I hope you have been blessed by the focus on the truth God speaks over you, that you are fearfullyand wonderfullymade.
It has encouraged me to no end to see you participate in the study with one another in your comments and there are a bunch of you who have posted on the Accountability page! Be sure to email me and let me know if there is someone you want me to send your contact information to. Let’s get paired up for the next 5 weeks. 🙂 I don’t want anyone left behind!
This week, we have a chance to look at the *mechanics* of this way of eating and living. Where last week a foundation was laid for our relationship with our good and patient Savior and establishing the fact that we want to EXALT Him instead of making it be about ME ME ME, this week, we learn to rely on the signals that our Great and mighty, creative, God has put in our bodies. He has made our bodies to be trustworthy indicators–especially as we submit to our God in prayer and ask Him to guide us to be obedient and honest.
Here is today’s video:
You may need to renew your mind if you are fresh out of dieting or if you have been vacillating back and forth between Thin Within and a diet. Just jot down (in a moment when you are convinced) truths about eating based on the physical cues of your body vs. eating according to a plan provided by a dieting company or industry (who loves to make money out of our failure).
What IS true about letting your body signal you for hunger and satisfaction? Here are some truths to get you started:
When I am hungry and eat, contrary to popular “wisdom,” I am not going to go into starvation mode and not lose weight. Instead, I am showing my body that it is perfectly safe to get hungry as I will eat when I am hungry!
It may seem like a small amount of food that satisfies me. That is because it is! But I can eat again as soon as I am hungry!
My body is so efficient!
When I eat when hungry and stop when I am not, I choose an effortless, easy way of regulating my food intake.
Eating when I am hungry and stopping when I am no longer hungry is the most natural way of eating the amount that my body needs in order to be it’s God-ordained size.
Eating when I am hungry and stopping when I am not enables me to eat all kinds of foods that I enjoy. I don’t have to count. This works. It has for millennia!
This approach frees me from obsession about food and nutrition information. I am free to use what I know about nutrition and free not to. I can listen to the Lord’s leading instead of the “leading” of the popular diet guru.
God knows me intimately (Psalm 139) so it stands to reason that his way will provide me with what I need.
This is radically different from the world’s way of doing things!
Colossians 2:20-23 confirms this:
You have died with Christ,
and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world.
So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,
“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?
Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.
These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion,
pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.
But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
So let me ask you the same things I ask in the video…the same things we are asked in the material we are studying:
Has being obsessed (even just a bit) with food, eating and your body, hindered your growth to be all that God intends?
This is a convicting question! Notice that it zeros in on being obsessed with food, eating and your body…obviously, God has a plan for all of us that we haven’t yet realized! But the focus here is…what is keeping you from it? Is it possible that the very thing that you pursue because you “want to honor God” is pursued in such a way that it stands in the way of being what you could be?
If the Father seeks worshipers who worship in Spirit and in Truth, and we are thinking about ourselves so very much…does that, perhaps, tell us the answer?
What self-destructive lies have you believed?
What TRUTHS can you embrace to counter the lies?
Are you willing to befriendyour body? What might this look like for you? Do you need to renew your mind about your body in order to do that? Here is what that might look like for me:
My legs have enabled me to hike and bike ride and see amazing scenery where no car can travel.
My abdomen–the one that has stretch marks (now faded)–carried both of my children into this world.
My chest nursed my children to give them a good start. Even if I think I look like “National Geographic Woman” now (everything is dripping a bit south), I know that my body has done a remarkable job!
My hands have played the guitar and keyboard for the worship team and our church family
My teeth have chewed the food I need to get the nutrition I need and while I have sometimes used them to chew more food than I need, I am still thankful for them!
My feet–which I so often criticize for being too big–have carried my body for 52 years (less the first year of my life, I guess). They have taken me all kinds of places!
My shoulders–as broad as they are–have enabled me to be strong to move hay, to carry furniture when needed and other heavy burdens.
I think you get the idea. Sometimes, I need to renew my mind several times a day about whatever it is I am struggling with. To “befriend” my body, as the authors suggest, I might need to review this list a number of times!
How about you? What do you need to renew your mind about as we progress this week and begin to get in touch with our hunger/satisfied signals? Does befriending your body seem impossible and, even, repulsive? Ask the Lord to show you HIS truth!
Assignment:
Complete all of Lesson 2, the personal study and the group study.
Write out your responses to the questions on page 45 under “Sharing and Discussion Questions.”
Create personal HEAL goals for each level of the HEAL pyramid (page 36)
Renew your mind about anything that God leads you to renew your mind about. I recommend doing this as part of your time with the Lord first thing in the morning–even if it is in the shower or as you dress and get ready for the day.
Select an accountability partner if you haven’t yet!
Optional:
Consider memorizing the verse on page 42
Add to your God List and have a praise fest! Do this at least once this week, if not several times.
What do you sense God is leading you to make a priority this week regarding your eating, renewing of your mind, your time with Him, an accountability partner, and anything else mentioned in our study so far?
I am profoundly affected by music in my life. In 2006, when God issued an unmistakable call to me to commit to faithfulness in eating 0 to 5, he used music to begin to begin to renew my mind. He continues to use music to help me to think differently so I will actdifferently.
Today, I wanted to encourage you…if you have an MP3 player or iPod…consider creating a “New Thing” play list (or call it whatever you like). From time to time, I will share a song here that God has used to help me renew my mind and to propel me further down this path. Maybe you can get the song and it will do the same for you!
Today’s recommended song was used by God to woo my heart in 2006. I still remember where I was when God caused me to hear it as if for the first time (though I had led worship with this song numerous times).
Draw Me Close
Draw me close to you
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I’m your friend
Help me find a way to bring me back to you
You’re all I want, You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want,
Help me know you are near
You are my desire
No one else will do
Cause no one else
Can take your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find a way to bring me back to you
You’re all I want, You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want,
Help me know you are near
Here is a video of the song (you have to wait through the ad, I think…sorry about that!):
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
– Psalm 139:14
How would it transform your life if you were to believe God…I didn’t say “Believe IN God.” I really did mean: “How would it transform your life if you were to believe God?” What if you were to believe what he says about you in His Word? What if you were to believe that you are
fearfully and wonderfully
made?
Take a moment right now to imagine that.
Close your eyes and stop reading for a moment. And imagine…
I AM fearfully and wonderfully made. It is TRUE.
Are your eyes open again? 🙂 That’s ok. Now close them again and imagine knowing to the depths of your heart …
…I AM a demonstration of God’s creative and amazing power and love.
Can you rest in these thoughts for a moment? Can you allow the truth–what HE says is true–saturate your body, soul, and mind? Sit for a moment in this truth.
How would believing God that you are fearfully and wonderfully made affect other thoughts you have? How would it affect your actions? How would it affect the way you relate to your own body? To the food you eat? To the “failures” in your life?
What if what God says…really is…absolutely…
TRUE?
I believe that a lot of the difficulty we have with our eating, our obsessing about our weight, and other similar struggles is due in large part to what we believe about ourselves. If we really believed what God says about us, thoughts like these would evaporate:
– I am a failure and never will beat this.
– I will always be overweight and miserable.
– I deserve to be miserable.
– I am too undisciplined to ever lose weight.
– Even if I do manage to lose all the weight, I will never keep it all off – etc…add your own.
If we believed what God says is true about us in His Word, this is what we might think, instead:
– I struggle with saying no to myself about eating when I am not hungry, but God says I am more than a conqueror. I know if HE says it, I can do it.
– I have everything I need for life and godliness, so somewhere here I must be able to beat my tendency to overeat.
– God promises that he has given me a spirit of love, power and self-discipline.
– God says that he has called things that are not as though they are.
– What is impossible with man is possible with God.
– I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. – etc…add your own.
What is the difference between these two lists? The focus of the first is ME and my performance.
The focus of the second is GOD and HIS “performance.”
When we focus on The Lord…HIS provision, HIS power, HIS character, HIS promises, HIS performance, HIS declaration of what is true, then we know that we are in good hands. It may seem like we have to do this all on our own and that we are the failure or success, but the honest truth is GOD wants to do it in me.
In fact he says His grace is sufficient and that we can boast all the more gladly in our weaknesses, because when we are weak his power–HIS strength–rests all the more on us. Perhaps the reason we struggle so much with our eating is so that we can learn that we are NOT enough, but HE is.
How can I go from the mindset where it is about me and what *I* can do and turn it around, believe what God says…that this is about HIM and what HE can do in and through me?
Renewing my mind. Barb Raveling has taught us a lot about that through her study (see the “Weight Loss Bible Study” page link in the menu bar above the blog posts). It really is as simple as that. Like Romans 12:2 says:
Be not conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Journaling activity:
Write down what you believe and ask God to show you what is TRUE and what is LIE.
Whatever is a LIE, scratch out–put a line through it. Scrawl the word, “LIE” over it!
Then write next to each the TRUTH that you KNOW is from the LORD.
Finish the activity by asking God to help you reject lies–even familiar ones–and to replace with HIS truth–even if the truth is, at times, uncomfortable.
Practice saying the truth daily! Again, I suggest using this Who I Am in Christ file. This stuff is all in God’s Word and is an excellent way to bathe your mind (“brain wash”) with truth.
How will believing God and what He says about you–that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (and all the other great truths he says about you in his word)–affect you relative to eating, food, and body image?
Welcome to our launch day for our study of the Healthy Eating and Abundant Living book by Allie Marie Smith and Judy Halliday (the founder of Thin Within).
If you haven’t yet gotten the book, check it out here.
First, a video to talk about where we are going (email subscribers may want to visit the blog site so that you can see the video if it doesn’t show up in your email):
Three things that I hope you will allow God to really bring home to your life through your study:
You are fearfullyand wonderfullymade. (See Psalm 139:14) You might want to renew your mind about this. Use this passage to think differently about YOU!
For six weeks, consider committing to this path. Just a month and a half. That means you won’t quit. You won’t give up–even if you don’t do it “perfectly.” Just hang in there and keep on doing your lessons and showing up and sharing your thoughts here at the blog. Post here to encourage others. For six weeks…will you? 🙂 Pretty please? (Yes, I am shamelessly pleading!)
Step into the light…no longer hiding anything from the Lord. To learn the truth about yourself. He is gentle, kind and loving. We don’t need to run from truth (which we sometimes tend to do). Invite him to shine his light on your heart and life.
Assignment this week:
Can you get an accountability partner? 🙂 Prayerfully consider it.
Look over the HEAL principles on pages 9 and 10 (and if you haven’t read the introductory material yet in the book, you might want to do that).
Consider starting a GOD List (more details to come). You can find an explanation here.
Adopt the primary boundary of eating 0 to 5 — waiting for physical hunger (in Thin Within we call that “0”) and selecting any food you desire (no dieting rules, good food/bad food lists). Stop eating when you approach “5” — physical satisfaction. If you aren’t sure about when that is, serve yourself about half as much food and eat twice as slow as you typically do. 🙂 It will feel like you are eating just as much.
Complete the personal study and group study for Lesson 1–this is through page 29 of my version of the book (second edition) or up to the place where it says TWO: The HEAL Basics.
Complete the WHERE I AM evaluation included in those pages.
Renew your mind. Replace lies with truth in a practical way…with scripture memory cards, with Barb’s app, with a list you prepare ahead of time. We will be talking more about that in the next 6 weeks.
How this will work – Each Monday, I will post the new assignment and also a video to preview what we have ahead. On Fridays, I will post about the material we have studied…even though some of you may not have finished the week’s material…that’s ok. Please don’t feel like you have to quit because you aren’t at the same place. TRULY, it is NOT a problem. I know some don’t check the blog on Saturday and so want to have it available for those who do on Friday. If you don’t get to it until Saturday, that’s fine. Remember to go at whatever pace God leads YOU.
Even if you aren’t going through the study with us, it is my intention to make the content here at the blog relevant to both those who are doing the study AND those who aren’t. So please keep on visiting!
So, how do you feel about this new leg of the journey? What is God impressing upon your heart even now? How can we be praying for you?
Hopeless Eating – Do you struggle with the thought that I will never conquer this challenge? Do you feel like eating and weight will always be a struggle forme? Barb shares in her study that truth journaling about this is crucial! Reason with me for a moment: Who is it you serve? What does HE say about your struggle? What does he say about YOU? By way of review (or new information if you haven’t yet seen it), I urge you to download, print out and speak out loud each day Who I Am in Christ. <– Click that link and you will see a pdf document that is filled with wonderful truth about who you are in Christ! It is so very difficult to speak this truth over your own life and to remain hopeless. Christ blew the LID off the grave so that hope might be victorious forevermore! If you like, review the video where I speak about hopelessness. It is here. Also, Truth Journalingis an invaluable tool to fight the lies with truth when we struggle to experience hope. We CAN get to the other side of the feeling of hopelessness. Let’s fight our way through it. Besides, will eating make it any better? It never has before. In fact, eating feeds the very hopelessness we want to combat!
What are some truths that can feed and fuel hope when it wanes for you? Share here so we can all benefit from one another!
Good Food – or Yummy Food – Eating – Do you struggle with thinking if it is there and I want it, I must eat it? This is the mentality that just says there isn’t any deep hidden meaning going on here right now in my desire. I just want the food and there it is so I will eat it. To not give in to yummy food eating we can be proactive. If we know we are going to be in a situation where we will have opportunities for eating food that tastes good when we aren’t hungry, we can plan for victory! Some of Barb’s questions are so helpful to me personally. In fact, I think I have started thinking sort of like her! LOL! (In a good way!) Will eating this right now break a boundary? Will I have to learn to say no to my temptation to break boundaries? If I don’t learn that, what do I know is likely to happen? Given my history, do I have the ability to eat whatever I want whenever I want in the quantities I want for the reasons I want without it coming at extreme cost? In light of the TRUTHFUL answers to these questions, what will I choose right now?
How about you? What are some questions you can ask yourself in the moment when the food is there and you, simply, just WANT it!?
Bad Scale Eating We just completed a “Ditch Your Scale” Challenge. Why not start your own challenge? Can you not get on the scale for a week? Do you feel like the scale has too much power over you? Do you feel like one person posted, “Sure, I will give up my scale as soon as someone pries my fingers off of it!” Many of us feel that way. We have an unhealthy relationship with that device that is meant to be a tool, but we can’t seem to drum up the willingness to grow through this. We continue to seek approval of the bathroom scale. Let’s pray that God will help us to stand on His Word and on His promises. Let’s do what one person here at the blog said and choose to stand on the promises of God found in Scripture that says he who began a good work will carry it on to completion. She said she would choose NOT to “check on his progress” by stepping on the scale for two weeks. Does weighing yourself cause you to celebrate by eating? Does it cause you to comfort yourself by eating? Then it might be a good thing to evaluate if you should have a friend or family member take the scale for a couple of weeks and pray you through this.
What does God call you to do relative to the bathroom scale? If you are able to use it as a tool and not allow it to define what you will do next, then you may have a wonderfully healthy relationship with it. If, however, you give it the power to make you feel like a success or a failure, consider doing something radical! 🙂 What will it be?
