We can keep reading the latest greatest “non-diet,” “intuitive eating” material on the web, but there comes a point in time when we have to live up to the light we have been given.
Has that time come for you?
I get emails from people all the time…many are involved in the Thin Within Facebook Accountability Group, the regular Thin Within Facebook page, have frequented the Thin Within forums on an off for years, done all the workbooks, read Thin Within and Thin Again. Yet they still struggle with obedience. They still are frustrated by themselves. Maybe struggle implies more challenge then there has been. Some of us, don’t even put up a fight against the gluttony that sucks us in. We just roll over and give in to the desire.
What’s it gonna take to for us to stop it? To END THE REBELLION?
I guess another question would be “What’s REALLY holding you (me) back?”
With the way I have been this past week (and longer), I know what is in this Sound Cloud file holds the antidote for what I suffer from. I would wager might for you, too:
1. Have you read a lot of Thin Within material and done a lot of the workbooks or bible studies? Have you tried the online resources (of course you have if you are here at this website! LOL!). Do you really–in your heart of hearts–feel like you lack knowledge? Is there really anything more that more inspiration could offer you? Or is it time to live according to the light you already have?
2. Can you do what the audio suggests at the end…open to Psalm 30 or Isaiah 30 and pull out attributes of God or answers to this question: “What is God like and/or what has He done for people?” Can you praise him out loud for those attributes? Can you find three gifts that God has blessed you with in this moment, yes…even if your husband has just announced he is leaving, even if your daughter has admitted she is pregnant, even if you just got the news that you have cancer, even if your job is flushed because of your company’s “downsizing.” No matter what…can you find the gifts that God has offered you in this day, write them down and, out loud, thank him for them?
3. Are you willing to give THIS a try? Not another new bible study. Not another new accountability group, but the daily practice of praise and gratitude…and just see if it might not make a difference in the rebellion that has been living in your heart?
4. Do an experiment this weekend. Practice praise and gratitude this weekend. Build your God List. Use it for a Praise Fest. Keep a running list of the gifts God has given you. Speak these truths about God’s character and goodness OUT LOUD. See if, when you do this, you still have the same challenges in your eating…can you praise God at the same time you eat more food than he calls you to eat?
Let us know how it goes! Share your thoughts and insights here!
Here we are again. At the office party or in the kitchen after bible study and NUTS if the food isn’t just TOO tantalizing. It seems to have a magnetic pull on us.
We tell ourselves NO… we WON’T give in THIS time, but nevertheless before we know it we are laughing with the others, enjoying “fellowship” while holding (and eating from) a large plate of food. And it isn’t about hunger. It is, quite simply, about I WANT IT AND I WILL EAT IT BECAUSE I WANT IT. We might even have the thought that “It isn’t fair that everyone else should get to eat and just because I am not hungry, I don’t get to…”
This week we turn our attention to two related types of eating, “Indulgent Eating” and “Social Eating.” Often, we just don’t feel like following our boundaries. Often, it may be because we are in a social situation and everyone else is laughing, having fun, so it is “only fair” that we should get to as well. Barb’s studies this week bring some very important thoughts to the forefront.
I am breaking this week’s assignment down into 5 mini-assignments. Of course, you can do it any way you choose. 🙂
2. Select at least 3 statements from the first section under “This is what I learned” to add to your truth cards. Even better if you add all 5! Share with us which three you added. If you haven’t started a deck of truth cards yet, you can see a post about it here. Evaluate if this might be a tool that could be used by God to bring victory at a level you haven’t previously known. Is it worth it to try something new?
3. Use Barb’s journaling questions about Indulgent Eating to write statements that you can add to your truth cards. Here is an example:
The first journaling question, I use to frame my answer and to develop a statement that can go in my truth cards. Barb asks, “If you were to eat ‘what you want, when you want’ 100% of the time, how much do you think you’d weigh?”
My response:
“If I were to eat what I want when I want (in the quantities I want) 100% of the time, I would be at least 100 pounds overweight. I have been there before and I could get there easily again.”
Continue to use Barb’s Indulgent Eating material to frame statements for your truth cards. Share with us in the comments what you added to your truth cards today.
Tuesday:
Complete the rest of the journaling questions, including looking up the Scriptures that Barb supplied. Which verse means the most to you or did God use to encourage or challenge you? Share with us.
Answer Barb’s question: Is your life better or worse with boundaries?
What percentage of the time do you feel like you live as if you don’t have boundaries? Why do you think this is the case?
Complete Barb’s Indulgence Eating questions. Again, use any of your answers that fit to create new truth cards. Share here any truths that you feel led to share so that others can be encouraged as well.
Respond to Barb’s question: Do you think your best chance for happiness is to do what you want when you want? Why or why not?
Wednesday
Visit Barb’s social eating bible study page found here. Please don’t be put off by the “salad vs pizza” dieting scenario. Instead, imagine the more likely situation for you, as a Thin Within participant, to be in a situation where everyone else at a party or get-together is eating four pieces of pizza when you either aren’t at a “0” yet and have to wait to eat or you are at a “0” but it takes only one piece of pizza to get to a “5.” The rest of the scenario she paints for us plays out. The situation is totally ripe for overindulging. You finally get this feeling of being “ripped off” and give in and eat along with and as much as everyone else.
What is the lie that Barb says is present in the back of our minds?
What is true about the notion that “Life should be fair”?
Respond to Barb’s discussion of “The Fairness Line.” What do you think about what she says?
Thursday
I want to join Barb in encouraging you to recognize the lies that our society feeds us. The lie that “Life should be fair” saturates everything! What are ways that you know you have bought this lie? Can you persevere in renewing your mind with truth about this today? This week? How will you do this?
How are things going on your renewing of the mind plan? Maybe it’s time to recommit to your plan established in week 2! If you don’t have an accountability partner yet, please consider getting one today by visiting the Accountability Page and posting there. If you have had a partner, but haven’t been in touch, consider getting in touch with your partner and evaluating what you will do going forward or dissolve your partnership and let one another loose to find another partner.
Complete Barb’s “Social Eating Bible Study” section at the bottom of the page.
Friday
At the end of the Social Eating Bible Study, Barb asks: Think of an upcoming social gathering where you’ll have to control the way you eat if you want to follow your boundaries. If life is about indulging your desires, will you have much to be thankful for in that situation? Explain.
If life is about loving God and others, will you have much to be thankful for in that situation? Why or why not? Explain.
What is God laying on your heart today about Indulgent and Social eating? Are you happier when you live by design or desire?
Follow Up Comments
I know that the summer is filled with opportunities to enjoy friends, family, times in the sun, lots of fun! You can recommit to spending 15 minutes a day allowing God to change your thinking–even now in the middle of the summer. What do you think? I know lots of us started this study filled with promises to ourselves. If your heart is kindled to want to let the fire flare up again, why not just dive back in this week–today, even? There’s no need to throw in the towel until a new study starts. Don’t buy Satan’s big lie!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
– Psalm 150:6 NIV
Have you ever known someone who, no matter what wonderful things were going on, they found the dark clouds amidst all the silver linings of life? A”Christian Eeyore” has that “There’s not a cloud in the sky, but that’s because a terrible storm is brewing and it is sure to take us by surprise” approach to life. You know the type, right? I hope you aren’t that type, though!
This week, we are going to choose NOT to be like that. We are going to CELEBRATE and count the many ways that God has been at work in our lives.
The nature of this journey we are on, requires that we prayerfully scrutinize our choices. We “observe and correct” and find there is SO much to “correct.” We tell ourselves repeatedly how we could/should have done this or that better. I don’t know about you, but after I have just inhaled an extra piece of pizza beyond satisfied, I can “overlook” the previous three days of wonderful choices, honoring God, walking with him, and submitting to his leadership!
We have been doing some HARD work this summer! Rather than weighing our bodies and comparing notes and results, let’s invite God to weigh our hearts right now. NOT our bodies. See below to see what I mean:
Heart Scale
All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
– Proverbs 21:2
If God were to weigh your heart, where would it land in the above illustration?
Here is a spiel about what I want us to do this week! 🙂
2.) Create a list of “land” you have captured for Christ on this journey this summer so far!
For instance:
I said no to a second helping last night at dinner
I have been drinking more water and less sweetened tea/coffee
I have been renewing my mind frequently and have noticed that I have begun to think God’s thoughts about myself, food, and God–to actually believe them!
I have been adding to my truth cards each week.
I have an accountability partner.
I have had 3 nights of successfully eating within my boundaries from dinner preparation time until bed time!
etc.
Your turn!
3.) If you have noticed that you tend to break your boundaries under certain circumstances, prayerfully make a plan for how to take that situation captive *before* it happens next time.
4.) Which of the three challenge levels mentioned by Barb in her evaluation post are you going to try out? Pick one and get an accountability partner if you haven’t yet. What can you do to structure your life to meet this challenge with victory? Make a plan!
5.) Consider having a gratitude blog or gratitude journal, specifically for thanking God for his gifts. Try these spots on the web:
6.) PLEASE POST HERE! What changes are you seeing in your life? Please praise our God and tell of all his wonderful deeds! Every continent (except Antarctica) has been represented by visitors to this website. So, if we are supposed to “declare among the nations” the things God has done for us, you can do so here and consider that one way of telling “The World” about what God has been doing! In fact, while I am asking for the moon :-), I would love you go to the Testimonials page and share a testimony there for everyone to see who lands at that page! Come on! 🙂
7.) Some sad news is that our trial membership at GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar has come to an end. I had *thought* that it was only $50 to continue, but it is $100! 🙁 I just can’t swing that. So, sadly, we won’t be having an online class this week unless I find a host that is cheaper. 🙁
8.) Will you pray for people to be encouraged through this ministry? I would love for visitors to see the many ways you see God at work in your life this summer! Thanks so much.
God is leading us into battle. He is our Conquering Hero and he leads us in a triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads EVERYwhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him (2 Corinthians 2:14). Let’s put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
We are perfectly prepared for this. We have had four weeks of laying the ground work. We have our boundaries in place. We have a plan for renewing our minds. We have exposed the subtle deceptions involved in “Justification Eating” and “Entitlement Eating.”
This week, we are going to plunge even deeper smack into the heart of the overeating issue. We do this, even though this is the time when many of us might be tempted to take a break.
Rather than head for the hills, the swimming pool, or a good fiction book, let’s GO AFTER THIS THING. Let’s go for the jugular and deal the DEATH BLOW so that the rest of our study is just icing on the cake (so to speak!).
Unlike Saul against the Amalekites, we are going to obey our God and take NO prisoners. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, we have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). will utterly destroy anything that condones apathy, overeating, associating copious quantities of food with “fun,” “fellowship,” and mood management.
We are more than conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37). Like Gideon hiding out in a wine press, though it may seem unlikely, we are mighty warriors in Christ (Judges 6:12). We can scale any wall. We can stand on the heights! (See Psalm 18:29-36) It is time for us to put on who we are in Christ — who He has made us to be — and totally, 100% act like who we were born in Christ to be!
To do this, we need two things:
1.) To be honest. I know you already have been and I celebrate that! This week, we may peel back some of those “layers of the onion” and discover there is more to face into.
2.) To work hard. Again, I know you have been working hard. Thank you for that! Many of you are experiencing the NEW THING that we are promised God is DOING! Sometimes we don’t perceive it, but he IS DOING a new thing–right now. Let’s not lose any momentum right now. Let’s resolve to PRESS ON THROUGH!
As we have continued in our study, I realized that one VITAL thing we have to deal with is:
Why has overeating/food/body image been a stronghold in our lives for so long?
Why is it so stubborn?
No matter how extreme the measures are we take, we often continue to have a challenge at one level or another.
This week–if we persevere and do the work involved–will be transformative. So I apologize in advance. This week has probably the heaviest amount of homework of all the weeks (I didn’t see this coming, but sense God’s leadership in this). If you can carve out the time to do it, I believe it will be worth it!
First, to lay the groundwork for this week’s assignment, here is this week’s video. It is sort of a broad overview and, in it, I mention (again) the value of 1.) Creating a God List 2.) Using your God List for a Praise Festregularly 3.) Building an attitude of gratitude and 4.) Creating and using Truth Cards. So if you haven’t already, you may feel nagged in this video. Here it is:
The video this week is a bit different in that it doesn’t directly hit on the material I cover in the assignment. In a broad sense it does, but not specifically.
So, without further ado, Let’s DO IT! I want to ask a question:
What is it that is the issue here?
When we boil it down, why is having a tiny little portion of food–which is really all we need to be sustained–not enough?
Why is it that we want *more*?
What is it that is true when we want *more*?
Think with me about this…cookies come out of the oven. I am free to eat them when I am hungry. Why is it that two cookies isn’t enough? Is it because I am hungry? Or is it just because I want the taste of… more?
Out to eat at the Mexican restaurant…do I really need a second basket of chips before my meal is served? Why isn’t one basket enough? Or 5 chips enough (when followed by the entrée, rice and beans)? Do I really need more?
Why isn’t a coffee cup full of ice cream enough? Why do I reach for seconds? What am I looking for? More…
The Myth of MORE
I believe that The Myth of More is the heart of this issue. I want more food. More fun. More time. More money. But since we are in the context of food, overeating, body image, let’s address the More Myth relative to food.
But more is never enough.
The last bite still happens. And I still grieve. I want more.
Is it fair to say that this is greed?
The definition of greed is, simply, excessive desire. I don’t know about you, but I think that fits what I struggle with relative to food. While I have definitely begun dealing with this much better in the years since 2006, it continues to be an insistent “whine” in my life. Always there. Buzzing in my ear. Harassing me. More. I need more.
Ok, now comes the gut-punch. Ready? Before I share it, let’s remember some truth:
God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)
God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us–the ungodly! (Romans 5:8)
There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
He chose you and me before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us…even before we did a single, solitary godly thing! (Ephesians 1…all of it!)
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness! (1 John 1:9)
So now I hope you are ready for the gut-punch. Don’t let Satan stand and accuse you. Send him packing. Right now.
That’s right…the Myth of More is just a nice way of being idolaters. OUCH, right? I know! Seems so harsh.
But if our eating is at all indicative of greed and if greed is idolatry…well, the old if a = b and b = c, then a = c has to be true, right? Maybe? So our eating aside from physical need seems to come from the Myth of More…greed…hmmmm….
I will leave you with that and Barb’s material to chew on this week. I do hope you will talk about this here in the comments. I am sure we have a lot to talk about relative to this!
ASSIGNMENT broken down for you by days because it is so much. SORRY! I think this is important!
1. TODAY (Monday): Read and do Barb’s quiz to evaluate if you do, in fact, have an idol operating in your life. Try to do it with food, overeating, dieting, “thin” in mind. If you feel so inclined, share with us what you discover here in the comments. I know that is a bold move, but I do believe there is something powerful about facing our truth and stepping into the light with it–talking about it. It loses it’s power when we do that. Or it is weakened considerably.
2. Tuesday: Read and do the activities in Barb’s post on “How to Break Free from Idolatry.” You will have already done her steps under How to Break Free From Idolatry #1, 4, 5 and maybe even 6, getting an accountability partner. If you haven’t yet gotten an accountability partner, you may want to do that this week. Post at the Accountability page. Don’t worry about #s 2 and 3 as you will do them this week in another part of the assignment. Journal your responses to Barb’s question: How is idolatry like adultery? How is it different? How would you get over idolatry in a way that would be similar with getting over adultery?
3. Wednesday: Read and do the activities in Barb’s post on “How to Break Free from Idolatry Part 2.” Respond to her questions for your journal. Respond here to her question: “How do you convince yourself your idol needs to go?” I want to add…REALLY go? I mean, you are participating in this study because you want to see some changes happen. YAY! Let’s celebrate that. But I know some of us struggle with cherishing some little aspect of our idol that keeps us from totally letting it go. It can be in the form of that final sweet in the evening no matter what. Or it might be in that but I amentitled feeling we have when the kids go to bed. We may even plan for what we will do after they are in bed without the thought of 0 and 5. Do you see what I mean? Do you cherish any little aspect of eating outside of physical need, even just a bit?
4. Thursday: Two of Barb’s studies are on tap for today or, you can save part of this for the weekend. Read and respond to When You Don’t Feel Close To God. This post probably feels familiar as I covered some of the material in it last Friday here. It is worth considering again, certainly. Consider her journal/prayer activity in this post, too. What might be reasonable for you to do to take some focused time to work on this? Try to squeeze in time to read and journal through Barb’s post on Idolatry in the Bible. I was very convicted over this statement…in reference to some things not looking like idols, Barb said, “…but if we’re consistently turning to them for comfort, protection, fulfillment, and deliverance from life’s problems, they’re probably idols.” When you consider her last question “Do you think idolatry is accepted in the church today?” you might want to consider church potlucks, all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts, spaghetti feeds and the like. What would happen if we stopped chowing down at church? Have we been trained by our church involvement that “fellowship” and food are synonymous?
5. Friday: Read and complete the activities in Barb’s Post on “How to Set Boundaries to Break Free From Idolatry.” Much of this material will be familiar to you. You might use this as an opportunity to evaluate your secondary boundaries to see if there aren’t any that you have been “overlooking” using 🙂 to help you to be more aware of your primary boundary of eating within physical hunger and satisfaction.
6. Here is the recording from this week’s online class.
My commitment here at God is Doing a New Thing is to provide as many means of supporting you on your Thin Within journey as possible. Right now, here are some of the opportunities available to you:
Daily blog posts. You can “Follow This Blog” and get a notification when new content has posted.
Community interaction. Here at the God is Doing A New Thing website, people are interacting with one another in the comments section. Engage in a dialog. Share what works for you. Ask a question and experience encouragement and help from others on this journey!
Accountability partnerships. Have you gotten an accountability partner yet for your journey? This page offers a place to post if you are interested in finding a buddy to connect with for mutual encouragement.
Newsletters sent out every-so-often (probably not more than once a month). Subscribe here. When you do, you get a link to an audio file that tells you what turned the corner for me in my own Thin Within journey.
Studies together! We have just started a bible study to support Thin Within participants in renewing their minds. Visit this page to see what we have done so far and to get started with us!
There are weekly online classes to teach more content regarding the topic for the week during our summer study. Each can stand alone.
YouTube Channel with all kinds of Thin Within and God is Doing A New Thing videos.
We are creating a Thin Within / God Is Doing A New Thing app for your iPod, iPhone, and iPad! I am so excited about that! Development is slow going, but it is happening!
Coaching opportunities one-on-one. You can accomplish your goals. Maybe you just need a little more support. Consider the coaching option. I currently have spots that have just come open.
There are so many resources here for you! I hope that if you don’t find what you think you need here, you will ask.
NOW is the time for you to experience the ongoing victory that you know Christ has purchased for you! You can do this in the strength he provides!
What will you begin to do that you, perhaps, haven’t done before to turbo-charge, hyper-boost your Thin Within journey? 🙂
