by Cathie Rosemann | Feb 4, 2015 | Blog
One of my favorite facets of Thin Within is its ability to integrate the practical application of God’s word with the spiritual component of His truth. In other words, the foundation of this program is balanced. Throughout the pages of Thin Within are countless opportunities to learn and grow spiritually coupled with the reality that we have a responsibility to do our part of the program for it to have its complete work in us. God can be nothing but faithful to us. He will lead us in all truth. He will change us from the inside out as we let him renew our minds with truth.
For many of us, however, we’re spiritually growing leaps and bounds through this program, and yet our weight still remains an issue. Tell me I’m not the only one!
In a blog post that Heidi Bylsma posted in January of 2007 she said the following: “In my case, when I don’t release weight, first I have to ask the Lord, honestly, if I am submitting to his will. This goes beyond this notion of 0-5 eating for me. I can *fake* 0-5 eating pretty well. You know what I mean? I can rationalize things…I have found that a subtle “dieting mentality” comes in and “helps” me with this…it will casually do an estimation of calories and whatever and say “See? I have ‘suffered’ and so I should release weight.” But the reality God is trying to bring home to me is, the Lord wants me to love HIM more than I love food. No, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t find joy in my enjoying food, but delighting in food more than Him…well, that is a problem. He has laid on my heart that He has given me parameters within which eating food is to be enjoyed. It is like sexual intimacy…there are certain parameters. Within those parameters, it gives God joy for me to enjoy intimacy, which He created. I believe He delights in my enjoyment of food within godly parameters as well. Outside of the parameters of marriage, “sex” is indulging my fleshly lusts and is sin…Outside the parameters of my body calling for food, eating is indulging a fleshly lust and is sin. Or that is how He has broken it down for me. I need it made really simple! LOL! It helps me to ask WHY am I eating right now? Am I eating because I am hungry and my body needs nourishment? Am I eating because I simply want to enjoy the taste (which is so fleeting!)? God has laid it on my heart to enjoy the taste of food (YES!), but only when my body needs nourishment. How perfect is that? I can oooh and aaah about the incredible flavor of cheese enchiladas all I want when I am hungry! YIPPEEE! I get hungry pretty routinely! There will be loads of opportunities in my life to enjoy enchiladas with a totally pure conscience, eating them because my body needs sustenance! Why do I want to mess with that? When I don’t release weight, I have to honestly evaluate if I have been truly loving eating beyond the parameters God has for me. Am I living like my body is my own to do with as I please?”
This is the very issue many are dealing with, we still want what we want, when we want it, and thinking we can have it both ways, fail to realize that when we let our flesh (our old carnal man) have the final say, we hinder the mighty work God is wanting to accomplish in us. This is a sobering realization when it comes right down to it. Why, when God has gone to such great lengths to extend a covenant relationship to me would I want to violate that by not living today like I belong to God? I’m praying for you and me today that we’ll “just say no” when our old carnal man rears his ugly head and tells us to do as we please. I pray we remember just what God has provided for us each time we let him have the final say.
What about you? Are you walking in your new life or your old life today? Are you letting your old carnal man rule your food-related choices? Let’s choose to “live today like we belong to God,” remembering what happens when He has the final say in our choices.
by Cathie Rosemann | Jan 28, 2015 | Blog
Romans 6:1-6 – Sin’s Power Is Broken – “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
Hallelujah and amen!
What a wonderful truth to renew our minds with. We are no longer slaves to sin, regardless of how we behave! The truth is that for those of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior we have entered into a new covenant (a solemn and binding agreement). In other words, we are now wearing the robe of Christ Jesus so we need to act like Him. I read just this morning to “Live today like you belong to God.” Isn’t that beautiful? This reminds us that we can choose to live our new life today instead of walking as a slave to our sin (our old life).
And, even better, we will never be alone. He will walk today out right beside us. In Barb Raveling’s book, I Deserve a Donut, she echoes this truth when she says, “Transformation is messy. It feels like too much work, too much time – and too much failure. We’re bombarded by ‘I’ll never change, anyway, so why bother?’ sorts of thoughts. We want to give up. That’s why we so desperately need to go to God for help – because we can’t do it by ourselves.”
I’ll admit that I continue to work through succumbing to the lies that make me want to eat. But slowly and surely I am learning what it means to “put on” or “lay aside” my old ways and “put on” the armor of light. Romans 13:11-14 – “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”
“Thin Within is not about doing everything right or perfect but about having a teachable heart – one that is yielded to God and seeks to follow his ways. In this journey, we will trip and fall, get back up, and press forward once again – a process that will repeat itself over and over while we are learning and being guided by the Spirit rather than rules.” We are shifting our focus from expecting ourselves to “fix” a problem to trusting the Spirit to show us God’s way of living. Every time our mind and heart are attentive to the Spirit, we are making progress. When we focus on God, refresh ourselves in his Word, and surrender to the Spirit’s leading, we will be better equipped to resist temptation and move forward, one small step at a time.” (Hunger Within, pp. 92-93)
So today let’s put off the old and put on the new! Let’s rejoice in knowing we are in covenant relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who longs to walk beside us in our Thin Within journey.
What about you? Are you walking in your new life or your old life today? Are you expecting perfection? More importantly, is your heart teachable and one that is yielded to God and seeks to follows his ways? Let’s choose to “live today like we belong to God.”
by Cathie Rosemann | Jan 7, 2015 | Blog
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18)
Perhaps my awareness is heightened this year because I’m getting older and my pursuit of freedom is more intense. However, it seems the media is inundating us with messages to lose weight, get fit, etc. While this is always the case come January first, we must be militant in our resolve to let this be the year we get uncomfortable with slavery to any other master than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For us, this is a spiritual battle and thus is fought with spiritual weapons.
At the same time, the practical must be addressed since we live in the world. And so let’s revisit the physiological component of Thin Within.
It is wonderful to want to feel better. God wants us to feel our best. He longs for us to experience the abundant life to which we are called. Submit your desire to feel more joy, more up, more energy to Him, and wait for His answer. His solutions will not have negative consequences and will not cause any ill effects.
Some obvious suggestions are: Spend time in His Word and in prayer; be willing to face the truth; get adequate rest; consider increasing your activity level; and, continue to carefully consider the food choices you make. Let’s remember, He supplies everything we need for life and godliness. We also have a responsibility to treat our bodies with great respect.
As I read the scripture above earlier this morning I was reminded of the inner work that God is after in each one of us. That work, if submitted to the Lord will produce eternal dividends and not temporary success. One of my current struggles is that I’m only hungry for one meal a day. Otherwise, just a little snack will sustain me for hours. This can be frustrating because I eat lunch with a co-worker every day and sit down to dinner with my husband every night. And so this feels like an “affliction” (to my flesh) though I know it’s a blessing indeed (to my spirit). Because each and every time I surrender the temptation to eat when not hungry I collaborate with the Lord and that work He is doing comes a step closer to completion. When I stop to consider this I realize I’m in the process of walking in my new nature. My old nature ate what I wanted, when I wanted, with little regard for respect or dignity. My new nature eats when He says I’m a 0, and takes into account my schedule and other commitments including family meal time. Therefore, I recognize that if I eat to a 5 at lunchtime I won’t be hungry at dinner. The choice is mine, and I choose to surrender to the inner work the Lord is after in me.
What about you? Are you looking for success this year or an eternal work of the Lord? Can you see how important the practical process is or do you look only to the spiritual? Let’s remember that the Lord longs for us to experience the joy and abundance that comes with living free from any dependencies other than on Him alone.
by Cathie Rosemann | Dec 24, 2014 | Blog
I remember in former weight loss programs the encouragement to have one day a week where you ate anything and everything you wanted. After all, who could actually stay disciplined without a “fudge” (no pun intended) day each week. If only they knew the power of God!
While I don’t want to encourage total unrestraint this Christmas, I do want to suggest that you take the day off from obsessing over (perhaps they’ve already become your natural habit) practicing the Keys to Conscious Eating and what your progress/status is with regard to goals you’ve set, and what others may think of us when they see we are still heavy, etc. I suggest this to all of those (myself included) who like to check all the boxes, and get terribly discouraged when we miss a box. By all means, go into the day with a realistic and godly plan for your eating (especially when it comes to setting the day apart before the day gets started). 
However, let’s focus on Jesus instead of our weaknesses. Let’s focus on what His birth came to bring us (freedom!). Let’s focus on the loved ones, including those who bring with them unhealed places that rub against us and rejoice that we’re still living and breathing together this year. Let’s set the tone in our homes for offering peace and blessing and giving words of encouragement to those we’ll see. Let’s take cookies to that cranky neighbor next door, and bridle our tongue when a sibling forgets to say “thank you” for including them in the festivities, or our child(ren) don’t offer to help with anything. Let’s take the high road and share with others the great things God’s been teaching us this past year. Let’s take the day off from focusing on our carnal selves and enter the eternal place that Jesus’ birth has given us. The place that is free from the sin that so easily entangles us (Hebrews 12:1).
To be prudent we must remember we have an active enemy who will want to use this day to sabotage all thoughts of freedom and hope. As John Eldredge in his book entitled, Waking the Dead, says, “The enemy knows who you are in Christ and fears it. His only agenda is to do whatever it takes to hinder you from walking in that knowledge.” Wow! Suffice it to say, the enemy won’t be taking Christmas off and so neither should we. What I’m suggesting is that by focusing on Jesus Himself, and what the true meaning of Christmas is, rather than focusing on ourselves and the flesh of our journey, we’ll find ourselves resisting the enemy at every turn.
With regard to “setting the day apart” if you plan nothing else please plan to wake up as early as necessary to grab your bible, journal, truth cards, and a cup of coffee. Then go and hide yourself in that quiet place where Jesus will be waiting to equip you for the day(s) ahead. And throughout the day when the conversation goes awry or you find yourself losing your peace step away and quickly go find a place, any place (a closet, bathroom, or car works just fine) to renew your mind and encourage your soul, even if for only a few minutes. Don’t let the enemy pull you back into the place your purposed earlier in the day not to go. Remember, Jesus’ birth brought you freedom from that place.
What about you? As the holidays rapidly approach are you finding yourself anxious or at peace? Where can you carve out those few minutes to regain some control? Between now and Christmas/New Year’s visit the Thin Within blog often, even going back through the archives to strengthen yourself in the Lord. Keep an eye on the testimonies via Facebook. Remember this Christmas, Jesus’ birth brought us freedom. Let’s focus on that today.
by Christina Smith | Sep 17, 2014 | Blog, Inspiration, Renew Mind
You are going along happily in your Thin Within journey and you are finding freedom from diets, when BAM, you are tempted to look back at those diets. There are situations that can tempt us to look back (not being happy with the number on the scale, breaking your boundaries too often, feeling like you will never overcome, and so on). We think, “Oh, maybe my set of boundaries (0-5) don’t work, so maybe I should go back to _______, or maybe I should try ______.” Sound familiar? I know it’s very familiar to me since I have essentially looked back SO many times. In April of this year (2014), I was sharing with my husband about how I was thinking and felt tempted about going back to Weight Watchers because I knew it worked (even though I had sought freedom from tracking points). He said, “Going back to Weight Watchers would be like Lot’s wife looking back.” Ouch! It was something I needed to hear though. And then he said, “Weight Watchers is like a Band-Aid.” He has seen me walk my Thin Within journey, overcoming obstacles, gaining a healthy pregnancy weight, releasing inches and weight after baby was born, being free from obsessing, etc. He KNOWS this works! He has seen the transformation work God has done resulting from me choosing to renew my mind and letting myself to be free from the chains of captivity. And I needed to see through my husband’s eyes as he shared this wisdom with me: don’t look back.
Luke 17:32 says, “Remember Lot’s wife.” That’s seriously all it says. This was a scripture the Lord led me to after my husband shared that truth with me. I felt like it was a warning, a word of caution from the Lord about how very serious He is that I don’t look back, but to press on, to persevere. (The Lord gave me a word for 2014: persevere. And He has shown me He wants me to continue on this year with what He showed me last year, that He has brought CHANGE to my eating and is helping me overcome. God’s reminder to me to persevere has helped me climb out of some ruts).
So why should we remember Lot’s wife? What happened to her?
In Genesis 19:12-29, the story about this account is found. The summary of what happened was that God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their sin. Angels told Lot and his family to flee the city:
When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed (verses 15-17).
And then the Lord did exactly what He said he would, “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (verses 24-25).
But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt (verse 26).
That’s some pretty serious stuff! She looked back, after God had told them, “Do not look behind you!” And then she turned into a pillar of salt. Yikes!
I wonder why she looked back? Maybe she had fond memories of the place? But you know what, it doesn’t matter why she looked back, but that by looking back she was disobeying God.
So when God tells me, through my husband, to not look back like Lot’s wife did, I would have to say He’s pretty serious. I don’t believe God is going to turn me into a pillar of salt, but He is showing me how detrimental it is that I obey Him and submit to Him. Did you notice that Lot’s wife “looked back behind him?” Who was this ‘him’? It was her husband. And I’m guessing she was not only disobeying God, but she was not submitting to Lot. God instructed Lot and Lot led his family out of the city that was going to be destroyed. Lot’s wife looked past her husband and God and looked back. And POOF, she was a pillar of salt.
So why would Jesus say, “Remember Lot’s wife”? Because He doesn’t want us looking back. He doesn’t want us going back to those things that He has called us away from. For me, He’s asking me to persevere and continue on in what He’s shown me to do, to not look back. Christ came to save us from our sin and set us free from those things that held us captive. God was saving Lot and his family from the destruction of the city. He told them to “escape for your life!” It was for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). Don’t look back. Why would we want to look back? But we are tempted to look back and sometimes we do look back.
I’m not sure where you are in your Thin Within journey, but I do know this, God doesn’t want us held down, ensnared, or under any kind of captivity. There are plenty of areas in our life that this can touch on, but what I want to deal with is the area of looking back at the diets and the food restrictions that have held us captive for so long. I’m not saying “looking back” for you is disobeying God, but I am saying for myself that looking back for me has meant that I have not submitted to God. It’s like saying, “God, I know you don’t want me looking back, but that life worked for me. That diet worked for me (and failed me). Just let me go back. I can’t believe you are taking this away from me.” It’s pride. It’s basically saying, “God, my way is better than your way.” Ouch. It’s saying, “Lord, I don’t trust that Your way will get me what I want, so I’m going to make sure that I am happy, so I will do it my way.”. Has God given you a clear direction of not going back to diets? Is He asking you to submit to Him about this area of your life, or even other areas?
Unknown source and author
I saw that cartoon (above) recently on Facebook and it brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful illustration of what God wants to do in our lives. We think when He asks us to give up something that it’s doing us a disservice, but really, He has something so much greater that He wants to give us in place of our sacrifice. He says to die to ourselves so we can gain Christ (Galatians 2:20).
Through what the Lord spoke through my husband to me, it’s very clear to me that I am not to go back to a diet…unless I want to be like Lot’s wife. And, um, looking back didn’t really work out for her. So why would I want to go against what God has said?
Another scripture God has encouraged me with is James 4:7, which says, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he must flee.” So when the enemy tempts me with looking back, the Holy Spirit brings this scripture to my remembrance. It reminds me that I am to submit to God, to follow His lead (away from diets) and to not look back. God is looking out for me. He has a big ole teddy bear hiding behind His back that He wants to give me. *smile*
The enemy’s temptations to look back are becoming more and more quiet as I continue to submit to God. I have a lot more to say about the topic of submission, but I will save that for a future post. I am tasting more and more freedom as I continue to renew my mind and put my thoughts under the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
As far as the lie about thinking my Thin Within boundaries weren’t working: of course they work (I see the physical evidence as well). I like the way Barb Raveling puts it in her book Taste for Truth (Day 15), “When we find ourselves breaking our boundaries right and left, we don’t think, I need to renew my mind so I have the strength to follow my boundaries. Instead we think, I need to find a new set of boundaries because these boundaries obviously don’t work. Here’s what we are doing: we’re trusting the boundaries [we are looking back]. We’re believing the lie that somewhere out there is the perfect set of boundaries. And when we find them, they’ll be easy to follow. The sooner we get that lie out of our system, the better. We’re transformed by the renewing of the mind. Not by the boundaries.” This is exactly what would happen to me when I was breaking boundaries right and left. Instead of renewing my mind, I would think my boundaries must be broken, so I better go back to Weight Watchers, or not eating carbs or sugar. Lies! We think our boundaries will save us, but only God can save us. Only God can transform us. So the more we renew our mind and put on God’s truth, the more we actually do follow our boundaries. It works together, hand-in-hand. We follow our boundaries because God transforms us. We are transformed because of renewing our mind.
Renewing mind —-> Transformation —-> Following Boundaries
Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
My boundaries do work. I will submit to God. The devil will flee. I will follow the boundaries God has given me (0-5). I will walk in freedom!
How about you? Have you tasted freedom from dieting, but you are tempted to go back into dieting because you keep breaking your boundaries? Breaking your boundaries is an opportunity to draw closer to God. Go to Him. Pray. Praise Him. Renew your mind. Submit to Him. Walk in freedom! Don’t look back! God is doing a NEW thing!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/161318702″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/167198267″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
