Thin Within has three “phases.” For some people, these phases are, indeed, a progression. For others, it is more like layers of an onion…they get to a certain “phase” to discover God peels away the onion and they step back and discover a new level to an earlier phase. I will just describe them in a linear fashion though, for simplicity.
First phase is the Freedom Phase. “All things are permissible.” This phase blows the lid off the dieting box! God did not design us to fixate on a number of calories of fat grams per day and to eat without regard for our bodies’ signals. Instead, he designed us to eat in response to the signals of our bodies–the signals that indicate our bodies are physically in need of nourishment and physically no longer in need of nourishment–satisfaction.
When we respond to our bodies in this way, any food is permissible. All the “can’t haves” and “do nots” of the dieting world fall away and no longer make us feel condemned! Freedom! No need to worry about fat grams or calorie content.
Truthfully, many people LOVE this phase and go a bit bonkers with it. Foods that have been “off limits” for years are suddenly “legalized!” When eating 0 to 5, a person can still eat hot fudge sundaes, pizza, full fat salad dressings and still release weight. It is true!
Most importantly, though, the freedom phase is a time of building building building a foundation of my relationship with the Lord. He teaches me to lean on him more and more–especially as I discover that waiting for hunger is REALLY HARD! I have so many reasons I want to turn to food that now I suddenly see myself as being…well…a bit messed up! LOL! Remove my coping mechanism (overeating) and now I have to deal with my heart…God is there to show me He can be relied upon to help with this process of course.
So phase 1 includes learning how reliable He is to help me wait for physical hunger, to heal my heart that has issues that surface and that he can also help me to know when to stop eating. Phase 1 participants are not considering so much the nutrition or benefit to eating one food or another. They are developing that confidence that their bodies are reliable and that God is sufficient for meeting all their needs.
Phase 2 – Discernment Phase is based on the next part of the verse…Since all things are permissible, but NOT all things are beneficial, this implies I need to exercise discernment.
In phase 1, I developed my relationship with the Lord, now I begin to evaluate prayerfully …how does He want me to nourish my body? What foods really work best for me? As I ask, He shows! I begin to see that I have a responsibility and this is an awesome privilege! This is when I begin to scrutinize my choices. Thin Within calls the categories I may place foods in Teasers, Pleasers, Whole Body Pleasers, Total Rejects. This is explained in the book in detail.
I still don’t worry about nutrition labels, but some phase 2 folks have the freedom to be able to read labels and use what they know to ask God for wisdom in feeding their bodies. More importantly than food labels, however, I begin to notice how various foods cause my body to react or feel. I still eat only when hungry and stop when satisfied physically. But I begin to see that my body is amazingly efficient! It gets by with so much less food than I ever thought possible, so I begin to want to fuel it with high octane fuel! Like a high performance race car, I begin to see that different fuels will cause performance to vary! With so little food needed, I really begin to make what I put in my body count. I do this with joy and without a sense of deprivation because the foundation established in Phase 1 is still in place. I am free. All things are permissible! I delight to do God’s will and what that looks like for one person will be VERY different than what it looks like for another.
People in this phase may continue to carve out a little space for what have been their favorite foods or “treats” in the past–typically not as much as in phase 1, maybe…like in Phase 1 we may have had a hot fudge sundae for dinner, typically by phase 2 we aren’t doing that so much any more as we have noticed we don’t feel as energized when we do that. (Just as an example.)
Instead, in phase 2, we may reserve some “space” in our stomachs (within 0 to 5 eating) for a small taste of whatever it is we have always loved so much. We continue to delight in our freedom, but we begin to see that freedom means not just free TO eat, but free from having to have whatever it is we used to live for and lust after! Having a smaller amount at the end of a satisfying meal does as much for us as having the entire thing for dinner did in phase 1.
One other thing about the Discernment Phase…phase 2…is we also begin to scrutinize our choices regarding activity or a sedentary lifestyle. We begin to see that this body, God’s chosen dwelling place on earth, can operate best when it is given some activity. In phase 1 we have delighted in the *fact* that we don’t *need* exercise to lose weight (not if we eat between 0 and 5!!!), but we nevertheless realize that we are free to exercise in a godly way…that this is something that honors the Lord when we do it for His glory instead of our own like many of us have in our dieting/exercising pasts. There are so many thin people who aren’t fit…and we realize in phase 2 (if not sooner…LOL!) that we don’t just want to release extra weight, but we want our bodies to be fit temples as well. We want to be able to go up stairs and not be winded. We want to be able to run and play with our kids, go to the snow, go swimming and splash around…go horseback riding…and not feel like our bodies are going through the ringer! We want to be healthy, vibrant and truly as alive as possible for all the days God ordains for us to be on this earth! That all happens as we worship God through moving our bodies! Be it through dancing to praise music, walking the dog, getting silly with the kids, or our every day chores done with a bit more spring in our step…and some, of course, can even do a regimented workout schedule without becoming obsessed. Some can do it with a worshipful submissive heart! (I hope to some day…I am not free in that way yet…)
Phase 3 – The Mastery Phase – is based on the last part of 1 Corinthians 6:12 “I will not be mastered by anything.” Can I say no to hot fudge sundaes? Sure, they are permissible. And I can choose to have some if I wish…but do I have to have ice cream? (Or whatever it might be for any particular person?)
The person in the Mastery Phase might discover that the brownies the kids made last week got buried beneath mail on the kitchen counter and never got eaten, even though previously she LIVED for brownies! (Can you tell chocolate has been my big thrill in life? LOL!) While the pan of brownies was in the house, it never has the pull the way they did before. Sure, they are “permissible” and sure she can have some…but it just doesn’t matter any more…she doesn’t have to have brownies or any dessert at all! Or she can slide the chips and salsa away at the mexican restaurant without having any because she would rather enjoy the entree! She is no longer mastered by anything but the Lord Jesus as a general rule of life. (Obviously, no one is completely sinless until the Lord takes us home to be with Him…this is a progression!)
I don’t know if this makes sense…and really, these phases are dynamic, not static. You don’t just “arrive” at Mastery and stay there forever *necessarily*. Maybe some people do eventually. But I have found that some of us may always have a “thorn in our flesh” that causes us to keep needing the Lord to help us through…our desire for food may be what God uses to keep us clinging to Him the rest of our lives…but what a wonderful thing it is for something that once caused so much pain in my life (my overeating) to be used of God to call me to himself again and again…Praise Him for redeeming that which the enemy intended for my constant harm all my days!
Now, we are sure that Christ pleases God, that he is holy and so on. Inasmuch, then, as Christ pleases God and we are in him, we also please God and are holy.
Although sin still remains in us, and although we daily fall and offend, grace is more abundant and stronger than sin. The mercy and truth of the Lord reign over us forever. Therefore, sin cannot make us afraid or make us doubt God’s mercy in us. For Christ, that most mighty giant, has abolished the law, condemned sin, and vanquished death and all evils.
So long as he is at the right hand of God making intercession for us, we cannot doubt God’s grace and favor toward us.
Isn’t this beautiful? And none of it has a bit to do with my performance–how “good” I am, how well I do the “church girl” gig. It is all about Christ’s “performance” on the cross and God’s kindness in attributing to me (because he wants to) all of Christ’s righteousness. A great exchange–my “junk” for His beauty!
No matter what I do, how much I mess up, over-schedule, over-stress, under-achieve…God looks upon me with pleasure. Wow.
If I really believed this, I wonder how it might impact me?
If you have ever wanted to join a Thin Within group, but can’t find a live one in your area, please consider joining us for our study. Whether you are brand new to Thin Within or have experience with the program, this new group will offer something for you!
I will be leading the members through a 12-week course using the Rebuilding God’s Temple workbook series. If you have never gone through workbook #1, you can join us using that workbook. If you have gone through that material before, you can use workbook #2. You can also join us using workbook #3 or #4 if you are a veteran who has been through the other workbooks!
The lessons in each of the workbooks follow the same set of themes at the same time. So, whether you are in WB #1 or #2, or #3, or #4, we will all focus on “Hope” for our lesson 1 and “Grace” for lesson 4, and “Boundaries” for lesson 9 (for example). All the workbooks have the same themes in the same order, but present the material a little differently so even veterans won’t get bored!
We will be meeting in a chat room hosted by Thin Within on Wednesday afternoons/evenings, 4:30-5:30 Pacific Time, 6:30-7:30 Central Time, and 7:30-8:30 Eastern time beginning THIS Wednesday, September 14th with an “Introductory” meeting. You need not have any lesson completed to attend and you can come just to ask questions if you like!
Our first meeting on September 14th will offer an opportunity for a Q and A. After September 14th, we will individually begin Lesson #1, which we will complete prior to our discussion together in our chat on September 21st.
If you want to order a workbook, please call Thin Within at 877-729-8932 between 9am and 5pm Eastern time and let them know which workbook you want. If you haven’t been through the material before, I highly recommend workbook #1 which comes with the temple toolkit. The materials for workbook #1 cost $45. If you have been through the material before, feel free to get one of the others–the cost for the other workbooks, I believe is $25.
Each week, you will have assignments to complete (daily attention to the material is ideal) and on Wednesday, we will meet together to discuss the themes of the material, to share joys, and challenges as we surrender our eating and our hearts to the Lord!
The location of our chat is http://www.thinwithin.org/chat . Once you get to the chat module, you will just type in a screen name you want (anything is fine, but first names are preferable). NOTHING ELSE IS NEEDED…do not “tick” a box or a radio button! Then click on LOGIN. Once there, double-click on “Community Room” in the upper right side of the window. That should be all there is to it!
Come this Wednesday and check us out! There is no cost to be in this class and you don’t even need to register. 🙂 I am Heidi Bylsma and I have worked with Arthur and Judy Halliday for about ten years, putting their terrific ideas into written form. I have also lost 100 pounds and a boat load of spiritual baggage using this approach. If you want to be on my email list to receive transcripts, announcements, and other supplemental materials for this class, be sure you email me at twheidi at comcast dot net and let me know you want to be included.
This is a GREAT time of year to be connected with a class of folks. As the holidays approach, you CAN get through the holidays without the typical 8 pounds of weight gained! You can enjoy all the holiday foods that seem to come around only once a year, but do so in moderation and in a way that honors the Lord with your body and your eating! HONEST! Come join our class to discover how! 🙂
Below is a video from LAST summer that describes the workbook kit #1. If you haven’t ever done Thin Within before, you will want to get a copy of this workbook. Our study will be open to people using any of the Thin Within workbooks, so no worries if you are ready to move on to #2, 3, or 4. We would love to have you! (I will be using #2 myself!).
Or “Junk” Food — A MYTH? – Part 4 Are you a dieter, hoping to find a blog that will offer you support and encouragement? I must apologize. I want to support YOU, but I don’t have the resources to support your diet. I would love to talk you OUT of being on a diet. I would love to talk you into being FREE for the rest of your life. Not free to be overweight, but free to lose the obsession with food and dieting AND free to find your natural God-given size, all the while growing in a closer relationship to the God who created you!
I would be so blessed if you would let me talk you into ditching your diet–forever!
I bet you know how to diet with the best of them. If you are like I was in 1999, you have lost weight a bunch of times. The trick is, we just can’t keep the “performance” up. It wasn’t until I began to believe that my list of “good foods” and “bad foods” was NOT helping me and that I had to try a different approach that I was finally able to lose the weight for good. I lost the *thinking* that had kept me on the pendulum swing, too!
Many of us are fearful about throwing away fat-gram counters, diet books, the special foods, measuring cups and food scales. Having a meal where we don’t have a death grip on our food content FREAKS US OUT! We are terrified of what the scale will say in the morning, even if we have “been good!”
I just don’t believe that God intended us to live this way…in fear. Fear is not of the Lord!
He wants us to experience the provision, presence, and power of His Spirit in our lives. As we walk in dependence on Him, asking Him about our body’s need and what fuel He has provided to meet that need, we come to see Him as He is…a GREAT provider! He never intended food to TORMENT us!
This is part 4 of a series of posts about how “Junk Food” is a myth. My view is there is no such thing as JUNK food. In fact, I don’t believe some foods are fattening. Over-eating IS! 🙂 You can over-eat and get fat on ANY food.
If you are afraid that if you start eating burgers or fries or whatever else, you will expand to double your current size, let me share with you how this works. 🙂 Before I stopped focusing on the nutrition content…back when I was having to step out in faith and start eating according to my physical hunger and physical satisfaction cues without counting points, calories or whatever else, I kept a loose mental note of nutrition facts relative to my eating. I did this as a sort of “insurance” policy and also to see if this thing was really likely to “work.”
Here is what I found: If I am physically hungry and slooooowly eat a more calorie-dense food, and really listen to my body as it signals physical satisfaction…well, it doesn’t take much of a calorie-dense food to satisfy my hunger. This translates into fewer calories than some might think. The thing is, many of us assume that if we order a burger and fries, we will eat the entire thing! But we don’t need to do that. We can eat only what our body needs and it knows that it isn’t hungry after just a few bites. It may not take many bites of a calorie-rich food, but those bites are deeply satisfying! I don’t end up frustrated and ready to indulge at the first discipline failure.
Dieters know that fat has more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein. So it stands to reason that things with more fat are likely to sustain me a bit longer and it is likely to take less of it to get me to a place of physical satisfaction. LESS of it. That makes a huge difference! If I eat LESS of a regular hamburger…say 1/4th of it, isn’t that better than eating TWICE as much of a fake-burger? When I eat the entire fake-burger even though I am not hungry, is that really healthier? Overeating diet foods or eating smaller portions of regular foods…which keeps me healthier mentally and spiritually? Well, for me, it has been smaller portions of regular foods. In the past, eating the diet foods, just resulted in me giving in later out of frustration and eating BOTH…the “diet” food AND bingeing on the “bad foods.”
With the dieting mentality, food was my god…either because I was over-eating it, consuming massive quantities out of the sheer compulsion to do so … OR I was obsessing about counting this or that, weighing this or that and being sure I had special foods with me when going out with friends. That is a “god” there, too! I wasn’t free of my idol just because I had switched from over-eating to counting everything. With both mentalities, my focus was FOOD FOOD FOOD! Not to mention the worry of losing or gaining and weighing. It drove me nuts!
When we embrace the freedom to which the Lord calls, we are free to be grateful and thankful with a humble heart and to enjoy any food. We begin to care more and more about how our bodies feel and begin to gravitate toward foods that we know intuitively make us feel better–more energetic and less bloated (for instance).
The “forbidden” foods no longer have a hold on us because they are not forbidden! We can have any food any time we are hungry and suddenly when I know I can have Chocolate Turtle Empanadas at On the Border any time I want, I don’t need to have them all the time! When I order them, I don’t need to overeat…I can slowly enjoy a few bites and discover that I am physically satisfied…not to mention emotionally *gratified* that I got to enjoy something so wonderful! Spiritually, I am praising GOD for the incredible tastes and textures in the food as well–AND that he has made my body so efficiently that it doesn’t take much food to sustain my energy!
I can keep this approach up for the rest of my life. That is why I don’t gain back the weight! This is a lifestyle change. And I continue to eat with gratitude and joy just as the Scriptures seem to indicate I should! I am not taking on a form of legalism as if it is godliness. Instead, I am learning to depend on the Lord as I seek His leading in the moment.
It just plainly takes less calorie-dense food to satisfy me than it does something that I don’t want in the first place just because it has fewer calories!
What do you think? Are you willing to give it a try?
All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
– Psalm 104:27-28
ALL creatures. Humans included!
ALL creatures look to God for what?
…To give them their food at the proper ________ . What goes in that blank?
Time…
God gives food to all creatures at the proper time.
This struck me recently. This verse doesn’t say “All creatures look to you to give them the proper food. “Proper” modifies time. “Proper” does *not* modify food.
Why is this significant?
Because in this verse we are told that God opens his hand and we experience:
Satisfaction Good Things
When?
At the proper time. This is a concept upon which Thin Within principles are established. God has a time for us to enjoy food!
The point, however, is His goodness, His provision, and HIS timing! It isn’t about “fixing” the food (to make it “better”) or eating the “proper” food. It is about HIS provision of good, satisfying things and my waiting on His timing.
So when is His timing to provide food? Is it when I *want* food because of taste? Or is it only when I am NOT over my “allotment” of _____ (calories, points, blocks, grams, etc.) for the day?
Calorie/point/gram allotments are superficial standards set by humans. These aren’t the standard.
If we look to the wonder of nature (which is the context of this verse), the proper time to receive the good things that God gives to satisfy is when there is a needfor fuel–when creatures are hungry. I don’t know of an instance where wild animals have gotten obese, eating food when they aren’t in need of fuel and storing extra fuel as fat on their bodies (unless their environment required it for survival and warmth like Polar Bears, etc.).
God is more interested in the timing of our eating than the what of our eating. We can eat the most nutritionally dense, calorie-light food in the world, but if it isn’t the right time–HIS time–it may be out of His will.
Food was intended to nourish our bodies…to fuel our bodies. When we eat to fuel our bodies, we can delight in amazing textures, sensations, and whatever He provides for us! As we do this with gratitude and a thankful heart, coming from a place of humility, we glorify him as 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God the Father.”
Is my heart grateful? Thankful? Or resentful and frustrated? I might want to evaluate if I am caught thinking that I can’t have this entrée or that dessert. Am I trapped in the mentality of good food/bad foods? Maybe he wants to break me free so that I can experience the satisfaction he promises in Psalm 104 and elsewhere.
It was pretty quiet Monday in response to my post…and yesterday was a “ghost town” here on the blog except for one commenter (thanks, Sandra!). Maybe faithful readers feel I have discredited myself.
I guess all I really know is what I have experienced. For most of my adult years, I focused on the nutrition content of my food and felt “good” or “bad” about myself based on my eating choices. There was a nasty pendulum swing that occurred when I was on that path. Truthfully, all those years I struggled with my weight and hyper-focus on my body even while obsessing about nutrition content in my foods. In fact, most of those years I was significantly overweight and not healthy at all.
My freedom from extra weight has gone hand-in-glove with letting go of my tendencies to weigh and measure my food (weigh and measure ME), to obsess about nutrition labels, to graph and chart calories in and calories expended with exercise.
Another possible indication that fixating on the content of the food may not be the answer is that for the past 20 years and more, we have, as a country, added more “diet foods” (reduced calorie, reduced fat, reduced sugar, etc.) and more “vitamin enriched” foods to our assortment of choices. Nevertheless, our country battles obesity and obesity-related health issues like never before! This problem is actually *increasing* even as our variety of diets, diet centers, and diet foods has increased! Certainly, if adjusting the content of our foods was the answer, this wouldn’t be the case.
Foods are often referred to as “treats,” “junk,” “healthy,” and so on. (Funny how the “treats” seem to overlap the “junk” lists for those who have these lists!) It IS tempting to develop lists that help me feel good about myself when I eat or don’t eat accordingly. But, is this wisdom?
Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,
why, as though you still belonged to the world,
do you submit to its rules:
“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use,
are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,
with their self-imposed worship,
their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body,
but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Colossians 2:20-23
The context of this passage isn’t “junk food” or “healthy food,” but the principles are very similar to the ones that exist when we make our good/bad food lists! Maybe we should pause and think–or, even, pray! Is the Lord really the author of our good/bad food lists? Do my lists really deal with my heart?
In Acts 10, the Lord speaks to Peter about his own “good food/bad food” lists and commands Peter not to call unclean anything the Lord has made clean. Again, maybe there is a principle there.
Because I am a child of God, given a trust — this physical body — I want to be responsible in the way I eat. I am commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:31 to do all I do to the glory of God including my eating and drinking. But eating according to artificially created lists isn’t the answer!
What if we allowed ourselves the same freedom that God invites us to enjoy? What if we were to enjoy all things in moderation and take Him at His Word, balancing our freedom with an eye toward understanding what 1 Corinthians 6:12 says:
“Everything is permissible for me”—
but not everything is beneficial.
“Everything is permissible for me”—
but I will not be mastered by anything.
Maybe the point is, I really am to enjoy in moderation all things that He has given me and keep an eye especially on what is beneficial. I have great freedom in Christ! I don’t *need* to make lists! Certainly, I don’t want any food or flavor to master me as the last part of this passage says. In fact, maybe this wonderful freedom, when exercised with a dependence on the Lord’s leading in the moment, may lead me not to enjoy freedom TO eat, but freedom from HAVING TO eat a certain food in that moment!
The Lord may lead me to eat this ice cream or that salad or this enchilada or that shish-kabob. He may also lead me to fast my hunger for reasons I may sense or not. Maybe, I am called not to live according to lists–no matter how godly they may seem, but according to His Spirit in the moment.
When I look in Scripture, there are so many accounts where food has a role. I believe that He cares about this issue a great deal. In the earliest chapters of Genesis, Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden lured to eat outside of God’s boundaries. Esau gives up his birthright for the sake of some stew. In the New Testament even communion uses the symbols of bread and wine.
In the closing pages of God’s Word in the book of Revelation, are we promised a marriage dance of the Lamb? A marriage ceremony? No…a marriage SUPPER of the Lamb! God has seen fit that food and eating is important. I don’t believe He placed a broad spectrum of flavors and textures on this earth to torment us, but to bless us within godly parameters. Those parameters are simply…moderation. Eating when I am hungry, stopping when I am no longer hungry, doing so prayerfully, with gratitude and praise…who needs good food/bad food lists, points, or specially packaged foods? 🙂
I am encouraged in Proverbs 3:5,6 to trust in the LORD with all my heart and not depend on my own understanding. In ALL my ways (even in my eating?) I am to acknowledge Him and He will make my paths straight. I need to prayerfully consider what He wants from me in this and not lean on what seems to make sense based on what modern science says.
This sounds like a living, breathing, constant walk with the Holy Spirit. This sounds like being prayerful. Maybe this is an extension of a Spirit-filled, Spirit-dependent life.
Judgments are made about foods all the time in our society. This food is “Junk Food” and that food is “Healthy Food.” While I realize that some foods tend to be “nutritionally dense” and some foods are lighter in vitamins and minerals while denser in “energy” they provide, I don’t tend to think of foods as “junk” or “healthy” any more. When I did, it never made me thin *or* healthy! As unbelievable as it may sound, I lost 100 pounds (and have kept it off for 4 years give or take) while eating french fries, pizza, ice cream, etc., etc., all those things that people usually put on the “Junk Food” list and say make you fat.
Sometimes, depending on what people eat based on those judgments, they then feel “good” or “bad” about themselves. I have been there, so I know how that works! 🙂 It is interesting we don’t think of *why* we eat, but only the *what*. Maybe the *why* is important! (Actually, I KNOW it is!)
Some people even seem to think they can be closer to the Lord by eating certain foods and abstaining from certain others. (Again, focusing on the *what*, rather than the *why*.)
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking,
but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
– Romans 14: 17
Food shows up in the Bible often. Even so, we would be hard pressed to prove biblically that God is pleased or displeased with us based on the nutrition content — the what — of our food. In fact, often throughout the Word of God, people were commanded to enjoy rich foods and beverages!
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks,
and send some to those who have nothing prepared.
This day is holy to our Lord.
Do not grieve,
for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
-Nehemiah 8:10
It wasn’t the nutritional content of the foods that the people were told to evaluate before eating or drinking. They were encouraged to eat CHOICE food and drink SWEET drinks. This was a *taste* test!
A clerk at the UPS store the other day made cheerful small-talk with me. He asked me where I was going to eat lunch. When I said McDonald’s he quizzically said “You don’t look like the sort of person who would eat at McDonald’s. You are so fit!” I guess fit people can only be fit if they do NOT eat at McDonald’s. Truthfully, I eat at McDonald’s frequently, but my cholesterol isn’t high and my weight is healthy. I eat smaller portions when I am hungry and that makes all the difference!
The difference isn’t *what* I eat as much as it is *how much* and *when*. If I eat whenI am hungry and stop whenI am not (which takes care of the “how much”), I have freedom to eat whatever I choose. My walk with God is unencumbered by a constant lust for foods that are “forbidden.” I heed God’s leading without giving in to greed and gluttony–two sins clearly highlighted in the Scriptures–by eating in moderation!
In an ideal world, of course, this doesn’t mean I act irresponsibly…I understand that my body is a stewardship, a trust. I want to make choices for fueling my body that make me feel and operate at my best, but I can do this prayerfully without obsessing about nutrition contents of the foods. I also want to move my body in a way that helps it get and stay healthy and fit.
The truth is, God has richly provided all things for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17). But because we struggle with the concept of moderation and enjoying these blessings within godly boundaries, we think we need to eliminate them completely! I wonder if, by doing this, we don’t deny ourselves an aspect of growth in our walks with Christ. To learn moderation, we need to depend on Him and His Spirit–especially with things that have mastered us previously. By creating our “Do” or “Do NOT Do” lists (EAT or DON’T EAT), is it possible we turn to a form of legalism that circumvents the very freedom that God desires for us? What if we could enjoy ANY food, in moderation, WHEN hungry, to fuel our body? Wouldn’t it be a delightful experience not to obsess about food any longer?
Matthew 6:31 speaks to me about this very thing when it says: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
How about you? Do you tend to think of food as JUNK or as HEALTHY? Do you worry about what you will eat or drink or what size you will wear? What if you could enjoy ANY food in moderation? What then? How might this affect your life, your walk with Christ, your dependence on Him?
I have written a lot at this blog about forgiveness over the years. (Just type “forgive” into the search box in the margin and you will see pages of material mentioning this!)
In, summary, God showed me in 2007 that my refusal to forgive was affecting me emotionally and that, in turn, was causing me to look for solace in food. When I went through a challenging process of forgiving anything and everything, anyone and everyone, I could think of, I began being able to really apply the principles of Thin Within and I released the 100 pounds of extra weight I carried on my body. Forgiveness unlocked my *willingness* to surrender food to the Lord.
It is time to take a truth inventory again, to take stock because my eating is out of kilter. Though I am active enough to keep up with myself…it won’t be long before that just isn’t the case. But the point is, there is a *heart* condition that I know the Lord wants to address.
My perfect King has seen fit to ordain a lot of fresh, ONgoing stuff for me to forgive. So, since I am trying to lead an online class of wonderful people through the Thin Within workbook, and since we are on the forgiveness lesson, I get to have a fresh look at my own need to forgive.
While I am not surprised by what I am discovering, I am dismayed. It seems never-ending. A year ago June, my world was shaken to the core by someone very dear to me. Someone who had always been solid, dependable, and a foundation stone in my life. The changes threw me into a tail-spin and I am only beginning to recover. Meanwhile, all the same old issues have continued to go on…
And I find myself just wanting to rest! Even better if it can be with a half gallon of ice cream! Old habits do die so very hard indeed!
Anyhow, if any of you find yourself in a similar place, I just wanted you to know, I can relate. Doing “forgiveness work” is the hardest work on the planet, I am convinced. :-/
Tonight, I watched the four horses that have been entrusted to my care plunge their faces eagerly into their dinner. I silently bemoaned the fact that I haven’t taken time to ride even once this summer and thought about the many hurdles the ponies and I have managed together–some literal, physical, but most on a personal, emotional, and even spiritual level.
My heart swelled with love and compassion as I looked at each of them.
Dodger, the formerly abused mustang who has barely carried any of us during his eight years of living with us. He did, however, give my son a season of pure joy, connecting with him in a way we wrote about for the Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul, Volume 2 book. Now, Dodger just hangs out with his buddies “pretending” to be back on the Nevada desert, free of all encumbrances. LOL! I wonder if he ever misses the little boy that used to come down there and just sit with him.
Breezy loves thinking he is retired. Not to be anthropomorphic or anything, but he was always the cynic, yet nevertheless constantly offered more loyalty and reliability as any horse could. I wonder sometimes if he misses the horse shows, the parades, (the snacks!!!), the ponying younger horses and carrying new riders. Now, as he enters the twilight of life he probably won’t carry many people very often–at least not full-size adults.
Doc came to me lame as a four year old. My husband and I made some difficult decisions where he was concerned and yet something always “over-rode” the decision we made and now here he is, a 12 year old retiree, hanging out with the old “men.” Pretty as anything. As healthy as a …well… a horse! Maybe still arthritic (he is older, after all), but he does just fine wandering around our forested hillside. He never did too well when a saddle was thrown up on his back.
Harley has taught me more about life and about myself than anyone else in my entire life. Someday, my escapades with him will be the contents of a book.
As I watched them inhale $$$ which would later become manure (talk about throwing money away), I was flooded with the deepest compassion and love for them. It struck me…maybe compassion is one of the clearest demonstrations of the way in which humans are created in the image of God. Again and again throughout the Scriptures, we are told that God has compassion for us and that He is a compassionate God.
I am not the “Creator” of the horses–they aren’t my design or a product of my imagination! They have brought many difficulties into my life–and many hard lessons. The joyful moments have been but a drop in the bucket, really. Yet, when I look at them and even when I consider the hard work involved in caring for them (let alone the expense), I am nevertheless flooded full of compassion. I desire their good. I even feel a sense of pleasure–even if we never ride together again! Even if my dreams for them haven’t been fulfilled! I joy in them.
I have not yet realized the dreams God has for me. I am sure I am much “trouble” to “keep.” Yet I see in a new way that God has compassion on me, too…just as His Word says. If I, an imperfect human, can feel compassion and love for my Harley who has given me a bunch of grief (and flying lessons!) over the past eight years, I know that God who IS perfect, who has created me, who knows me intimately…he is faithful to what he says about himself in the Word–He has compassion for me. Even when I fail and fail again and again…Sure, he may shake his head…or even shed a tear over my stubborn insistence to do things my way, but I can’t doubt that His heart is filled with compassion for me…for ME!
Question: How does knowing God is compassionate stir your heart? How does it affect you today? Please feel free to respond here. Every comment is read and appreciated.
Foods that have been “off limits” for years are suddenly “legalized!” When eating 0 to 5, a person can still eat hot fudge sundaes, pizza, full fat salad dressings and still release weight. It is true! 
LOL! Remove my coping mechanism (overeating) and now I have to deal with my heart…God is there to show me He can be relied upon to help with this process of course. 
