by Heidi Bylsma | Dec 1, 2008 | Blog
The primary text for this lesson is found in Romans 12:1-2:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For me, this lesson summarizes the very reason why I chose to do The Lord’s Table workbook at this time.
If I change my eating habits (which I have), if I lose all the extra weight (which I have), but am not transformed from the INSIDE out, then the changes will be temporary at best and not the type of change that matters most. What matters MOST is my heart. This isn’t about my food or weight. I see no place in scripture where God says “Thou shalt not weigh 185 pounds…or 250 pounds.” I DO see many scriptures about my heart, surrender, not being greedy or idolatrous…THESE are the things that I want to be sure I deal with by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
I choose this day to offer my body to God, yes…I will be a living sacrifice. But not just my body, but my mind. Therefore, I will not minimize a choice in the moment. I will agree with God that this moment matters as in this moment, I can make a choice. That choice can add another layer of hard callus tissue to my heart, or it can soften my heart. In a moment, I can do something that matters that much.
Every moment matters. I will choose to allow the Lord to renew my mind and transform me from within.
by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 24, 2008 | Blog
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 is the primary text for this lesson.
The author shows that this passage teaches that two working together can produce spiritual fruit (v. 9), that it can provide spiritual restoration (v. 10), prompt spiritual zeal (v. 11), and provide spiritual protection (v. 12).
He provides compelling arguments that if we are serious about releasing weight and the behaviors and attitudes that have gotten us into trouble we have to have to have to be willing to have an up front, in your face, speaking the truth in love, accountability partner.
Some time back, I posted to my blog about this very thing. You can read that entry here.
Mike Cleveland in The Lord’s Table workbook, points out that when in accountability:
“You agree to openness and honesty. Bondage to overeating brings deception with it; some of us have been deceptive for years. If we want to lose the slavery to sin it starts with honesty, even if it is humbling.” (TLT p. 49)
I have found this to be so true and YES, I DO have an accountability partner. Every winter, I know for a fact I need one, but this time, she landed in my lap as a gift from Heaven to me from God. It is the most amazing story and I would NOT be surviving this time of literal emotional, spiritual, and previously physical withdrawal from my dependence on diet soda (I know that sounds dramatic, but what I have experienced is nothing short of an addict’s withdrawal symptoms!) without this amazing lady.
In September, I heard about a Thin Within group that was at a church not far from where my 83 year old mother lives. I emailed the contact person and said I would be more than eager to offer to support or help the group, sharing my experience and a bit about my testimony including my blog. The amazing thing is…the leader of the group lives in my SMALL TOWN community…and leads that group at that church even though it is about 45 minutes or so away from both of us! We met for breakfast in September and she boldly asked if I would be her accountability partner.
At that time, I was overwhelmed with life and wasn’t sure my husband would feel it wise for me to do that…I had NO idea just how much I WOULD NEED HER! I am grateful that my husband said he thought it would be fine since she was a real life contact and not just an email contact — there is something about seeing one another every so often that makes it more real or something.
This lady has been the real deal. Her honest seeking the Lord and his healing has so touched my heart. I have been blown away by how BADLY she wants this healing and how much she is willing to endure to get it. She is definitely living all the things Beth Moore taught about in the Breaking Free taping…even though she has never seen this material. This lady is willing to go after this and I know she IS breaking free. She WILL live in total freedom.
But in the past few weeks, as I have been trying to get through some emotional hurdles and do it without depending on diet soda, I have been SO blessed by her loving encouragement and her compassionate observations. Gosh, the lady is a therapist…the Lord knew I needed one!!!!
I know that I WILL make it through this difficult time with her support, prayers and counsel. She may have thought this was about HER, but God has used HER so much in my life already…and continues to. What a blessing.
I want that for everyone who wants to be free. I see why Mike Cleveland in this lesson is so adamant that we MUST be in accountability. Without it, we sort of are hedging our bets…we have an out…we can do something in secret…
I asked my husband last night to keep me accountable as well. I need to up the ante right now while I am struggling so much.
I also have decided to start using the hunger graphs again and to keep them on the dining table where the entire family can see them. This is SO humbling to me…I have tried NOT to do that in the past…and been mortified when someone in the family has scrutinized my hunger graph and said something to me about it. I am asking for that accountability now, though. I know I need it. My tendency to deceive has resurfaced (or maybe it was always there…).
I want TRUTH in the inward parts. I want my MIND to be renewed. I don’t want to long for food even inwardly. I want to LONG for God, to pant for HIM, to say with the psalmist with heart-felt genuine honesty:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26
by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 18, 2008 | Blog
I plan on returning to summaries of The Lord’s Table soon, but today, I could tell I needed to deal with some things. I turned to “Freedom from Emotional Eating,” by Barb Raveling, instead of working on The Lord’s Table.
Yes…this is what I needed. What I need. Present tense.
Yesterday, I struggled a lot with urges to eat and to revert back to drinking soda. I didn’t give in to the soda drinking. (I will write about this another time, as I think diet soda has been a huge stronghold in my past…one I never totally resolved to give up, but have now…hopefully, permanently.)
I was amazed at how drawn to food and soda I felt all day.
My accountability partner asked the right questions of me and prompted me to allow God to help me work through this. My tendency was to just “blow it off” as “Ok, so I am feeling emotional.” But to be honest with you, calling it emotional eating without DEALING with it, isn’t even as good as throwing a band-aid on it. It is like seeing a wound and saying “Yup, it is bleeding” and leaving it at that.
In Barb Raveling’s workbook, “Freedom from Emotional Eating,” the reader is urged to go beyond recognizing there are emotional triggers, to actually doing something about it…to speaking TRUTH into the situation. This is done through “truth journaling.” This is a remarkably simple thing to do, I found, yet profound.
The enemy seeks to take us captive by messing with our heads…the old “You deserve to eat this…” or “You will feel better if you have that…” thing.
Truth journaling happens in a couple of ways. One is to call a lie a lie regarding this notion that food will make me feel better when I am emotional. It doesn’t. Not only does it NOT make me feel better five minutes from now (after I have inhaled it), but it makes things worse. I still have to deal with the emotions, but it is then compounded by the guilt and frustration with myself for trying to numb it with food. Truth journaling exposes this. And it does so very specifically…not generally, as I have just done in my explanation.
For instance, if I am tempted to eat a chocolate muffin when I am not hungry and it is because I just survived my son driving us through the canyon together (he just got his permit), I write down how I am feeling, “I want a chocolate muffin right now. I am not hungry. I want it because it will make me feel better. I deserve it for enduring the stressful drive through the canyon.” I then go back and number the thoughts: 1. I want a muffin. 2. I am not hungry. 3. I think the muffin will make me feel better. 4. I deserve the muffin.
Then, for each, I label if it is a truth or lie and what the corresponding truth is for that lie:
1. True. I want the muffin. 2. True. I am not hungry. 3. LIE. The muffin will NOT make me feel better and will, in fact, make me feel worse because of how I feel when I violate my boundaries of eating only when hungry. 4. LIE. I don’t “deserve” the muffin. The muffin isn’t a “reward.” Knowing that I have hung in there doing what God has called me to is a very great reward and I will praise God for my safety and delight in his joy over us!
Another approach is to deal with the emotions…this goes to the heart of it. I spent some time this morning doing this very thing and I feel better equipped to handle the day.
I am emotional with good reason. 1.) My son is driving now and living where we do, the roads are windy, narrow and everyone on the roads is insane. 🙂 2.) My horse, Breezy, gets seen tomorrow by a specialist for what may be cancer in his eye. 3.) My schedule is so jammed full of things this week that I am overwhelmed. 4.) I have a website I am developing that has taken on a life of its own for a client who I have worked out a “trade” with and now I just want it done.
I have a strong emotional response to each of these things. This morning, as I truth journalled about some of them (and I will go back and do the others), I was able to invite God to expose the lies that are at the heart of some of my emotions about them. Certainly, while worry about Breezy is understandable, it won’t help matters. In fact, Breezy senses my anxiety and it adds to his own, making it more difficult for the vet to treat him. I have anxiety about the money this will cost and, again, worry won’t help this. It is what it is.
See how this works? As I allow God to speak truth into these situations, I am better equipped to pray through them and not to yearn for food which doesn’t help matters anyhow. God is my healer and my helper. He knows all things. He knows right now about Breezy’s eye and what is causing it.
This seems so simple right now as I share it. I almost want to delete this post because I assume people might say “Duh!” But it really IS profound.
The trick is, in the moment when I feel tempted to eat or to guzzle a diet cherry pepsi, I must be willing to stop and evaluate what is TRUTH in the situation? It isn’t likely that drinking or eating something will EVER be the TRUTHful answer to what is going on.
How about you? Can you take stock and see what the truth is about why you are drawn to food? Or, at the very least, evaluate whether having this candybar or that second helping of enchiladas will *really* make you feel better, happier, whatever an hour from now? 🙂
I want to live out my freedom. As Beth Moore said last week, we can’t have our milestones until we can take captive the moment. I see Barb Raveling’s truth journaling idea as being an invaluable way of capturing the moment for the Lord and allowing my mind to be renewed with his truth…
I hope you do, too! 🙂
by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 13, 2008 | Blog
In this session Beth Moore talked about how crucial lies are to remaining in captivity and how vital truth is to breaking free. (There is that renewing of the mind theme again…)
No matter what my personal truth may be–my behavior, my experiences, my history, and my “genetics,” IT IS NOT ABLE TO OVER-RIDE GOD’s TRUTH.
I must reject lies. No more denial or self-delusion–as long as we keep pretending, we will remain in our captivity.
The fact is GOD’s TRUTH SETS ME FREE. God’s truth is more powerful to free me than my truth is to keep me in bondage!
Hallelujah!
by Heidi Bylsma | Nov 11, 2008 | Blog
Wow…WOW! The introductory session of Beth Moore’s Breaking Free taping was last night and it was…well, incredible.
It got off with a rousing start when Lisa Pierre led us in singing “Break these shackles off my feet so I can dance! I just wanna praise you, I just wanna praise you!” I shared the way God used that song in my life here at the blog a couple of months ago (including a link to the YouTube video). So I was into it for sure! 🙂 From the looks of the other 999 women here in New Orleans at the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, they were too!
Some thoughts…first and foremost, when God speaks to me about the same thing numerous times in just a few days, I know I need to take note. The thought “Renewed Mind” has come up again and again. I wasn’t suprised to hear it here relative to the Breaking Free study–having gone through the BF study years ago and leading a couple of groups through it, I know that renewing the mind is a vital part of breaking free. Well, that and the fact that I have seen it in my own life.
But I know God is doing another new thing! It has come up enough times that I know he wants me to catch something new. So it is my quest to be still and know that He is God and what He has to say about the renewal of my mind. It was mentioned in Freedom From Emotional Eating bible study by Barb Raveling which I started last week. I hope to share my journey through that material here after I finish sharing The Lord’s Table.
The thought of the renewed mind was also the focus of the bible study we did at our Neighborhood Fellowship Group — the focus verse being Romans 12:1-8. We talked about what it means to renew the mind.
In any event, God is up to something. I am here at this video taping. 11 intense BIBLE teaching sessions!!!!! Never have I been through something this intense…and with Beth Moore no less who is big on truth and grace…
So here are some thoughts I jotted down this morning as I reflected back on the introductory session:
The focus verse is Isaiah 61:1-4. You will probably want to look it up in your bibles. Check it out and then ask God to bring it home to your own heart.
Lord Jesus, you have been annointed and appointed to preach good news to the poor. Thank you for accepting that calling. You have been sent to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…all of this you’ve done aginst evil that has previously prevailed, Lord. YOU HAVE ENDED THE REIGN OF DARKNESS IN MY LIFE.
Not only that but you are proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor. Oh, I praise you that I stand in your favor!!! You also proclaim the day of vengance of our God. The enemy will get his! You are comforting those who mourn, providing for those who grieve, and bestowing on us all a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
You are changing us — me — to be an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.
We will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; we will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated. Oh, Lord! How appropriate that this taping is here in New Orleans in a church that was just rebuilt after the Katrina devastation!
Lord, please help me not to miss what you want to do in me today, this week, through this bible teaching time with Beth Moore.
To preserve copyright and all of that, I won’t share my notes from the session. But she used Isaiah 9:4…to speak about how there is a pattern that God sees in us before freedom and how he chooses to break us free from bondage, from the yoke, just as He did the Israelites from Midian.
She took us into the scriptures in Judges chapter 6 all the way through verses 1 through 24. If you walk through the passage, you will see the parallels, too. Here are some questions to get you thinking about it all.
1.) Who are the people that are in bondage?
2.) Describe the nature of this bondage.
3.) Go to Lifeway’s Bible Tools at http://bible.lifeway.com/crossmain.asp. Click on KJV with Strongs. Then type in the little box that says “Books” the following: Judges 6. Find verse 6 and click on the word “impoverished.” How would you describe the state of God’s people when they were under the oppression of the Midianites based on the definition of the Hebrew Word (which is what you just found if you followed these instructions)?
Beth pointed out that bondage is anything that hinders me from being what God wants me to be. I am meant to bring Him glory by the producing of much fruit (John 15:8). The oak of righteousness mentioned in Isaiah 61 produces many many acorns!
4.) Look in the Judges 6 passage. The Israelites weren’t looking for freedom. What had they done instead? Can you identify with this?
5.) What does God do with this? How does this relate to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and your life?
I trust Beth and Lifeway won’t mind my sharing some of the words I jotted down near the end of the session. They are powerful…
Whatever it is that God calls you or me to give up…let’s not be afraid to give it up. Let’s instead be scared to miss what God has for us if we cling to something instead of releasing our hold on it. Beth pointed out so eloquently that sometimes we have no idea how oppressed we’ve been until we’ve been set free.
She closed with words like these:
What future do you want? Will you choose to grow old and die in your bondage?
No, Lord, I choose FREEDOM!
