Obesity ~ My personal stories

I realize this is a subject that so many people want to ignore. I am going to be as understanding and careful as to how I present this subject of, obesity. Some, no matter the age want to make obesity into a situation of bullying, to make others feel less than or even try to (fat shame) others into making them feel they must lose weight at all costs. All the stares, the laughing, the pointing, and the giggling, all of it. Don't you think that, that person doesn't notice you. You are so wrong. They see it all. 

When I was in elementary school all the girls dared me to kiss a boy who was over weight (today doctors would have said he was obese) and act as if he were by boyfriend for the rest of the day. So I did. But what happened after was I found that he was a super nice boy and we became friends and I apologized for what I had done my making it a dare. I often think of that day fifty years later and how it could have become something completely different, such as bullying. I knew even at that age God did not want me to do those things. They laughed at me because I was his friend and that was okay, because I saw past the weight and saw the person inside. And he was pretty nice and funny.

There is another time I saw someone being bullied but this time it was in Junior / Middle school and it was a P.E. teacher doing the bullying. Some may remember when at some point in P.E. We had to do fitness test to see what we were capable of doing. Climbing rope, pull-ups, sit-ups, running, etc. But there was that one girl that happened to be over wait. The teacher made her try to do pull-ups on the bar, that was attached to a brick wall. And to humiliate her more the teacher made two students pick her up to reach the bar, so when they could no longer hold her up. Her hands slipped and her face hit the wall. Blood everywhere and she lost her front teeth. Oh, but then the teacher felt bad, but not before they put her through all that embarrassment. Even at that age I knew it was wrong. That girl was out of school for a very long time. But when she came back we became actual frineds not just someone you say hi to in the hall or class.

How many times do we see Hollywood push their views of how someone should look, to the point that a person has become addicted to what helps them lose weight. This might end up with an accidental overdose or an intentional suicide.

Most of the bullying comes from family and friends and they might not even realize that it's a type of bullying or making the person who is overweight ashamed, because they tell them all the time why do you eat that, can’t you eat healthier food. All you do is eat snacks, you drink soda all the time, why can't you eat better. I know that anyone at any time could be in a situation. That can cause them to want to hide something that happened to them years ago, some traumatic incident or situation. And they use food to try to cope with what is going on because they can't trust anyone to talk to them about it because they're ashamed.

Most of all I wanted to show that this next part is very important. Being overweight or (obese) doesn't mean you aren't important or loved just as you are. Jesus sees everyone on the inside, He sees your heart. He also knows your joys and your sorrows; and sees your tears. He will always be there for you. Be the person that God has created you to be. No matter what size makes you happy there's no hate here, only Jesus’ love. Be your best self, I know that it doesn't matter what other people think of you. Jesus caring about you is the most important thing you should remember.

Deuteronomy 31:20 (NKJV)
[20] When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.

Deuteronomy 32:15 (NKJV)
[15] “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

Judges 3:17 & 22 (NKJV)
[17] So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)
[22] Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out.

I Samuel 2:29 (NKJV)
[29] Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’

A Soldier's Wife

Isaiah 53:3-7 (NLT)

3. He was despised and rejected—    
     a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.

4. Yet it was our weaknesses He carried;
    it was our sorrows that weighed Him down.
And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for His own sins!

5. But He was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.

6. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on Him
    the sins of us all.

7. He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet He never said a word.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    He did not open his mouth.

Waters that Overwhelm You

I can say God never said that certain places wouldn't flood. He promised He wouldn't flood all of the earth at the same time killing every person and every animal ever again. I honestly believe a lot of the flooding we see now could be contributed to us. We create so many buildings, roads, and parking lots out of concrete and asphalt that the water has nowhere else to go but run off into the gutters and down the drains to the oceans and rivers, along with all our trash as well.

Where I live in the Tampa Bay area (FLORIDA) is a good example of how the concrete can heat up on the two main bridges over the Tampa Bay to cause actual thunderstorms to pop up right over that area and only that area. When the rain clouds start to pop up, it will be only on those bridges and nowhere else.

I think that kind of lends to the theory of the asphalt and concrete the bridges are made out of can get so hot they can cause their own thunderstorms to develop. My point in doing this post is the get people to realize that the flooding isn't always just from too much rain it's from too much over building and not having enough green space to let the water soak in before running off into the oceans and rivers. It has gotten so bad where I live we have wildlife in our backyards that we shouldn't have. Such as possums, raccoons, hawks and osprey, almost any kind of animal that should be in a rural area is now in my backyard.

Builders are taking all the green space that should be helping to soak the water in so it doesn't flood in the cities. Our city is getting better at making more parks and green spaces. Green medians with grass, plants and trees, so I can say I'm proud to live where I live because we're doing what we can to add green back to the city.

But we do have to understand that if things continue to go the way some cities are, there's just going to be more flooding when the rain gets heavy and goes on for days like it can here where I live. It's just going to run off and sit somewhere and cause flooding. If your city doesn't add green space contact your city officials and make sure they’re making it easier for the water to stay where it needs to stay and not run off. Most important thing God promised to never flood the whole earth. When He makes promised He never takes it back.

Genesis 7:10-12 (NKJV)

[10] And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth.

[11] In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
[12] And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Joshua 3:15-16 (NKJV)

[15] and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),

[16] that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

Jeremiah 12:5 (NKJV)

[5] “If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,

Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?

Matthew 7:25 (NKJV)

[25] and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

Matthew 24:38-39 (NKJV)

[38] For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

[39] and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

~Building storm clouds from the hot summer heat on the concrete bridges.~

You can see where I circled the bridges. 

Water has nowhere to go in a big city so it floods, everywhere.

(Courtesy of Bay News 9)