Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5-6
Boundaries…we have been talking about them since our orientation week. They are fundamental to a godly life and eating is no exception. Eating without boundaries gets us to places we don’t want to go! Eating within the boundaries of hunger and satisfaction is a wonderful goal for us, honoring our body’s requirements and the way our amazing God has created us. Truly, this is a wonderful, pleasant boundary. No more diets! No more restriction! No more obsession! It is my hope that you are experiencing the blessing of living within God’s boundaries for your life.
This week’s video is so special to me! I am definitely eager to feature other people in the videos that we supply to encourage you on your journey. Last week, I traveled with my husband to the Chicago area where I was able to meet up with Cathy Maher, a new facilitator of Thin Within classes online. She let me twist her arm into being in this week’s video with me! Cathy is still taking sign-ups for her Workbook #1 online study, so hurry over to the sign-up page and click the link to register!
There are more video questions than normal this week. The reason for that is that Cathy is a fount of wisdom, knowledge, ideas, and inspiration. I want to be sure to “milk” our video interview for all we possibly can. If it seems like too much, then just do what you can.
Video Questions:
1. What is Cathy’s definition of a boundary? (0:43)
2. How do you identify with Cathy’s definition? What is the parameter that you have for yourself with regard to your eating?
3. Cathy referenced 2 Timothy 1:7 at 1:15. Look this up in your bible and evaluate the place that fear, power, love and a sound mind might have in your Thin Within journey.
4. From 1:33 to 1:45 Cathy mentions some reasons that we may have trouble with “finding” our 5 boundary lines. What are some of the reasons she describes? Are any of these possibly keeping you from “finding” 5?
5. What does Cathy suggest will make the difference for us to be able to recognize our “5?” (1:50-1:59)
6. What role does evening eating have in your difficulties with staying within the godly boundaries of 0 and 5 for your eating? What would happen if you created a secondary boundary of not eating after dinner unless you had a very insistent “0?”
7. How can using Truth Cards assist you in accepting the truth of your identity and help you no longer to break your 0 and 5 boundaries?
8. Cathy’s 0 to 5 boundary has had to shift, as she has discovered she has food sensitivities. What has helped her the most? (4:46)
9. At 5:17 Cathy speaks about her struggle with condemnation and how she has broken free from it. Can you identify with what she shares? How would adopting a personal boundary about rejecting condemning thoughts help you?
10. At 6:12 to 7:53, Cathy mentions a relatively new boundary for her regarding the scale. How can you identify with what she shares? Should you adopt a boundary relative to the bathroom scale? How might that actually serve your boundary of eating within 0 and 5? How has using the bathroom scale helped you? How has it hurt you?
11. At 8:48 to 8:55 Cathy says she had to redefine what a good evening is about, what time with her husband was about. How can you change the definition of what a good evening is for you to honor your godly eating boundaries? How can you change what it means to bond with your loved ones and friends to honor your godly eating boundaries?
12. One of Cathy’s earliest boundaries (she has released 30 pounds so far!) was her body would belong to God. In fact, she asserts at 10:52 that it is a “necessary boundary to do this program.” If you struggle consistently with respecting your godly boundaries, perhaps this is the most fundamental boundary that you could establish that might help. What are your thoughts about this? Your fears? Your concerns?
13. Cathy shares some tips at the end of the video. The first is to “Keep it Simple.” How might you apply this tip from Cathy? The second is to “Make it Personal.” What changes could you make to approach Thin Within in a more personal way, welcoming God’s Truth to come deeply into your own heart uniquely?
14. Another tip Cathy shares is to pray for discernment and pray for a willing spirit. Can you carve this into your time with the Lord each day, to include a request for discernment and willingness?
15. Cathy’s final tip is to “Go Easy.” What are ways that you are too hard on yourself? What can you do instead? Even if you have not lost weight in a week’s time, what other changes might you take note of? (12:23)
16. At 12:34 we dialog a bit about a boundary of “What will I call progress?” This is where I refuse to use numbers or weights or sizes to evaluate our progress given that God is doing so much more in our lives than just weight/size. What are some of the things in your life that God has been doing?
Renewing the Mind – Pressing On
1. What is true about failure? Take some time to generate a list of what is TRUE about “failure” on this journey…and tell yourself the truth. If you need help with this, just ask. Failure is NOT an undertaker, but is one of the best teachers we have going!
2. If you haven’t started using Barb’s book or iTunes app yet, now is the time! Make the final 4 weeks of this class your best yet by using her material to renew your mind.
Pick One (book or workbook):
Trade Book Assignment – To Be Completed by March 10th
Here is the Thin Within Book Study Guide Week 9. Feel free to discuss it at our Facebook group or here! THIS WEEK, we will have a drawing for one of Barb’s books. The comments made last week and those made this week … all names will be put in a drawing to win either Taste for Truth or I Deserve a Donut and Other Lies That Make You Eat! Comment on this blog post or any others this week or last in order to be put in the drawing. You can enter more than once, too. 🙂
Workbook Assignment – To Be Completed by March 10th.
1. Read, highlight, mark 🙂 Lesson 9,Boundaries, on pages D3 – D8 or listen to it or download it from Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Facebook Group.
2. Complete the exercises for Lesson 9 on pages D10 – D16. Don’t worry if you are behind. Just do what you can of this week’s material. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page D17 or even better–do so at our Facebook discussion group.
3. List 10 attributes of God that have ministered the most to your heart. Have a praise fest, saying back to Him these attributes and thanking him for how they have ministered to you. Share here at the blog how this impacts you.
4. Use the entries for Day 57 through Day 63 in the Temple Tool Kit. All the tools have been introduced to you now. Remember, only use them if God leads you to do so. If you have the freedom, try a new one this week. Don’t forget that the Thin Within app includes all the Sound Cloud files, YouTube videos, and the tools!
5. Memorize 1 Corinthians 6:12. Personalize it and add it to your truth cards.
One of the things I love about Barb Raveling’s book is how she helps us to see that boundaries are really what this is all about. Will we live according to the boundaries that God has so lovingly offered us? Or will we blow through our boundaries again and again? Do you need to take time to sit with the Lord and evaluate if 0 to 5 eating (between hunger and satisfaction) is something that you are convicted are from God for you? If you know that this is your primary boundary then creating secondary boundaries to help support you in your pursuit of honoring this godly boundary seems no where near so laborious. It becomes a joy to submit to the Lord in this way!
For seven years, I struggled to maintain consistent progress in my Thin Within journey. I would start and stop, start and stop. Close to 2 dozen times I repeated this pattern. Often, I would experience 4-6 weeks of success, only to fall off the horse and gain the weight back and then some. It took me about 4 years to finally recognize a pattern in my journey and learn why I was not experiencing sustained success. And it all had to do with the prideful refusal to surrender my will.
I would start Thin Within like most people do. Paying attention to my hunger signals, praying, renewing my mind, focusing on 0-5 eating and staying within my godly boundaries. As I did those things, I would begin to experience success. The weight would begin to come off and I could feel the obsessive thoughts about food and weight lessen. Along with the victory, came pride. “Look at me go! I’ve totally got this. I can do this all by myself.” And before I knew it, I was relying on my own power and not the power of my God. Proverbs 16:18 became the theme verse of my life: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Needless to say, that mentality didn’t get me very far. I would always regain the weight I had released (plus an extra 5 pounds). I would run back to God crying “why can’t I do this?!” To which the Lord eventually replied, “Exactly. You can’t do this because this journey isn’t about your effort. This journey is about surrendering your will to me and allowing my power to work through you.“
My experience felt very similar to when Paul is pleading with God to take away the thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
God’s power is most beautifully displayed when we are humbled, surrendered and at the end of ourselves. It is when we come to the end of our will, our pride, our desires, our frustrations, our efforts and our entitlement, that God can come through and allow His power to work through us. And the power that is available to us is extraordinary power! It is the same power that was used to raise Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20)! All we need to do to gain access to this power is humble ourselves before Him, surrender our pride and declare “thy will Lord, not my will.” And as we yield our will to His power, we will begin to see amazing results, not only in our bodies but in our hearts and minds as well.
For me, this is not just a simple prayer I prayed one time. This is something I pray about every single day. Every day I ask the Lord to create in me a humble heart and to help me surrender my prideful will and entitled desires to His perfect will. Every day I take my entitled thoughts captive. Every day I ask for more of Him and less of me. And God has been so faithful! As I write this, I am about to enter my 8th month of sustained success in my Thin Within journey (quite a bit longer than my typical 6 weeks!).
How about you? Have you ever tried to do Thin Within in your own power? Have you felt God calling you to let go of your own efforts and allow Him to take the reigns? Have you found the power available to you in surrendering your will to His will?
Image courtesy of Suvro Datta / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Recently, I was sharing with a friend about where I’ve been on my journey about food and eating. I was sharing with her that it didn’t work when I tried to be a “normal eater” years ago. I’m not sure why, but I remember really struggling and feeling like I was never going to overcome. I had a few successes, but something would come up, and then I would go back to overeating or obsessing about food.
Almost a year ago, I came back to Heidi’s blog after really having a hard time with food thoughts and fears. Immediately, the Lord gave me this incredible peace and then He showed me that He wanted me to let go of all of the food thoughts and fears and to eat within hunger and fullness (0-5). It was a rough start of one step forward, two steps back, but after a couple of months, the Lord showed me that in order to be completely set free from the fears and thoughts, that I needed to renew my mind. And so began my “truth cards”.
And that, my friends, has been the difference. Ever since May of 2013, I have met with the Lord every day to renew my mind. It started with renewing my mind about learning that I can enjoy ALL foods with no fear attached, to currently, where I am learning to delight in my God-given boundaries. And there have been things in between that I have renewed my mind about. I am currently reading through my second set of truth cards. I felt that I “graduated” from my first set of truth cards, so I was ready to move on with the Lord in this journey to becoming free in this area of my life.
In May of 2013, I was already at a healthy weight. I wanted to maintain that weight. The “weight” I needed to release were the lies and obsession. It was more of a mental weight. That’s where I needed to be set free. And He has been doing just that, setting me free with His truth! Every day I choose to renew my mind with His truth, and every day I’m set free more and more! Praise God!
I truly believe I wasn’t able to press in and persevere with eating between hunger and fullness years ago because I wasn’t getting to the inner parts of me that were causing overeating in the first place. I wasn’t renewing my mind. I was looking to myself for strength instead of falling at the feet of Jesus each time I messed up or needed Him. I remember one of the things I really struggled with years ago was thinking that Thin Within was too spiritual. I didn’t want to dig into the reasons I ate emotionally. I felt like that was for wimps. But oh, I was so wrong! I am stronger today because of falling at the feet of Jesus and humbling myself before Him and crying, “HELP!”
Facing the “spiritual” side of hunger and fullness is uncomfortable for some. I know I was uncomfortable. And even last year when I was just starting out, I really fought the spiritual side of this journey. I didn’t want to admit that I was indulging my flesh every time I overate or even obsessed over food. It was like I wanted to walk in unrest instead of the peace God was offering me. I kept thinking, “I can do this without being so spiritual about it.” Oh, how I have been humbled with His truth!
It DOES take time to renew your mind. Honestly, I wouldn’t have experienced any of the victory in Christ that I have if it wasn’t for renewing my mind. Let me say it plainly: If I didn’t take time to renew my mind, I would overeat, I would obsess about food, and I would be freaking out! Just ask my husband.
I remember when Heidi would post about how HARD this journey can be. I did NOT NOT NOT want to hear that. I remember thinking, “Then I’ll just keep tracking [Weight Watchers] points!” I wanted and want this to be easy, but at times, it’s not. Why? Because sometimes I want to eat what I want to eat, when I want to eat it. Sometimes I don’t want to read my truth cards or stop my mind in it’s tracks and renew my mind about WHY I want to overeat. But guess what?…the harder times make me stronger. Just think about it, when you renew your mind, it’s like you are retraining it. You are suddenly STOPPING it and steering it in another direction. And each time you do that, you are training it to turn the other way! This is totally unrelated, but when I was potty training my daughter, each time she started going, I picked her up and put her on the potty. And after a short time, she recognized that when she needed to go that she needed to sit on the potty. It’s sort of the same thing when we renew our mind. After awhile, we no longer have “accidents”, but we direct ourselves in the right direction. Isn’t that awesome!?
Let’s look at this with an example. Let’s say I’m feeling emotional. Something just happened and I am sad. I want to numb myself with food. Well, I know that I’m not hungry, so eating right now would not be within my boundaries (0-5). I have 2 choices, I can eat, or I can STOP and renew my mind. One way that I can renew my mind is getting out my journal and getting out the ‘I Deserve a Donut’ app (if I ever meet Barb Raveling she’s going to get the biggest hug ever–I hope she likes hugs!) and I am going to go to the section under Attitudes called Emotional Eating. And I would answer the questions in my journal and read through the scriptures. If needed, I would take a time-out and write out to the Lord what I’m dealing with and really just let the emotions pour out to Him. As I do this, the Lord meets with me and speaks to me from His Word. The questions from the Emotional Eating app make me think about why I want to eat and how it’s not a good idea to eat outside of my boundaries. And pretty soon I’m feeling better because I’ve gone to the LORD instead of food. I may still want to eat, but I realize that it’s not even worth it because food isn’t going to fix the problem. Most likely, I won’t want to eat outside of my boundaries because the Lord has met my need. And so the next time I’m feeling emotional, it will be easier to turn away from the thoughts about eating and turn instead to the Lord and His truth. Each time I renew my mind, I will be transformed!
So there you have it, the difference in seeing victories in Christ as I have applied the Thin Within principles has been that I have renewed my mind. That was the missing key before, but it’s no longer missing now!
How about you?
Have you been diligent in renewing your mind? Are you seeing a difference as well because you are renewing your mind? I would love to see some comments about how renewing your mind has made a difference!
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
– 2 Peter 3:18
We have been saying for eight weeks that God’s grace is a constant pardon, provision, power and Presence on this journey. Jerry Bridges says:
As we grow in grace…we grow in our motivation to obey God out of a sense of gratitude and reverence to Him. Our obedience will always be imperfect in performance in this life. We will never perfectly obey Him until we are made perfect by Him…Begin to think daily about the implications of the grace of God in your life.
If you want to see greater obedience in your life, maybe it isn’t necessarily that you need to “buckle down.” Perhaps it is looking up! Maybe it is praising God for His grace that is really what is needed!
Video Questions:
1. Have you felt frustrated by falling far behind in the lesson material? What will you do about it? Pick one of the following: a.) beat yourself up about it b.) quit and join another group when you can do it “more perfectly” c.) pick up where we are now and just move forward extending yourself grace
2. At 01:00, I talk about tools, workbooks, webinars serving US, rather than the other way around. What does this mean? Have you been feeling burdened by slavery to your workbook? What will you do instead? What would exemplify grace in your life?
3. 01:35 What are three ways that you can extend grace to yourself?
4. 02:18 Do you Observe and Correct? Or Observe and Condemn? What is the difference, practically speaking? Why should we *never* condemn ourselves?
5. 03:26-03:49 What is the root of perfectionism? What do you think about this?
6. Look up Psalm 74:1. What is the significance that God has recorded statements like this one forever in His Word? How is the fact that this is a *song* sung in worship by the Israelites indicative of grace?
7. In what ways do you have the most difficulty (on this journey) extending grace to yourself? In light of the price Christ paid to be able to offer you grace, how do you feel about that?
8. At 05:58 the video shifts to looking at the Observation and Correction chart, beginning with a discussion of the Keys to Conscious Eating. Which keys are our primary boundary in Thin Within? Can you state them in your own words? Has God convicted you that this is a boundary for you to follow? How might a boundary actually be an expression of grace?
9. Consider the discussion of the Keys to Conscious Eating. Which of keys #2 through #7 are the most difficult for you to follow? Which might be the most helpful for you in sensing an approaching “5” on the hunger scale?
10. Prayerfully consider using the Observation and Correction Chart this week in the Temple Tool Kit. If you don’t have the TTK, you can download O & C charts here. (The Apple TW app also has the Observation and Correction chart in it.)
11. At the tail end of the video, I fade out making a comment about Daisy Dog. Had grace not stepped in to her life, her end would not have been so rosy. How are you and I similar?
Renewing the Mind – Pressing On
1. What is true about failure? How has your view of failure changed since beginning this journey?
2. Look up these verses and write new truth cards about failure:
Workbook Assignment – To Be Completed by March 3rd.
1. Read, highlight, mark 🙂 Lesson 8, Celebration of God’s Grace Part 2, on pages C44 – C49 or listen to it or download it from Sound Cloud. Discuss it here in the comments section below this post or at our Class Facebook Group. We are having another drawing this week! If you comment this week at the blog and want to be entered to win one of Barb Raveling’s books, Taste for Truth or I Deserve a Donut and Other Lies That Make You Eat, post a relevant comment and indicate that you want to be entered in the drawing. 🙂 It’s that easy!
2. Complete the exercises for Lesson 8 on pages C50 – C56. Don’t worry if you are behind. Just do what you can of this week’s material. Next Monday before the webinar, respond to the Review questions on page C57 or even better–do so at our Facebook discussion group.
3. List 10 attributes of God that have ministered the most to your heart. Have a praise fest, saying back to Him these attributes and thanking him for how they have ministered to you. Share here at the blog how this impacts you.
4. Use the entries for Day 50 through Day 56 in the Temple Tool Kit. This week, the Observation and Correction chart is added. In the video, I mention how I have used the O & C chart. Prayerfully consider giving it a try. It is called Observation and Correction so that you can see where there are “holes” that you can correct. If you don’t see any marks (or few marks) in the “Paid Attention to my Food” row, then you might want to be more mindful of the eating experience if you continue to go past satisfied or “5.”
5. Memorize Philippians 1:6 this week. Personalize it and add it to your truth cards.
Is grace something that you don’t really grasp? How about responding to the encouragement in 2 Peter 3:18…be intentional to “grow in grace.” What does it mean and how can resting in and growing in grace apply to your life and bring relief rather than a burden?
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Lesson 7’s webinar recording with Judy Halliday is available here.
I will post the Lesson 7 Discussion Questions here when they are available.
It seems like I spend a lot of my life waiting on things to fall into place; waiting on that magic moment where I find perfection. Whether it’s in my job, my relationships, or in my actions, I feel like there should be a moment where things just “click” and start running smoothly. Or I used to think that way, anyway.
When I first started my Thin Within journey I fully expected to “someday” find that magic moment in eating 0-5. I hoped it would happen quickly, but figured it might take a while. I was ok with that, knowing it gave me something to work towards and look forward to.
I assumed as the weeks went on I would get better and better at eating within my boundaries, until eventually it would all fall into place and become natural. I would stop “messing up” and would get to my natural weight. I would no longer have a problem with food. Eating 0-5 would become second nature.
After weeks of two steps forward, one step back and experiencing victory only to turn around and find failure staring me in the face, I see things a little differently. I realize that it does get easier in some ways; I get better at it with practice, but it will always be a battle. Why? Because Satan hates me honoring God in my eating, he hates me finding victory, and he will never give up on the battle to win me over to fleshly living. If anything the battle will intensify.
It’s not really fun to think about those things. Nobody wants to suffer. But we have to count the cost. I have counted the cost and I realized that the suffering is worth it. It’s only my flesh suffering anyway, and when my flesh suffers my spirit soars! I’m finding that I’m actually thankful for the battle. I’m drawing near to God, and if this battle is what keeps me trusting in Him, it’s worth it. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10b
I no longer desire that magic moment. In fact I hope it doesn’t come! That magic moment parades itself as victory, but is really pride. It’s the moment you think: “I’ve got this” and whether you realize it or not, at the same time your heart is saying “Thanks God, Your work here is done.” It’s the moment you stop clinging to God because you just can’t do it without Him.
On the one hand, it would be nice to not feel helpless. But at what cost? At the cost of abiding in Him? No thanks. This is just another of Satan’s tactics to win the battle. If He can get us to think we don’t need God, if he can fill our hearts with that lie, then we never find abundant living.
True victory is in the moments when I see God’s grace working in my life, the moments where I stay within 0-5, the moments where I choose God over food. Those moments don’t come because I’m strong enough or because I’ve got a handle on things. They come because of the strength God provides, because my eyes are fixed on Him. When we have those moments, recognize that they are because of Him, and praise Him for them, those are magic moments much better than moments with a false sense of security.
There are other magic moments too. When I have moments of failure I have to renew my mind with scriptures like Romans 8:1, remembering that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Also Titus 2:11-14, remembering God sees me as perfect and gives me His grace to live the Spirit-filled life. When those moments of failure become moments of observation and correction, when they become learning and growing experiences, those are also magic moments.
To live in faith (Hebrews 11:6) run the race (Hebrews 12:1-3) find transformation through the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) and press on to the end (Philippians 3:10-12) are more moments that are truly magical. All those things can only be done by the grace of God. His grace is truly miraculous, much more so than a wee little human thinking they can do things on their own. How thankful I am that God has taught me this BIG lesson (among many others) through Thin Within!
What about you?
Do you find yourself wishing for the magic moment where you no longer feel helpless, but feel like you’ve got your eating under control?
Why might that moment have a negative impact on your life?
What are some God-honoring magic moments you’ve experienced?
Would you rather suffer so your relationship with God can be protected? Is it worth it to you?
Kelsa Turner lives in the Great Smoky Mountains with her husband Luke and her black lab Roscoe. She enjoys the freedom of being self-employed to be able to work, serve, and spend time studying Thin Within and growing in her relationship with God. [Editor Note: Kelsa has agreed to teach an online Thin Within class for us! Be sure to visit this page to see what classes we are offering.]
