WORD for Today!!

Good Morning everyone!! I am so blessed to be apart of this board that I wanted to let you all know how thankful I am!!! You are all so amazing to me and I am praying for each of you daily!! This morning's topic is kind of personal to me and I would like to share my heart with all of you!! I think this applies to everyone here as there are many who have had or having WLS and are near or at goal. I would like everyone to reflect on your initial desires to have this surgery. Were there any areas that you had concerns with? How did you feel about getting to goal?? Did you think YOU would change?? If so, were you wondering how others would react to you as a "thin" person now? Or, how would YOU be and your life be once at goal. I think if you take this a step deeper, some of you may discover why you really hadn't made your goal weight yet, or have stalled out and picked up old habits again. When I was going through the preop testing and psych eval, this was the one thing the psychologist asked me. What was the one thing I was afraid of with all of this. My answer: Was not knowing or unsure of how I was going to be as a "thin" person. What was I going to be like now that the one thing I used to protect me from emotional and physical harm was gone. It is the final reminder of my past! Would I be able to cope and how would I react?? Obviously, these things can't be answered until I am at or near goal. BUT, none the less, its a real thing. I have used my weight to keep many people at a distance or not let them in my life because I didn't want to be hurt or rejected. But in the end this has ended up hurting me more than anything!! And yes, as I am losing wt, I am changing into the woman that God wants me to become!! Which is much better than I was with the extra weight. Now for some, these personal questions, concerns and fears could be very unseddling if you don't have a relationship with the Lord or if you have walked away from God. God is the God of peace, not the God of fear! He will help you through this process and will lead you and guide you and give you everything you need to get through this. He knows each of us better than anyone or even ourselves!!! I know that there are others who have or are experiencing these same thoughts and feelings. Maybe there are some who are near goal and are finding that they just can't get to goal because they reverted back to the old habits that helped them cope with their life cir****tances. I just want you to know that YOU CAN GET TO GOAL!!!! You CAN become the person that God intended you to be!!! He brought you this far and he will get you there!!! WE need to trust him and allow him to complete the work he began in us!! You know what, I KNOW that he will protect me and sustain me no matter what I go through!!! He will do the same for YOU!!!! Soo....sorry if this is a little rambling message today, but for me, its what I am dealing with and I know there are some out there who are facing the same feelings and thoughts!! I am praying for you and I ask you to continue to pray for me!!!! Psalms 20:4-5, "May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests." AMEN!! Love you all and thanks for letting me be "real". Lucy