My wife had a major health scare over the summer. Her pancreas stopped working and her body was shutting down. She almost didn’t survive. Between her lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, she hadn’t felt well for a while. With her pancreas now shutting down, she was in real trouble. The doctors did great in getting her levels back on track, but even after being released from the hospital, we knew that she would have to make some big lifestyle changes. What else do you do with information like that? We took it seriously and together started exercising and made radical adjustments to our diets. Today, after just a few months, the doctors are blown away by the progress she’s making, and even the painful autoimmune symptoms she’s dealt with for the past couple of years have already lessened quite a bit. She feels so much better, and she’s not done making improvements. Praise God!
So why is it that we so often wait until we’re at a critical level just to make the changes in our lives that we know we need to make. Maybe that’s spending too much money and needing to find ways to save. You know the right things to eat, however, you still hit that McDonald’s drive thru. You know you should be exercising, and yet, you cue up Netflix and say, “Tomorrow, I’m going to start doing right.” Then we never do. So often we do that with our spiritual health, too. We find ourselves doing things that we know we shouldn’t do or reject doing something we know we should. Maybe you know you should pray more, or read your Bible more, or be more generous... or tomorrow you’re going to stop doing “THAT THING” ... whatever that thing is, when you know it’s becoming a problem.
There's a saying that goes: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” That means that if you want success and growth in the future, the best time to act is now. Whether it’s your physical health, mental health, financial situation, mending a broken relationship, or spiritual well being that’s the concern, I encourage you to draw a line in the sand today. If you think it’s too late for you, do this. Place your hand on your heart. If you feel it beating, then it’s not too late. God isn’t finished with you. So, start making those changes today.