Before I get to the blog post, I want to share some context. 🙂 The above picture is my horse, Doc–well, it is his rear end, but I think it is so purty. LOL! I haven’t ridden Doc on the trail in a LOOOOOONG time. He…well…he has issues. Without going into detail, let me just say that his primary issue is arthritis throughout his body and if that wasn’t enough his secondary issue (which is a big enough one all by itself) is…well…ME :-). If I want to go down the trail, I take a different horse. If I don’t take a different horse…what you see in the video below, may end up happening:
Now, that video that you watched is a compilation of a lot of really BAD moments for a lot of people–and, to be honest, even WORSE moments for horses, but I have to say…riding horses can be a wonderful, serene experience. Horses are PREY animals and to their brain, they naturally think anything that pops up or that seems out of place might be a predator that will KILL them. So they react now and think about it (maybe) later.
This video shows my horse, Breezy, with Michaela when she was about 11 years old. Nice moments. 🙂
So, with these two piece of context, I want to share with you this post…my latest installment about how Thin Within is like one amazing, glorious, incredible trail ride! HA! 🙂
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Diets are demanding dictators.
You either got it or you don’t.
You pass or fail.
You win or lose.
Period.
There is no “gray” with dieting.
With the Thin Within approach, it isn’t a black or white, right or wrong, got it or don’t got it sort of experience–or at least not in my fifteen years of experience with this approach to managing how I relate to food and my body.
That is why I often liken it to a horseback ride down the trail. Permit me to do so yet again.
There is a cycle that happens for me and has since I began in 1999 and, yes, even since 2006 when I really began to get “focused” and more diligent to eat 0 to 5 and let God have his way with my food and eating. This is how it works…I begin to get a rhythm. Things are humming along–I am heading down the trail, riding along happily. Most would say this is “success” or “victory” or, if we let our previous dieting mentality sneak in, it is the “got it” time. I am riding my pony down the trail. Enjoying the journey. Oblivious to any challenges. They are ALL behind me…or so they seem. Granted, this “season” may be SHORT–like the few hours between waking up in the morning and the “pit hour” when the kids descend on the house after school. Or it may be literally months of eating 0 to 5, taking God at his Word, renewing the mind.
Then…
WHAMO!!!!
A bogey appears from nowhere and scares the bejeebers out of me and my horse on the trail. If you have done any trail riding with a “normal” horse (not one who is brain dead from too many rides on the dude string!), you know that even a plastic bag is enough to cause him anything from slight concern to abject terror, bucking, bolting…the works. It may not be “anything” at all, but to a 1000 pound animal with a prey animal instinct, it is fight or flight to survive…not to be killed. Trying to ride that out is just plain impossible for most mere mortals! And to be honest, it is a rare trail ride that doesn’t include some sort of excitement like this. It is the nature of the…well…beast. 🙂
Wind knocked out of me, helmet askew, I am flat out on the ground. I have given in, given up, inhaled food. (This is the analogy part. LOL!) Maybe I only overate at just one meal. Or maybe I have started there and not looked back until it is two months later. Maybe the “bogey” or “plastic bag” that caused me to fall off the horse was bad news about medical tests from the doctor. Maybe it was a mean church lady who reminded me of an abusive adult I endured growing up. Maybe it is a job loss. Maybe it is a flat tire! It doesn’t really matter. All I know is I look around and wonder “How did I get here?” I was going along so well and now….I have eaten my way into oblivion 13 of the last 17 meals. I lick my wounds and look everywhere for the face of God. Ah…there it is, inviting me to get on up. Time to move on. Yes, child, put your foot in the stirrup and lift on up into the saddle again. There are places to go. Wonders to experience. Adventures to be had!
The new normal settles in and I am again heading down the trail with a new rhythm. I have gotten the 0 to 5 eating thing wired once again–even WITH the new normal. I am in the Word, believing God, and renewing my mind. Life is good. The weight is coming off again and intimacy with God is deepening once again.
Then….
WHAMO!
Another bogey! This time, a piece of yellow “Caution” tape that my horse was sure was a horse-eating monster or the horse-eating mud monster. I just can’t stay in the saddle with this latest bugg-a-boo! I can’t hold on when life throws me these bogeymen…I am on the ground again. This time, just leave me here. I am SOOOOOOO tired of falling off. I fail to remember in moments like these that I spent a lot of time in the saddle heading where I wanted to go, enjoying the ride…Somehow the fall did something to my memory *and* my backside. My pride is wounded.
THIS time, the bogey may have been my dad’s failing health and all the heartache in my life because of never feeling his approval and knowing I may *never* have it. The challenge may have just been that annual event called “Christmas” and all the challenges that accompany it. That is all it may take! Or Summer vacation! Or being cut off on the highway. Again, it really doesn’t matter what it was…all I know is that I fell off the “I am being faithful 0 to 5” horse.
How long will I lay here before I… finally….
…harken to the call of God. Get up, dust off. Let him do it, in fact! Stick that foot on up in the stirrup again…git my bum back where it belongs. Whew…
And…Off I go again. And now, I am getting back on the horse and am ready to ride again…even with this NEW new normal.
You see…this IS faithfulness.
Faithfulness isn’t NEVER falling off. We wouldn’t be human if we never struggled.
Faithfulness is getting back on that horse again. New normal and all. Sore backside and all. We don’t keep track of our mess ups. We just get back on. We don’t count the number of pounds or days we have lost or gained or whatevered. We just GET BACK ON!
I wish I could tell you that I never struggle. That I lost all my weight and that was that. But nope. I STILL struggle. I STILL fall off the horse. I stay off the horse less long than I used to. I can’t even say that I fall off less often. Sometimes I fall off less often. Sometimes I fall off just as often as I ever have.
But…I press on.
Seems to me a really wise man once said that…
…one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
~ Philippians 4:13-14
How About You?
Are you insisting that this is DO or DIE, right or wrong, black or white? Do you consistently refer to your attempts at following the Lord in the Thin Within principles as having failed? Are you swinging between black and white? How would your view of things change if you believed that GRAY can be glorious? We are progressing by hanging in there…even when it is ugly! Do you believe it? How can you press on today? Can you “Git Yer Bum Back in the Saddle?” 🙂
Isn’t that the question we all ask ourselves in our Thin Within journey? Whether we’ve been involved for one week — one month — one year — or even longer . . .
“Why is this so hard?”
“This is just too difficult for me.”
“I want to quit!”
“Is all this struggle really worth it?”
One reason it can be so difficult –> We make it that way! Plain and simple — we are stubborn! We don’t want to let go of what we’ve known and enjoyed for so long. Whatever holds us has become our “best friend”. Who wants to say good-bye to their “best friend?” When our “best friend” is food, we go to the “frig” when we’re lonely, bored, angry, sad, frustrated, or without answers in difficult situations. Our “best friend” hugs us and says, “I can make you feel better. I can relieve the stress. I can give you pleasure in the midst of your mess. I’ll give you a break from all this!” The relief is a temporary break from what will still be there after we take our last swallow. Our “friend” is very deceitful. But we love our “best friend’ anyway, because SOME relief is better that NO relief. So — we remain stubborn and cling to our “best friend” like it’s the only friend we have.
This rebellion is something we must confess to our Father and repent of — plain and simple. We’ve done no less than replace our TRUE “Best Friend” — God Himself — with a powerless substitute.
So — let’s say we do go to God in confession and repentance. We bare our souls to Him and repent of our “idol.” We know deep in our hearts that we REALLY want to “kick this thing.” The question still remains:
“Why is this so hard!”
Even when we are totally on board with God and desire to obey Him fully, the process can be full of ups and downs, great victories, and shameful failures. Why? If God sees we are “really trying and really want to get this right,” why doesn’t He bless us with a wonderful miracle and take the struggle away permanently?
Christ Himself could relate with us. He asked God the very same thing. He knew the road to “doing the right thing” was going to be paved with unbelievable pain and suffering. And He asked God to bring salvation to all men in another way:
“My Father, if it is possible,
may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39
Why did God make Christ suffer to bring the final glory? Why did that have to be part of the process? And why is our road to glory paved with suffering at times?
Suffering breaks the power of sin. 1 Peter 4:1 says, “. . .he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” When we see the struggle that sin causes us as we move to repent of it, we realize it’s power. It DOES have power, if we let it! But Christ’s death broke that power downand any power we give to sin is of our own doing. To tell you the truth — the struggle makes me angry! It doesn’t make me angry at God, or Satan, or even me. It makes me angry at sin’s power. It makes me SO angry in the struggle — that I want to do away with sin’s power over me for good! I want to “take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippian 3:12) I get stubborn in a new direction and want to “be done with this thing” once and for all! Suffering can cause that kind of stubbornness and lead to final victory.
Suffering is a means of God showing His glory. God could do an instantaneous miracle. He has the power! And — sometimes He does choose to do that. But more often, He works slowly and shows Himself in the midst of suffering — to be faithful and true to His promises. This is what builds our faith and confidence in Him — the experiences of seeing God work in the ordinary circumstances of life. This is where He meets us and shows His greatest love. Sure — He could perform mighty miracles everyday, but would we not become so de-sensitized to Him that He would become nothing to us? In time, I really think this would be our reaction. Look at the Israelites and all the miracles God did on their behalf. They still found plenty of time to grumble and complain. Very little character growth took place! Suffering is the stage on which God’s glory is displayed in the everyday lives of His people.
Suffering is where God does so much to transform us! An overnight miracle would make no permanent character changes in us. It would just make us greedy for more miracles. We would soon rely and even expect the next miracle — taking Him for granted and loving Him less and less. He would stop being our loving Father and start being our “magic genie.” Where is the love in that? Our God would not tolerate it! He knows a “slow trickle” of grace is the best way for us to grow and transform into the person He has planned for us to be. He also knows we do our “best growing” little by little in the ebbs and flows of everyday life. Those seasons of suffering are bringing permanent transformation. No suffering — very little transformation.
Suffering is God’s workbench.
Having said all this — I still don’t like suffering any more than the next person. Fighting to say “no” to the rest of the beef enchiladas on my plate because I’m already at a “5” — and denying myself chocolate cake with ice cream when everyone else is having a beautiful plate of it — is not my idea of a great night! But —
because I can experience a triumph when I know sin lost the battle this time.
because I can give God glory for — once again — doing something I could not do without Him — and tell others about it, too.
because I can grow just a little bit more each time I say “no” — knowing that self-control gives birth to perseverance and perseverance gives birth to godliness.
I can handle the struggle! God is at work!
“. . .let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,
and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1b-2
We can endure the struggle, because there is the promised joy ahead. We can even take joy IN the process, knowing that God knows what He’s doing in us. It may be hard — but it is ALWAYS good!
How About You?
Do you experience moments where you think the suffering is not worth the goal? Does the power of sin makes you stubborn enough to desire to suffer in order to be “done with sin?” In what ways has God shaped and grown your character through the suffering? Are you willing and anxious to give testimony before others of how God has graciously helped you in your Thin Within journey?
Photo credit: Sura Nualpradid via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus…” ~ Hebrews 12:1-2
I’ve never been much of a runner. I tried to train for a 5k once and I eventually was able to run up to 3 miles, but I hated every single minute of it. Running was hard, my heart was rarely into it and I always found a way to talk myself out of training. So it fills my heart with joy that this verse in Hebrews isn’t talking about us literally running a physical race (praise God!). Our race is spiritual. But running a spiritual race is no less difficult than running a physical race!
The author of Hebrews tells us that there are things that hinder and entangle us in our race. Those things can look like: sin, disobedience, entitlement, pride, self-pity, fear, doubt, condemnation, lies, gluttony, distraction, complacency, negative self-talk, rebellion- none of these things are from God and they all hinder our forward momentum in our race. And we are called to throw them off. We are called to cast off those things that hold us back, weigh us down, hinder our progress and cause us to stumble in our race. The author of Hebrews doesn’t tell us to accept them, live with them, hold onto them, excuse them or wallow in them! Throw that junk away! Toss it aside! Banish it from your life! Shake it off! Get rid of it!
Can you imagine how quickly a runner would quit a race if he had dozens of heavy bags of garbage hanging around his neck? I doubt he would go 100 yards before collapsing and calling it quits! The same is true for us in our Thin Within journey. It’s going to be pretty tough to maintain our forward progress if we are weighed down by false beliefs, lies from the enemy (“you’re no good at this, just quit, you’ll always be overweight, this is too hard, you’re a failure”), rebellious attitudes or sin. Imagine how much easier the race is without being weighed down with all that stuff!
So how in the world do we throw off the things that hinder and entangle us, so that we can run our race? Luckily for us, the very next verse has our answer: “let us run with perseverance…fixing our eyes on Jesus.” Jesus has the power to speak truth over us. Jesus can set us free from the lies. Jesus can strengthen us in our weakness. Jesus forgives our sin, washing us clean. Jesus can change our hearts, our minds, our attitudes and our actions. Jesus can pick us off the ground, remove the bags of garbage that are hanging around our necks and set us back on our path. Jesus can set us free to run our race! Jesus can do all of this. We need only ask. We need only fix our eyes on Him.
Our race is serious business. So let’s get serious about casting off all the things that hinder us. Let’s get serious about praying consistently against all the junk that holds us back and keeps us on the sidelines. Let’s get serious about coming to Jesus and asking for healing, deliverance, hope and restoration. Let’s get serious about fighting all the lies we have believed by daily renewing our minds and speaking God’s truth over ourselves. Let’s shake off everything that hinders us so that we might run our race with freedom and victory!
How about you? What things do you need to shake off? Can you identify anything that is slowing down your forward progress? Are you diligently praying against the things that hold you back? Are your eyes fixed on Jesus or are you distracted by all the things that try to hold you back? What steps do you need to take to get rid of the junk that is hindering your race?
When taking the Thin Within journey to release weight, God will begin working on the inside of us before we see results on the outside. Does this mean that weight release can take time? Absolutely! However, this should not be discouraging. We should be encouraged because the change will be lasting, not temporary.
Philippians 1:6 states the following:
“Being confident of this very thing,
that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ.”
The work WILL be complete. If God started it, He will finish it. That is not to say that we will not make mistakes along the way. We will, but we know that God is still at work in us.
For years, I have tried numerous diet plans such as Weight Watchers, the low-carb plan, and even a tuna diet. Yuck! I lost lots of weight on Weight Watchers only to gain it back plus some. I lasted one day on the low-carb plan which should tell you what kind of food I prefer. The tuna diet was disgusting! I love tuna, but not by itself. It must have mayonnaise which was forbidden on the tuna diet. Frustrated, I began to eat more and more. Well, you know the rest.
The Holy Spirit began speaking to me about allowing the Lord to deal with the root of the problem. The problem, which was emotional, was on the inside of me. I still struggle with my emotions, and when I am not allowing God to work on the inside, my emotions rule. As a result, I eat out of emotions rather than physical hunger.
I did the Thin Within program in 2009, and released 45 pounds. When I returned to college in 2010, I slowly began yielding to my emotions, and I have gained 25 pounds. I am so thankful the Lord has lead me back to Thin Within, and since the work is inside out, I feel the Lord would have me to avoid the scales so I can focus on the inside as I surrender my emotional eating to His delivering power.
Speaking to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:26, Jesus said, “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also.” Now I am not calling any of us “Pharisees”, but it is human nature to want the outside to look good before taking care of the inside. In my case, the inside is emotions that spin out of control. For you, it may be something different. Jesus wants to do the work on the inside. It may take time before outward results become evident, but when the work is done on the inside, the results are lasting. I want lasting change. I have settled for temporary changes such as diets which I have noticed have a tendency to irritate the problem rather than solve it.
I am not a patient person by nature, but God is teaching me patience in this process as He begins the work on the inside. The work He is beginning is the same work He promises to complete. Let’s allow Him to begin that work and yield to the process even though it will take time.
How About You?
Do you find the process of waiting as God works on the inside frustrating? What can you do to relieve the frustration? How have diet plans added to any emotional issues or other issues? What do you sense God is leading you to do today?
~Allison Mitchell – Allison lives in Hanover, West Virginia with her husband, Lanny, and her two children, Aaron and Amber. Lanny and Allison are pastors of Peaceful Valley Community Church. Allison is beginning her final semester at Bluefield State College where she will have a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education and Middle School English.
Have you been tempted to throw in the towel and just say FORGET IT to this entire boundaries/renewing the mind/losing weight/having a healthy relationship with food project?
It is totally normal to feel that way.
This is the 12th and final week of our Renewing the Mind Bible Study and the truth is…it IS hard to stick to your boundaries. If it wasn’t hard to stick to your boundaries, they probably wouldn’t be boundaries. Just think about it for a minute. If you don’t have any temptations to go into a certain store at the mall and spend up your credit card, you don’t need to have a boundary about that store (or the credit card)! If you don’t feel tempted to overeat shrimp scampi, you probably don’t have a boundary to give shrimp scampi a wide berth.
We establish boundaries because we know that we are likely to venture across a line or to welcome outside forces in that would influence us in a way that wouldn’t be best for us.
So, of course it is hard! We are training ourselves which implies that, left to our own devices, we would behave differently than we know we should.
Barb does a great job of exposing a lie that we want to RENEW OUR MINDS ABOUT. That lie is this:
Life should be easy.
Think about it for a minute. Do you have a feeling that you will only follow through if something is fun or easy? If you get tired of working at something, maybe you believe this lie that life should be easy. God never has promised us that life will be easy. In fact, if we read the Scriptures there is much there that speaks to us about being diligent, persevering, hanging in there. If life were meant to be easy, I don’t think these exhortations would be in Scripture!
Monday
1. It’s that time again! Evaluate your feeling about 0 to 5 eating. Has God called you to 0 to 5 eating? Are you convinced in your heart he has? If you have written this commitment in your journal previously, review the dates and entries when you were convinced that this was so. How about now? If you are convinced today, add a statement reflecting that conviction and date it with today’s date.
2. Visit Barb’s blog page on “Losing Weight is Hard.” Read her introductory material.
3. Complete the “Life Should Be Easy” bible study on the same page.
Tuesday
1. Looking at yesterday’s bible study, what are some truths that you can add to your truth cards? Take some time to do this and renew your mind with truth!
2. Visit Barb’s blog page again at the same link. Please remember that Barb isn’t a Thin Within participant and don’t be put off by any “dieting” jargon that you see in her material. Complete her “Dieting is Hard” questions.
3. Are there any additional truths that you can add to your cards? If so, take some time to do so now.
Wednesday
1. Visit this page here at this blog. Take some time to read the introductory material and to watch the video on that page.
2. Can you list some situations that you have been in that are similar to what I describe? What upcoming situations might you face this week that fit this description?
3. What are some truths about situations like these that you can possibly renew your mind with?
Thursday
1. Visit this pageagain. Complete the “Preventative Eating Questions” on that page. (When asked in the questions about “now”, just insert in your mind a recent experience when you have done this…or if you are currently facing a situation where you are tempted to “preventative eat.”)
2. What are some of the possible solutions that God might want you to consider? Are you willing to use any of his solutions? If not, why not?
3. If you are not willing to use any of God’s solutions right now, please take some time to review your thoughts from Monday, Question #1 where you evaluated your commitment and God’s leading to 0 to 5 eating. Following boundaries IS hard, but if we are unwilling in these moments to do what we can (work!) to do so, when do we really expect to be willing? If we only follow our boundaries when it feels good, how often will we follow them?
2. If fear isn’t something that fuels your preventative eating, how about if you evaluate what IS? Then create a bible study to share with us here so we can all benefit! What other emotions might possibly fuel the desire to eat outside of 0 and 5 in anticipation of not being able to get near food?
3. What truths can you add to your truth cards today? Take a few minutes to add two or three.
What’s Next?
If you made it through this entire study, then you deserve extra KUDOS! We started strong, but many of us got swept away by the fun, freedom, and busyness of summer! In January, I will likely lead a Thin Within workbook study here at the blog. I will do so with a renewing of the mind focus. Start saving your $$ for the workbook packet (about $50 on Amazon) if you don’t own a set. More information to come later this fall, but for now, just know that I will continue to provide support here at the blog (as I have been) with a study launching the first week in January 2014!
