Hi, everyone. On a private forum, I have been in a discussion with some friends. I found myself posting something that I hope might encourage visitors to this blog. I thought I would share it. Names have been removed and some text edited.
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…As someone who has been an “expert” on dieting for years and years, I would caution always to evaluate it if is worth the cost…to the heart and mind…and to look at the ultimate goal…that of keeping the weight off, being able to “be normal,” *and* not to hinder my walk with Christ in *any* way. That is my hope, anyhow. I don’t want anything I choose to do that deals with my physical body to hinder my walk with Christ. And for me, dieting definitely has hindered my walk with the Lord over the years. Dieting isn’t the “evil,” however…it is what I allow it to do to my heart.

For me…dieting has done a lot to get rid of physical weight in the past, but has done a whole lot more to add emotional and spiritual weight–burden–in my life. These things have added to the reasons behind my weight issues rather than alleviate them. Dieting treated my symptoms rather than the cause…for ME. Like I mentioned in my initial comments about this, maybe that isn’t a problem for anyone else, but my obsession took me down a path I don’t ever care to return to. In fact, if I had to choose, I would rather be overweight and not have the heavy heart than be thin and obsessed living in fear of gaining it back. These seem to be the two extremes I lived between for so long. I am trying to stay in that “happy medium” place now.

As it says in Romans 13 (I think it is), the Kingdom of Heaven is not about eating and drinking but about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Amen to that!

God has been taking me on a path of dealing with the heart issue. It sure isn’t a quick fix…I will grant you that. And one of the things he is bringing home to me is that my body is SO not the issue–again, for me. Yes, he wants me to do what I can to be healthy, but physical health is not to be at the expense of spiritual and emotional health.

Frankly, God has laid on my heart that His goal for me is not that I be THIN. His goal for me isn’t even that I be HEALTHY. His goal for me is that I am HIS. I am sure he celebrates good health and celebrates when I am at a healthy weight, but what he really desires more than anything is that my heart is sold out to him and I chase after him more than thinness. Sure, a person can do both, but *I* can’t. I don’t know how else I can say this. For me, if I could hate sin as much as I hate being fat, I might make some headway.

So often I have sold my birthright for a bowl of stew…or a promise of being thin.

He is my sufficiency and strength if I allow him to be…sometimes I replace one sort of food and body obsession with another. For me, that is what dieting has been…it was the trade off from obsessing with how fat I am and eating more food, to obsessing about controlling the food and hopping on and off the scale to see how I am doing. All the while, my heart remained in chains or even more chains were added to what held me.

Dieting isn’t the problem. Just like food isn’t the problem. What is the problem is my heart.
God is dealing with that in me now, thankfully. It is taking a LOT of work, but it is happening!