going to cost you 60 calories. The lowest salad was the Premium Caesar Salad without chicken (90cal). The second lowest salads without chicken at 140 were the Premium Southwest Salad (140cal) or the Premium Bacon Ranch Salad.

I’m not a big breakfast eater, so I won’t go too much into this meal. All I have to say is, stay away from the hotcakes! You will end up with about 1300 calories if you eat the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes! Lowest breakfast would be opting for an English muffin, or the Oatmeal all under 300 calories.

Desserts, oh where to begin! Oh how I lovveee McDonald’s desserts! Sometimes I just go there just to get dessert! The key to this, stay away from shakes and McFlurries. I know, I know, so hard! If you do opt for a McFlurry and can’t resist, choose Oreo over M&Ms, this will save you 130 calories, not much when you already having a lot of calories, but it’s saving something. Your best bet, which most of you already know would be Apple Dippers with low fat caramel or a Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait. I know, some dessert. Humph! If you must splurge, have a cookie. Having a cookie is way better than blowing it on a shake. A Baked Hot Apple Pie will also be a much better choice than a small shake.

The thing I am beginning to tell myself when I want something extra is, eating at McDonalds is already the splurge. If you want to splurge get a cheeseburger, instead of a regular hamburger. That costs you 50 calories and the splurge is the cheese, not feeling the need to add a small order of French fries. I’m also telling myself, if I’m already ordering a burger than a salad, that is the splurge. I don’t really want to buy a salad at McDonalds! Come on it’s McDonalds! Haha.

So my tips at eating at McDonalds. Hamburger, or Chicken Nuggets if you don’t opt for a salad. Not feeling up to drinking more water, have some iced tea! I love iced tea and love that it has zero calories! So if I ordered a hamburger, apple dippers with lowfat caramel dip, and an iced tea my order would total 350 calories. Ordering a Snack Wrap would also come out to about the same. Bad, but not too bad for eating out. I also totaled what would be my perfect meal at McDonalds, and that came out to 1500 calories! Point of the story, know what to order before you go through that drive-thru.