We are studying the book, Thin Within, by Arthur and Judy Halliday. Come on along and join us! We are doing 2 or 3 chapters each week…so you have time to get the book and dive right in. Even if you don’t do the chapters at the same time that I post here about them, you can read whenever it suits you and join in here at any time. These blog entries aren’t going anywhere. In fact, if you go way back to the beginning of this blog, you will see my study of this book from November and December of 2006! 🙂 Still there! The internet is an amazing thing.
As you read (past tense) or read (present/future tense) chapter 2, I urge you to continue your list of God’s attributes.
Everything depends on our understanding of Who He is… (page 18, Thin Within)
Before I share my continued list, let me ask you…WHY is understanding Who God is so important to our journey? Why do you think the authors make this a focus? Why do I keep harping 🙂 on it here at the blog?
So, here is my continued list…along with some other quotes I want to highlight:
- God ordained that I would be here now.
- All the challenges and wonders that life offers, he knows about.
- Nothing about my life is hidden from him.
As I was writing these things down, I was prompted by God to share with you that I definitely see myself as running from God…or running from something. I am doing this by being far too busy and over committed. I have written about this before. But I see that I need desperately to BE STILL AND KNOW that HE is GOD! In the past week, I have been reverting to old coping mechanisms and while diet soda consumption hasn’t returned to my life, I still have been depending on caffeine to get me jump started again! I share this by way of confession. It only took 4 days of not getting enough sleep and presto…here I am…So, by admitting this struggle here, I want to add to my accountability…and, perhaps, solicit prayer. It is important to me that I not just treat the symptoms…but get to the heart. To do that, I will have to be still. I have structured my life so that I feel like I can’t be still. This isn’t ok…so I have some difficult choices to make. Do I believe what I have said here and what I read in Thin Within and the Word of God about God’s character?
- God is love
- God is creative
- God created me uniquely and very specifically
- All of creation (including me) speaks of His wondrous glory
His divine imagination thought of you in eternity past and He created you especially for this space and time. All of creation, including you, speaks of his wondrous glory. (page 19, Thin Within)
- He created the starry host and vast oceans.
- He wants me to know Him.
- He wants me to be authentic before Him <–this is what I am running from, at least in part! Go figure! :-/
- God loves me.
- God reveals himself.
- He will meet and surpass any great expectations I have of Him
- He is trustworthy.
- He meets me when I am honest.
- God is compassionate and gracious
- God is slow to anger (please, let’s take note of this! :-))
- God is abounding in love and faithfulness
So what on EARTH does any of this have to do with my NEED, DESIRE, EARNESTNESS, QUEST to lose weight????? 🙂 I am so glad you asked!!!
…God…wants to be your constant companion on your journey to healing and wholeness. (page 20, Thin Within)
If you think of God as a Cosmic Killjoy, you won’t likely want to depend on him on this journey. If you think of Him as angry and mean…you are likely to feel stomped on when you have a misstep or “blow it” in some way. The truth is, our God LOVES you as you are. He doesn’t operate the way so many of us think or have been taught! We want to know him as he really is.
- God is gracious, loving and good. (Did you see this in chapter 2?) 🙂
- God is wise.
Here is one connection between why we want to know God better and our desire to see changes in our physical bodies…
Since your body is one of God’s masterpieces (and since God is all of these things that we have been listing), it can be trusted. (page 20, Thin Within)
But, again, I want to reiterate…if we continue to focus on ME ME ME, we will miss it. We really will. So the most important reason that I will continue to shout from the rooftops that we must FOCUS on the Lord is because He is most concerned about the state of our hearts, not the size of the clothes we wear. He knows that when our hearts belong to him, everything else will fall into His perfect order and place in our lives and isn’t that we want, after all?
Getting back to chapter two, then, we now turn to some of the practical aspects of Thin Within relative to food and eating.
God is trustworthy.
God made my body.
Therefore, my body is trustworthy…I need to learn to listen to the God-given cues of hunger and satisfaction.
When I do this, simply put, I glorify and honor the God of this universe (I esteem his creation and exalt Him as wise and wonderful!) and I respect myself in a way that he desires.
Over the next few months, you and I will get to know these masterpieces that the Lord has made, our bodies. Instead of fixating on them, though, we will do it with a Godward focus. We will ask HIM questions we have. We will praise HIM when we experience a breakthrough. We will depend on HIS strength, not our own. We will not give in to the temptation to beat ourselves up. That is NOT His will and grieves His tender Father’s heart. (How do you feel when you hear your child say, “I was SO stupid!”)
I urge you to prayerfully read pages 20-23 where the physiological aspects of this process are discussed. Please don’t allow this to become a diet for you by fixating on this.
To honor God, who walks with us, and who leads and directs us, we need to honor the unique and amazing body He has made especially for each of us.
I loved reading (again) the quote from Isaiah 40 on the top of page 25…God doesn’t beat me up when I am weary (as I am now). He doesn’t have one ounce of disapproval in his heart…instead, he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Oh Lord, I am so weary and so weak right now. THANK you that I can run to you…you have promised not a “holy beating,” but to give me strength and to increase my power. You love me and accept me as I am and hope for loftier things for me than that which I settle for. Help me to run to you, to wait for you, to hope in you. To cease the striving…to trust the body you have given me. When it says it needs rest, to rest…when it needs food, to eat, when it needs water, to indulge heartily! Thank you for all your provisions. In the precious name of Jesus…Amen.
Hi Heidi and friends,I am still here. I found my old journal today from 2002. It's all about overeating, about me me me, about why can't I stop eating, I feel so fat, etc etc.Since then I have come along in my Christian journey and now enjoy a personal relationship with God. I have undercommitted myself, feeling tired from listening to the schedules of overcommitted friends, but life is not still with an active 5 and 7 year old, and as I sit and write this, I have a 9 month old puppy with a squeeky toy next to me, who hurt his paw and is now on excercise restriction!!So I have to find the focus without the still and quiet.It's 10.30 and we're all in our PJ's. I have not hit 0, so have eaten nothing, but do have coffee.Reading today really helped me clear my vision for my goals, but I know for me, I cannot focus on food or my weight, or how thin I want to be, I have to focus on God's will for me, and what He wants me to do. A few things have come along, which I will run with, and feel good about.Sorry for rambling, I am so grateful to you allMuch love,Paula- FPC Roseville
Hi Heidi and friends,I am still here. I found my old journal today from 2002. It's all about overeating, about me me me, about why can't I stop eating, I feel so fat, etc etc.Since then I have come along in my Christian journey and now enjoy a personal relationship with God. I have undercommitted myself, feeling tired from listening to the schedules of overcommitted friends, but life is not still with an active 5 and 7 year old, and as I sit and write this, I have a 9 month old puppy with a squeeky toy next to me, who hurt his paw and is now on excercise restriction!!So I have to find the focus without the still and quiet.It's 10.30 and we're all in our PJ's. I have not hit 0, so have eaten nothing, but do have coffee.Reading today really helped me clear my vision for my goals, but I know for me, I cannot focus on food or my weight, or how thin I want to be, I have to focus on God's will for me, and what He wants me to do. A few things have come along, which I will run with, and feel good about.Sorry for rambling, I am so grateful to you allMuch love,Paula- FPC Roseville
WHOO HOO! Paula! I am so thrilled to hear from you. Thank you for keeping us posted. It sounds like God is doing a rip-roaring wonderful new thing in you. What a blessing it is to get to be along on the journey with you. Your "rambling" didn't come across as anything but wonderful…keep it up! I so enjoy hearing from you!
WHOO HOO! Paula! I am so thrilled to hear from you. Thank you for keeping us posted. It sounds like God is doing a rip-roaring wonderful new thing in you. What a blessing it is to get to be along on the journey with you. Your "rambling" didn't come across as anything but wonderful…keep it up! I so enjoy hearing from you!
Hi Heid! I am new to TW and have really enjoyed perusing your blog. I received my book a few days ago and have been reading it a little at a time. Meanwhile, I read your story on your blog and was very blessed by it. 🙂 I am planning to read along with you this summer and I'm so glad your timing to do this corresponds with my starting the book!I am guessing you can answer this question for me: is there anywhere on the web that I can download the various charts that are included in TW? They are WONDERFUL and I can see how much they will help me, but the space in the book is too small for me to put my comments. I was thinking of typing up my own copies of the charts, but if someone has already done that it would save me so much time! I suppose they are included in the workbook, but at this time I was planning to use only the book. Thanks a lot for your answer.~Ronda
Hi Heid! I am new to TW and have really enjoyed perusing your blog. I received my book a few days ago and have been reading it a little at a time. Meanwhile, I read your story on your blog and was very blessed by it. 🙂 I am planning to read along with you this summer and I'm so glad your timing to do this corresponds with my starting the book!I am guessing you can answer this question for me: is there anywhere on the web that I can download the various charts that are included in TW? They are WONDERFUL and I can see how much they will help me, but the space in the book is too small for me to put my comments. I was thinking of typing up my own copies of the charts, but if someone has already done that it would save me so much time! I suppose they are included in the workbook, but at this time I was planning to use only the book. Thanks a lot for your answer.~Ronda
Hi, Ronda. You can go to this link:http://www.thinwithin.org/groups/lead.htmland you will find some of the forms available from there. Hope this helps! Welcome!
Hi, Ronda. You can go to this link:http://www.thinwithin.org/groups/lead.htmland you will find some of the forms available from there. Hope this helps! Welcome!
I'm allowing myself to just soak in His love for me today. Wow…it is really powerful.I've started blogging my journey, just so that I won't forget all the little acts of love that He bestows on me on a daily basis…little things that would often go un-noticed.http://nurturingself.blogspot.com/Thanks Heidi, for the inspiration.
I'm allowing myself to just soak in His love for me today. Wow…it is really powerful.I've started blogging my journey, just so that I won't forget all the little acts of love that He bestows on me on a daily basis…little things that would often go un-noticed.http://nurturingself.blogspot.com/Thanks Heidi, for the inspiration.
Heidi, I'm still here! haha! I started out a bit slow but now school's out for the summer and I get to have LONG quiet times with our awesome Lord! I finally have time to soak up your entries. Thank you!Whoa, really hit me when you asked how we feel when a child says, "I was SO stupid." I don't even allow that word….let alone want to hear a little kiddo say that about themselves…makes me cringe and be so sad…. Thanks for pointing out that is exactly what our heavenly Daddy feels when we beat ourselves up. Bless you for sharing the Ch. 2 message…can't wait to read more!
Heidi, I'm still here! haha! I started out a bit slow but now school's out for the summer and I get to have LONG quiet times with our awesome Lord! I finally have time to soak up your entries. Thank you!Whoa, really hit me when you asked how we feel when a child says, "I was SO stupid." I don't even allow that word….let alone want to hear a little kiddo say that about themselves…makes me cringe and be so sad…. Thanks for pointing out that is exactly what our heavenly Daddy feels when we beat ourselves up. Bless you for sharing the Ch. 2 message…can't wait to read more!