One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Mary Did You Know” written by Mark Lowry and one of my new favorite renditions of this song is the one performed by Danny Gokey (see it here: Danny Gokey – Mary, Did You Know? (Live) ). It is so powerful, but the true power in this song is in Whom it is speaking about. This song is all about Jesus: what He did, and what He still does today.
It saddens me that as we go into the New Year, there will be many of us who will make a list of New Year’s Resolutions. These lists will include things like eating better, new diets to try or old tried and true ones to go back to (they really aren’t tried and true if you are still seeking to lose weight and keep it lost!), diligent exercise plans, self-improvements galore and many things of the same nature. Maybe your list includes wonderful things like praying more and reading the Bible daily. Those are great things to do and I keep those resolutions myself each New Year. The problem with making resolutions about weight loss and fitness is that they seldom stick. We keep trying to make ourselves fit into a mold of health and vitality and we just don’t get there. And when we fail year after year, we keep beating ourselves up and our feelings of failure just keep us living our lives the same way we always do. Do you want this year to be different? I know I did last year at this time, and I would like to invite you on a journey with me for this New Year. It starts with placing “Know Jesus Better” at the top of your resolution list, followed by “Know Who I am in Christ Better.” It is in these two resolutions that you will find the strength for change.
I really believe that we forget that our God is a miracle worker. Our Lord Jesus who healed the sick and cured the incurable still does that today. In the words of “Mary Did You Know” we hear “The blind will see; the deaf will hear; and the dead will live again! The lame will leap; the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb!“ When you hear those words in this song or when you read this truth in God’s Word, do you believe them? Or, do you believe that was then, and this is now? Do you believe that those healed by our Savior deserved to be healed for some reason and in your own thinking you believe you don’t deserve healing? Maybe you don’t think God cares about healing or fixing problems that we see as things we suffer though because of our own making? Well, I’ve got news for you! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God is the same today as He was then and as He will be tomorrow. Jesus Christ performed miracles before He walked the earth, as He walked the earth and as He sits at God’s right hand today. This year let’s develop our FAITH muscle and start truly believing!
Our issues and problems matter to God. He loves having those very things draw us closer to Him. It is through drawing closer to Him that we develop perseverance for this journey. It is through trusting Him to handle the decisions and temptations that He proves Himself faithful and loving. Jesus did heal the sick, cure the dumb and lame, brought the dead back to life and calmed the storm with just a wave of His hand or a word from His lips. This New Year, will you allow, once and for all, your Savior and Lord Jesus to calm the storms in your heart? Will you let go of trying to change your own life by making a list of New Year’s resolutions and instead make it your desire to know Him better and to fully accept who you are in Him? Believe me when I say that I now know I can’t change myself. Believe me; I tried more times than I’d like to admit! What I can tell you for sure is that God changed my life this past year and I never want to go back to the way it was before. It started with looking for a Biblical way to lose weight and ended up with me fully surrendering the whole issue of weight loss/gain, food focus and disordered eating patterns over to Him. Each act of surrender on my part was met with a greater blessing of the Holy Spirit’s work in my heart and mind. This time last year, I was in your shoes: fearing God would never heal my heart around issues with food and weight. He led me first into a Bible Study that was deep in the Word, but soft around food boundaries. I found I still had too much leeway to try and control food to my own whims and wishes. Through that study, He led me into Hunger Within and the God designed boundaries of eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied. He introduced me to His pleasant boundaries, but I didn’t totally surrender to Him until I woke up to the fact that what was coming out of my mouth in words didn’t match my actions. You see, I was still trying to live up to my list of things to do instead of allowing God’s list for me to take effect. I gave up trying to do this myself and gave control over to God. This change in me has taken work on my part. I have had to use the tools of daily Bible reading/study, renewing my mind through truth journaling, truth cards and scripture praying and I have been involved in the TW/HW community. Doing those things took the focus off of me and placed my focus where it needed to be…on God, the Miracle Worker. The work is simple but not always easy, but the miracle that God has done in my heart is real and a tribute to how He still works miracles today!
Let this New Year be one of great growth and change! Let this be the year to delete, “I blew it again!” from your vocabulary and exchange it for, “Christ Jesus is working a miracle in my life!” Join the journey to true freedom in Christ this year and every year!! Join me in singing these words,
“Oh, the blind will see; the deaf will hear; and the dead will live again!
He’s the great I Am!
He’s for me.
He’s healed me.
He’s the great I Am!
He shall be called Wonderful and Counselor!
He’s the great I Am!
There’s healing in His hands, lightning in His eyes.
Truly this man is… He’s the great I Am, the great I Am!”
We are sure you want more out of yourself and out of life than empty New Year’s resolutions — which are often promises made because everyone at the office is making them or because all the family members are sharing theirs.
Instead, let’s start off the first full week in January of 2016 with actionrather than just talk!
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22
One way you can do that is to join our first Thin Within class of 2016, a study of “Discovering God’s Master Plan” which is the first workbook in our four-workbook series called “Rebuilding God’s Temple.” Our bodies are the temple of the the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It’s an amazing truth! So let’s commit this year to living like this is the truth (since it is).
Visit our online classes page and sign up. We would love to have you and walk with you through the first three months of this new year. Registration closes on Friday, January 8th.
If you don’t want to be a part of a Facebook group, consider joining our Thin Within trade book study. Find the chapter you are on in the book and dive in any time. We are trying to encourage people to post comments to establish a community for support. Won’t you help us out? 🙂
How About You?
What will you do to not merely be a hearer only, but a doer?
My body is a beautiful and unique masterpiece created and designed by God! With this body I can think, imagine, see, hear, taste, smell and touch. With my God-made mind, I can remember both the good and the bad in my life in divinely directed lessons leading to both gratitude and gentle correction.
With this body, I can walk, dance, swim and hold my soft furry kitties or hug my husband of 25 years. I can see the world and flowers and cats and other people. I can smell a rose, delighting in this ability, both literally and metaphorically. God’s gift of abstract thinking and memory allow me to smell the roses in the winter!
My body—both inside and out—is exceptional. My curves tell the story of abundant provision and their beautiful design embody the feminine classic standard through centuries. My digestion, respiration, blood cells and all other engineering marvels of my body declare the design of You, my Creator.
God’s gift of words and imagination can tell His story and ours with empathy, pathos and all the details that my God-created body has perceived. Drawing upon almost every sense, I can learn and develop exquisite, body-expressed waltz or cha-cha as a dancer with my professional dance partner.
With this body, which has experienced tragic suffering and incomparable joy, I can tell stories through movement and music and humor and drama and film. With God-infused artistic vision I can touch others’ hearts to know they are not alone. I can inspire others to feel the full range of emotions God has given us and has felt Himself!
Thank you, God, for all the things my body can do ranging from the ordinary to the sublime. In your kingdom even the most “ordinary” functions of my body are your brilliant design. Thank you Wonderful Creator and Designer of my masterpiece of a body.
David once said:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
And the sky above proclaims his handiwork,
Day to day pours out speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
Psalm 19:1-2
The same is true of my body! It declares the glory of God! It proclaims his handiwork!
Praise God the Creator!!
Emilie Tobias with one of her students.
Emilie, one of our Thin Within participants, lives in the Deep South with a plethora of cats and her wonderful loving husband, Joe. She has been a professional dancer, dance instructor, and dance studio owner for over 20 years and loves to share her gifts with others as an expression of her love for life, people, and the Lord.
How about you?
Emilie wrote this piece as an affirmation to defy the negative self-talk that might sometimes invade her thinking.Why not start 2016 doing the same? Will you write an affirmation of your God-given body that you can speak and pray over your body each day, thanking God for His marvelous handiwork? If you do, please send it to us at thinwithin.org [at] gmail.com. We would love to hear from you and possibly share it on our blog! ~ Thanks, Heidi Bylsma
It’s that time of year again, when many of us feel we have another chance to press the “restart” button on setting and meeting goals. Some might call them “resolutions.” Let’s take a moment and differentiate between the two. A goal is a destination, a point where the race ends. A resolution is an intention, make up in one’s mind, to decide firmly to accomplish something (according to the Oxford Dictionary). As we know from the life of the Apostle Paul a goal is biblical,
“Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 3:13-14)
A resolution brings with it a mustering up of power within us to accomplish something. Do you see the difference?
At Thin Within we encourage setting godly goals by using two fundamental tools:
1) The Keys to Conscious Eating (pp. 77-80 in Hunger Within) which are biblical principles for weight mastery that can help you become aware of your body’s true physiological hunger, have greater enjoyment in the food you eat, and recognize when your body is satisfied; and,
2) God-Honoring Choices (pp.112-113 in Hunger Within) remembering that we have the freedom to choose what we will eat or drink, but know that not every food or beverage is beneficial for us, nor do we want to be enslaved by anything.
In Thin Within Day 3 focuses on “adopting godly goals and vision.” We first determined our purpose, which is “I am created for God’s glory,” followed by, “I am chosen to become like His Son.” These are two fundamental stones we want to rest our godly goals upon. “God created us because He wants to infuse our lives with so much joy, love, grace, and compassion that people can’t help but to recognize Him in our countenance! The bible calls this, “glorifying God.”
When we are an advertisement for how wonderful God is, when we display what He is like to the world, when our lives sing of His majesty and wonder that is when we are glorifying Him. That is what we were designed for.” (Thin Within, Day 3) “God knew us and formed us in our mother’s womb according to Psalm 139. When he formed us, He chose us for the purpose that we might be more like His Son, Jesus. His was a life lived with purpose and meaning. Jesus’ character reflected all of the attributes of God.”
So this year as you set your godly goals keep in mind that they don’t have to be lofty or unattainable. In fact, that may be too much too soon. Perhaps you want to work on the top 3 Keys, or 2 God-Honoring Choices. Someone once told me that if you accomplish all your goals in a day you haven’t set your goals high enough. While I use to believe this was true, the older I’ve gotten the more I think I have come to believe that when we’re able to check all the boxes perhaps it’s because we were realistic when setting the goals. I’m still undecided on that one.
Remember four questions (taken from Dr. Charles Stanley on “Setting Godly Goals”) that need to be answered:
1) Why is this important to you, Lord?
2) Does this fit into your plan for my life?
3) Is this goal totally in line with God’s Word?
4) How might the accomplishment of this goal bring blessing to others?
Take some time this week to review The Keys to Conscious Eating and the God-Honoring Choices section of Hunger Within and ask the Lord to help you set your (His) goals for you this year, this month, this week, or just for today. He wants to collaborate with you on this. So let Him. Wherever He wants you to start is where you want to begin, since He knows you personally and knows that you can handle.
What about you? Are you needing to set some godly goals? Are you willing to collaborate with the Lord on His goals for you this coming season? Write them down and begin afresh as soon as you can. And rejoice in knowing that “His mercies are new every morning.” Happy New Year!
I have been noticing that my heart has felt different this Christmas season. I am more focused on others. I am looking forward to time spent with my family. I am not tense or nervous or insecure about the gifts my husband and I are giving to our family. I am joyous, content and I feel peace. I can’t ever remember a Christmas in my whole adult life where I have felt like I do this Christmas. You may be asking, “Why the change?” I believe that my heart change has come from a year of working the program of Hunger Within, following 0 to 5 boundaries, renewing my mind and daily spending time with my Lord Who is the Lover of my soul and the One who died to not only free me from the penalty of my sin, but He also died to break the power of sin in my life.
In church this morning we read Matthew 6:21. It got me thinking about the change in my heart that I have been noticing. I remembered Christmases in the past where I was worried if everything would go all right. I worried about the food and if everyone would enjoy it. I worried about the gifts I was giving. I baked and overate on not only the baked goods, but the dough that went in to the baked goods. I seemed to feel lousy a lot of the time because I was overeating on all types of foods, often having a binge when the house quieted after bed time for other family members and I was finally alone to enjoy what I used to think of as my friend and my comfort, excess food. Then I would feel depressed because my weight would start going up and I would have to start thinking about the New Year and weight loss resolutions. When I think about this scripture, I realize that my treasure was totally in the wrong place and my heart showed it. Can you identify with this pattern? I didn’t think I would ever break free from this annual destructive pattern in my life, and what I found out by seeking the Lord’s help, is that I never would break free with my own will. It has only happened through Him working in my heart. It is Christ’s transformation power that is changing me; not anything that I could have ever done on my own. He is transforming me through the renewing of my mind as I seek His face and His word in my life daily. I started noticing the shift the more I realized that I was not being set free by following my boundaries perfectly. Who could follow boundaries perfectly? I am being set free by the renewing of my mind.
The blessings gained by going into this holiday season without a focus on my body size, the types of food I am eating or attempting not to eat or trying to think ahead to my New Year diet, are innumerable. My mind is clear as I fast between my meals: the food fog is gone. My heart feels love as I think about others and take them to the Lord in prayer: my self-focused internal frustration and anger at myself and others is gone. I have had the energy to get everything I needed to get done, done and the things that were not important, I let slip peacefully from my mind: my body’s exhaustion from never having my ingested food totally digested is gone. I am content with what I have, how much I have and where I have it: my discontented heart is gone. When I wake each morning and I choose to focus first on the Lord, my life falls into balance. I feel that what He has accomplished in my life this past year is truly a miracle.
How about you? Would you like to find yourself in the place I am and so many other sojourners on the Thin Within/Hunger Within pathway? Would you like to wake up next Christmas season to realize that your heart and mind is on the One who is the reason for the season and not on all the worries you have had in the past? If so, trade your inclination to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions and your thoughts of what diet to start on January 4th (that’s the first Monday in January…after all, we always started our diets on a Monday!)and instead check out the upcoming classes of either the Thin Within book or workbooks, or sign up to take the Hunger Within class I am co-leading with my friend Deanna Lewis that starts in February. Let’s journey together through this upcoming year with the Lord and each other, hand in hand as we seek the Lord’s face and His plans for our lives, renewing our minds daily and walking through pleasant places as we follow our 0 to 5 boundaries around food. My prayer is that next Christmas, you too will find you are living a miracle!
It’s the week of Christmas and guess what? I’m tired of food!!
I know! It sounds crazy! Who would ever get tired of eating or tired of food?
Now that I can eat anything that I want, sometimes when I get hungry I can’t think of anything that sounds all that great. I mean my
stomach can be growling and I know I’m at a 0 but because I have been eating a lot of rich foods during the Christmas season, I just don’t want anything in particular. And that’s weird. But for me it’s like a victory!
Christmas has not been about food!The holidays haven’t been about eating!
It’s been about spending time with people. It’s been about watching my children and the joy on their faces! It’s been about relationships!
Most of all, it’s been about Jesus! And there’s a peace about that. There’s a peace that somehow the food just doesn’t have a pull on me anymore.
I CALL THAT ACHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!
I started noticing it at Thanksgiving this year. Somehow having turkey and dressing (you know….and all these things that the advertisers in the magazines and on TV were putting up to these elevated levels) just didn’t seem to be that big of a deal. Yes, it’s true! All the delicious food offerings weren’t really anything special! It is because I can have turkey and dressing whenever I want to. I am allowed to have pie anytime as long as I am at a “zero”.
Stuffing for breakfast? Sure, if I’m at a “zero” and that is what my body needs. Somehow, when you have nothing off limits, it just isn’t a big deal anymore.
So, I wonder…. Is this the beginning of being a “thin eater”? Is it the beginning of being free from the bonds of food? I love that holidays and celebrations can be about people and beauty around me! Special events can be about relationships rather than food ! And guess what else??? I don’t have to worry anymore what kind of foods are going to be at a party or event! Because no foods are “off limits”, it’s all ok as long as I eat within my boundaries of 0-5.
Oh the freedom of no more counting points or calories! Oh the freedom to enjoy anything on the table!
OH THE FREEDOM OF NOT CARING AS MUCH ABOUT THE FOOD ANYMORE!
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. -2 Corinthians 3:17
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
-John 8:36
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.
-Luke 4:18
Yes, friends, my Christmas Miracle is all that Jesus is doing in my heart with the principles of Thin Within and Hunger Within.
As we surrender more and more to Him, may our hearts grow closer to Jesus and farther and farther away from the pull of food!
May you discover the Christmas Miracle Jesus has for you!
What about you? What is your mind set on as you go to holiday parties and events in the next few days? Focus on family, friends and beautiful decorations.
Most of all, let’s make Christmas all about Jesus, for HE is the only one who can truly satisfy the longing in our soul.
It saddens me that as we go into the New Year, there will be many of us who will make a list of New Year’s Resolutions. These lists will include things like eating better, new diets to try or old tried and true ones to go back to (they really aren’t tried and true if you are still seeking to lose weight and keep it lost!), diligent exercise plans, self-improvements galore and many things of the same nature. Maybe your list includes wonderful things like praying more and reading the Bible daily. Those are great things to do and I keep those resolutions myself each New Year. The problem with making resolutions about weight loss and fitness is that they seldom stick. We keep trying to make ourselves fit into a mold of health and vitality and we just don’t get there. And when we fail year after year, we keep beating ourselves up and our feelings of failure just keep us living our lives the same way we always do. Do you want this year to be different? I know I did last year at this time, and I would like to invite you on a journey with me for this New Year. It starts with placing “Know Jesus Better” at the top of your resolution list, followed by “Know Who I am in Christ Better.” It is in these two resolutions that you will find the strength for change.
Or, do you believe that was then, and this is now? Do you believe that those healed by our Savior deserved to be healed for some reason and in your own thinking you believe you don’t deserve healing? Maybe you don’t think God cares about healing or fixing problems that we see as things we suffer though because of our own making? Well, I’ve got news for you! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God is the same today as He was then and as He will be tomorrow. Jesus Christ performed miracles before He walked the earth, as He walked the earth and as He sits at God’s right hand today. This year let’s develop our FAITH muscle and start truly believing!
This New Year, will you allow, once and for all, your Savior and Lord Jesus to calm the storms in your heart? Will you let go of trying to change your own life by making a list of New Year’s resolutions and instead make it your desire to know Him better and to fully accept who you are in Him? Believe me when I say that I now know I can’t change myself. Believe me; I tried more times than I’d like to admit! 
What I can tell you for sure is that God changed my life this past year and I never want to go back to the way it was before. It started with looking for a Biblical way to lose weight and ended up with me fully surrendering the whole issue of weight loss/gain, food focus and disordered eating patterns over to Him. Each act of surrender on my part was met with a greater blessing of the Holy Spirit’s work in my heart and mind. This time last year, I was in your shoes: fearing God would never heal my heart around issues with food and weight. He led me first into a Bible Study that was deep in the Word, but soft around food boundaries. I found I still had too much leeway to try and control food to my own whims and wishes. Through that study, He led me into Hunger Within and the God designed boundaries of eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied. He introduced me to His pleasant boundaries, but I didn’t totally surrender to Him until I woke up to the fact that what was coming out of my mouth in words didn’t match my actions. You see, I was still trying to live up to my list of things to do instead of allowing God’s list for me to take effect. I gave up trying to do this myself and gave control over to God. This change in me has taken work on my part. I have had to use the tools of daily Bible reading/study, renewing my mind through truth journaling, truth cards and scripture praying and I have been involved in the TW/HW community. Doing those things took the focus off of me and placed my focus where it needed to be…on God, the Miracle Worker. The work is simple but not always easy, but the miracle that God has done in my heart is real and a tribute to how He still works miracles today!
It’s that time of year again, when many of us feel we have another chance to press the “restart” button on setting and meeting goals. Some might call them “resolutions.” Let’s take a moment and differentiate between the two. A goal is a destination, a point where the race ends. A resolution is an intention, make up in one’s mind, to decide firmly to accomplish something (according to the Oxford Dictionary). As we know from the life of the Apostle Paul a goal is biblical,
