by Heidi Bylsma | Dec 4, 2022 | Inspiration
It’s the time of year when we, at Thin Within, again offer our hearts and minds to the Lord who chose to come to earth to bring salvation to us. Salvation from eternal separation from God, but also to save us daily from futile ways of thinking and living.
Join us for our December Surrender. Below is sample of the first 4 days of our “December Surrender.” Come on over to Mighty Networks–our Thin Within Community–to listen to each mind renewal meditation as it is posted daily.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
To listen to the rest of them, join us in our community!
by Barb Shelton | Oct 1, 2022 | Blog
As I was heading down the driveway for a walk, I spotted several fresh new mole hills. Pesky, unsightly, and numerous…
I remember the saying about “not making a mountain out of a molehill” – which means that we should not make a big deal out of something that’s actually a little deal. Yes, good reminder. And I do agree with that. Especially since it’s easy for me to do that. It’s easy to get hyper-focused on my stuff, especially my hard stuff. When something is hurting me or making me angry or frustrated, it suddenly – or maybe gradually – magnifies and I now see it up close and personal. It takes over my time, overshadows my mood, and it drains me of emotional and mental energy. I let it come front ‘n’ center and allow it to take way too much of my focus and attention. Everything else shrinks into the background of my life.
How exactly do I do this? How do I make a small molehill into a big mountain? See the mole hill with the red arrow pointing to it in the photo below? That’s the same molehill that’s in the foreground in the above picture.
All I did to make it look big was to simply get up close to it. And then it looked more like a mountain!
My mind moseyed on down the road – our driveway, actually – and onto thinking about magnifying the Lord. How do I magnify Him instead of my mole hills – aka my problems, hurts, and frustrations? The same way! I get close to HIM!!! I keep Him in the foreground! I see everything else as being in the background!
Okay. That sounds good, theoretically, but what’s that actually look like? How do I live that out? Or live it in – into my heart?
This is where mind renewal comes in! And in Thin Within we are blessed with a PLETHORA of mind renewal tools. What I love about these tools is that they help me do exactly that – magnify the Lord instead of my stuff – some of which is like small molehills in size, and others are larger molehills! But nonetheless, the Lord is muuuuuuuch larger than ALLLL of them and I need to magnify HIM instead of my own stuff.
Here are several examples… (Click on any of them to see a larger, clearer version. If on a phone, you may need to turn it 90 degrees and expand to get the largest view.)
The God List and Praise Fest: The God List is something Heidi and Christina not only talk about a lot; they also DO it every day, with each other! You simply write down attributes of God
Truth Journaling: This is where we pour out our aches and frustrations to the Lord, then separate them into individual points, and ask the Lord to show us the truth regarding each one. In this, I truth journal about shame.
Victories List: These are victories we experience along our Thin Within journey. They can be big, small, or anything in between. No victory is too small to count!
Freedom List: These are indicators that are meaningful to you of what walking in freedom in the area of food and eating will look like. This first one is by Kathryn Felts…
This next Freedom List is by me… (It says “Truth List,” and that’s true, but it’s more a freedom list…)
Gratitude List: This can be generic, or it can be about something in particular, as mine is below. (This is just the first page of several.)
I Believe: An “I Believe” list is of any truths that you believe, or that you want to believe even more than you do. Like Thomas said “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” It can be a truth list, but saying “I Believe” about each truth just takes it a step deeper – to embed it even more deeply into our heart, mind, and thinking.
Truth List: A truth list contains truths about anything that needs to have some lies overpowered with truth. It can be written about a situation, a person, emotions… just anything that you want to understand more deeply about how GOD sees it. As you will see, they can vary widely! This first truth list is about a very difficult situation we were going through with a grandson on the autism spectrum, with frontal lobe damage, ADHD, and behavior disorders…
Here’s another truth list for when I fell and got a severe a head injury…
This truth list is about something much less severe – just the upcoming evening…
Who I am [My Identity] in Christ: This is simply truths from the Word that state who I am in Christ. Not who I make myself… not what I wish I could be, but truths according to God’s own word.
Victory Wall: Christina says: “This is such a fun and encouraging mind renewal tool! No victory is a small one. As we read each one again and again we are reminded that God is indeed doing a new thing is us. I like to build mine inside of my kitchen cabinets!
What Is Good? We look at what is good about something, especially something bad or sad, rather than at the obvious negative aspects. We look for what is good in your or another’s life and pray it back to God starting with “It is good.” You might start with a situation that’s difficult or downright horrible. Ask God to show you anything good about it or that can come from it. If you can’t think of anything, then call to mind an attribute of God and apply it to the situation, like this…
Your grown daughter is going through a messy divorce. You can’t think of one good thing about this, so think of an attribute of God, like…
- “God is faithful.” Apply that truth to the situation: “God will be faithful to my daughter.”
- “God Provides”: God will provide for my daughter.
- “God Heals”: God will heal my daughter’s broken heart.”
- “God is the almighty Counsellor”: God will counsel my daughter.”
- “God is Light”: God will bring light into my daughter’s darkness.
- “God is Hope”: God will bring hope to my daughter.
- “God is the God of Comfort”: God will comfort my daughter.
- “God is Emmanuel – God with Us”: God will be with my daughter even in the hardest, most painful times.
Or on a more generic note: It is good that my grandson is feeling better. It is good that my neighbor is so kind to me. … It is good that the debt is finally paid off. … It is good that the sun came out. … It is good that my husband got a raise. … It is good that our children like each other. … It is good that my son got that promotion he has been studying for. … It is good that my back aches less today than it did last week.
Isn’t it so much better magnifying God, His attributes, His gifts to us, what He can do for us and in us, and how He can transform us than staying stuck with our little mole hills? Enjoy using any/all of the above to magnify the Lord and minimize your own perspective, pain, and priorities!
by castlemedia | Jul 13, 2021
Around 2008 I first learned about Thin Within and I found Heidi’s blog that chronicled how God healed her emotionally and spiritually so that she could release weight and grow in relationship with Him. For me, this was a radical approach because I didn’t think I could ever break free. I bought the TW book, started participating in some of the on-line chats, and then studied a TW workbook with another local participant. All of it gave me great head knowledge, but I still struggled to put it into practice. I continued to dabble in TW and various forms of dieting for the next 13 years.
In winter 2021 I realized that I needed additional help. Not only had I increased my weight through the pandemic working at our county hospital, I found that food no longer gave me even momentary joy, so I made the decision to reach out for on-on-one coaching with Heidi.
My initial goal was to find hope for freedom from compulsive eating/dieting with the side goal of releasing weight. I appreciate Heidi’s focus on grace, mind renewal, and finding our identity in Christ. Mind renewal is key in this process – if I am going to undo decades of dieting mentality, I must renew my mind to things that are eternally True. I also am grateful for having someone that I could be accountable to weekly. Thirdly, the Fresh Wind Fresh Desire workbook gave me ways to practically walk though mind renewal and consider how my former thought patterns no longer serve me. These three components combined helped me release 25 pounds during the coaching period. In order to continue on my journey I have transitioned into the Inner Circle and I look forward to the freedom that God has for me!
