Would it be weird to tell you that this post was inspired by the movie Finding Nemo? When you have a two year old, inspiration comes from all sorts of random places.
In the movie, Nemo and his aquarium friends are trying to find ways to get Nemo out of the aquarium and into the ocean to find his father. One plan they come up with is throwing a rock into the filter to make it stop working. Their plan worked (the second time of trying) and the aquarium was soon filled with slimy, green goo. When I saw this part in the movie, I started thinking about the importance of having a filter in our mind, keeping out the junk and keeping in the pure.
Heidi has talked so much about the importance of renewing our minds in order to change the way we look at food, our bodies, dieting, etc. When we renew our minds, we are recognizing the lies and replacing those lies with truth. There’s another important part to this: filtering out the junk.
How is your filter functioning? Is there a rock stuck in it? Do you let nasty, disgusting things pass through?
What do you allow into your mind? What are you focusing on? What do you see with your eyes?
Are you standing guard over your mind?
Can you handle watching shows that encourage dieting and excessive exercise like The Biggest Loser? Can you flip through a copy of a fitness or dieting magazine at the doctor’s office waiting room? Or do those types of things stir up anxiety inside of your mind? Are you tempted to buy that new, bestselling dieting book, thinking, “This could be the one!”?
What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you listening to?
Is it time to get the rock out of the filter?
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:23-27
I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. Psalm 101:3a
I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser for years. Since the Lord has been doing so much in my life this year, I didn’t want to hinder progress by watching a show that might tempt me to even think about dieting. So I prayed and asked Him if it would be alright if I watched it. He gave me peace to watch it. I won’t go into the reasons of why I like to watch the show (that’s for another post), but this is just an example of something that could trip us up if we aren’t carefully watching over our mind and heart.
The same sort of thing happened with a Prevention magazine in the waiting room at my chiropractor’s office. I used to find the articles interesting, but the last time I opened the pages I found myself appalled by the magazine. I had no peace reading it so I put it down immediately.
What about those innocent conversations with friends about the latest dieting fad? I used to be sucked into those conversations. I would ask questions. I would even buy the book. My curiosity was spiked. But now I do all I can to exit out of those conversations or avoid them altogether. God has brought me so far; I’m not interested in allowing any of that back into my mind. It wasn’t easy at first, but the more time I spent pouring God’s truth into my mind, the more junk was cleaned out. I want my mind’s filter to dissolve every lie.
It’s been really important for me to filter out anything that could trip me up because in the past I would take those kinds of things mentioned above and obsess. And when I say obsess, I mean OBSESS! I would buy the diet book and read (consume) it back to front, looking and searching for that final answer to help me lose weight, feel better, be healthy, etc. And then I would talk about it and think about it and talk about it and think about it… And I would talk with my husband about it and he would get so tired of hearing me talk about food. Good thing he is a very patient man! It was like reading, watching, and talking about dieting was my ‘fix’. In fact, the Lord clearly told me that one time. That was one of those “ouch” moments of truth. It was my drug. But praise God because He freed me from all of that! I chose to stop looking at those things and instead I looked to Him. He became my focus. I looked to His word for truth. He has been so faithful! He brought me out of that miry, gooey pit! Praise God!
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. Psalm 40:2
How about you?
How is your filter functioning? Does it need some maintenance? I want to encourage you to pour God’s truth into your mind. Watch over the doors of your mind. Stand guard over every single thing you hear, see, and think about. If you are not sure about something, ask the Lord. He will clearly show you.
Written by: Christina
Thanks Jamie..Encouraging and inspirational..Filtering is definitely part of renewing our mind…
I’m new to reading here. I’m coming from a year of following a popular “mama’s diet”. I’ve done nothing but obsess for a year. Actually most of my life! What will I eat, what do I look like, how much do I weigh! Thank you for this. I pray that I will be able to keep my filter in place!
Meghan. The Lord can free you from the diet mentality. I was deeply entrenched for years and He set me free with the help of thin within, this blog and lots of work on my part. He has freed others who follow this blog, as well. Welcome and share how you are doing and how we can pray for you. Praying for your freedom and peace right now!
Hi, Meghan. So glad you found us. I would love to know what brought you to this blog. 🙂
Thanks for this post! Such a good reminder to pay attention to what we’re filling our minds with. I can relate SO much when you talk about it being your ‘fix’. I’d do the same! Read the book, read the blogs, find podcasts about it, talk about it, research it. I have a very good friend who gently showed me that I take a season to let go of the podcasts and blogs and diet books and just DO something without obsessing. It was a wonderful wake up call. God used her to show me that I was using diets as obsessions and my addiction. I’m very thankful that she confronted me cause it’s helped me commit to thin within from a healthy stand point.
Thanks for this post Christina. I have had to unsubscribe to many emails (beach body, healthy eating, diets etc). I have also needed to skip several seasons of the biggest loser. It is so important to evaluate what we expose our minds (and our children’s minds) to. Great image!
Thank you posting this. This was posted and god led me to it at the exact moment I needed it. Thank you.
So glad to hear it, Karli! Thanks for letting us know!
I miss you, Karli. You’re awesome… And I am so proud of you. You have truly hit all the benchmarks of what it means to be “Thin Within”. It’s all about that inward reality manifesting on the outside. You are living it even right now as we speak. You deserve to be happy. The existence of pain you have endured inward and outward over the years simply cannot compare to the incredible life of joy you are walking into. I love you always and forever, my beautiful best friend. I will never forget you.
Great post! I volunteer with a woman who is obsessed with healthy food. She tells me about all the dangers of anything that didn’t come from the ground. I always notice that she is not at peace as she talks…and then neither am I after I listen! Peace is how I know where I belong, so I avoid these conversations now.
There is even an eating disorder called Orthorexia! It is very much like that, G. Ann!
Thank you Christina for sharing this with us all. A good reminder to check our filters and make sure they are functioning right. I get ww magazine in the mail. I don’t read it any more it focuses on food and counting points. I listen to the Holy Spirit to lead me into what is good for my body to eat. It vary every day. And waiting for the 0-5. I do catch myself at times thinking wrong. Like eating a hot dog and chips. I good quality dog at that! I had a thought of fear! Fear of something bad! Then I said to myself I will not fear and give thanks to God for my food. I am hungry and need to eat and this is what I have to eat. I had a salad with it to. Not to make it healthy but just because I was hungry for it. I had blue cheese dressing on it and some shrimp and crackers. My sweetie fixed our dinner. That was a real treat for me. I worked hard all day today cleaning and packing. So I was very hungry! 🙂 I so thankful for the freedom God has given us to eat and chose. NO more points or weighing and measuring. It is so freeing. Thank you again for sharing with us to Check our filters. God blessings to you Christina. HUGS 🙂
Proverbs 4:23
King James Version
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Thank you so much for posting this. I too am tempted to obsess about diets and food if I hear conversations about it. But I’ve also realized that I can obsess over any circumstance in my life when I try to fix it on my own and leave God out of the picture. For example, my husband and I have felt that God may be calling us back overseas and I have done nothing but obsess about it for the past few days. As a result I have failed to focus on God and my eating had been out of control. I now know that my focus must be on God and not diets or my life circumstances.
Good point, Sarah. There will always be something that could take our focus. Learning to recognize the distraction and to refocus our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…its so vital. 🙂