by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 18, 2010 | Blog
A dear friend of mine posted this link at the Thin Within forums. A blogger she follows has been allowing his dog access to the keyboard, I guess. Thing is, “Lucy” has a lot of wisdom for us. Have a look by clicking here and then I would love to hear from you.
Do you sense God encouraging you to embrace any of Lucy’s perspective about your body?
—
I would love to encourage any of you who are hanging in there with us for our book study to check in again. It seems that we may have lost some momentum. Please post and say hey, ok? 🙂 Missing the great camaraderie we had going there for a bit! 🙂
by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 17, 2010 | Blog
Our chat is tonight, Saturday, 7-8pm Pacific, or 9-10pm Central or 10-11pm Eastern 🙂 Go to this link to find out how! 🙂
We are looking at how challenging trials an hour ago, a week ago, a decade (or more) ago, can affect our eating today. Also, I will try to field questions and offer support generally. Hope you can make it!
Have a great weekend and it would be great to see you there!
by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 16, 2010 | Blog
Do you struggle with eating again and again at the same time each day, even if you aren’t hungry? I have tried a couple of different ways of handling this tendency, including planning my physical hunger to coincide with the “needy” time of the day.
This, however, seemed to be more of a band-aid. Whatever-it-is that has made me needy each night, has insisted I recognize it.
When we have a longing to eat even though we know that doing so goes against godly goals we have established, rather than deny that we are hungry, how about if we affirm that “I am hungry, but I am not physically hungry.” This gives a voice to whatever-it-is that is going on in us and gives us something to work with. Then, we can take it a step farther. Let me explain…
This is what it looks like for me now. Each evening, after my chores, after dinner, I head for my bath. I draw the water, plug my iPod into the speakers, and play the raining forest selection complete with bird calls and frogs. I turn off all the lights in the bathroom except for one (there is a blue light in the tub that is very relaxing) and I settle myself down .
As I do this, I prayerfully confess to the Lord that each evening, I am hungry for something and I tend to stuff that hunger with food–an attempt to numb the sensation, or stifle the cry of my heart. I ask him to show me right now what I am hungry for today.
He shows me–without fail!
One night he showed me that I was hungry for one-on-one time with my husband. With all the traveling he was doing, I felt forgotten. I needed some of his attention! I probably wouldn’t have realized just how starved I was for time with my husband had I not taken my time with the Lord in the bath.
Yesterday, I took my bath a bit earlier than usual. As I let down my emotional guard in the tub with the Lord, I began to weep. My oldest child turns 18 today and, as I prayed about that and if there are feelings that go with that, the Lord showed me that I needed to grieve the baby that went to heaven before my Daniel was born–it was our first pregnancy and first child. I have never grieved the miscarriage of that baby like I did yesterday afternoon. Had I not taken the time to ask the Lord what I was feeling and had I not listened to him, I know I would have stuffed the feeling with food. (I had been feeling drawn to food yesterday for the first time in a long while.) Not only that, but it would have come to the surface *some* time. God wants me to bring it to him and to be honest with him so we can deal with it head on! Funny that I haven’t *consciously* thought of that baby in a while. I wonder if my grief about this responsible for a lot of feelings that I anesthetize with food!
All that to say, so often we want to just stifle the cry, but I want to encourage us to give the heart a voice, instead, offer it up to the Lord, and allow him to answer. “Lord, my heart is hungry, hurting, empty in some way. Please show me what I need in order to experience the soul satisfaction that you intend and help me to look to you to provide it.”
He will do it.
What about you? Can you carve time out before you eat outside of 0 and 5 to ask the Lord to show you what you hunger for or what isvthe source of the emptiness you try to fill with food?
by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 15, 2010 | Blog
This is so fitting for our journey right now. As we sit in our *need*, we want to know God…the TRUE God–not an image we have of him based on a parent or authority figure or what we have been taught about him from others. We need to know Him. When we do, we will discover that we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death with our God. He is with us. He is faithful. He is loving, tender…
Even if you aren’t doing the book study with us, I encourage you to allow God to turn this into a deeper work…not just about weight, but about what the root cause is…sit in your need with the God who created you. He is for you.
You are For Me
Kari Jobe
So faithful
So constant
So loving and so true
So powerful in all you do
You fill me
You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to you
I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who you are
So patient
So gracious
So merciful and true
So wonderful in all you do
You fill me
You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to you
I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me that
I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who you are
How is God showing you that He is for you? How is this affecting your walk with Him?
by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 14, 2010 | Blog
Today’s post is from a guest blogger. When I ran across this post yesterday, I knew I had to share it with you all! WOW! So with her permission, please meet Amber Benge! To get to know her a bit more, visit her here.
——————–
When I was about 18, I went through a fight with bulemia and the struggle has followed me since then. My weight has gone up and down, but mostly just up as fertility treatments and hormone replacement has caused my body to go nuts. I found a great doctor who finally got things straightened out with my hormones and the weight has started to come off again, but it’s not easy. I recently pulled out the workbook I did back when I was 18 to help me keep my mind in the right place with all of it. It’s a Christian based weight “control” program called “Thin Within”.
The foundational principle of Thin Within is that you live life between a 0 and 5. Let me explain. When you are totally hungry and have that gnawing, completely empty feeling in your stomach, you are at a 0. When you hit a 5, you aren’t full. But at a 5, you aren’t hungry any more either. You are just comfortable. If you go beyond a 5 and keep eating, you can end up at a 10 which is the top of the scale. When you are a 10, you have that stuffed to sickness, can’t breathe, need a nap, after-Thanksgiving kind of feeling.
Thin Within teaches that you need to stay between a 0 and 5 at all times to lose weight. You don’t eat until you are at a 0 and you stop when you are at a 5. It’s as simple as that. You learn moderation by following your body’s signals. If you eat from a 5 to a 10, you are going to gain weight. You will end up with a sick stomach and a larger waist line as a result of your binge fest.
The principles of living between 0 and 5 also apply to the rest of our lives. I’m learning that I need to reject the lifestyle of gorged abundance that we have so readily in America. The dozens of shoes and purses, the big screen television, the clothes I never wear, the clothes I only wear occasionally that someone else might need… these are all areas of my life where I am living beyond a 5. These are more than I need and frankly, I feel like they are weighing me down.
I have an overwhelming urge to simplify my life. I don’t want to leave the 0 to 5 principle in my eating habits only. I want to start applying it to the rest of my life. I want to stop using food and things to fill me beyond my basic needs. When I make it a habit to fill up on these things, I am substituting them for Christ and His role in my life. When I choose to stop gorging myself on all the pleasures we have here in America, I can let the Lord fill me so that I can be used by Him.
Today, I am making a commitment to life between 0 and 5. We’ll see what that looks like in the coming months, but I have a feeling there are others that will do this with me. I have read your comments and your emails. I am so honored that you choose to pour your hearts out to me so openly. It seems that there is a common theme among all of them. We want to live for Christ. We want to give Him our everything. We just don’t know how to get there or where to start. So maybe this step of simplifying is our first move. What do you think?
©2010 Amber Benge – All Rights Reserved
——-
What about you? In what ways is God leading you to live all of life between 0 and 5? What do you need to do to simplify your life? Will you…today?
by Heidi Bylsma | Jul 13, 2010 | Blog
Please post attributes of God that you are aware of, or that you have learned, or been reminded of. If you want to share with us the source (like scripture verse or page of the book or….?) please do! Today’s encouragement will come from you all as you share the attributes or characteristics of God or ways you have seen that he interacts with people!
Go for it! 🙂
