(If you subscribe by email, you will need to visit the blog to see the video.)
What can you do to ensure you won’t give in to eating outside of your boundaries today and tomorrow? What will you do about the mistakes that have happened previously so that they don’t dictate what happens next?
When I saw this image, it totally reminded me of ME! She has that “I can TOOeat this if I want!” rebellious look about her. AND she is redheaded and freckled like yours truly. Do you ever feel this way? 🙂 I hope not! But if you do, I am in company with you. I praise God that he is at work in me, though, and the moments when I feel this way are fewer and fewer! YAY, God!
I want to cover a lot of ground today. This post includes:
A Video about Overcoming Failure Eating
Announcement: Who is the winner of this week’s drawing
Updated Bible Study schedule
Poll asking you for what you would like to study next.
Video About Failure Eating – If you subscribe via email. please visit the blog to see the video.
Even if you haven’t been doing the study with us, you can probably relate to a day when you gave in and ate outside of 0 and 5. You may have given up for the day, not even trying any more to maintain your boundaries. This is NOT uncommon! This short video is an option for what to do instead! I hope it helps:
The drawing this week is a bit…well…unusual. I prayed as is my practice and my hand landed on NATALIA! She won the week of coaching week before last. So, if Natalia would like one of the prizes, she will get one.
But it also seemed like I should reach in again…so I did. We have two winners. 🙂
The second winner is Lesley UK. 😀
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I will send you both an email and you can let me know which of the prizes you would like:
A Thin Within book (donated by Joe Donaldson of the Thin Within ministry)
A Hunger Within book (donated by Arthur and Judy Halliday)
A week of One-on-One Coaching (donated by yours truly)
Schedule
This is what is ahead for the remaining weeks of our Weight Loss Bible Study:
Evaluation: How are you doing? Use this worksheet to find out. Week 5 March 31-April 6
Emotional Eating: “This will make me feel better.” Week 5 March 31-April 6
Hopeless Eating: “I’ll never get over this. I might as well eat.” Week 6 April 7 – 13
Good Food Eating:Â Hey, that looks good. I should eat it. Week 7Â April 14-20
Bad Scale Eating: I didn’t lose weight. I might as well eat. Week 7 April 14-20
Social Eating: She’s eating. I should eat. Week 8 April 21-27
Preventative Eating? I have to write this one up if we are going to look at it, but I think it bears doing! Week 8.
Then I will probably have a wrap up during a week 9. A chance for us to debrief about some things and a looking forward to what might be next.
What Do You Want To Do Next?
What’s next? Well, let me know what YOU would like to see! 🙂 Here is a poll to help me figure that out. 🙂 This is the first time I have tried this “polls” feature, so here’s hoping it works!
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Practical Questions:
You may see by now that I like to end most of the blog posts with a “bringing it home” set of questions. So let me ask you: What practical steps can you take today to maintain your 0 – 5 eating boundaries? What have you learned during the past month of our study that really stands out as something you can apply today? 🙂
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, Â Â Â Â and let us exalt his name together!
I sought the Lord, and he answered me     and delivered me from all my fears.
– Psalm 34:4,5
The enemy is clever.
Trials have hit.
Because of what we have been studying in Barb Ravelings Weight Loss Bible Study, though, I am aware of potentially damaging emotions and thoughts and am diligently on my guard. I know that I could eat my way through this week if I don’t do something PROACTIVELY to prevent that!
I can navigate through the challenges of my trials with a very different approach than previously. The first step is choosing to do this trial differently. So, I resolve: I will do this differently…right now.
Though my “binge-fests” don’t look anything like they did in years past, the “talk to the tail” attitude toward the Lord can still rise up, I am sad to say.
Today, this time, I will not eat my way through my challenges. I will not disregard my body’s hunger/satisfied signals and stuff my emotions with food when I am not hungry.
Instead, I will take my own advice and do this trial differently.
I will think differently. This set of circumstances is divinely appointed for me by God for His glory and my good.
I will magnify God and not the dust mites. This puts everything in it’s proper perspective. If I ponder and consider the trial, it will steadily grow and grow. Have you ever seen a dust mite magnified? Horribly awful looking creatures! They are nothing to be concerned by unless we start thinking about and obsessing about them, effectively making them HUGE in our minds.
Today, I choose to magnify the Lord instead, responding to the psalmist’s invitation. I want to share with you what this looks like for me.
First, I add to my God List. For more information about all of this, check out:
A post telling what to do with the “God List“ by instead of having a FoodFest, I have a PraiseFest or a Praise FEAST, feasting on the Lord instead. If tasting and seeing that the Lord is good is an invitation made in the Scriptures, I figure indulging in a full on feast of His presence has to be even better!
This is what that looks like for me today. I fill up my soul with spiritual nourishment that satisfies so I don’t turn to food. I focus my mind, heart, and “eyes” on the Lord instead of the “dust mites” in my life right now.
Lord, thank you that you are merciful to the faint (Psalm 6:2). I feel weak today physically, emotionally and spiritually, so I need your mercy. Thank you that you heal me (Psalm 6:2). Thank you that you turn and deliver me (v 4). Thank you that you save because of your unfailing love (v 4). You hear my weeping and my cries for mercy. You accept my prayer, Lord (v 8, 9). I take refuge in you instead of running to anything else (Psalm 7:1). You are a righteous God (Psalm 7:9). You are God Most High and you are my shield (v 10). Lord, your name is majestic in all the earth (Psalm 8:1). You set your glory above the heavens! (Psalm 8:1) You ordain praise from children and infants and today my voice will join theirs in praising you! You silence the foe and avenger (v 2). The heavens are yours, the work of your fingers (v 3). You set the moon and stars in place (v 3). NOTHING is too difficult for you. You who spoke the worlds into existence and blew the lid off the grave, you can do anything. I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. I WILL be glad and rejoice in you. I WILL sing praise to your name, O Most High (Psalm 9:1,2). You uphold my right and my cause (v 4). You reign forever (v 7). Reign in my life today, right now. Rule over all the challenges I am facing, Lord. You are a refuge for the oppressed–for me when I am overwhelmed (Psalm 9:9). You have promised never to forsake those who seek you, Lord (v 10). Lord, thank you that praising you this way is such FOOD for my hungry soul. Nothing that I face is worth turning my back on you to run to counterfeit comfort. You are the Great Comforter. Thank you that you are the God of ALL comfort. Be exalted in my life today. I choose you.
How about you? Can you add anything to this Praise Fest in the comments? Join me in magnifying our God instead of the dust mites of life! It is MUCH more satisfying that bingeing on food.
What can you do when you have been here before…and you have typically caved–eaten outside of your boundaries of hunger and satisfaction? What if you can see it coming? How can you observe and correct? How can you prevent another “failure?”
I just can’t renew my mind too often! I need to wash my mind clean from all kinds of lies and line dry it to have a fresh start by putting PURE truth into it!
Sometimes, an attitude of entitlement or justification taints the way I think about food, eating, and how willing I am to minimize the impact of breaking through the boundaries that God has led me to establish!
My husband just left town for a few days and for as long as we have been married (nearly 30 years), when he is out of town I have some of my biggest challenges with desire eating–wanting to break my boundaries of eating only when hungry and stopping eating when I am no longer hungry. When he leaves, it seems to trigger a mindset of some childhood trauma or something–a sense of abandonment! I know that sounds silly.
Exactly!
If I just let myself feel what I feel about it, or, worse, if I tell myself I am being silly and beat myself up over being such a baby, I invariably end up reaching for food to “comfort” me.
Hosting the bible study by Barb Raveling is SO good for me! This time, I choose to renew my mind right now and each day Bob is gone. This is what it looks like for me to do that:
Lord, Bob is out of town and you know that means I get sort of careless or I abandon all resolve with eating boundaries. I want to inhale food outside of 0 and 5.  This time, I will not do that. Instead, I will reach for you as my true Comforter. Food is a counterfeit.
The TRUTH, Lord, is that Bob hasn’t abandoned me. This isn’t my childhood. This is my husband who has always come home to me before, so his track record seems to indicate he will come home this time, too! And no matter what happens–even if he doesn’t, food can’t comfort me like you can.
The TRUTH is that while I was abandoned in many ways as a child, you never abandoned me. You were there all along.
The TRUTH is, Lord, you are with me and will never leave me or forsake me, even if everyone else does!
I know that reaching for food during these days when Bob is gone is not going to satisfy the emptiness that I may feel.
Lord, thank you that I have the freedom to eat any food I desire when I am hungry. The rest of the time, when I am drawn to food, what will really minister to my soul is:
taking a hot bath and letting wonderful Christian music sooth my soul as the hot water soothes my body
All the ice cream in the world won’t make my life better, my marriage more secure, or the trials and insecurities I face go away. I choose you, Lord. I choose your boundary lines.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; Â Â Â Â surely I have a delightful inheritance.
– Psalm 16:7
Thank you that I can set my mind not on earthly things, but on things above. What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal. I choose to fix my eyes on the promise that you have an inheritance waiting for me, Lord. The boundaries that you have established for me are pleasant. When I am tempted to break them, I will turn to you. There will be joy in doing so. There will be a deep sense of satisfaction. You will be my Comfort and my Strength.
Amen
How about you? Are you facing a situation that often triggers eating outside of 0 and 5? Will you choose to renew your mind about your circumstances so that you can emerge victorious, capturing this moment for the Lord? 🙂
One of the best times for me to renew my mind is when I am on my way to a meal out or an event where I know I could possibly be tempted to break my boundaries. I use the drive time (when I am alone) to speak truth into my life and to recommit (out loud!) to honoring the Lord with my eating and drinking.
Sometimes I record these “sessions” so that I can share them with you in case they can be helpful, but when my husband heard the first of these recordings he asked me some questions. From his questions have come some thoughts–some preliminaries–that I want to share with you.
First, even though I have been at this diligently since 2006 (and less consistently since 1999), I still work hard at it. God uses it to cause me to pray to him, to lean on him in a very tangible way. This has built my intimacy with him in many respects.
Secondly, even though these recordings may sound like they are “a lot of work,” it has become my nature to pray this way, to speak truth into my own life this way. It isn’t as much work as it may seem because I experience an intimacy with God that infuses my life with a truckload of joy! Truly! It is my joy to lean on God this way.
Third, these are examples of what I call “renewing my mind on the fly.” I do it in the face of important challenges to my boundaries. The first of these was when I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. The quality of that recording is minimal. I hope you won’t be put off by the “preaching” nature of the recording. I am preaching to ME. I do this because it is truth, and it is worth it to me. It works for me to remind me of truth:
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The second recording is below. I renewed my mind on my way to a home fellowship group when I was feeling a lot of emotion and didn’t want to give in to eating dessert once I arrived.
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How about you? Do you have some potentially challenging situations before you today? Can you renew your mind “on the fly” before you arrive? What will you do to maintain your 0 to 5 eating boundaries?
And so we begin Week 4 of our Weight Loss Bible Study. You have made it about half way. Don’t worry if you are going at a different pace or are joining us late. What matters is that you persevere. That may look different for each of us. Some may be going along right as I post, doing the studies each week. Others may do one a week or one of the studies every other week. Please know there is NO condemnation for you. I celebrate that you are here, asking God to have his way in this aspect of our lives!
Think back to Barb’s great insight from the Appearance Eating study that if we make this be all about our weight, we WILL be tempted to throw in the towel. But if we realize that this is about so much more than that, we will be more likely to persevere. God is merely using our struggles with food, eating, our size to remind us of how much we need him. It is a training ground for all things godly. For sanctification which will be a process we endure our whole lives long! Let us not grow weary in doing good. Let us keep at it!
With that in mind, have you been continuing to work on your renewing of your mind goal? If not, might I urge you to recommit to that? Back in week 1 of our study, Barb Raveling encouraged us to set a renewing of the mind goal. We can adjust this, tweek it, modify it, but we don’t want to bail on it! It is the heart of change. The core of growth! God says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, so let’s renew our thinking about what failure really is, shall we?
2. Continue with your Renewing of the Mind goal or “tweek” it and continue to renew your mind at the times set you set. This is the heart of what we are doing if we are going to act differently! 🙂
3. Remember to post here this week to have your name entered into the drawing late Thursday night. I announce the winners on Friday. You can win a Thin Within book, a Hunger Within book, or a week of coaching.
What do you think about the thoughts shared in the video?
True confessions…the jelly beans won! At least for a while.
I did get the last word, though. LOL!
Easter is upon us and while we know that the heart and soul of Easter is Jesus’ having defeated death, nevertheless candy abounds during this time.
Here is a video where I share a little bit of what happened in my home. (One of the wonderful ladies I get to coach challenged me to confess this to you all…sigh…so here it is! LOL!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIbE4wiYKqE?rel=0
What strategies will you have to keep you from mindlessly munching during this holiday time?
When I create the audios and the videos, God speaks truth into MY life through the process. It reminds me of what is true and how great my God is. He uses my rambling on to you to remind me yet again of what is true and what He wants from me.
I hope that when I create the audios and the videos that you will have yet another modality for learning the stuff that God may want you to know. I hope that he uses it to breathe over you an enveloping peace, a saturating sense of his love, and a call to press on–to pursue holiness and excellence.
You may not agree with everything I say, but I do so hope that you will sense his invitation to intimacy with him and that he wants to use this struggle with food and eating as a forum in your life for a wonderful adventure of dependence on him.
This week, God has used my video and audio creating time to really minister to me. Does that sound just so selfish? As I speak the truth that he has given to me, then as I listen and evaluate, delete, re-record–whatever the process may be–he again and again bathes my mind with the truth. I hope it works that way for you as you listen or watch.
And if it is helpful to you to download the files and put them on your iPod to play, go right ahead and do that. I sure hope that doesn’t sound self-aggrandizing. I don’t mean it that way at all. I just know that, at least for me, every way possible that I can to create a way to bathe my mind with truth, is another step toward renewing my mind and experiencing the transformation promised in Romans 12:2.
This week, we looked at the premium we place on our appearance or weight loss in this journey. Barb has really gotten to the heart of a very important issue. I have an audio here talking about some thoughts I have about this aspect of our journeys. Just so you know, I am experimenting with a plug-in microphone, so I apologize for the fuzziness…the microphone was TOO close to my mouth for part of the recordings…I will improve on that in the future.
Entitlement is a poison that can taint our pursuit of godly character. It affects not only my eating, but my relationships as well. In this audio, I share some of the things that God laid on my heart about entitlement. I have found that this is a perfect example of how God uses this journey about food, eating and my body to show me character qualities he wants to build into my life generally and I invite you to consider that may be the very purpose he has us on this course.
How about you? What connection do you see between what God is doing in the realm of eating, weight, how you view food and your body and growing you into Christlike character on a broader scale? What is God showing you about this connection?
