My commitment here at God is Doing a New Thing is to provide as many means of supporting you on your Thin Within journey as possible. Right now, here are some of the opportunities available to you:
Daily blog posts. You can “Follow This Blog” and get a notification when new content has posted.
Community interaction. Here at the God is Doing A New Thing website, people are interacting with one another in the comments section. Engage in a dialog. Share what works for you. Ask a question and experience encouragement and help from others on this journey!
Accountability partnerships. Have you gotten an accountability partner yet for your journey? This page offers a place to post if you are interested in finding a buddy to connect with for mutual encouragement.
Newsletters sent out every-so-often (probably not more than once a month). Subscribe here. When you do, you get a link to an audio file that tells you what turned the corner for me in my own Thin Within journey.
Studies together! We have just started a bible study to support Thin Within participants in renewing their minds. Visit this page to see what we have done so far and to get started with us!
There are weekly online classes to teach more content regarding the topic for the week during our summer study. Each can stand alone.
YouTube Channel with all kinds of Thin Within and God is Doing A New Thing videos.
We are creating a Thin Within / God Is Doing A New Thing app for your iPod, iPhone, and iPad! I am so excited about that! Development is slow going, but it is happening!
Coaching opportunities one-on-one. You can accomplish your goals. Maybe you just need a little more support. Consider the coaching option. I currently have spots that have just come open.
There are so many resources here for you! I hope that if you don’t find what you think you need here, you will ask.
NOW is the time for you to experience the ongoing victory that you know Christ has purchased for you! You can do this in the strength he provides!
What will you begin to do that you, perhaps, haven’t done before to turbo-charge, hyper-boost your Thin Within journey? 🙂
When I was in high school, my friend, Shauna, and I routinely packed away an entire large pizza at the nearby Shakey’s pizza parlor. Another typical activity was entering Baskin Robbins (an ice cream store), talking loudly about “All the people coming over tonight who will enjoy eating a Mud Pie with us…” There were NO other people. We bought the Mud Pie for us to eat all by ourselves! We were just too embarrassed to let the clerk believe that we didn’t have a host of people joining us! (Maybe asking for two spoons was a give away!)
We often joked about how “jolly” we were when we were together because of how much we enjoyed eating together.
Do you have someone like this in your life? Or even sort of like this in your life?
One friend of mine calls an “eating partner” a “drinking buddy.” She has a point. I guess psycho-speak might refer to this as being “co-dependent.”
How do you think God feels about this partnership at this stage of your life? If eating within the boundary of physical hunger and satisfaction is something that you are convinced God wants you to do, maybe you will need to come up with a new strategy for this friendship. Maybe a secondary boundary is in order when/if/for what purpose you get together with your “drinking buddy.” It might be as simple as switching restaurants. You could suggest you split a meal together. Or, perhaps, you could switch “activities” altogether! Is it possible you need just to stop getting together for a month or two? Ouch!
What do you think? Is there someone in your life that you may need to take a “hiatus” from temporarily? What will you gain if you do? What will you lose if you don’t?
As a child growing up, I wasn’t safe. I feared and experienced abandonment frequently. Life was devoid of the safety and protection of reliable authority figures.
Any surprise that I struggle with God as a wonderful, reliable, safe and strong authority figure today?
But I am growing in this–even now! As I sit in his presence and experience his love, tenderness, compassion, strength, and beauty, I am able finally to experience what it is to be a child–His child.
This video is of a great Jason Gray song…I just have to share it with you for your renewing of the mind playlists (editing this post after it has posted because I don’t want it just stuck in the comments!):
I hope this video is helpful for some of you who are wondering about how to set up your own truth cards.
How about you? Do you have plans to design your own Truth Cards? Do you already use Truth Cards? What are some of the TRUTHS that you have on your cards? Share here so others can get ideas! How do you use them?
This was the subject heading of an email I received last week from one of my coaching clients.
I went on to read:
“Yep, you read that right. I hate my legs and butt because of all of the cellulite so I decided to pray that I would love it. That may sound weird but I know that I have to completely accept my body before I can relax and learn to eat like a normal person. When I go shopping for clothing and I see myself in the mirror, it sends me over the edge with disappointment and it’s a big trigger to find a diet. I decided that God wants us to turn to him for everything and that he loves my cellulite so he can make me love it. I just don’t want to feel that urgency that I have to lose weight by a certain time anymore. I know if I keep going and eating 0-5 I will get there. ”
Thank you, Debbie, for giving permission for me to share this GREAT perspective here with others who will read it.
How about you? Will you pray that God will help you to love your ____________? (Maybe it is your hips, thighs–or cellulite…whatever aspect of your body that you secretly or, not so secretly, despise.) What might be the results of loving this “part” of your body with God’s love?
Here is a sound file that explains what I hope ALL of us (even those not involved in the bible study) will do! (Email subscribers need to visit the blog site to access the sound file):
1.) Establish our primary and secondary boundaries.
Mine are:
Primary Boundary – Eat 0 to 5
Secondary Boundaries – 1.) Eat only when sitting down (sitting in the car doesn’t count! :-)) 2.) Eat only when my mind and body are relaxed
2.) Establish our plan for renewing our minds.
Mine looks like this and I will send a report to my accountability partner each day about these things as well:
Renew my mind with my Eating Truth Cards each morning.
Listen to my Truth Play List at least once during the day.
Review/Scan or re-read highlights in my cards between 4 and 6pm each day.
You can do this, too.
What is your primary boundary? This one’s easy–If you are a Thin Within participant, you will want to have this one be “To eat 0 to 5” or something like that.
What will your two secondary boundaries be this week?Remember that secondary boundaries support your ability to live within your primary boundary. Any of the Keys to Conscious Eating can work. “To have the TV off when eating,” or something like that can work, too!
What will your plan be to renew your mind? Remember, renewing the mind is something we are doing so we can think differently–specifically, so we can think God’s thoughts about something, in this case, 0 to 5 eating, or our bodies, or food generally…or something like that! I have made my truth cards specifically about eating 0 to 5 since that is my primary boundary. More on that in our online class. We talked about ways of renewing our minds agin the online class for this week. Here is that video:
Without the boundary of this fence, Daisy, my golden retriever, would (no doubt) get even CLOSER to this buck than you see in this image. From her perspective, I have little doubt that the fence “stands in the way” of much fun! The truth is, the fence–a boundary–keeps harm out (deer can be deadly) and keeps what is worth protecting safe within–safe from straying.
This week, you will develop your plan including having a good look at your own boundaries relative to your Thin Within journey. We will use a lot of Barb’s material to help with this. Before you go on over to her site, though, I want to lay some ground work.
Please watch this short (4 minute) video first:
To register for this week’s class Wednesday at 3:00pm Pacific Time (OR the digital recording), please visit this link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E956D880834D3A NOTE: When you select a password, please do NOT forget it! It will be necessary for you to access the class AND the digital recording after the class is over!
Take a moment to jot down in your journal (or think about) what you think is true about boundaries. Do you believe that they are there to protect you? To keep OUT influences that could damage you? To keep you IN, from wandering off on a path that would be destructive for you?
Or are you more likely to consider boundaries with resentment–as something that denies you something as if “God is holding out” on you?
Ask God to show you the truth about boundaries. Jot down what he impresses upon you. You might want to put them in your index cards if you are using them: “What is true about boundaries in my life.”
IMPORTANT: When I reference you to a page at Barb’s site, please know that there is a TON of incredible material there. For the purposes of our study, though, I will include the links here each week for any of the pages that are “vital” to our study this summer. The other links, you are welcome, of course, to explore. But please know that with so much wonderful material at her site, you can spend HOURS on it! ALL of it is good. Do what you feel God leading you to do of course, but any page that I think is foundational to our study here this summer, I will include as you will see below. For this week’s assignment, please be sure to do any of the linked pages that I include.
This has several parts to it, so please spread it out over the week:
1.) In her post under THE PLAN, Barb links you to her post about boundaries. You can read that or not, but most of the information that you need is likely to be in the video above. So if you are short on time, you don’t need to read it.
2.) She also includes a link to a post on secondary boundaries. Unless what I have shared in the video is “murky,” you probably don’t need to read that post either. If you are short on time, I think you will be ok without reading that, though it is definitely helpful! For our purposes, if you are uncertain about what might help you to maintain your primary boundary of 0 to 5 eating, you can use the Keys to Conscious Eating. Keys 1 and 8 are the primary boundary. Keys 2 – 7 are ideas for secondary boundaries. If you are using a set of spiral bound index cards or using a binder ring with index cards (whatever your method), then you might want to write down on a card “MY PRIMARY BOUNDARY: _________________.” And on another card “MY SECONDARY BOUNDARIES: ____________________” I don’t recommend more than 2 or 3 secondary boundaries and you can add new ones or change them as you go.
3.) Barb also has a link to Renewing the Mind Goal. THIS ONE, IS IMPORTANT TO OUR STUDY this summer. In fact, it is foundational to our summer study. So please DO read it and do the activities. (Yes, I just included the link to the same page THREE times. I don’t want you to miss it, that this is important.) There are lots of great links even in the post on the renewing of the mind goal. Again, the links to other posts are helpful, but not vital, so if you are short on time, don’t do them. If you are using a set of index cards that are hole-punched or spiral bound, then write your Renewing of the Mind Goal down on your cards. If you aren’t using the cards, that is ok. But I suggest you jot it down somewhere. NOTE: In our online class last week, we had the pleasure of having Barb Raveling in attendance (you can still get the recording of the class if you want). I realized as she shared that my way of thinking about the renewing of the mind goal was different than what she speaks of in her blog. Maybe *both* can work. My way of thinking of it has been to pick something that you know you need to think differently about, like, for instance, “I need to think differently about having sweet foods after lunch and dinner.” What I want to think instead about desserts is that “I can live without desserts.” Another one might be, “It takes less food than I think to satisfy me.” So my goal is to change my thinking about dessert or about portions. Barb’s use of it is helpful in being quantifiable…”I will renew my mind twice each day about dessert/portion size.” You can use a combination of both ways of thinking if you like or just use Barb’s mentioned in her post!
4.) Under her heading THE CHALLENGE, you can have a look at her post about 8 Questions to Ask When You Don’t Want to Renew Your Mind. This isn’t required, but it can be EXTREMELY helpful. (I have not included the link because I will include the link to the pages directly only if they are foundational to our study.) I have written these 8 questions down in my card set as I think they are so good.
5.) Do her ASSIGNMENT in her Day One post, including her #2 item: Working With God on Your Goal.This was originally intended, I think, for New Years, but it is helpful to our summer study. All of this work right now is to lay the foundation for our summer study. Doing this work will be very helpful. Future assignments (starting next week) won’t be as lengthy (I think!).
6.) Continuing on her Day One study, you will want to complete the Following Your Boundaries Questions questions. PLEASE don’t skip this set of questions as, again, this is foundational to the rest of the summer. In fact, you might want to keep these questions handy. Any time you find yourself not wanting to adhere to your 0 to 5 boundaries and your secondary boundaries, pulling out these questions can help you get focused again, willing again!
7.) I would love to hear from you in the COMMENTS below about any of the following:
What is your Renewing of the Mind Goal?
What secondary boundaries have you selected that will support your primary boundary of eating 0 to 5?
Which of her renewing of the mind tools will be helpful to you?
8.) If you would like, attend the class this Wednesday at 3pm-4pm Pacific time to discuss this material. The class costs $5. If you can’t attend, but want the digital recording of the class, the cost is the same. Both those who want to attend the class live and those who want the recording only, will need to register at http://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=E956D880834D3A
By now, you know that I just love the truth spoken in the words of Mandisa’s songs, so I share this one with you for your “Renewing of the Mind” playlist. In fact, on my playlist I have included these songs and a recording of myself speaking all of my index card material out loud. Talk about POWER PACKED! Great stuff there!
If you like this song, and I am sure you will, support Mandisa and her producers–purchase the album! 🙂
The Truth About Me – Songwriters: Ronnie C Freeman, Simon Hawkins, Kerrie Roberts, Tony Wood
If only I could see me as You see me
And understand the way that I am loved
Would it give a whole new meaning to my purpose?
Change the way I see the world
Would I sparkle like a star in the night sky?
Would I give a little more instead of take?
If I understood I’m precious like a diamond
Of a worth no one could estimate
I’m a worth no one could estimate
You say lovely, I say broken
I say guilty, You say forgiven
I feel lonely, You say You’re with me
We both know it would change everything
If only I believed the truth about me
I wish I could hold on to the moments
When my life is spinning but I’m peaceful still
[. From: http://www.elyrics.net .]
Like a wind You whisper into silence
And tell me things this world never will
You tell me things this world never will
You say lovely, I say broken
I say guilty, You say forgiven
Oh, I feel lonely, You say You’re with me
We both know it would change everything
If only I believed the truth about me
I would sleep better at night
Wake up with hope for another day
I would love even if it cost me
Take a chance and know I’m gonna be okay
I would dare to give my life away
Oh, I feel lonely, You say You’re with me
We both know it would change everything
If only I believed, if only I believed the truth about me
We hate to say good-bye, don’t we? My daughter left three weeks ago for a summer program in Wheaton Illinois and now she and her classmates are in England–London–and will be in Oxford. I won’t see her for another month. Saying goodbye to her three weeks ago was so painful as I knew I wouldn’t get to see her for a looong time and we would be separated by a “big blue wet thing”–the ocean!
Whether it is a precious family member, a friend, orthat last bite, we hate saying good-bye, don’t we? We hate it when that last bite comes! We want to prolong the eating experience as long as we can, so we have “just one more bite” and “just one more bite” after that and so on. We don’t want to have to say “good-bye” to our meal time enjoyment.
This audio shares some truth you can speak to yourself about this.
Summary: Eat half as much, twice as slowly and you land on the last bite at the same moment, but with the joy and victory of having not eaten more than your body needs for fuel! There is JOY and satisfaction in that place! Peace comes with submitting to the Lord’s leadership in this.
How about you…can you do anything to eat more slowly and to tell yourself the truth about the quantity of food that it really takes to satisfy? We aren’t talking about “full,” here. Nope. We are talking about “just enough.” It doesn’t take much!
