By Dianna Hobbs
I had to apply the word I shared with you last Friday Daily Cup family and “just say no.”
When I went into WUFO studios in downtown Buffalo for my radio show today, a fellow DJ said, “You know there’s some pizza back there,” referencing the break room.
“You can help yourself.”
As I hooked up my computer to the system and tapped on my keyboard to make sure everything was functioning properly before I was live on air at 5 PM, I responded, “Oh, no thanks. It isn’t my cheat day.”
As I told you before, I give myself a designated day of the week to indulge in something that tastes good, but isn’t good for me.
That gives me something to look forward to and helps set boundaries so I won’t grab that bag of chips in the checkout line.
I do my best to stick to that rule, although I have failed in the past.
Miserably.
Like pizza three times a week bad.
Like burgers, ice cream and chocolate cake terrible.
Like Snickers and Salt-N-Vinegar chips, and soda awful.
Don’t look at me with that condemning glance.
So anyway, he looked at me and said, “I’m telling you. It’s good. Double cheese. Pepperoni. Meatballs. You should eat some.”
I chuckled and half-jokingly said, “No. The devil sent you. I rebuke you. I am not eating any pizza today.”
Finally, he relented and I carried on.
Well, as one of the songs was playing, he opened the door to the studio, waved a slice around in the air and chomped down on it.
I just shook my head and stayed focused.
As much as I enjoy pizza, I can’t have it as often as I would like to.
I try to eat things that help me stay healthy and strong, rather than filling myself with empty calories that only leave me hungry and craving more junk food.
Is it just me or is it true for you that when you start eating badly your body wants more of that sweet, greasy, salty stuff you know you don’t need?
Maybe you don’t struggle in that area, but I have to be deliberate about food choices.
I want to make sure I’m nurturing my body.
Speaking about nurturing, it makes me think about an interesting conversation our ten-year-old struck up with me yesterday. In his sort of out-of-the-blue, random kind of way, he shared a cool fact.
“Mommy, did you know mosquitoes drink our blood so they can lay eggs?” he asked.
Classic Kedar.
He just pulls these things out of the sky.
“They do?” I responded.
“They do,” he said confidently.
“Wow, that’s a pretty cool tidbit, Kedar,” I told him.
And he’s right.
Mosquitoes’ annoying bites are purposeful.
Interestingly, only female mosquitoes bite people and it’s for the express purpose of reproducing.
Now, both male and female consume fruit and plant nectar, but the female mosquito needs the protein found in human blood to help her eggs develop.
Pretty fascinating, right?
When you get bitten, once the insect has had her fill of blood, she goes off and rests for a couple days, then lays her eggs.
God programmed that tiny flying insect to know exactly where to go to get the nourishment it needs.
Our life-giving blood helps the female mosquito reproduce.
So the next time you feel that itchy mosquito bite, you’ll know you were instrumental in helping the cycle of life—though that won’t make it feel any better.
In life, we all need to be nurtured, strengthened and empowered to produce. Just like female mosquitoes drink our blood to get what they need, you and I need somewhere we can go to get what we need.
But if we don’t “drink” from the right source, we end up filling ourselves with things that don’t have any power to empower us.
I’m reminded of the Samaritan woman at the well in St. John 4. She had a deep longing of the soul that only Jesus could quench.
In verse 13, the Messiah told her if she drank from the water inside the well, she would be thirsty again. But if she drank of the life-giving spiritual water that only He could provide, she would never thirst again.
After she grabbed hold of the word Jesus imparted to her, His transforming power revolutionized her whole life.
After she “drank” from the Living Water, she gained power to produce other disciples.
In verse 29, that woman ran into town and said, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.”
She was so excited.
She was changed, renewed and able to become an effective witness for Christ because she got a supernatural taste of the Life-Giver.
Don’t you know that same Jesus lives on the inside of you? You don’t have to go around looking, hoping and longing to find strength, joy, peace, and power. Just tap into what’s already within.
You already have the most powerful One of all working in and through you.
He wants you to know you have power to produce.
And if, by chance, you’re feeling weak, I’m stirring a portion of a prayer into your cup of inspiration found in Ephesians 3:16 NIV, which says,” I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, may you sense the strength of Lord arising within. As verse 20 reads in that same chapter, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”
You already have the power.
As President & CEO of Empowering Everyday Women (EEW) Online Magazine, America’s #1 web publication for Christian women of color, Dianna Hobbs and her team endeavor to inform, uplift, inspire, and empower women of God to live out their faith in an increasingly faithless society.
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