I have been tempted at many points throughout my life to only show the good side of things.
It's probably why I'm drawn toward sales in some fashion, because I like to show all of the positives.
Yet I do not always get things right.
I make mistakes.
I get off-track at times.
It happened last week.
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After having surgery in August to remove cancer from my body, the doctors at the hospital highly recommended I go through chemo and radiation to ensure all of the cancer was killed.
Rachel and I wrestled with the choice for quite a while.
These doctors we trusted for the surgery were also recommending this next phase, but there were a lot more risks with this next step that could negatively impact the rest of my life.
There were some benefits, of course, but we didn't feel the benefits outweighed the risks that were possible.
As we prayed about the decision to make, we chose to not go through chemo and radiation.
Yet we didn't do nothing.
We flew to Georgia to meet and learn from a doctor who helps people restore health in their entire body.
In a fast-food culture of high-stress and fast-paced living, he proposes an entire lifestyle change.
And it's been a change!
But last week I got off-track!
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I was tempted to show you all of the things I'm doing, what I'm eating, what I'm not eating, how I'm slowing down with my lifestyle pace.
But I want you to know something I learned the hard way last week.
It's this truth, and these words came from my wife: 100% is easy; 99% is hard.
That's the truth, but let me explain how it played out.
Because I am in a season of promoting health in my body, my doctor recommended eating lots of vegetables and only certain types of meat, and there's a big list of foods I no longer eat.
For some of the foods I eliminated, it isn't necessarily that those foods are bad for me.
But in this season, they won't set my body up for the best modes of healing.
So for now, I have cut out caffeine and sugar and most grains and all dairy and most fruit.
The goal is to give my body the minerals and sustenance it needs to heal itself, because God designed our bodies to heal themselves.
We need only give it what it needs to do that.
But every single day last week, I had homemade, delicious sourdough bread.
I also intentionally ate multiple pieces of candy during our gingerbread house contest at church.
I ate popcorn and cheese.
I drank coffee multiple days.
I devoured LOTS of a french toast casserole Rachel made for the kids and their friends who stayed the night.
It was insane!
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I told myself that just one bite would be ok.
Yet it led to a second...and a third...and a twentieth.
Maybe you can relate to that!
You're doing amazing with the action steps toward your goal, and you feel unstoppable because you have established a new routine and habit.
It's going great.
Then you're tempted in a small moment to take a quick break or celebrate with something else.
And then the whole momentum train comes off the rails!
You see, 100% was easy.
When I followed the routine and habit of what I was eating and not eating, I did great.
I felt amazing. My body felt lighter and stronger.
Sure, I was tempted everyday with sugar or bread, but in those moments I borrowed my conviction from before when I had made the decision that I would do this.
But 99% was really hard.
It's like when you crack the door open to see if your big slobbery dog is still waiting for you outside, and he pushes into the crack and barges into the room.
Now he's shaking off the dirty mud puddle water all over the living room, and all you did was open the door a crack.
It's hard to control "just a little bit."
Sometimes 99% is harder than 100%.
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Here's my challenge for you today: GO ALL IN!
With your health goal, go all in. Commit to it completely.
Decide ahead of time what you will do and what you will not do.
Later, when you are struggling with whether you will follow through, borrow that confidence and conviction you had from the moment you decided you wanted to do it.
Don't allow the 1% to steal your resolve and commitment.
Last Saturday, when I devoured way more french toast casserole than I initially planned to, it was my turning point of realization.
I made up my mind that I wasn't going to cheat anymore.
I was going back all in to the path.
I already feel better again.
I feel stronger again too because my body isn't having to detox the sugar and process the grains.
My body can focus on healing and restoring and growing stronger.
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How do you need to commit fully today?
Is it with your health?
Is it with your family?
Is it with how you handle your money?
Is it with a work project?
Is it with a friendship that needs to go deeper or another that needs to be released?
Is it with actually pausing to find more joy in your everyday?
Is it with living out your faith in a way you've been neglecting?
You know yourself.
Go all in.
100% is easy; 99% is hard!
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This next Monday The Clarity Question becomes available for purchase in paperback!
I am so excited for you to read this and learn to answer The Clarity Question in seven different areas of life: What does this season require?
It will bring clarity to how to live right now.
Whatever season of life you're in, this season requires certain things from you.
But do you know what it is?
Grab the book to learn how to ask yourself the right questions so that you can get it right in this season of life.
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