Dear Friends in Christ -
One of the biggest news items to hit the airwaves this week has been Oprah's weight. Being a very weight conscious person myself (I once weighed 200+ pounds), it had not escaped my notice that she was looking heavier and that she hadn't shot a full-length magazine cover this past year.
I've heard several people say that she must have just let herself get fat for the money. Clearly that's someone who has never struggled with his/her weight. Or someone who's jealous that Oprah's going to profit from her struggle.
While it's true that the rating for Oprah's TV show go up when she's heavier (likely because people feel they can relate to her better), believe me when I tell you that no one who truly struggles with his/her weight would "fall off the wagon" just for a few ratings points.
As for profiting from her struggle: to be honest, I hope Oprah does profit from her struggle (and I'm talking about more than financial profit here). The truth is, I hope we ALL profit from our struggles. This is God's hope for us, too.
We all have struggles, places where we're enslaved to one thing or another that keeps us from being our best selves, the beautiful beings God created. Remember Joseph? He was such a snotty, self-righteous brat that his brothers couldn't stand him. So they sold him into slavery. Joseph had a hard life, but through it all, he learned to trust God and live in harmony with others. Later in his life, when he encountered his brothers again, they asked for his forgiveness for the terrible thing that had done to him. Joseph's reply: " Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good . . ."
May this be a year in which you find God in your struggles, helping you - through them - to find that which is good.
Faithfully yours,
Janet+
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