This little girl is wise beyond her years. What she shares in this video is really at the root of so much. I hope you enjoy!
How would having faith like Bailee change you, your eating, your living, your view of yourself, your view of God? What can you do today to allow God to renew your mind and transform your thinking?
Are there practical tools that you use to help you be focused, to really put into action your intentions to change your eating, thinking, and living?
The Thin Within “Observations and Corrections” chart is one of the tools that many Thin Within participants use.
If any of you would like to, you can download this pdf file of an Observation and Correction chart and print it out any day you choose to use it. Since we will take longer to go through the Thin Within book than the 30 days intended, it might be helpful to have copies of this page to record the Keys to Conscious Eating that you apply. (This chart is in the book at the end of each chapter, too.)
Something that is important before we get rolling though…I want to be sure to say now and I will say it again and again…charts and graphs are NOT things you NEED to do unless GOD says! Some of us find ourselves getting caught back in a legalistic dieting mentality when we try things like this…If that is the case for you, this might be a season that you don’t want to use these charts…it is ok!
But for those of you who want to get a jump start or have them ready, here they are! 🙂
I recommend praying about what God would have you to do.
As we prepare for this study together, what are you willing to do to make new discoveries and to make changes in your thinking and in your living? How far are you willing to go? What typically holds you back? How can you be sure that nothing holds you back this time from learning all that the Lord has for you in the weeks ahead? 🙂
“I don’t know how you do all you do!”
Compliments like these cause me to evaluate if I unwittingly parade “all I do” around specifically so I can get accolades from others. I hope not!
The truth is, I don’t do *any* of the many things I do well. (Even now, a part of me wants to list them all for you, so you can know what I mean. The other part of me–the suspicious part of me–thinks this would merely be a perverse attempt to win yet more accolades and encouragement…so I will restrain myself!)
What if my busyness (something that is celebrated and respected in our culture) is just another way to keep from being in the present moment?
What if God wants me to be still and know that he is God?
Be still and know that I am not?
What if he wants me to be still to tell me the truth about a few things?
Gosh, even the thought makes me squeamish. For some reason, I don’t want to hear that he wants me to…well…to change. To sacrifice. To be.
Instead, I have become comfortable in…
…in what? In whatever place this is?
God will speak to this people, to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there—
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured.
~ Isaiah 28: 11b-13
” Those that will not hear the comfortable voice of God’s word shall be made to hear the dreadful voice of his rod.” *
I am caught in a conundrum. I run from the very rest to which he calls, and in my running, I churn inside, yet I continue to run from the rest to which he calls…it is a cycle. My busyness is just a ruse to avoid the
He wants to quiet me with his love. Zephaniah 3:17 breathes encouragement to me. This agitated state I am in sends off red flares. I am about ready to jump out of my skin.
Even in my “quiet” times, I am far from quiet. I run around from one bible verse to another, marking this passage and that, studying, acquiring knowledge. “Do and do. Do and do. Rule on rule. Rule on rule. Here a little, there a little.”
And, yet, I “massage” my conscience: “Wow! Look at all I have learned in Leviticus. Who would have thought that Leviticus would so richly enhance my understanding of the gospel!”
It sounds really good, ya know? Doesn’t that make me sound super-spiritual to you? :-/
Hold everything.
Stop.
What am I running from? I have some ideas. I keep pointing to all the things that I do that prove I am a “good” girl…and, again, God says:
“I don’t want you to be ‘good,” I want you to be mine.”
This is about so much more than weight and food. God just uses food and weight to grab my attention. He uses my struggle as my thorn in my flesh to keep me clinging to him.
Perhaps if I would cease using busyness as a “drug of choice” and got still with Him…really still, there might be some healing. Some deep cleansing to the depths of my being.
How about you? Is busyness a way of avoiding a true encounter with the Living God? What are you running from? What can you do to stop and rest in his arms?
Oh, Lord, I confess my tendency to get caught up in “here a little, there a little, do and do, rule and rule…” It is so exhausting. I confess that I am running from you. Lord, I don’t even know why, really. You have said “Let the weary rest.” Oh! How I long for that rest, Lord. I pray that you will help me respond to your voice, to forsake the worldly rewards of busyness–and the accompanying agitation–and really rest in your presence. Lord, I want to hear what you have to say to me…Word of God speak…I choose to listen. Make it so, Lord. In the precious Name of Jesus, Amen.
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Ann Kroeker is our winner! Ann, please send me your snail mail address and I will send you the book, priority mail! Send your address to heidi [at] heidi bylsma [dot] com.
Thanks.
One more chance to win! Comment this week to be entered in the final drawing!
Thanks everyone for the great dialog. I am enjoying getting to know you all better.
This is a short video, just over three minutes long. I hope it will encourage you, as it has me.
What weakness is God calling you to turn over to him? What is as a “staff” in your life, instead of a “scepter?”
Have you ever been startled, as if from sleep, to “awaken” at the bottom of a carton of ice cream or an empty cookie bag? You didn’t even see it coming, but somehow you binged your way through most of a half gallon of “Tin Roof Sundae” ice cream. What now?
Or, perhaps, out for Mexican food, you were physically hungry and planned to eat within godly parameters. After enjoying chips and queso, however, by the time your meal arrived you weren’t hungry any more and you ate half your meal anyhow. Each bite threw an accusation your way. What next?
What we choose to do with the moments that follow is vital!
So often, when faced with these or similar scenarios, we pull out what Thin Within calls “the club of condemnation” and beat ourselves up. The very things we need–comfort and forgiveness–are the very things we deny ourselves. When we refuse to rest in the grace that Jesus purchased for us with his life, his heart is grieved every bit as much or more than the thing we did that caused our shame in the first place. He created us for so much more than the shame we embrace when we find ourselves in a place of sin. In fact, when he died on the cross, he took on all the sin and shame. He doesn’t intend for us to wallow in shame now.
Last year, I studied the book Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee. He speaks about the affects of shame:
Shame usually results in guilt and self-deprecation, but it can also lead us to search for God and his answers. Our inner, undeniable need for personal significance was created to make us search for Him. He alone can fulfill our deep need. In Him, we find peace, acceptance, and love. The Search for Significance, p. 101 (emphasis mine)
When I trespass God’s boundaries for me, those “what then” moments can be spent the way he desires–redeeming what came before! He intends to use the very sin and “gunk” that I think makes me so awful in his sight to draw me even closer to his heart. When I overeat (again) or head to food when I am not hungry and fail to stop it before “damage” is done, in the “what now?” moment, I can choose to turn to him and experience his peace, acceptance and love.
I wonder…why don’t I? Why do I insist on living as if he counts all my sin against me? Why do I act as if the cross never happened and Jesus didn’t pay for my sin and shame? Why do I wallow in shame?
We often behave in a manner that is consistent with our perception of ourselves…seeing ourselves through the eyes of shame usually results in a pessimistic outlook on life and a lifestyle of destructive behavior. The Search for Significance, p. 102 (Emphasis mine.)
“Destructive behavior”…like repeatedly engaging in poor choices followed by self-condemnation!
When I allow shame to go unchallenged in my life, it has a way of seeping in to all the cracks and crevices, pervading every aspect of who I am, almost defining me if I let it. When I first realize that I have allowed myself to go down a path away from God’s best for me–when I ask, “What now?”–I want the answer to be to stop, confess, and repent or, to use a Thin Within term, observe (dispassionately) and correct (more about this after we start our study of the book on June 14). I don’t want shame to define moments that follow! When I feel shame, I tend to make more shameful choices. Shame doesn’t belong in the child of God!
Instead, I want to break free from this cycle completely, exercising the freedom purchased for me by Christ. Instead, I will live free from shame controlling me or my decisions. I will reject shame, which looks backward, and I will reject all of the things it represents in my life. I will embrace grace which embraces Christ in the now and looks forward to that for which Christ Jesus lay hold of me.
I choose to keep short accounts today. If I do find myself having eaten more than I should have (or snapping at the kids a bit more harshly, or having missed an opportunity to speak the truth to a pre-Christian neighbor), the “What next?” question will be answered with “observe and correct,” confess and repent. I will reject allowing my indiscretion in the past hour, day, month, or decade to define me.
How about you? Have you allowed shame to have a say in your life? What can you do to expose it and reject it? God calls us to press on and move forward!
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NOTE: Don’t forget, we continue to have a random drawing for a free copy of Thin Within! Comment to be entered in the drawing. The next winner will be selected late Sunday evening.
I have a treat for you all today. I am just sure you will love it–a special guest blogger!
Ron Edmondson is the pastor of Grace Community Church and founder of Mustard Seed Ministry. Ron blogs regularly on leadership, family and church life at http://www.ronedmondson.com.
Ron and his wife, Cheryl, have a heart for Kingdom-building, including in their own home. They have two sons, Jeremy, 21 and Nathaniel, 19 who have both experienced a call to full-time ministry.
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Pick Up Your Mat And Walk
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5:8 NIV
In order to appreciate the value of Jesus’ command, you need to consider the culture of the day. Today, although some may feel we don’t do enough, there are limited opportunities for the physically handicapped to work and lead productive lives. In Christ’s time on earth, the handicapped were outcast. They lived off handouts they could obtain from begging.
In the above instance, the man had been crippled for a long time. Probably the only possessions he had were the clothes on his back and the mat on which he lay. The mat was almost a symbol of the only hope in his life. His existence was one to be pitied. There was no known cure for what ailed him (except Jesus), and even if there had been, he certainly couldn’t have afforded it.
Jesus had sympathy for the man, and with the spoken word, the man was healed. Jesus told him to “Get up!” take his mat and walk. Obviously, this was a gift greater than anything money could have bought.
Whenever I read this verse, this question comes to mind:
What mat am I holding on to today? What mat are you?
This man was holding on to his mat. It had surely become a treasured possession to him. He slept on it, rested on it, and watched the world pass by on it. He couldn’t have imagined facing the day without it. Jesus tells him to pick it up and walk. When Jesus was finished with the man, he didn’t need the mat anymore. It would take faith to trust Jesus and attempt to walk, but the victory was worth it all. Instead of a mat of hope, this man had the hope of Christ!
What would Jesus have you and I pick up today? What are you holding on too tightly as your hope?
Are you drowning in your sorrow, because you refuse to completely trust God? Are you moping about the setbacks of your life, because you have failed to accept His grace? Are you suffering from the sin that has wrecked everything around you, because you won’t submit yourself to accountability? Do you hold back from committing to God because you are afraid He won’t accept you?
Whatever you are holding on to tighter than your faith, I believe Jesus would say, “Pick up your mat and walk!” Trust Him with that in which you currently trust the most. Permit Him to see you through the difficult days of life. Allow Him to carry your burdens, strengthen your walk and brighten your hope for the future.
Jesus wants to help you. Listen for His command to pick up your mat and walk!
What is that one thing you’ve never been able to let go of, but know you need to do so?
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied,“tell me to come to you on the water.”~ Matthew 14:28
Earlier today, my almost-16-year-old daughter, plopped down on the bed next to me where I was working on my laptop:
“Is this the longest you have ever kept your weight off?,” she asked.
Though I was taken aback by what *seemed* to be a question out of the blue, I retorted quickly enough: “But I *haven’t* kept it off!”
“Mom, you have had little ups and downs, but you aren’t anywhere close to where you were before!”
Her praise surprised me. I was about to wax eloquent, minimizing the “success” and maximizing my “failure.”
Then, I thought about Peter. He is often remembered for many things, including sinking after Jesus made it possible for him to walk on the water. We remember so much about that story…but the thing that stands out seems to be that Peter sank when he took his eyes off of Jesus.
Peter walked on the water!!! He got out of the boat!
How quick we are to forget just how amazing that is.
Was Peter changed from the experience of walking to Jesus on the water? Was he in awe of what is possible when he fixed his eyes on Jesus? Did he allow that thought to envelop him? Or did he brood:
How easy it is to focus on apparent failure, but think of those other eleven guys who were all in the boat. None of them failed. None of them sank. But none of them ever got out of the boat!
I have done similarly with my transformation. There have been big internal changes in addition to the outward physical ones. Today, I choose to delight in the fact I got out of the boat. I am changed inside and out because of the things God has shown me–about him, about me, about what is possible. If I am honest, I know that, at my smallest, my mindset wasn’t healthy. I am following this path imperfectly, but in my weakness, God Almighty is made evident and strong!
I am not where I was. I got out of the boat!
Why do I minimize my victories and maximize my defeats?
How about you? Can you celebrate that you have gotten out of the boat? Delight in all that is possible when you do put your eyes on Jesus. It changes you inside *and* out. You are never the same.
What will it take today to get you to stop focusing on the “sinking” and start celebrating the fact that you have gotten out of the boat and walked on the water at all? How might doing so change you today and change your approach to food, difficult situations, people, yourself, and God?
Thank you everyone for all your relevant comments. I have sure enjoyed our dialog this past week. I had hubby draw a name from all of those who have commented this week. If you commented, I put your name in the baggie. If you commented twice, you had two chances to win. If you commented 5 times, you had 5 chances! The single name that hubby pulled out of the baggie was:
praizer4ever
I think she has visited this blog once! LOL! I hope she comes back to see she has won!
Please contact me by Friday at harleysheidi at gmail dot com letting me know the name and address that you want the book sent to.
Starting fresh with week 3 comments…two more books left to win. One more a week from today and then the last one will be the night before the official beginning of our study!
Comment to be entered! 🙂
Thanks!
Join us at the Thin Within Academy where you can sign up for our online courses as they become available.
