I have an accountability partner who is amazing. God is so gracious in giving her to me. I don’t know if she would want to be mentioned by name, so I won’t just yet. But I hope to introduce you to her one day.
Under her guidance and discipleship, really, I am learning to speak short (well, relatively! LOL!), direct statements, declaring TRUTH about my eating and living.
Today, I had an “eating occasion” that had nothing to do with 0 to 5 eating (eating between the parameters of physical hunger and satisfaction). I decided to renew my mind (in the way my partner recommends) this afternoon and these truths are the ones I want to wrap my mind around. Can you identify with any of them following an “eating occasion” that you regret?
TRUTH: This way of behaving is NOT in line with godly goals of being Christlike.
TRUTH: Eating what I want when I want doesn’t get me what I really want—which is to be more like Jesus!
TRUTH: I am CALLED to make sacrifices in love for the Lord, but also for the people to whom He has called me to minister.
TRUTH: Obeying the Lord actually delights my heart. The “deprivation” I feel at the moment is followed by a bunch of moments of a full heart, rejoicing that I gave that tempting moment to Christ.
TRUTH: I am forgiven in Christ.
TRUTH: I am a new creature in Christ.
TRUTH: I DO care.
TRUTH: I don’t have a right to this body of mine at all…it belongs to Christ. He purchased it…with his blood.
TRUTH: I need to practice what I preach.
TRUTH: There is NO condemnation toward me.
TRUTH: I must be gentle with myself remembering babysteps get me there.
TRUTH: I don’t like how I feel when I overeat and the long-term ramifications are a bummer, too.
TRUTH: Jesus is after my heart.
TRUTH: He is using my struggle with food to make me utterly dependent on Him.
TRUTH: I want to cooperate with His plan for my life.
TRUTH: I want to be faithful.
TRUTH: Waiting until I am hungry to eat is a GODLY BOUNDARY that I value.
TRUTH: Eating in a calm environment, reducing distractions—internally and externally—before I allow a bite to pass my lips and as I eat—will help me. It is a boundary worth keeping.
TRUTH: Praising God before I eat actually fills my soul and defeats “desire eating” (outside of hunger).
TRUTH: Eating while sitting helps me be more peaceful. It is a boundary I value. I believe God wants me to keep this boundary, too.
TRUTH: I am not “overspiritualizing” this since I know that 1 Corinthians 10:31 says that whether I eat or drink I can do it ALL to the glory of God. (Implying that I can also eat or drink in a way that doesn’t glorify him!)
TRUTH: I want to eat only once my mind and body are relaxed, even if it means being hungry a bit longer…to be sure I am aware and calmly enjoying my food.
TRUTH: I will eat and drink things I enjoy…(that isn’t really a problem for me). I want to learn to weigh carefully what I choose and be a bit more selective. Lord, please heal me of my tendency to be a sweet-a-holic.
TRUTH: Paying attention to my food instead of also reading or watching something or surfing with my iPad when I am eating is valuable for helping me “record” the experience as an eating experience.
TRUTH: Eating slowly, savoring each bite can help me grow in gratitude toward the Lord for the amazing flavors and textures that he has invented as well as help me to eat less. I will also eat less too.
TRUTH: Stopping before I am full is a happy place to stop. I end up eating with joy and stopping with joy and continuing on with my day/evening with joy. It is worth it.
TRUTH: Adhering to these truths/boundaries is something I want to do and is extremely rewarding. What I suffer when I violate my boundaries is NOT worth the short-term “joy” I have when I violate them. The short-term sacrifices that I make to adhere to my boundaries are sooooo worth the pay-off!
Nancy Kennedy approached me some time back about sharing my story in a book about weight loss successes. Now, the project has come to print! You will find my story about releasing 100 pounds in these pages, and you will find the stories of many others who have lost weight there as well. Perhaps something will inspire you! I recommend this book. Now is a great time to be encouraged to get and remain physically healthy. Here is a link to the book on Amazon . If you get it and read it, please let me know what you think! 🙂
Sometimes I get a most perverse enjoyment out of reading the way Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. I mean, these guys were the epitome of evil dressed in religion. In one of the most scathing rebukes leveled at these cultural and religious leaders of His day, Jesus nails them for a number of things, not the least of which was focusing on outward appearance in their “religiosity:”
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites!
You clean the outside of the cup and dish,
but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
But this morning, as I was enjoying my lethargy, wallowing in my apathy–calmly enjoying my quiet “quiet time”–I got smacked upside the head with a two-by-four as I read the above passage. There was no opportunity to be smug about the way Jesus had put them in their place. Earnestly, the Holy Spirit did the same with me:
You do this, child.
Do what, Lord?
You focus your attention on the outside of “the cup”–your appearance, your outward actions.
Well, Lord, I guess that is because that is what everyone *sees*…and I care about what they think of YOU based on what they SEE me do.
Child, is it really ME you are concerned about? Or what they will think of you?
Ok, so this is where I stopped…and conviction grew…and I knew the truth. In fact, I know my over-eating and my over-fixating on outward appearance is very much connected with the concepts Jesus referred to: greed and self-indulgence. What honest person who struggles with over-eating doesn’t think these two words describe it accurately?
In spite of recommending to others to focus on growing intimacy with the Lord and to get their eyes off of their size–the scale, their clothes, etc., — I, apparently, have been focusing, too, on the “outside of the cup.” Not only that, but I seem to claim that my focus is specifically for the sake of my “testimony.” Jesus said, “Hogwash!”
It is time for me to renew my commitment to cleaning the inside of the cup, to invest again in the *within* part of “Thin Within,” to invite the Lord to eradicate greed and self-indulgence in my life.
So the question is, what will I DO with this conviction? Where will I go with it?
If you have experienced this conviction, will you share here what God has led you to do to get your eyes off of the outside of the cup and to be more concerned with cleaning the inside of the cup?
I am making plans now to lead another Thin Within group online starting in January 2012. If you are interested in gathering once a week with other people on this journey, please consider joining us!
You will need a workbook, available by calling Thin Within at 877-729-8932 and letting Joe or Pam (or whoever answers the phone) that you would like the Rebuilding God’s Temple workbook kit #1. That is the best way to start if you have never been through Thin Within before. In fact, grab a few friends and do the study with them *and* meet with us in chat on Wednesdays. I may do that very thing myself! 🙂
If you *have* been through Thin Within before, you are welcome to use any of the workbooks. There are four of them and the themes in all the workbooks are the same so we can be in the same group together. All of us will have HOPE as our theme for week 1 and all of us will have BOUNDARIES as our theme for week 9, etc.
For more information about the workbook, here is an “infomercial!: 🙂
For this particular class, I will be using workbook #3 myself. Again, if you have never gone through the material before, please use the kit #1. 🙂
We will be meeting weekly on Wednesdays from 4:30-5:30 Pacific Time, 6:30 Central, and 7:30 Eastern. Our first meeting will be January 4th. You don’t need to have anything ready for that class meeting. Just come at class time to http://www.thinwithin.org/chat.php .
The study lasts 12 weeks.
If Wednesdays don’t work for you, it is possible we will be offering classes at other times. Check at the Thin Within website.
Hope you will join us! Be sure to order your workbook kits! 🙂
Early November 2006 I began applying myself faithfully to the Thin Within principles. I released about 15 pounds by the end of the year even though “statistics indicate” that most Americans gain about 8 pounds (on the average) between Halloween and the New Year.
So I thought I would share some tips that I learned then and have been applying this year, too. I guess by about the end of September, the grand total that the Lord had removed from my body was about 100 pounds and it is staying off! Yay! Praising the Lord for that! (It is wonderful to know that little mistakes don’t have to spell absolute disaster!) Pride goes before a fall, though, so it is with a humble heart (please make it so, Lord!) that I share these thoughts.
1. Figure out why you are going to a social occasion like a party or family gathering. (See chapter 25 in Thin Within.)
– Write down your purposes in attending and plan accordingly. Most of us, once we have decided to surrender this area of our lives, don’t go to parties intending to overeat. So ask yourself if it is because you want to connect with family, friends and co-workers, it is easier to accept that food isn’t required for that.
– Then, when you get to the event, achieve your goal! Socialize or network or whatever it might be!
2. When planning to attend a social event that includes food, plan to be at a zero (stomach totally empty) by eating a smaller meal earlier in the day.
– It may be unreasonable for you not to eat at some events–like sit-down holiday dinners and the like. If your event is at 7pm, for instance, and you get hungry at 5:30 pm–you are definitely at a 0 at 5:30pm–then have just a few crackers or a cup of milk or something that will just remove the hunger. You don’t need to eat to a 5. This way, you will be more likely to arrive at your holiday dinner at a 0 and ready to eat.
– You can also “ride the 0” a little while unless you know yourself well enough to know that you will have a hard time eating slowly if you get “too hungry.” When we eat too fast, it is easy to eat way too much.
3.) When you are eating 0 to 5 at a holiday party and there are TONS of choices from which to choose, you can look at all that is offered and evaluate before you choose the foods you will eat which choices are most likely to be “teasers,” “pleasers,” and “whole body pleasers” (see chapter 18 in Thin Within). You want to be “picky” about what and how much of each “pleaser” or “whole body pleaser” food you select.
– Identify which foods offered are teasers and don’t even “go there.”
– If something is available all year long (like fresh french bread) you may want to forego selecting it in favor of something that is a favorite at holiday time (chocolate peppermint pie? LOL!).
4. ) Look around the party or dinner for a naturally thin eater and note their behaviors. See if you can spot someone who is naturally thin, but who is enjoying the party without overindulging. (This may be tough as most Americans use holidays as an excuse to eat way more than we need…thus the “average” American gaining 8 pounds in two month’s time.)
5.) Sometimes people give gifts of food. It is true that some people love on others by giving food any time of the year–all the more during the holidays! In Thin Within, there is nothing wrong with having a small piece of whatever food that you receive, of course. If you know that you can withstand temptation to overeat it, feel free to have it in your home, of course! But if you know that you can’t handle the temptation, then here are some suggestions:
– When someone wants to send you home with a bunch of treats 🙂 either politely tell them “No, thank you,” or oblige and state (or not) that you will be glad to share the treats with others…then re-gift them as soon as possible before temptations lures you into eating them.
– I found that friendships didn’t end and family members didn’t disown me if I refused food from them. Maybe your friends and family are different…but really, when you consider where “people pleasing” has gotten most of us, it is like a death sentence. Most people who love us well enough to give us food gifts are aware of our struggle. Depending on the person, I have admitted my weakness as I explain why I have to turn down their kind offer.
– When you end up with treats anyhow…THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH FLUSHING THEM DOWN THE TOILET THE MINUTE YOU WALK THROUGH THE DOOR! If you are like me and sometimes need “permission” to do something so drastic, consider this a blanket permission… “Flush the cookies, cakes, pies, candy, whatevers…down the toilet!”
6.) Put the fork down between bites when you are eating out or at a holiday party. This helps slow me down quite a bit any time…not just for holiday parties.
7.) Maybe most importantly, EXTEND GRACE to yourself. If you “blow it” for a party or a meal or even for a day or a week…just OBSERVE and CORRECT! This isn’t a diet, so you don’t have to feel like you “blew it!” Instead, you just had a step or two back on your path…but forge ahead “forgetting what is behind!” Remember this is a journey…a life long journey! God extends grace to you in all things, so extend some to yourself!
What about you? Do you have strategies that have helped you make it through the holidays?
What do I expect of my God? To merely “put up” with me (if that)? Do I think he rolls his eyes when I ask him–again–about helping me with something that I struggle with?
This God, this King–he is ABLE. Not just ABLE, but able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or even imagine! I can imagine a lot–if I dare. God challenges me in this passage to dare to dream big and dare to look to Him for what He has in mind–which is bigger still.
How will he accomplish these amazing things? According to HIS power. HIS power spoke the galaxies into existence. HIS power blew the grave open when Jesus conquered death. HIS power will throw Satan into the Lake of Fire forever. Are you kidding me? 🙂 HIS power can do ANYthing!
And get this! His power is at workwithin us. This isn’t some theoretical “out there” power. This isn’t some “new agey think-it-and-it-will-happen” power. This is God’s power that is at work within us–with ME–within YOU.
But one caveat…that last little phrase at the end of this passage is vital… God gets the glory. If I desire His power in my life to help me lose weight (or to do anything) so that I can “win friends and influence people,” if I want to impress the people at the class reunion or cause the ladies at church to ooooh and aaaah, if I in any way want glory, then I pit myself against the Lord. He uses His power in my life for His glory.
How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
Isaiah 48:11
I was created to proclaim His glory!
Even everyone who is called by My name,
whom I have created for My glory,
whom I have formed, whom I have made.
– Isaiah 43:7
It amazes me that God can and will do immeasurably more than anything I could ask or imagine and that he does it according to His power that, for some baffling reason, he has placed in me…He is amazing, good, kind. It is my job to be sure to point all the recognition, all the fame, all the glory to Him! Sounds like a great deal to me!
