One particular morning, just recently, I was writing in my journal and talking to the Lord about how maybe I need to hold particular foods with open hands. Then He stopped me in my thoughts and this is what I wrote: You are showing me that I’m trying to go back to food focus. I’m thinking too much about it. You want me to leave the [food] issue alone and to walk in freedom.*
Then He told me to look up Galatians 5:1again:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not letyourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV)
In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hamperedandheld ensnaredandsubmit againto a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off]. (AMP)
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangledagain with a yoke of bondage. (NKJV)
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. (The Message)
The words underlined and orange indicates what CHRIST has done. He has set me (us) free! The blue words are what my (our) responsibility is in that freedom. “Do not let”. “Let” means that I have a say in it; I am responsible. No one can make me! I choose it! So I can choose to stand in the freedom, or I can put back on the yoke, the chains and carry around a load that isn’t necessary. Christ bought me…He paid the ransom. He CHOSE to die for me so I could have life. He freed us from the chains of death and everything that leads to unrest/death. Am I going to choose a different way? No way!! Why in the world would I want to go back to captivity and be a slave to food, diets, etc?
I’ve noticed the temptations. Just this [particular] morning there were like 3 things on Facebook: an intense exercise challenge (that’s linked with dieting), someone’s before/after pictures after drinking a diet smoothie, and something else. It’s everywhere!! I have to choose to keep scrolling and to look away! I cannot even go there! I need to fix my eyes on Jesus and keep them set on Him! He wants me to guard my mind.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23
Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. Psalm 101:3
The temptations are out there beckoning me to obsess and bring me back into captivity. I cannot walk around blindfolded or my finger in my ears and singing, “La, la, la, I don’t hear you!” (although that might come in handy some times). I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK!
I have written down Galatians 5:1 (the Amplified version) on a piece of paper and have it up in two places in my house: 1) on my bathroom mirror, and 2) on my refrigerator. And when I read the scripture many times throughout the day, God’s peace is ignited in my heart and I remember that I am FREE!
Christ has made you free!
Stand firm!
Do not let yourselves be entangled again!
*If God was, in fact, asking me to hold a particular food with open hands, then I certainly would be obedient to that. But in this case, He wasn’t. I was trying to make up another reason to focus on food.
Independence Day (United States) is in just 2 days! I promise I didn’t plan this post to come right before, but when I scheduled the post for today, I thought it was really neat that here I am posting about being FREE! July 4th is celebration of being an independent nation. So as you are watching the fireworks bursting forth and enjoying the celebration, think about your freedom in Christ and STAND!
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” Galatians 5:7-9
Do you ever feel like you are going along on this Thin Within journey at a good pace, and then all of a sudden you get stuck or something gets in your way? I know this has happened to me plenty of times. Sometimes we have to stop and allow God to dig up what needs to be dug up so we can continue on once again, or He needs to remove the roadblock.
There have been a lot of things that have stalled me on this journey. Mostly, it’s been lies I have believed or habits that I’ve had for numerous years. For me, it’s been the lies that I shouldn’t be eating a certain food group, or that a well-known diet is the only thing that will help me so I better go back to dieting, being fixated on food research, etc.
Currently, we are turning our carport into a garage. My husband and a friend have been working hard this week getting the prep-work done for the foundation before the concrete is poured. They were working along at a good pace and they had one last corner to finish, when they realized there was some roots underneath the ground. After several hours of digging around, what they found ended up being a tree trunk and it’s roots! They had dug about 4 feet down, and then our neighbor came over with a chain saw and finished the job. We had no idea there was a tree trunk under the ground!
What if they would have started at that corner first? Would they have felt defeated? I know I may have felt that way. I would have been imagining roots everywhere!
We can go along at a steady pace in our Thin Within journey, and then BAM, we hit something hard. And then we have to focus on digging around and working on hacking at something until that thing is removed. We cannot just leave it there because it will make for a faulty foundation later on. We can no longer pretend it’s not there. We have to deal with it. And we may have to ask a friend for some help.
Just like my husband and his friend, I have had to hack away at things that were giving me a faulty foundation–or that could perhaps do foundational damage later on. It’s a lot of work to dig and dig, but our muscles get strengthened and we come away a bit stronger than before. And for days after my muscles will remind me that I worked them out, but later on I won’t even remember. And the best thing is that later on my foundation won’t sink because I took care of what needed to be taken care of.
When they first found the roots and realized it was a tree trunk, I remembered thinking, “So what! Just work around it!” But when my husband explained that it wouldn’t be good to have that tree trunk rot someday and then have the corner of our foundation cracking or sinking because of it. Oh! And that’s when the Lord began to pour into me what I am sharing with you today: we don’t want a sinking foundation!
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Matthew 7:24-27
I am guessing that you, like me, don’t want your foundation crumbling. The best foundation to build on (and really the only foundation) should be the Rock of Christ Jesus! Christ is our Corner Stone! Everything should be built off of that corner. If there’s anything else in place of the Rock, then everything is going to come sliding off and crumbling down just like the man who built his house on the sand. Sand shifts. The Rock stands forever. The Rock is Truth! In relating to Thin Within, “sand” could be the lies we have believed, diet mentalities, placing our security in false securities, etc. That tree trunk represented those things to me. It’s all the lies that will rot in my mind over time. So I have had to dig around the root system (the lies) and had to have some friends (accountability) help me as well. As we dug, we exposed more rotten lies!
We can look at these “tree trunks” and give up, or we can put on our gloves and pick up our shovels and dig! We can take the time to renew our mind and allow the Lord to dissolve every lie (sand) and replace with truth (the Rock), or we can leave the trunk there to rot and cause future problems. And if it’s too much for you to handle on your own, ask a friend (accountability partner) for help. Sometimes we need twice the strength to help us overcome.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
How about you?
Are you stuck? Do you need some help digging out the lies? Do you have an accountability partner? If not, Heidi has some great information about it here. Are you willing to renew your mind so God can replace those lies with truth? Would you like some help in starting? I would love to hear from you!
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Hi everyone!
I have so many things on my heart that I want to share with you, but since I have “mom brain”, I’m having a hard time collecting some of those thoughts. But I want to write something. Anything! So I thought I would take some time to encourage you.
No matter how long you’ve been on this journey, God is STILL faithful! He watches over His word to perform it! He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us! Oh…and He LOVES us!
I know some of you are discouraged. You’ve been trying. You feel like giving up. You just don’t know how to make this all work. And some of you are down right ANGRY because you feel like you are a failure–or possibly because you may feel like God has failed you. You have spent many tears, crying out to God to just help you release the weight, to help you overcome your food addiction, to make all of this easy.
Can I tell you something?
Lean in closely…I’m about to tell you a tidbit of truth that has literally changed my life…
God wants to transform you!
He wants to help you! He wants to deliver you! He wants to help you overcome!
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2
We don’t overcome by following our boundaries perfectly. It’s clinging to God’s Word. It’s spending time with Him. That’s how we are transformed. It’s not our own work. It’s His work. Our part is spending time with Him.
I have seen a HUGE change in my life in the area of food and body image because of what God has done and all it took was me taking the time to renew my mind. What does it look like to renew my mind? For me, it means reading my truth cards at least once a day. Usually that takes place in the morning along with reading my Bible. And then each time I felt like breaking a boundary, I sat down with my journal and ‘I Deserve a Donut’ app (or book) by Barb Raveling. I would write out the questions and answers. If I was in a hurry, I would just read the questions and answer them in my head or out loud. If I was journaling, I would write down a few of the scriptures that really stood out to me. And I still do this when needed.
I believe each time I took the time to renew my mind that the Lord was transforming me. And WOW, I’m so amazed at what He has done! I will share more about that later, but for now I want to encourage you in your own journey.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
My daughter enjoys watching the movie The Jungle Book. Every once in awhile she will ask me to play the Bare Necessities song that Baloo sings after meeting Moglie. One day we were listening to the song, when suddenly it hit me, it’s really true! We only need the bare necessities of life!
What are the bare necessities? Food, shelter, clothing? Maybe there are additional things like companionship. Water? I’m sure we can all think of what those bare necessities are in our life.
So how does this pertain to our Thin Within journey?
I can tell you what it means for me. I learned this the hard way this past week.
The last year has been incredible. The Lord has helped me overcome so much. Through Christ, I have seen victory after victory. There have been bumps along the way, but all of a sudden, this past week, I stumbled and fell on my face. And I ate dirt. And as Heidi just talked about, I got back on the horse, and then fell off again and ate more dirt. And then I felt like the last time I fell off the horse that the horse dragged me through a manure pit. Ever been there? Yeah…so instead of just brushing the dirt off myself, this time I had to get a hose and spray off the grime.
But I’m back on the horse again. 🙂
So what happened? I started to get panicky and tried to create ways to be more in control. Instead of just eating 0-5 and staying within my boundaries (my bare necessities of my Thin Within journey), I decided to keep a food journal of what I was eating and give myself a check-mark if I ate 0-5 (which, is totally ok if you are led to do this–I was not). AND then I thought that I should limit certain kinds of foods. I really thought this was the Lord’s idea, but looking back, it was NOT. And maybe He allowed it to prove to me that my ideas are not the greatest ideas. Ha! Instead of being helpful, it brought me back to my dieting and restrictive days. The first couple of days were fine, but then I slowly started to see myself deteriorate into this rut of restriction. This is not a good place for me. I started to obsess. And that’s when I really began to eat some dirt. I wasn’t staying within the basics.
The Lord has shown me that I need to keep things simple. It’s those bare necessities of my Thin Within journey that are what He wants for me. If I go outside of that I find myself trying to control and be obsessed. And then the mental weight becomes heavy and suddenly I’m burdened down like I was back in my dieting days. There’s only a few things that the Lord would like me to focus on in this journey. Those are my bare necessities.
Christ has come to give us life, and life in abundance. The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy–his focus is death. (John 10:10) Christ wants us to live simply. The enemy wants to complicate things, burden us down, and confuse us. Christ wants us to walk by faith. The enemy wants us to walk by sight.
Walking by faith is not always easy. When I follow the Holy Spirit’s leading with my eating, I’m trusting in Him and putting my faith in Him. I think what happened is that I was starting to doubt, so I wanted to help things a bit by gathering some control. Well, I gathered “control” all right and licked up some dirt! If anything, I was out of control.
Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
I will choose to trust Him. I am choosing to acknowledge Him before each meal and I’m inviting the Holy Spirit to guide me in my eating. And He certainly meets with me when I do so.
So today I’m letting go of those extra, non-essential things. They aren’t necessary. They complicate things. They make me greedy and discontent. I’m going back to the simplicity I found in the beginning–through Christ–not my own strength or works. Christ’s burden is light , but I started carrying a heavy burden that I brought upon myself. And apparently the horse I’m riding didn’t care for that extra weight. And the last time I got bucked off, I left that extra weight on the ground. Praise God!
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
I really want to encourage you in your own Thin Within journey. Maybe this has been part of the struggle for you. Maybe you’ve been focused on too many things. Is God calling you to simplicity–to get back to the basics of eating between hunger and satisfaction? Your bare necessities could be a combination or just a couple of these things:
Spending time in the Word
Truth Journaling
Creating and reading truth cards
Adding to your God List
Praise and worship
Journaling
Bible study
Renewing your mind
Inviting the Holy Spirit into each eating experience
Being accountable to your accountability partner
Maybe there’s something that is essential for you that I haven’t listed, but you KNOW that it’s something the Lord has asked you to do. Those are all great things, but sometimes God only calls us to focus on a couple of things.
Something the Lord has been showing me is that He will provide my needs. Christ says in Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” He doesn’t want us focused on food or what we are going to eat. He’s going to take care of those basic needs, but our part is trusting Him and following His leading.
He’s also been showing me that if I am doing more than He is calling me to do, that I will start to lean on my own abilities and strengths–and I will become greedy. Ouch! If you are taking “too much thought” about what you will eat, how you will lose the weight, etc., then maybe it’s time to step back and re-assess your focus. It could be time to simplify. And really, this journey is about growing closer to the Lord and keeping food in it’s proper place, so it could be simply that He just wants you to read the pure Word of God.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
How about you?
Are you carrying burdens that you were never meant to carry? Are you living by faith and not by sight in your Thin Within journey? Are you trying to control things instead of just trusting in the Lord? What are your bare necessities for this journey? For me, it’s been reading my truth cards, reading the Word, truth journaling, renewing my mind, and going through a Bible study. It may look different for you. The Lord will show you. And if you are carrying too heavy of a load, you will know.
Image courtesy of anankkml / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In less than a week (give or take), I will be holding our newborn son in my arms for the very first time. A lot of changes are around the corner, and I’ve been reminding myself to take it all one moment at a time, even with the lack of sleep a baby can bring.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what my eating will look like after the baby comes. Most of my journey with Thin Within and overcoming the issues I was having before, took place during my pregnancy. I shared a little bit about this before in a post about Pregnancy & Thin Within. To be honest, there have been times when I’ve wondered if after I have the baby, I will be tempted to go back to Weight Watchers. My accountability partner knows this has been a concern of mine. I have seen the Lord do some amazing things in my life, mind and body throughout this journey while being pregnant. In so many ways, it’s been such a blessing. One blessing is that I have paid no attention to my weight. And now seeing how I look and feel with only a few weeks of pregnancy to go, I want to give Him all of the praise, honor, and glory for helping me stay at a healthy pregnancy weight (whatever it may be). I can tell I’ve honored my hunger within the boundaries God has given me, and He has helped me learn to delight in my boundaries. Praise God!
The other day I was reading in Barb Raveling’s book Taste for Truth: A 30 Day Weight Loss Bible Study. She was talking about how she was breaking boundaries right and left. She said that instead of renewing her mind, her response was “being frustrated and thinking my boundaries didn’t work” (page 95). This spoke volumes to me because that’s exactly what I start to think when I break a boundary. “Oh, I guess these boundaries aren’t working for me (since I broke them), so I might as well go back to Weight Watchers.” But these boundaries DO work!
So if it’s not the boundaries that are flawed, what is it? It’s the LIES I am believing! So then enters the importance of renewing my mind (which I keep on crowing about–ha!). Instead of wallowing in my mess (remember my potty training illustration from this post?), I need to renew my mind about whatever lie that caused the boundary breakage.
This is huge for me. HUGE! I’m getting closer and closer to completely cutting off the lie that I have to return to a diet when I choose not to following my boundaries. Praise God!
When I was spending time with the Lord this morning, He was showing me that eating between hunger and fullness works all of the time in helping one to lose or maintain weight. There is no special program I have to go on in order to lose weight after having a baby. Eating 0-5 will work! So I won’t need a diet! I won’t need to measure, track, weigh, or focus on food! My boundaries are perfect boundaries!
Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “Whoa, ‘perfect’ is a strong word to describe your boundaries!” But if I didn’t believe that, then I’d be in trouble. They are perfect for me because it’s what the Lord has asked me to do and it’s the only thing that He’s given me peace about. So basically, I know it’s His will for me. It’s been my prayer that I would see my boundaries as delightful.
Here are some truths I have in my truth cards pertaining to my boundaries:
I can stay within my boundaries in spite of temptation or even when I don’t feel like it.
“Boundaries aren’t restrictive fences meant to keep us from enjoying life, but gifts from a God Who cares about our well-being.” Lysa TerKeurst
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Psalm 16:7
I don’t need a diet when I can just listen to my body. I can eat within my boundaries.
Breaking my boundaries is not a reward.
Boundaries make my life better.
I feel immediate joy when I choose to honor my boundaries.
Not even one bite outside of my boundaries.
Boundaries DO make my life better. They keep me safe. Some boundaries that I have for eating are: eating 0-5, eating while sitting and without distraction, and eating slowly so I can enjoy my food. These are the boundaries God has given to me right now, and I am really starting to see how delightful these boundaries are. I CAN stay within my boundaries!
So as I proceed into the next chapter of my life (being a mommy of two!), I know I can persevere in what God has already showed me to do: delight in my boundaries!
How about you?
Do you believe your boundaries are perfect? Or are you tempted like I’ve been to go back to a diet when you break a boundary? What lies have you been believing? What truths can combat those lies? Will you join me in persevering and delighting in your God-given boundaries?
Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18
I LOVE when I’m reading a verse I’ve read thousands of times jumps out at me and the Holy Spirit reveals this super amazing and awesome powerful truth to me as if I’ve read it for the first time!! It’s always so exciting! That’s what happened one day when I read this verse.
When I am following after the Spirit’s guidance with my eating, I am not giving into my flesh or the enemy’s temptations. That is pure and simple truth. And if I’m being led of the Spirit, it is not necessary to be under a law. For me, being under a law when it comes to food is following a diet (man-made set of rules in regards to what, when, and how much I should eat). I have noticed that when I’m following after my flesh and giving into temptation, I immediately think I need to jump back on the diet bandwagon. So when I read this verse, it finally made sense to me why my thoughts would go to dieting after eating outside of my boundaries. Knowing this brought me a sense of freedom because IF I follow the Spirit, I am set free from dieting or any kind of eating “law”. Praise God!
So how does one follow after the Spirit when it comes to eating? And eating within the principles of Thin Within? Well, first of all, I think you have to know without a doubt that eating 0-5 (between hunger and fullness) is what God has called you to do. Heidi has talked about this many times. And then if you are convinced that 0-5 is what the Lord wants for you, then you know that the Holy Spirit is going to guide you to stay within those boundaries of hunger and fullness and whatever secondary boundaries He asks for you to follow (which could be boundaries such as eating without distraction, eating slowly, eating while sitting, etc.). The Holy Spirit will gently lead you. And if you are listening, you will hear His gentle voice, like a shepherd with his sheep, guiding you. He will prompt you. He will ask you questions. He will help you in time of need.
And as long as you are listening to Him, you won’t need ANY other voices telling you what you should eat, how you should eat, etc.
I truly believe and am convinced that God has created us all to eat within hunger and fullness. I guess you could say it’s like a divine plan for our life in taking care of our bodies. It’s obvious that it was never His will that we become gluttonous and overweight, because look at all of the problems we can have with our health when we are. I am also convinced that He doesn’t want us following some regimented and strict diet plan because that wreaks havoc upon our physical body and our mind. Something is unbalanced when we are eating in a way that numbs the natural hunger and fullness signals, whether it’s from a strict diet plan, overeating on purpose, or any type of eating disorder. God is a God of order, not disorder. And I think that eating within hunger and fullness (0-5) is a very peaceful, pleasant, and orderly way of eating. Praise God! His ways are perfect!
A friend of mine shared one of her truth cards with me. It’s a quote by Jack Hayford from the New Spirit Filled Bible:
“We are called to war against the flesh. Our flesh urges indulgence and the Holy Spirit constrains us to righteousness. Victory in this war is found in: abiding in right relationship with Jesus, understanding that true strength is found in our weakness, and continually submitting to the unction and urging of the Spirit. Victory comes as we take these practical steps, avoiding or overcoming the pull of our flesh.”
I’ve heard it said from Heidi and others that there are times when we can make 0-5 a “law”. Of course, this isn’t what God intends for us. I believe this is where we need to be graceful with ourselves and ask the Lord how we can go about eating within hunger and fullness without turning it into another diet plan. It takes time to get back to God’s natural order with our eating, especially if we’ve dieted for many years. It takes time to get back in tune with those intuitive signals. And for some of us, the diet mentality may be so engrained in our brains that it may take time to completely let go of all of those rules we were so used to being under before. The Holy Spirit can help us with that as well.
There have been times the Holy Spirit has asked me to stop eating, prompted me about when to stop, and has asked me not to eat because I wasn’t hungry. He’s also asked me at times to leave a bite on my plate. Sometimes I really don’t want to, but I know He knows what He’s talking about, so I choose to obey.
I’m so excited to know that if I’m following after the Spirit, I don’t even have to concern myself with thinking I need to go on another diet plan. This brings me so much relief and joy! There have been times during this journey where I have felt like I need to go back to measuring, weighing, and tracking my food during the times when I felt like I have failed. But now I realize that I don’t need a diet. I need the Holy Spirit. He will show me truth and lead me into all truth.
How about you?
Are you convinced that the Lord wants you to eat 0-5? If so, do you trust the Holy Spirit to lead you in your eating? When you feel like you’ve failed, do you automatically think you need to go on a diet? I’ve been there myself, but now I see that if I keep on renewing my mind and continue on this journey with the Lord, that I won’t need to diet. Praise God!
Image courtesy of Suvro Datta / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Recently, I was sharing with a friend about where I’ve been on my journey about food and eating. I was sharing with her that it didn’t work when I tried to be a “normal eater” years ago. I’m not sure why, but I remember really struggling and feeling like I was never going to overcome. I had a few successes, but something would come up, and then I would go back to overeating or obsessing about food.
Almost a year ago, I came back to Heidi’s blog after really having a hard time with food thoughts and fears. Immediately, the Lord gave me this incredible peace and then He showed me that He wanted me to let go of all of the food thoughts and fears and to eat within hunger and fullness (0-5). It was a rough start of one step forward, two steps back, but after a couple of months, the Lord showed me that in order to be completely set free from the fears and thoughts, that I needed to renew my mind. And so began my “truth cards”.
And that, my friends, has been the difference. Ever since May of 2013, I have met with the Lord every day to renew my mind. It started with renewing my mind about learning that I can enjoy ALL foods with no fear attached, to currently, where I am learning to delight in my God-given boundaries. And there have been things in between that I have renewed my mind about. I am currently reading through my second set of truth cards. I felt that I “graduated” from my first set of truth cards, so I was ready to move on with the Lord in this journey to becoming free in this area of my life.
In May of 2013, I was already at a healthy weight. I wanted to maintain that weight. The “weight” I needed to release were the lies and obsession. It was more of a mental weight. That’s where I needed to be set free. And He has been doing just that, setting me free with His truth! Every day I choose to renew my mind with His truth, and every day I’m set free more and more! Praise God!
I truly believe I wasn’t able to press in and persevere with eating between hunger and fullness years ago because I wasn’t getting to the inner parts of me that were causing overeating in the first place. I wasn’t renewing my mind. I was looking to myself for strength instead of falling at the feet of Jesus each time I messed up or needed Him. I remember one of the things I really struggled with years ago was thinking that Thin Within was too spiritual. I didn’t want to dig into the reasons I ate emotionally. I felt like that was for wimps. But oh, I was so wrong! I am stronger today because of falling at the feet of Jesus and humbling myself before Him and crying, “HELP!”
Facing the “spiritual” side of hunger and fullness is uncomfortable for some. I know I was uncomfortable. And even last year when I was just starting out, I really fought the spiritual side of this journey. I didn’t want to admit that I was indulging my flesh every time I overate or even obsessed over food. It was like I wanted to walk in unrest instead of the peace God was offering me. I kept thinking, “I can do this without being so spiritual about it.” Oh, how I have been humbled with His truth!
It DOES take time to renew your mind. Honestly, I wouldn’t have experienced any of the victory in Christ that I have if it wasn’t for renewing my mind. Let me say it plainly: If I didn’t take time to renew my mind, I would overeat, I would obsess about food, and I would be freaking out! Just ask my husband.
I remember when Heidi would post about how HARD this journey can be. I did NOT NOT NOT want to hear that. I remember thinking, “Then I’ll just keep tracking [Weight Watchers] points!” I wanted and want this to be easy, but at times, it’s not. Why? Because sometimes I want to eat what I want to eat, when I want to eat it. Sometimes I don’t want to read my truth cards or stop my mind in it’s tracks and renew my mind about WHY I want to overeat. But guess what?…the harder times make me stronger. Just think about it, when you renew your mind, it’s like you are retraining it. You are suddenly STOPPING it and steering it in another direction. And each time you do that, you are training it to turn the other way! This is totally unrelated, but when I was potty training my daughter, each time she started going, I picked her up and put her on the potty. And after a short time, she recognized that when she needed to go that she needed to sit on the potty. It’s sort of the same thing when we renew our mind. After awhile, we no longer have “accidents”, but we direct ourselves in the right direction. Isn’t that awesome!?
Let’s look at this with an example. Let’s say I’m feeling emotional. Something just happened and I am sad. I want to numb myself with food. Well, I know that I’m not hungry, so eating right now would not be within my boundaries (0-5). I have 2 choices, I can eat, or I can STOP and renew my mind. One way that I can renew my mind is getting out my journal and getting out the ‘I Deserve a Donut’ app (if I ever meet Barb Raveling she’s going to get the biggest hug ever–I hope she likes hugs!) and I am going to go to the section under Attitudes called Emotional Eating. And I would answer the questions in my journal and read through the scriptures. If needed, I would take a time-out and write out to the Lord what I’m dealing with and really just let the emotions pour out to Him. As I do this, the Lord meets with me and speaks to me from His Word. The questions from the Emotional Eating app make me think about why I want to eat and how it’s not a good idea to eat outside of my boundaries. And pretty soon I’m feeling better because I’ve gone to the LORD instead of food. I may still want to eat, but I realize that it’s not even worth it because food isn’t going to fix the problem. Most likely, I won’t want to eat outside of my boundaries because the Lord has met my need. And so the next time I’m feeling emotional, it will be easier to turn away from the thoughts about eating and turn instead to the Lord and His truth. Each time I renew my mind, I will be transformed!
So there you have it, the difference in seeing victories in Christ as I have applied the Thin Within principles has been that I have renewed my mind. That was the missing key before, but it’s no longer missing now!
How about you?
Have you been diligent in renewing your mind? Are you seeing a difference as well because you are renewing your mind? I would love to see some comments about how renewing your mind has made a difference!
The first time I heard Mandisa’s song Overcomer on the radio, I just smiled to the Lord knowing that, yes, I am an overcomer through Him. It wasn’t until months later that I watched the official Overcomer music video that the song spoke even more to my heart. No matter how many times you’ve heard this song, I want to encourage you to watch the video. I have a feeling it will pull on your heartstrings as it has mine.
There are many battles that are faced in this life, but God is right there wanting to strengthen us and to help us overcome. Nothing is too hard for Him! He is able! We are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus!
Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me? Jeremiah 32:27
Even as I finish typing out this post that I started a few days ago, I’m tired, I’m worn out, I’m weary. I’m tempted to eat and I’m not hungry. I just sat down and journaled through the emotional eating questions from the I Deserve a Donut app. It was so good to do that. I wrote out some scriptures that really spoke to me. I read through my God list. To be honest, I still feel like eating, but I know that food isn’t going to take care of the real issue. I am believing I will overcome this. I won’t give into the temptation to eat. God is my strength! Food isn’t my savior.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
I AM an overcomer!
How about you?
What are you facing? Do you believe you are already an overcomer? Are you willing to stop in your tracks and renew your mind? Do you trust God to take care of what needs to be taken care of? Praise Him! Talk to Him! Journal! Read your God list. He is able!
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
