I’ve never known that, when you do wrong, it breeds more wrong-doing. After all of the progress I’ve had, I overate early this morning and completely fell off the rails.
Just one misstep, and I was back wanting to do wrong today. I want to eat everything in sight.
Now this is where the choice comes in. What are my choices? I have two:
One is to turn off of the TV and reset myself by getting into the Word as much as I can all day. Today will turn out to be a great day if I do that.
My other choice is to eat all day, receiving condemnation from the enemy. He’ll be accusing me and telling me that nothing has changed. He’ll taunt me saying “It’s no use doing Thin Within! I told you, you haven’t changed! It really doesn’t matter. Mind renewal is just hogwash! Just go ahead and eat!”
.
But I want to tell you the outcome of the day!
I finished well today!
I did not let the enemy get the best of me!
What a huge victory for me. Yes, I fell off of the rails, but only for a short while.
.
.
This time was different from all of the other times! I finished by eating a modest portion only two meals after I had blown it!
Had I had this fall in my bingeing days, it would have been a disaster!
But guess what? The mind renewal is working! It’s actually changing me from the inside out!
There are a few words that I have now banned from my thinking vocabulary. These are:
I’ll start tomorrow.
You might as well.
More.
.
The word less is good; not more.
I still use the word tomorrow, but it has a new meaning and use…
Instead of saying “Well, you’ve blown it, so you might as well go ahead and eat now and just start tomorrow,” I tell myself “You can have that food tomorrow, if you want.”
Next time I will not get tripped up with just one bite. But I’m glad that at least I learned a lot from that trip!
Go to God for everything else that has lured you to eat for other reasons than to fuel your body.
But as simple as this is, it isn’t easy.
What is the road block?
The core of many of our challenges on our Thin Within journeys can be pulled out and dismantled if we deal with two really important issues…
Are you convinced that God is calling you to the Thin Within approach of eating any food between the parameters of physical hunger and physical satisfaction?
Do you wonder if it will work?
Without a rousing YES answer to the first of these two questions and a definite NO to the second, it will be hard for anyone…even with the help of a coach, book, material, testimony, blog article…to convince you that you should get back on the horse, back into your Thin Within journey. You will be likely to struggle a lot with consistency. Perseverance isn’t likely to happen when the going gets tough.
Ask the Lord to meet you and show you if this hunger/satisfaction approach is for YOU because He has called you to it or if it is the most palatable “diet” that you selected from all the options that you could have chosen…is it your will? Or is it what God wants for you, His child?
The FIRST STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles in your Thin Within journey is to prayerfully evaluate if either of these are missing:
–>a conviction that God wants you to use this approach for your eating/body issues
–> an assurance that Thin Within will “work” for releasing weight (if your body requires it) and to give you peace with your body and with food
SOLUTION: If you lack the conviction and assurance that God wants this for you and that this approach will “work” to accomplish what *HE* intends for you:
So often when we have been on diets, we did it because we wanted to get thinner for a reunion, a trip coming up, a friend’s wedding, swimming at the beach, etc. When these are the reasons we begin Thin Within, then–like in our experiences with dieting–when our motivation lags to keep at it because we want to look great for the upcoming event, we end up lacking commitment. We burn out. We throw in the towel. We quit.
But if there is a conviction that God wants me to do this, it takes my motivation to a new level.
The SECOND STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles is to realize the impact of our dieting years and the influence of our culture. We are bucking a long standing system! Be aware of the dieting mentality and how it can undermine our efforts in Thin Within.
Dieting teaches us that we are either successes or failures when we try to lose weight. Our culture is all about performance.
For years we did the pendulum swing…at the one extreme we would commit (like at the first of the year) to a new eating program or maybe even Thin Within. We could hold on for only so long and then we felt like we weren’t doing it well enough and we bailed…or quit…or stopped trying…and swung to the other extreme…threw all caution to the wind.
What we have to do is allow the cross of Christ to stabilize and stop the pendulum swing.
I have often likened our Thin Within journeys to being on a trail ride. In dieting and in other areas of life, the whole point is riding the horse from here to our destination perfectly. It is all about our accomplishment. It is not about the journey. In fact, success or failure seems to be determined by getting to the destination or not. We have been results oriented. Not process oriented. Dieting taught us to be self-focused and very black or white in our thinking.
BUT On the Thin Within journey, riding down the trail and never falling off–as wonderful as that may sound–isn’t our goal! Being really good at getting back up ON the horse instead of wallowing around in the dirt each time we fall off IS the goal. THIS is doing the journey well! When we fall off our horses, we don’t wallow in the dirt. We get back in the saddle and evaluate what we can do differently next time to be victorious. This IS doing “Thin Within well!”
SOLUTION: If you know you are being affected by perfectionism or all-or-nothing thinking:
A. Accept that FAILURE IS A TEACHER, not an UNDERTAKER. Failure is what you do, not who you are.
B. Allow God to use your failures, mess-ups and mis-steps to show you what hasn’t worked. In this way, you can develop a plan of action for emerging victorious the next time by doing things differently.
The THIRD STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles on the Thin Within journey is to see that God’s grace isn’t just a one-time event when we come to Him for salvation. It is an ongoing power, presence, and provision even in my failures.
This is where we apply God’s grace in the tool called Observation and Correction.
With Observation and Correction, God redeems my failures. HE can redeem whatever has caused me to fall off the horse (or eat outside of my hunger and satisfaction boundaries). He turns my failure into a learning opportunity–if I am willing.
Recently, our Coaching Groups were having their last group conference call for the current coaching session. The assignment I had given them ahead of time was to consider looking back over the time since they began their first coaching group and jot down a list of lessons God has shown them through observation and correction. What “corrections” had God given them that are keepers as they go forward?
The results were nothing short of inspirational. It is the heart of grace. It is the heart of Thin Within.
Each one of the participants experienced failures in their lives. By God’s GRACE and wisdom, they had used what they learned from the failures to write down options for making different choices in the future or to prepare for challenges in a new way…like by developing needed skills or renewing their minds.
Counter to our performance culture or dieting mentality, we need to know that messing up with our eating is something that happens on this Thin Within journey. Consider each time you “hit the dirt” to be an opportunity to learn how to “get back on the horse again.” View each time that you are on the ground as an opportunity to practice getting going again.
SOLUTION: If you know you need to grow in applying God’s grace to your journey:
A. Develop and add to a Victory List – each time you recognize that you stopped eating before you would have in the past, or if you pray or renew your mind, or…whatever it might be! Jot it down and keep an ongoing list of the many “baby step” victories that God gives you. Review this list often and go through it, thanking him out loud for each one!
B. Make liberal use of the Observation and Correction tool. (Even better if you keep a running list of the “corrections” that God has given you.)
God may be up to something larger and more important than what size your body is!!!
How About You?
What specific challenges are you facing? How might applying these ideas help? We want to hear from you in our comments section here at the blog!
Image courtesy of nongpimmy at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
We get so discouraged when we break a boundary. We eat when we aren’t hungry (zero). We blow past satisfaction (5). We bring out that “club of condemnation” one more time (sigh). But wait! STOP! Pause. Freeze it right there! Come a little closer to the screen. Yes, there. Now let me tell you a little secret (hands cupped over your ear): Failure leads to victory! Sorry, did I shout that into your ear instead of whispering. Sorry! I just get a little excited!
It’s true! It’s not about following your boundaries 100% all.of.the.time. It’s about going to God if you break your boundaries. We get so upset when we break our boundaries. We feel bad about ourselves. We think we will never be able to follow our boundaries. So then we overeat because we feel bad about ourselves. It’s like this vicious cycle that is perpetuated by our thoughts, beliefs, despair, thinking we will never be skinny anyway, so we might as well eat. Sound familiar?
But what would happen if we looked at every boundary breakage (aka failure) and renewed our mind instead? What if instead of feeling bad about ourselves and discouraged, we got really excited because we get to get closer to the Lord because of our failure?
I tell you what would happen: we would have victory!
I’ve seen it! I’ve experienced this! I’ve tasted it! When I break a boundary, I get so excited that I get to sit with Jesus and talk things over. Maybe I’m just an odd one…wait…I KNOW I’m an odd one! But really, I do get excited to renew my mind and bring all of my thoughts and feelings before the Lord. I love that as I am real with Him, He shows me His truth.
So how does this work? How does failure turn into victory?
Here’s an example: Evening was the most tempting time for me to want to overeat. I had a really hard time breaking the habit of eating outside of my boundaries in the evening. I would put my daughter to bed and then immediately I would make some popcorn or grab some sort of snack, and then eat it in front of the TV (distraction, mindless eating). It wouldn’t matter if I was hungry or not, that’s the habit I had developed over the years (and well before my daughter). I knew I wanted to change it, but I kept on doing it. I would feel so bad and would feel like I failed yet again. My solution (well, God’s solution) was that after I put my daughter to bed, I would sit and read through my truth cards, or I would answer a set of questions from I Deserve a Donut in my journal, and reading scriptures. I took that time to renew my mind. Change didn’t happen right away, but as I took the time each night to renew my mind, little by little, day by day, the Lord was transforming me, until one day I no longer had the urge to grab something to eat after putting my daughter to bed. And since then, I just wait until I’m hungry to have an evening snack. And sometimes I am not hungry for a snack, and I’m totally ok with that. That’s a huge change! Victory!
It wasn’t self-control. It wasn’t will-power. It was GOD who changed me! My part was being self-disciplined in taking the time to sit with Him and renew my mind.
Failure led to victory!
We try to change our outcome through our own strength. We think if we change our habit or behavior first, then our thoughts and beliefs will line up. But it’s actually the other way around. First, we have to change our thoughts and beliefs, and THEN we will change our habits and behavior. We tell ourselves that we will “do better next time.” We strive and put forth all of our own human effort to see change in our eating habits, but when we lean upon ourselves to make it happen, we will only become weak and tired. It’s God who helps us overcome. It’s not in our own strength. So each time we go to Him and repent after we’ve sinned, we are transformed more and more to His likeness. When we renew our mind after overeating, we are transformed.
I look at failure as opportunity to grow. I look at failure as practice.
It took Thomas Edison 1,000+ times before he had the invention of the light bulb “perfected”. Every failure led to victory. He didn’t give up. And just because we overate just now or last night, it doesn’t mean we smash all of the light bulbs and give up. It means we keep going forward. We renew our mind. We go to God. We think that because of failing to follow our boundaries, that we need new boundaries. Maybe you’ve been really trying your best to follow your boundaries of eating between hunger and satisfaction, but you keep overeating. Does that mean your boundaries don’t work? No way! It means it’s time to renew your mind. It’s time to go sit at the feet of Jesus and drink in His truth.
So the next time you are tempted to fail: go to Jesus. Renew your mind. The next time you break a boundary: seek His truth. And know that each time you do, you are one step closer to victory! Sweet, sweet victory!!
Would you like to know more about renewing your mind? There are so many great resources on this website and blog about doing just that. Do you have a set of truth cards? If not, you can learn more about it here. I also have recorded a set of my truth cards on a Sound Cloud file that you can find here. Do you have a set of questions to help aid you in renewing your mind such as Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut? How else can we, at Thin Within, help to encourage you to renew your mind and see failure as victory?
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
If you’ve been following the blog in the past 10 months (or even longer) or you are participating in the 2014 Thin Within Workbook Class, you have probably read or heard a lot about the importance of renewing our mind when it comes to changing the way we have been eating. And this week the workbook study is talking about God’s grace. Recently, the Lord has shown me something spectacular that I wanted to share.
I understood the importance of renewing my mind, which for me has meant taking time each day (at least once a day, if not twice), to read my truth cards. I’ve also been very slowly going through Barb Raveling’s book, Taste For Truth, which is all about renewing our minds when it comes to our weight loss journey. I understood why I needed to renew my mind in a proactive way (before the temptation to overeat), but what I was having a hard time understanding was how to renew my mind after I’ve overeaten.
And then one night last week I had one of those moments of eating way more than my body needed. I stopped immediately after the incident and sat down with my journal, truth cards, and my iPhone that has Barb Raveling’s app ‘I Deserve a Donut’ and also the new Thin Within app. The first thing I did was I wrote to the Lord in my journal, telling Him about what happened, asking Him to forgive me, and asking Him for help. I also wrote down how my body felt after eating too much. I also noted that I hadn’t spent time earlier that day renewing my mind. Then I wrote down the reason I don’t like overeating. I opened the section on Barb’s app about regret, which I hadn’t noticed before. It fit perfectly to how I was feeling and what I was thinking. I answered the questions in my head and read through the scriptures. And then I went to the Thin Within app and wrote down some of the scriptures in my journal that were under ‘failure’. Those scriptures were:
The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. Psalm 25:8
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19
After I spent time renewing my mind after I felt like I had failed, I no longer felt like a failure, and I no longer carried this regret or condemnation. I felt renewed in my mind and like I was back right where I needed to be. Praise the Lord! It was such an encouragement to see how God worked in all of that, and all I had to do was take the time to sit in His presence. I’m so thankful for His mercy and grace!
I believe it was a day or two after that incident that I read something really refreshing from Barb’s Taste for Truth book. She said, “You are not set free by following your boundaries perfectly. You’re set free by the renewing of your mind. Failure is an opportunity to renew your mind once again.” That REALLY spoke to me! I even wrote it in my truth cards. And in my own words I wrote this:
I am set free because of what God does when I renew my mind.
I am set free because I renew my mind.
I follow my boundaries because I renew my mind.
This has given me a whole new outlook on failure. I don’t have to look at failure as an “oh well, I failed, I guess I might as well eat” or beat myself over the head with the club of condemnation. I can now look at failure as yet another reason I can renew my mind! I will overcome by going to God each time I fail. I come to Him, He helps me, I am set free, and then I can move forward.
I had a moment today and after I sat down and renewed my mind. The Lord met me and again, I was able to move forward with no regrets and with His amazing peace. I feel like I’ve found this key to overcoming and I’m just so excited! I will renew my mind about this as long as it needs to take, even if I have to fill journal upon journal. I am not going to give up! I know there is power in the Word of God! I will stand upon the Rock of Christ Jesus! He is helping me and through Him I am victorious! Amen!
How about you?
What do you think would happen if you spent time renewing your mind after you feel like you’ve failed? I truly believe that each time we go to God and renew our mind after we’ve eaten outside of our boundaries that we are going to one day find that we are no longer going to give in to the temptation to overeat. It won’t even be an issue anymore. I look at taking the time to renew my mind as part of the victory! The Lord wants us to come to Him after we’ve had a “moment”; He wants to meet with us and fill us with His truth and love!
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
As much as I hate to admit it, I know a thing or two about failure.
Ten years ago, I discovered Thin Within and released over forty pounds in the span of two years. It was a time of blessing and victory in my life and I am so thankful that the Lord brought me to Thin Within! Unfortunately, my success was not long term and I gained thirty of those pounds back over the past six years. It’s hard to admit that, but my lessons in failure have helped bring me into a sustained place of freedom with food and obsession with weight. Praise God!
During those six years where I regained the weight, I stopped and started Thin Within close to two dozen time (gosh, that’s hard to admit!). I would commit to Thin Within for a few weeks, experience a little success and then immediately fall of the horse and find myself three pounds heavier than when I started. It was a cycle that I went through over and over again. I felt hopeless as I cycled in and out of Thin Within… “Lord! Will I ever just get this 0-5 stuff and stop failing?!” I worried that my failures meant that I was a failure.
Thankfully, I can truly say that God is doing a new thing in me right now. He has shown me that all those past failures had a purpose and are currently carrying me into a place of learning, correction, grace and freedom. I have learned many deep spiritual lessons about my past failures and those valuable lessons are leading me through a time of sustained victory right now. Not everything about failure is bad; there are many lessons and tools that can spring forth out of failure. God can truly use our missteps for His glory!
Heidi encouraged me to read Chapter 10 in the Thin Within book in one of our coaching sessions and discover all the wonderful things that are true about God and about failure, especially when it comes to Thin Within. I was amazed at all the nuggets of truth I was able to dig out of that chapter! These truths helped put my past failures into perspective and have helped me put aside my fear of any future failure that may loom on the horizon. Here is my “Top 10 List” about failure and what God can do with it. I’m sure there are many more truths to find!
1. Failure cannot win if you continue press on and move forward
2. God can bring wonders out of failure
3. God’s grace is sufficient to cover failure
4. Failure can be turned into opportunity
5. Failure is delay, not defeat!
6. Failure can be the result of leaving God out, the result of sin, acting in our own strength or trying to do something God has not called us to
7. Failure is not something you are, it is something you do
8. If you believe yourself to be a failure, you will likely act like one
9. God is bigger than failure
10.God equips you for sustained success and the ability to defeat failure!
One of the most powerful truths for me was # 1 and #10. Failure truly only wins if I stand still and choose to do nothing. Each day I decide to press on, move forward and get back on the horse is a day that failure is defeated! And I love the security I feel in knowing that God equips me with His word, power and Holy Spirit to walk in victory and defeat failure. Amen to that!
How about you?
Have you seen how God has used failure in your life to teach you valuable lessons? Are there any truths about failure that you would add to the “Top 10 List?” How has God used failure for His glory in your life?
~ Becky Y.
Becky lives, hikes, plays and makes a living photographing weddings in the Western part of the United States. She is happily married to the best man on the planet!
The FIRST STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles in your Thin Within journey is to prayerfully evaluate if either of these are missing:
The SECOND STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles is to realize the 
The THIRD STRATEGY to overcoming obstacles on the Thin Within journey is to see that God’s grace isn’t just a one-time event when we come to Him for salvation. It is an ongoing power, presence, and provision 
