Join us for an ONLINE Study!

by Heidi Bylsma | Sep 11, 2011 | Blog

I will be leading the members through a 12-week course using the Rebuilding God’s Temple workbook series. If you have never gone through workbook #1, you can join us using that workbook. If you have gone through that material before, you can use workbook #2. You can also join us using workbook #3 or #4 if you are a veteran who has been through the other workbooks!

The lessons in each of the workbooks follow the same set of themes at the same time. So, whether you are in WB #1 or #2, or #3, or #4, we will all focus on “Hope” for our lesson 1 and “Grace” for lesson 4, and “Boundaries” for lesson 9 (for example). All the workbooks have the same themes in the same order, but present the material a little differently so even veterans won’t get bored!

We will be meeting in a chat room hosted by Thin Within on  Wednesday afternoons/evenings, 4:30-5:30 Pacific Time, 6:30-7:30 Central Time, and 7:30-8:30 Eastern time beginning THIS Wednesday, September 14th with an “Introductory” meeting. You need not have any lesson completed to attend and you can come just to ask questions if you like!

Our first meeting on September 14th will offer an opportunity for a Q and A. After September 14th, we will individually begin Lesson #1, which we will complete prior to our discussion together in our chat on September 21st.

If you want to order a workbook, please call Thin Within at 877-729-8932 between 9am and 5pm Eastern time and let them know which workbook you want. If you haven’t been through the material before, I highly recommend workbook #1 which comes with the temple toolkit. The materials for workbook #1 cost $45. If you have been through the material before, feel free to get one of the others–the cost for the other workbooks, I believe is $25.

Each week, you will have assignments to complete (daily attention to the material is ideal) and on Wednesday, we will meet together to discuss the themes of the material, to share joys, and challenges as we surrender our eating and our hearts to the Lord!

The location of our chat is http://www.thinwithin.org/chat . Once you get to the chat module, you will just type in a screen name you want (anything is fine, but first names are preferable). NOTHING ELSE IS NEEDED…do not “tick” a box or a radio button! Then click on LOGIN. Once there, double-click on “Community Room” in the upper right side of the window. That should be all there is to it!

Come this Wednesday and check us out! There is no cost to be in this class and you don’t even need to register. 🙂 I am Heidi Bylsma and I have worked with Arthur and Judy Halliday for about ten years, putting their terrific ideas into written form. I have also lost 100 pounds and a boat load of spiritual baggage using this approach.  If you want to be on my email list to receive transcripts, announcements, and other supplemental materials for this class, be sure you email me at twheidi at comcast dot net and let me know you want to be included.

This is a GREAT time of year to be connected with a class of folks. As the holidays approach, you CAN get through the holidays without the typical 8 pounds of weight gained! You can enjoy all the holiday foods that seem to come around only once a year, but do so in moderation and in a way that honors the Lord with your body and your eating! HONEST! Come join our class to discover how! 🙂

Below is a video from LAST summer that describes the workbook kit #1. If you haven’t ever done Thin Within before, you will want to get a copy of this workbook. Our study will be open to people using any of the Thin Within workbooks, so no worries if you are ready to move on to #2, 3, or 4. We would love to have you! (I will be using #2 myself!).

I hope to see you on Wednesday!

“Junk” Food — A MYTH? – Part 2

by Heidi Bylsma | Aug 24, 2011 | Blog

It was pretty quiet Monday in response to my post…and yesterday was a “ghost town” here on the blog except for one commenter (thanks, Sandra!). Maybe faithful readers feel I have discredited myself.

I guess all I really know is what I have experienced. For most of my adult years, I focused on the nutrition content of my food and felt “good” or “bad” about myself based on my eating choices. There was a nasty pendulum swing that occurred when I was on that path. Truthfully, all those years I struggled with my weight and hyper-focus on my body even while obsessing about nutrition content in my foods. In fact, most of those years I was significantly overweight and not healthy at all.

My freedom from extra weight has gone hand-in-glove with letting go of my tendencies to weigh and measure my food (weigh and measure ME), to obsess about nutrition labels, to graph and chart calories in and calories expended with exercise.

Another possible indication that fixating on the content of the food may not be the answer is that for the past 20 years and more, we have, as a country, added more “diet foods” (reduced calorie, reduced fat, reduced sugar, etc.) and more “vitamin enriched” foods to our assortment of choices. Nevertheless, our country battles obesity and obesity-related health issues like never before! This problem is actually *increasing* even as our variety of diets, diet centers, and diet foods  has increased! Certainly, if adjusting the content of our foods was the answer, this wouldn’t be the case.

Foods are often referred to as “treats,” “junk,” “healthy,” and so on. (Funny how the “treats” seem to overlap the “junk” lists for those who have these lists!) It IS tempting to develop lists that help me feel good about myself when I eat or don’t eat accordingly. But, is this wisdom?

The context of this passage isn’t “junk food” or “healthy food,” but the principles are very similar to the ones that exist when we make our good/bad food lists! Maybe we should pause and think–or, even, pray! Is the Lord really the author of our good/bad food lists? Do my lists really deal with my heart?

In Acts 10, the Lord speaks to Peter about his own “good food/bad food” lists and commands Peter not to call unclean anything the Lord has made clean. Again, maybe there is a principle there.

Because I am a child of God, given a trust — this physical body — I want to be responsible in the way I eat. I am commanded in 1 Corinthians 10:31 to do all I do to the glory of God including my eating and drinking. But eating according to artificially created lists isn’t the answer!

What if we allowed ourselves the same freedom that God invites us to enjoy? What if we were to enjoy all things in moderation and take Him at His Word, balancing our freedom with an eye toward understanding what 1 Corinthians 6:12 says:

“Junk” Food — A MYTH? – Part 1

by Heidi Bylsma | Aug 22, 2011 | Blog

Judgments are made about foods all the time in our society. This food is “Junk Food” and that food is “Healthy Food.” While I realize that some foods tend to be “nutritionally dense” and some foods are lighter in vitamins and minerals while denser in “energy” they provide, I don’t tend to think of foods as “junk” or “healthy” any more. When I did, it never made me thin *or* healthy! As unbelievable as it may sound, I lost 100 pounds (and have kept it off for 4 years give or take) while eating french fries, pizza, ice cream, etc., etc., all those things that people usually put on the “Junk Food” list and say make you fat.

Sometimes, depending on what people eat based on those judgments, they then feel “good” or “bad” about themselves. I have been there, so I know how that works! 🙂 It is interesting we don’t think of *why* we eat, but only the *what*. Maybe the *why* is important! (Actually, I KNOW it is!)

Some people even seem to think they can be closer to the Lord by eating certain foods and abstaining from certain others. (Again, focusing on the *what*, rather than the *why*.)

Food shows up in the Bible often. Even so, we would be hard pressed to prove biblically that God is pleased or displeased with us based on the nutrition content — the what — of our food. In fact, often throughout the Word of God, people were commanded to enjoy rich foods and beverages!

It wasn’t the nutritional content of the foods that the people were told to evaluate before eating or drinking. They were encouraged to eat CHOICE food and drink SWEET drinks. This was a *taste* test!

A clerk at the UPS store the other day made cheerful small-talk with me. He asked me where I was going to eat lunch. When I said McDonald’s he quizzically said “You don’t look like the sort of person who would eat at McDonald’s. You are so fit!” I guess fit people can only be fit if they do NOT eat at McDonald’s. Truthfully, I eat at McDonald’s frequently, but my cholesterol isn’t high and my weight is healthy. I eat smaller portions when I am hungry and that makes all the difference!

The difference isn’t *what* I eat as much as it is  *how much* and *when*. If I eat when I am hungry and stop when I am not (which takes care of the “how much”), I have freedom to eat whatever I choose. My walk with God is unencumbered by a constant lust for foods that are “forbidden.” I heed God’s leading without giving in to greed and gluttony–two sins clearly highlighted in the Scriptures–by eating in moderation!

In an ideal world, of course, this doesn’t mean I act irresponsibly…I understand that my body is a stewardship, a trust. I want to make choices for fueling my body that make me feel and operate at my best, but I can do this prayerfully without obsessing about nutrition contents of the foods. I also want to move my body in a way that helps it get and stay healthy and fit.

The truth is, God has richly provided all things for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17).  But because we struggle with the concept of moderation and enjoying these blessings within godly boundaries, we think we need to eliminate them completely! I wonder if, by doing this, we don’t deny ourselves an aspect of growth in our walks with Christ. To learn moderation, we need to depend on Him and His Spirit–especially with things that have mastered us previously. By creating our “Do” or “Do NOT Do” lists (EAT or DON’T EAT), is it possible we turn to a form of legalism that circumvents the very freedom that God desires for us? What if we could enjoy ANY food, in moderation, WHEN hungry, to fuel our body? Wouldn’t it be a delightful experience not to obsess about food any longer?

Matthew 6:31 speaks to me about this very thing when it says: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

How about you? Do you tend to think of food as JUNK or as HEALTHY? Do you worry about what you will eat or drink or what size you will wear? What if you could enjoy ANY food in moderation? What then? How might this affect your life, your walk with Christ, your dependence on Him?

Want to Participate in an Online Thin Within Class? Now’s Your Chance! :-D

by Heidi Bylsma | May 30, 2011 | Blog

I am leading an online Thin Within group this summer through the Thin Within workbook material. The first orientation meeting will be June 15th and we will meet at the chat room at the Thin Within website.We will meet for chatting together from 4:30-5:30 pm Pacific Daylight Time each Wednesday evening beginning June 15th continuing through the first week in September.

(If you are a visual person and prefer a video telling you about this material, below you will find one. It isn’t particularly exciting, but it does give the low-down about the workbook!)

Here are some details (which I have shared in the past) telling about the  Rebuilding God’s Temple Workbook Kit #1. If you have done this workbook before, you can still join the weekly chats starting June 15th and work through *any* of the Thin Within workbooks as they are all designed so that they all have the same lesson topics each week!

The first kit is the most comprehensive and comes with three pieces:  

1. Workbook #1 
2. The Temple Toolkit 
3. The Memory Challenge Cards (click on the image to see a large version and click again to see it magnified further):

The contents of Kit #1

 First, the workbook itself, is a spiral bound volume that has material for 12 weeks of study. To download a sample of the material, visit this link. The download is an Adobe Reader (.pdf) file of Week One – “Hope.” After you download it,  print it and take a week to try it out! 🙂

Each week consists of the following:

• Lesson material – This is dense written material that you will read to glean the concepts that we are teaching or reviewing during the week. I usually recommend about an hour spent with this, highlighting, asterisking, and looking up the verses in my own bible. I may even write comments in the margin or, if I am leading a group, questions to be sure to ask participants.

• Each of the reading portions of the lesson are divided into these segments:

• Introduction – a brief overview of the week’s focus
• Spiritual Information – the relationship this material has to the Scriptures
• Physiological Information – the “mechanics” — what you can actually do to make additional changes in your eating to honor the Lord
• Integration – How it all works together

• Exercises – Don’t worry! These aren’t calisthenics! LOL! They are basically guided daily quiet times. 🙂 Each week includes “exercises” for each day of the week. Days six and seven are optional and a bit “lighter.” Days one through five include the following sections:

• Going Deeper – This relates some aspect of the lesson you have read to your life
• Bible Study – This shows how Scripture illustrates or illuminates the principles taught in the lesson
• Knowing God By Heart – One of the best parts, this is a study of the attributes of God. We have found that the way a participant views God impacts how she will view food, herself, her body, as well as her willingness (or not) to surrender this aspect of her life to the Lord for His purposes.
• Getting Practical – These are suggestions for putting some of the mechanics of the program into practice
• Memory Challenge – Hiding God’s Word in our hearts will enable us to be reminded of our commitment to him when we are weak! Memorizing scripture is extremely helpful for renewing our mind and changing our thinking!

• Review of the Week – This provides a space where you can summarize what God has shown you or questions and thoughts you have had. This section is especially helpful when you meet with others in a group setting. 🙂

In addition to these resources in the workbook, there is an extensive Introduction at the beginning and Appendices in the back, providing a great deal of material that will support you on your journey.

But wait! There’s more! 🙂 (Couldn’t resist saying that!) Not only do you get the Workbook, but when you purchase the first kit, you also get the Temple Toolkit. This is a resource that offers a place for you to log your own journey throughout each day during the full twelve weeks. As you progress through the material, the pages change to match what you have learned in the workbook. Let me show you what I mean.

The first image below shows Days 25-28. Click on the image to see a larger version and then click again to see FULL size what these pages look like in the temple toolkit:

Days 25, 26, 27, 28 in the Temple Toolkit

As you progress through the workbook and new material is introduced, the Temple Toolkit changes, too:

Days 49, 50, 51, and 52 in Temple Toolkit

Again, click on the image above and then click again on the bigger image to see it full size. You will see new tools have been added.

Of course all of the tools are optional as you go through the 12-week workbook. If you have come out of a background of excessive charting and graphing, you may only want to use the journaling pages. Or, as time goes on, you may experience freedom with one tool and not another. The Lord will lead each of us individually. Some have freedom to use all the tools, charts and graphs.

By the time you are closer to the end of the first twelve weeks, you will have been introduced to all of the tools. Note how the material in the toolkit has evolved:

Days 77, 78, 79 and 80 in Temple Toolkit

Again, “Wait! There’s more!” 🙂 When you order the first kit, you get not only the Workbook, the Temple Toolkit that changes as you go through the material, but you also get the Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards:

Memory Challenge and Temptation Buster Cards

 Again, click on the image above and the larger image, to get a full size view of what these include. You cut them up and can carry them with you so that Thin Within isn’t just a bible study that you begin in the morning and leave behind the rest of the day. These resources are very supportive in helping you to keep the principles that God is leading you to embrace and apply with you throughout the day.

We don’t want to just accumulate head knowledge, but then leave it behind for the rest of the day! We want to ACT on what we learn in our times of study and in God’s Word!

I realize that $45 is not a “bargain price” for a workbook alone, but I trust you will feel like it is worth it. This material includes three months of workbook material and exercises, as well as the Temple Toolkit which would probably cost $20 for something like that (if you could find such a thing!) separately. (It isn’t sold separately at Thin Within, so this is hypothetical!) Truthfully, with the money you save by eating less food :-), you will be able to afford a kit for yourself and a best friend, too! (Ok, so now I am taking my infomercial over the top…hope you are bearing with me! LOL! But it IS true!)

Thin Within isn’t a big company. No one has a salary. The proceeds from sales of the workbook go to cover the costs of producing these materials, keeping the Thin Within website functioning, other expenses (like the phone!), and small stipends for some of the Thin Within team members.  So while the cost of $45 may seem steep, it isn’t padding anyone’s pocket. I am sure you will be pleased with the quality of the materials you receive. (Boy, do I ever sound like an advertisement today. Sorry about that! I just really believe in this material and am eager for the word to spread!)

One additional piece of information that many are unaware of is that there are 3 additional workbooks, each covering 12 weeks. The material is designed so that people who have gone through workbook #1 before, can do workbook #2 or #3 or #4, even while most in the group use workbook #1. Each of the workbooks are presented in 12 weekly themes that parallel each other. These are the themes for all four of the workbooks:

1. Hope
2. My Body–God’s Temple
3. Identity in Christ
4. Celebration of God’s Grace, Part One
5. Restoration
6. Counting the Cost
7. The Fight of Faith
8. Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Two
9. Building Godly Boundaries
10. Forgiveness
11. Prayer
12. Celebration of God’s Grace, Part Three

When the group is on week five, everyone will be studying, reviewing, learning about the theme of Restoration. This helps prevent the material from becoming stale! It is a great system that allows people of all experience levels to enjoy a group together, studying and reviewing together.

To order materials, call Thin Within 1-877-729-8932 (9:00am-5:00pm Eastern).

The group I will be leading starting June 16th is an “open” group. You can join the chat at any time. There will be more details to come here and at the Thin Within website. Hope you can join us, even if you will be traveling a lot this summer! You can still join us at your convenience! 🙂

How Could I Say No?

by Heidi Bylsma | Oct 7, 2010 | Blog

I woke up this morning and had a good time with the Lord before focusing my attention on a challenging physical workout. By 8:15am I headed to a nice, long, luxurious bath–which always seems to be where I am still enough long enough for God to really get through to me. I heard him as clearly as if it were an audible voice (it wasn’t). Would I choose to forgive? Or will I only write about it?

In all my years, I have had the challenge of forgiving many things, but never have I been in a situation where it is likely that I would be called to continue to forgive someone(s) who would continue in their behavior without repenting or even being sorry. This is a first. (I have led a charmed existence, I realize!) Forgiving everything else–even for things that have wounded me deeply–seems mild in comparison. There is something challenging to my core about choosing to forgive something/someone(s) that is/are likely to be ongoing. And to know that Jesus calls me to forgive not 7 times, but 70 times 7 (the equivalent of an infinite number of times).

But if I am to pursue Christ, if I am to live as He calls me to, I know that I am without an option here. To choose not to forgive–even in the midst of ongoing wrong–is not only to resign myself to a life of anger and bitterness, but to deny Christ what he requires–that I forgive just as in Christ God has forgiven me.

How have I been forgiven? Constantly, repeatedly, even when I haven’t been sorry or truly repented. He paid for ALL my sin once for all. Not only that, but he has attributed righteousness to my account. This is unbelievable!

Look at these statements that come from Colossians 3:
1. I am chosen
2. I am a dearly loved child
3. I am wearing different clothing – that of compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience
4. The Lord forgave me

When I am aware of my identity as a chosen, dearly loved child, when I have cast off the clothing of my past with sin, shame, and vengeance, when I wear, instead, the clothing of Christ, when I am in touch with my own identity as a forgiven child myself…wow. Then I can only follow the Lord in His example and choose to forgive as well. How could I say no to him?

There is a sense where this step of forgiveness is as letting the one doing the wrong “off the hook,” but the truth is, what I am really doing is letting go of my “need” to control things. I am ultimately just prevailing upon God to take what is going on and to be God even in this. I am daring to believe that God will have his will and his way in me and in the one committing the wrong(s) and I believe, say, act: “It is well with my soul” and trust God that it will in actual FACT be “well with my soul.” (Huh…imagine that!)

The pressure is off, though. I am free from having to be clever and witty enough to convince the other of their wrong. I just let God be God in it and let His Holy Spirit move in His way, in His time. It doesn’t mean I don’t speak the truth in love, but once spoken, I allow the Spirit to be the HOLY Spirit and I step aside. Sometimes, it is all too easy to try to be the Holy Spirit for another brother or sister in Christ. I have to have to have to let go of my longing to control my world and the people in it. They are not pawns for me to do with as I please.

I don’t want to be hurt. And, certainly, there are times when godly boundaries must be established relative to repeat offenses. God alone can direct in each individual situation. Situations of physical abuse, for instance, or illegal activity–there is little question that these call for godly boundaries and quite probably getting out of the situation entirely (at least temporarily). There are still other situations in which the biblical mandate calls for bringing someone with me to lovingly confront the one sinning. If there is no repentance, then there are other steps that follow in succession, but even in these situations, we choose if we will forgive…or not.

In light of how great my sin has been and, even, continues to be today, how could I say no to the Lord when he asks me “Will you choose to forgive, child?”

Even as I stretched out against the jets in my tub this morning, the atmosphere muted by soft blue light and the sounds of nature music, with an act of my will I released my way — I said “Yes, I choose to forgive,” to the Lord…His peace descended and confirmed a thousand times over that what I chose in that moment of dying to myself was a gift–not to the one who needs forgiveness and doesn’t yet accept that–but to me. It was a gift given to me. A gift paid for by Jesus. Yes, his forgiveness OF me is a gift to me, most certainly, but I don’t think I ever realized just how much Him working in me to forgive another is a gift to me as well. I sensed shackles falling and my spirit rising. Truly, from the ashes I rise as I choose to forgive.

Practically speaking, I find myself not nearly so agitated, not wandering into the kitchen so often, not wanting something to numb my pain. Forgiveness really is the “magic bullet” for me in so many ways. I know that this process has only just begun during this season of my life, but I will choose to practice forgiveness again and again as often as I have opportunity. How could I say no?

How about you? Are you willing to let go and forgive…now?