(For those continuing on in the study or who use this blog to guide their study in future months, please note the previous entry (posted earlier today) has the next assignment.
I want to be sure I don’t forget to highlight some things in chapter 21 that have stood out for me as I have gone through this material this time.
We pray that you have surrendered to the Lord your heartache and pain, trusting that in His sovereignty He will redeem it. Truly it is only in knowing with confidence that He is sovereign and good that we can release our minds, our emotions, our wills, and our unmet needs to Him. Thin Within, page 221.
This is why it helps so much, as we go through this material, to focus on GOD, not on ourselves, our “successes” or our “failures.” As we get to know what God is really like and as we learn how He interacts with us and what He says about us, we see that He is amazing, and good and wonderful, compassionate, loving, patient…and the list goes on and on. THIS is a God that I can trust! THIS is a God I can believe for my healing.
When my focus is on me, my food, my weight (if I am losing or not), my clothes…and on and on–ME–I miss it. I miss seeing how awesome HE is and that I can release my longing for food to Him and trust that He will show up and be enough. If I wait long enough, he will NOT disappoint. But if I don’t ever get to know him, I won’t believe or trust him and food will continue to be an overwhelming lure to comfort my heart. Food will continue to seem preferable to God because I never took the time to get to know Him. If I know Him, I will long for HIM and want to be with HIM. I won’t want anything to stand in the way of fellowship with Him.
I have a friend who has been an incredible, VIVID example of this. She began wanting to dare to trust God that He would be sufficient in her emptiness if she didn’t keep grabbing for food. The cool thing is, as she has taken time to really get to know Him in a new way, to pray, to journal, to read her bible during her “waiting” times, she has seen Him as He is. Now this friend of mine refuses to let ANYTHING stand between her and the Lord she has been seeing and knowing in a new way. Strongholds are being demolished right and left. HUGE ones! Things she took for granted for years as being fixtures in her life–needed–she is now releasing one by one. It is amazing to see…and I am just positive that it is because she sees God in a new light. She dares to trust him with just one more thing to which she has been clinging.
As you can see, [this] has been about much more than your physical “tent” or body. Truly, if you were to find yourself at the end of [this study] smaller in size, yet without the peace, joy, and freedom we have been pursuing, it would all be in vain. Thin Within, page 221.
I know we want to be smaller. I know we want to be “adorable” and “cute” and wear clothes from the normal stores and swim without being scary, get on an airplane without an extender and so on…but you could be smaller and still never get the most important things…the eternal things. The things that really matter. We have all dieted before and we know how to lose weight. But do we know how to live in freedom? That is what the authors want to be sure we understand…that this journey in the way they present it is about living in freedom!
– Galatians 5:1
We don’t want to become yoked again to a yoke of slavery, so if we are still focusing on the physical, let’s reject that! Let’s get our eyes on the Lord for the rest of our lives (I almost said for the rest of this study, but we don’t EVER want that to change!). HE is worthy of our focus, our obsession, our joy!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Heidi, for having this blog. I think the Lord has used your words to get my attention without having to literally hit me over the head. I have a renewed passion to pick up my Bible and Thin Within materials to see if what you have been saying is really true. I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to give you new eyes and insights regarding His Word. How I wish I had a friend or accountability partner like you here in Louisville!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Heidi, for having this blog. I think the Lord has used your words to get my attention without having to literally hit me over the head. I have a renewed passion to pick up my Bible and Thin Within materials to see if what you have been saying is really true. I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to give you new eyes and insights regarding His Word. How I wish I had a friend or accountability partner like you here in Louisville!
I've finished through chapter 20. I'm catching up slowly. Today was my monthly weigh and measure session at Curves. I am greatly encouraged. My progress is slow but steady. My measurements are decreasing little by little. I've released 9 lbs. since April. It's enough to spur me on!Another area of progress that I have noticed is that my tastes are changing. I have been craving an Iced Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks. It's been ages since I've had one. Today, I got one. The amazing thing was that it was wayyyyyyy too sweet. I never thought that before. I think it will be a long time before I crave another one! Praise the Lord!
I've finished through chapter 20. I'm catching up slowly. Today was my monthly weigh and measure session at Curves. I am greatly encouraged. My progress is slow but steady. My measurements are decreasing little by little. I've released 9 lbs. since April. It's enough to spur me on!Another area of progress that I have noticed is that my tastes are changing. I have been craving an Iced Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks. It's been ages since I've had one. Today, I got one. The amazing thing was that it was wayyyyyyy too sweet. I never thought that before. I think it will be a long time before I crave another one! Praise the Lord!
I love it, I needed to read this right now, and its perfect! Just Him, all about Him, falling in Love with Him, knowing who He is and stop focusing on Me. Thank you Heidi! I pray you are having a good night and that your son is doing well with his driving!! LoveKim
I love it, I needed to read this right now, and its perfect! Just Him, all about Him, falling in Love with Him, knowing who He is and stop focusing on Me. Thank you Heidi! I pray you are having a good night and that your son is doing well with his driving!! LoveKim
I am loving Chapter 21! Personalizing the scripture is so powerful! I have only gotten through part of chapter 21 because I want to remember and internalize these verses. I love this.
I am loving Chapter 21! Personalizing the scripture is so powerful! I have only gotten through part of chapter 21 because I want to remember and internalize these verses. I love this.
I finally caught up to all of you! Yay! Heidi, I found your blog in June but did not start the Thin Within book until the end of that month. This study and your blog and the comments from the other participants has really made this a wonderful journey. I'm excited about what God is doing in my life. I, too, am a refugee from another faith-based hunger/fullness program. I just could not tolerate the legalism I found there. So I was so excited to find this book and all of you. I am now able to mess up without beating myself up. I am now able to look to Him for all things. I am now able to cast off my fear (I have many) and trust Him because I'm BELIEVING Him. He will never forsake us! He wants a relationship with us! Fully awesome.
I finally caught up to all of you! Yay! Heidi, I found your blog in June but did not start the Thin Within book until the end of that month. This study and your blog and the comments from the other participants has really made this a wonderful journey. I'm excited about what God is doing in my life. I, too, am a refugee from another faith-based hunger/fullness program. I just could not tolerate the legalism I found there. So I was so excited to find this book and all of you. I am now able to mess up without beating myself up. I am now able to look to Him for all things. I am now able to cast off my fear (I have many) and trust Him because I'm BELIEVING Him. He will never forsake us! He wants a relationship with us! Fully awesome.
Wow! What encouraging comments this week, all! THANK you! I have been sensing a lot of warfare in my life and it is easy to start believing the voices that lie. So thank you for being God's encouragement to my heart. Theresa, thank you for the kind words! Laura, I am celebrating with you! WOO HOO! Deanna, I agree and it is a tool we can continue to use all our lives! Templeodom, thank you for joining us and for posting! I thank my God upon every remembrance of you all!
Wow! What encouraging comments this week, all! THANK you! I have been sensing a lot of warfare in my life and it is easy to start believing the voices that lie. So thank you for being God's encouragement to my heart. Theresa, thank you for the kind words! Laura, I am celebrating with you! WOO HOO! Deanna, I agree and it is a tool we can continue to use all our lives! Templeodom, thank you for joining us and for posting! I thank my God upon every remembrance of you all!