Testing the Water

[new creation]

I am new to this forum but not new to the principals of TW. I purchased the book a few years ago and recently thought to google TW. I am checking to see if I really am activated. Every time I try to reply to a post, I am told that I can't. Let's see if this is working now! His New Creation

[new creation]

Yes, I'm in at last!

I have carried a boat load of sin that the Lord knows all about and to which I have confessed over and over. I wish I could go to an older, godly woman for help, or a very wise counsellor but feell I can trust no one with the particular sin(s) I have struggled with. I feel so afraid that someone will find oiut and I will be rejected and scorned. I wish I could believe that I am forgiven but I struggle with unbelief that God could love me. I have felt like a hypocrite as I appear to have it all together before everyone in my church. I don't believe that anyone who really KNEW ME would be able to stand me. I keep to myself quite a bit and have made LOSING WEIghT my main focus and goal in life for the past several years. I need alot more than to lose a few more pounds. I need to lose the weight of my sins, and this miserable condition of not believing God and resting and trusting in Him. Has anyone been in this position before and do you have any words of wisdom for me.

I am calling myself "new creation" for that is what I am in Christ and I am trying to work on a new mindset, one that believes God. I am hopeful that God has led me to this site as He continues that good work in me which He began. I am tired from all my running and hiding. His New Creation

[momof7]

Welcome to the forums!

Just a quick note to let you know, you are on the right track! I have struggled much with eating in secret, focus on/obsession with my body and my weight, and with what I appear to others being *sigh*so different from how I am alone. Don't let the enemy disrail you and tell you that TW is just another way to lose weight! It is so much more than that.

I have been doing this for a month now, and am seeing much progress in my walk with the Lord, on becoming transparent before Him and others. I am reading Silent Hunger, also published as Thin Again by the same authors (Halliday). This book is a tremendous resource for addressing the WHYs of overeating, the deeper issues. I would encourage you to read it if you are struggling with the past, etc..

You are in a safe place. Trust and know that the Lord IS GOOD, He will not fail you. He accepts you! Glad you are here.

Blessings!

[norma]

There is no sin that God will not forgive. I know there is someone out there you can unload this on that will not judge you. You are dearly loved and not condemned.

[ela]

Hi new creation!
What a wonderful gift to see yourself as a God's new creation!
You are off to a great start with just that.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings honestly here.
I have had those same thoughts and feelings that you described. Whenever I turn to God and sincerely surrender those thoughts and feelings to Him, He replaces them with fresh ideas and feelings of love and peace and joy. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Psalms 23:1 (KJV)
The Word of God is here now available to comfort and uplift us.
And here at TW, we are here to support one another in turning to the Word for everything, starting with our daily bread.
I started with the Thin Within book and now I am on Ch. 7 of Silent Hunger, and I agree with what Valerie wrote about it.
Yes, I have been in the position you are finding yourself. My words of wisdom are from Matthew 6:33: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (NIV) and from Matt. 6:12 "Forgive us our sins, just as we also have forgiven those who sin against us." (NIRV)
I am praying for you, using the 23rd Psalm as my guide.
Many blessings and much love,

[Julie]

Lord please be with New Creation. Speak Your grace into her heart and life. Help her to find and identify that trusted person to whom she can talk. Lord help her to know that by Your grace she is forgiven - no matter what the sin or offense - You died for that and it is washed away in Your blood. Amen.

Welcome New Creation! Please know that no matter what you are forgiven! 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

I understand the shame though - the shame that clings and pulls us down and tell us that we can never be good enough - that the lives we are living is a sham and "if someone only knew..." Please know that shame is not of God. His grace has covered you. You are His child, no matter what! He loves you just as you are just where you are starting right now! Past and all!

Something that I've learned - my story is not who I am AND it effects where I'm starting. Being impacted by our past, by our story, is normal AND that past and that story don't define *who* you are! Only God defines *who* you are and you are loved and you are becoming that New Creation in Him!

[new creation]

Thank you ladies

I posted my whole complicated situation and problem, hit send and it turns out in the time I was working on my post, somehow I was not logged in.

So maybe The Lord doesn't want that all shared?

I am a woman who has sinned, and fallen into sin, over and over and over. But this is a new day, and I am His New Creation, and He is the Lord who bled and died to make an atonement for my sins. I will to beleive that God is that gracious and that good and that my sins are separated from me as far as the east is from the west. I got up this morning and bypassed ThinAgain to read His Written Word first and continued to read after my husband left for work. I have been greatly encouraged from the posts I have read here. This is truly a grace-based approach to living and I really need to learn about His grace first-hand. I have weilded the club of condemnation for years and years till I just can't stand it any more.

Thank you for your kind welcome. May we all sit at our dear Lord and Master's feet, He who is our Bread of Life and bask in His beauty and holiness and find our soul's fed and uplifted. His Blessings to You, New Creation

[Diahn]

Welcome, New Creation! May your "new beginning" here be exactly what you need to be on your way to healing. Please know there is absolutely NO condemnation due you...we're all sickly sheep in need of the great and wonderful friend, Jesus! I know this forum is so helpful in this path to freedom....hope you feel that you can ask away/comment as you are led. Again, welcome! Praise God for another friend in Him!

[Mishapraise]

New Creation.
There is an old song that says "My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not the part BUT THE WHOLE, is nailed to the cross and I BEAR IT NO MORE, praise the LOrd, praise the Lord, Oh my soul."

Sounds like you are having some trouble forgiving yourself. The Lord has forgiven you, you need to let it go too. ANd honey, some of us have been around for a lot of years, there isn't anything that you could share that would shock us. You would be surprised how much we all have in common if the truth were known. But the enemy of your soul has a vested interest in keeping you disconnected from the fellowship of others, which he knows would be life changing because God has ordained it to be so.

I have been so trapped in my feelings as you are right now so often. I figured that if I felt it had to be truth, right? Well, no, actually. Often, my feelings were real, yes, but not truth. I needed to acknowledge them, yes, but then I needed to apply the word to them. Ok. I don't feel forgiven , is this true? WEll, no, it's not. It's a real feeling but it's lieing to me. The Word says, He has forgiven me. THat's the truth. I stand on that then. Never build your life on your feelings. That's like building on a sandy beach at low tide. Build your thought life on the word as you give Him your unruly and often untrustworthy emotions.

It's our pride that says No one would really love us if they knew us. And because a woman's biggest fear is abandonment, it's hard to break through that. I'm in recovery and that fear is what keeps a lot of people sick. You share your 4th step inventory and realize it's not as bad as you thought it was going to be. and what a relief to be known and not have to pretend anymore.

It scared me too but the only way to be free is to be honest. Find someone on this board you like what they say. Message them privately and tell your tale. You will be loved. You will be surprised and you will taste freedom for the first time, better than any food you can put in your mouth. We are as sick as our secrets and that terminal uniqueness can take us out of the race Jesus died and rose again to put you in.

Please don't face this alone. Your freedom will come in the sharing. But I would recommend a private share at first until you are ready to bless others with a public one. Remember that the enemy of your soul has a vested interest in keeping you alone and despairing. It's not God telling you all these negative things. All His anger for your sins was vented on Jesus over 2000 years ago now. His love is what's left. Trust it, rest in it , pursue it with your whole being. God will not disappoint you.

Let us help you remove these nasty old grave cloths so the new creation can shine. Remember too, you have a new heart as well, the old, deceitful one is gone, God lives in your new heart. He couldn't live in your old one, He had to give you a new one, which the Word has promised us. The flesh will tell you you are not new. It will entice you to live the old way and not listen to your new heart. Don't pay it any mind. Listen to God, to His word as He whispers it in your spirit.

No need to hide, honey. Not any more. God has brought you here to love you, to help you know that, to bring out the beautiful new person He brought to life when you asked Him to save you.
Welcome home.
(((((((hugs)))))
Red from iowa