One of the hardest things is to say no to yourself. We live in a culture that says, do what makes you feel good. Sometimes what makes me feel good now will make me feel bad later.
The message in church this morning was about how you will not face more temptation than you can bear and how God will always make a way out. But usually we don't want to say no to something that makes us feel good in the moment. For example, I like homemade chocolate chip cookies but later tonight I will regret that I ate 4-8 of them earlier today. It makes me feel chubby just thinking about how many I've eaten. I also don't like what the scale tells me the morning after. But when I'm snarfing them down all I'm thinking about is how good they taste and I just want one more.
And someone might say, well why not? You're skinny enough. You aren't helping me; I need the friend who says, Sarah! How far are you going to have to run to work off that next cookie?
The other thing that I have to think about is: what are my children seeing me do? Do they see me say no to myself? Instead of buying that new book in Barnes and Noble I need to say, Let's check if the library has it, because what if I don't like it? I also have to be willing to do the things I don't want to do. I don't WANT to clean the bathrooms, but I do it every week. I have told them, I don't want to vacuum but I need to do it before we go to the park. I don't want to pick up the toys either but I really don't want to live in a pigsty.
I do not like what culture says. I want my kids to live by the truths in the Bible not by what their feelings are telling them is okay. Willing to say no, I don't have to have the new toy- I want you to play with it first. Even though I want Taco Bell I will tell myself no to fast food because I want to live a long and healthy life. I'm not going to buy a new wardrobe on credit cards, I'll pay cash so I'm not a slave to debt. I'm going to be a virgin until my wedding night despite what culture says is socially acceptable and expected. I am willing to say no to myself.