Battle Update

Battle Update

photo

Screen shot of the notes on my phone

Last week I posted about the battle I was going through.  I wanted to give an update.

As I said in the post, my battle plan was:  to be in the Word, to pray, to thank the Lord, to read my truth cards, to renew my mind, to keep pressing on!

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing!  And God has been faithful to help me this week!  Praise God!

Each morning, before I even get out of bed, I read the Bible, followed by reading my truth cards, my notes on my phone, journaling, and sometimes Thin Within (which I started reading again this past week).  This starts my day on the right foot and gets my mind in the right place.

Another thing I have been making more of an effort in doing is journaling.  When I have overeaten, I will write about it in my journal afterwards.  Usually, the overeating takes place at night, so I will write about it in the morning.  There have also been times when the enemy has attacked my mind with thoughts about going back to dieting, so I have been truth journaling about why that’s not something I or God wants me to do.  I will write every truth I can think of to dissolve the lie the enemy is throwing at me.  It’s been SO good to journal more!

I’ve also been setting a timer on my phone which prompts me to open my notes on my phone displaying three scriptures (which I share a screen shot of above).  It’s amazing how having those reminders during the day really makes a difference.

Can I encourage you to start your truth cards if you haven’t already?  There is power in the Word of God!  It becomes clear to me more and more about how important it is for me to read those cards each day.  I have literally watched the Lord transform my life in the area of eating and all it’s taken is me taking the time to read those truth-packed cards.  Renewing our mind is so important: change begins WITHIN!

The evening has been the hardest for me lately.  Because of where I am at in my pregnancy (baby is bulking up), I’m starting to get a little hungrier.  For awhile there I wasn’t hungry enough to eat in the evening, but now I am finding that I am hungry and need to eat.  The interesting thing is that even if I’m at a “0” and I eat, the enemy tries to condemn me for eating.  It’s probably because I was making such an effort to not eat if I wasn’t at a “0” before.  The condemnation was the driving force behind me thinking that I can’t trust myself, that I need to go on a diet after pregnancy, and blah, blah, blah.  That’s where the battle would begin in my mind.  So I continue to press on with the Lord by doing my part in renewing my mind and He does the rest.  Praise God!

Friends, let’s continue to press on with the Lord in this journey toward becoming thin within.  It starts with our mind.  As God continues to do His mighty work within us, it will become evident outside of us!

How about you? 

Do you feel like you are still in the heavy part of the battle?  Are you putting on the full armor of God each day?  Will you join me in spending time in the Word and renewing your mind with your truth cards?  The enemy is the Father of lies, but God will dissolve every lie the enemy throws at us.  God is so good–all the time!

Written by: Christina

Entitled! I’m GONNA EAT! (Week 4 – Renewing of the Mind Study)

Image Source: iStockPhoto

Image Source: iStockPhoto

“I don’t care what my boundaries are…I wasn’t thinking about life on a day like this one when I ‘committed’ 0 to 5 eating.”

“Given what I am facing, surely God doesn’t expect me to just be ‘good’ after a day like today!!!”

“It’s just not fair. How come my sister can eat whatever she wants and never gain weight! It makes me crazy!”

“I am going to hang out on the boat this weekend with the ice chest, snacks, good friends, and just kick back. I’m not going to worry about my eating for a day! I have been good, after all. I deserve a break!”

Can you identify with these statements? Chances are, we all can.

In our society we are told that we deserve the best, we deserve all we can grab. Life should be fair! There is never a need to be sad or uncomfortable with so many options for making ourselves feel happy!

These are lies that we sometimes tell ourselves–lies that take us outside of our God-given boundaries of eating between physical hunger and physical satisfaction. If we want to really experience the victory that we have longed for, we have to be willing to recognize the lies when they appear and replace them with God’s truth. That is what our “Renewing of the Mind” bible study is about this summer. We want to change the way we think, because what we think, affects what we believe, and what we believe, affects our actions. Our actions over time establish patterns and it is those patterns that bring forth fruit in our lives…the results that we either rejoice in or are discouraged by–both in our character and outwardly.

If we want to choose a fruitful life that reflects the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, we have to start with what we tell ourselves. How often do we tell ourselves we are entitled to “the good life?” Is this creating an unworkable belief that runs counter to realizing our godly goals?

Here is a 7 minute video on this subject (if you are an email subscriber, you may have to visit the website in order to see it):

I believe that if Justification is a primary reason we eat outside of our 0 to 5 boundaries, then Entitlement is its twin. Truly, if we could eliminate Justification Eating and Entitlement Eating, much of our eating outside of 0 and 5 would stop altogether!

Consider how wonderfully refreshing it is to live with integrity, acknowledging and praising the God of the Universe as he walks personally with you, inviting you into a life of discovery. He is sufficient! No, maybe not in the way we have come to expect in our world of drive-thrus, instant coffee, and microwave ovens. We think we are entitled to bigger, faster, and more. But our God IS huge! His glory fills the entire earth and he invites us to step up into intimacy with him–even as we train ourselves for godliness. It is SOOoooo worth it!

Assignment:

1.) Each week, I have asked you to evaluate if GOD has called you to a primary boundary of eating 0 to 5. If you aren’t convinced that this is something God is calling you to do, I believe you won’t be successful. You will find a million reasons NOT to eat 0 to 5. But if you know God is calling you to do it, if you have a conviction that is deep and abiding, then write it down in your journal and each time you reaffirm that this is, indeed, a conviction that comes to you from God, date it in your journal. I urge you to do this today, too–even if you already did yesterday.

2.) Evaluate if you need to adjust your secondary boundaries. Have you successfully lived with the secondary boundaries you established for yourself previously? It might be time to move forward…to add another one or tweak a prior secondary boundary. For those of you new to this, if you have noticed that you are unaware of physical satisfaction as it approaches, you can observe and correct–see if there are any trends as you look over the past week or so. Are your eating occasions outside of 0 to 5 (your primary boundary) when you are in the car? When you watch TV? Typically limited to one food in particular or when you are with a certain friend? If so, this provides the perfect opportunity to establish a secondary boundary to support you relative to that trend. If you are unclear what secondary boundaries can be helpful to you, post a question here in the comments section. Chances are, someone has dealt with the same challenge as you and has an idea for some supportive secondary boundaries!

3.) Visit  this page at Barb Raveling’s website–read and do the bible study and journaling activities on the page. You can print her blog post out and then journal your answers if you like.

4.) What do you believe about entitlement? How has it been affecting your eating?

5.) In the video, I gave the example of my driving as another area of my life where I struggle with an attitude of entitlement. How about you? Where do you see an attitude of entitlement: “I deserve the good life.” “Life should be fair.” or “I shouldn’t have to suffer!” affecting you? What are God’s truths about these situations?

6.) In the video, I mention four steps that can help you eliminate an attitude of entitlement. Try one (or more) of the following and see if it helps you!

  • Create a God List. More about the God List is found here.
  • Use the God List to have a Praise Fest whenever entitlement rears its ugly head. Read about the Praise Fest here.
  • Establish a habit of gratitude–thanking God for His gifts–the way he has blessed you. More about gratitude can be found here and my gratitude blog is here to get ideas of your own.
  • Create Truth Cards that remind you daily the truth about entitlement, what God’s view of this is, whether life should be fair or not, and all that comes to the one who is willing to suffer if God calls you to do so. Here is a video about Truth Cards.

7.) Share here with us what God shows you about “Entitlement Eating” this week. How can we pray for you?

8.) Recording of our online class from this week of study (it is a sound file only, so don’t expect a video):

Description:

“I deserve the good life!” “Life should be fair!” “I deserve to never be sad or uncomfortable and if I am any of these things, I will use food to make me feel better because it is my right!”

Many of us have experienced this. Some of us may even live with a sense of entitlement. If we do, chances are we will never be consistent in our Thin Within efforts to eat between the parameters of 0 and 5 (or hunger and satisfaction).

What is God’s view of this attitude? What are we to do instead? How?

HEAL Lesson 6 – 2013 Abundant Life!

Image Source: Stock Exchange

Image Source: Stock Exchange

“Abundant Life” – The phrase brings to mind many things for each of us. For some, it might mean material wealth. For others, being surrounded by friends and family. For still others, it means good health and the freedom to serve others without restraint. Certainly, for as many different people there are on the planet, there would likely be definitions of “Abundant Life.”

The real question, though, is what did Jesus mean when he used the term? He said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. If he came to give it to us, if we don’t know what it looks like, perhaps we won’t know if we have it. What if, for many of us, this is an untapped resource?

This week we look at a couple of facets of the “Abundant Life Gemstone.” To do this, we will evaluate our lives a bit inviting God, once again, to search us and know us and show us what we need to adjust. He provides the strength to do it. There is a great deal of joy in following his lead!

In the past, many of us were consumed with dieting, calorie counting, weighing, measuring, researching. The countless hours that we invested in the pursuit of “Thin,” actually may have diminished our ability to be sensitive to what God was calling us to do. We may have magnified our longing for thin so much that God became small in our eyes. Can you relate to this?

If so, we don’t need to condemn ourselves. We can, however, be intentional to be sure this no longer happens.

We want to invite God to show us what “Abundant Living” is for us. This will be individual. What it looks like for me, it may not look like for you. But one thing is certain…it will cause us to look more and more like Jesus and he was definitely “others oriented.” He was God focused and driven by a desire to serve people. This isn’t something we want to fabricate, but as we fix our eyes on Him, he will form a heart in us that cares about what He cares about. There is great joy in that place as we welcome his work in our lives, making us less and less myopic and expanding our vision outwardly.

One of the great things about the Thin Within (or HEAL) approach to eating and body image changes is that, while it may take some time and attention to have it be second nature, it will ultimately become second nature. It won’t require our constant attention the way counting, weighing, measuring did. It ultimately frees us to be consumed LESS with ourselves and more with the things that  God intends for us!

Psalm 37:4 says Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.

We are made by God for a life that is filled with so much more than we often settle for. We think we are happiest when we cater to ourselves, but the truth is, we were wired for community, for service, to have a heart for others. We are going to experience a sense of purpose and joy when we live as God intends! THIS is abundant living!

Have a look at Isaiah 58:6-12.

What is the call of God on our lives based on this passage?

What are the promises offered to us when we pursue His will, His way?

Where, according to this passage, is our healing going to be found?

With the Lord, so much of life is sort of the opposite of what “makes sense” to us. Who would have ever imagined that by giving ourselves away, we would actually experience wholeness.

If we haven’t been living this way, now is a great time to make a shift! There is no condemnation for the past. We may have regrets, but God calls us forward! Let’s move forward into our future with him!

This week’s material encourages you to have a look at your friendships. Do you have supportive, loving, encouraging friends in your life and people that you can love and encourage to pursue Christ? Are there any toxic relationships or people in your life who are like that shouting voice in last Friday’s video–spurning you, criticizing you, mocking you for your faith or your approach to eating and weight? Maybe it is time to ask God to show you his will for these relationships. Are they a hindrance to abundant living? Are boundaries needed?

If you still are without an accountability partner, this website exists to support your journey and there are people who posted as recently as last week that they still would like to be partnered up. Remember this is how it works to get an accountability partner:

1. Visit the Accountability Page

2. Post a bit about yourself–how long you have been involved in Thin Within, your current life situation (kids, empty nest, single, etc.), what your availability is for a partner (daily, email only, etc.)

3. Look at the postings there and see if one sounds like a fit for you based on the bit of information that others have posted.

4. Send me a note to heidi bylsma at gmail dot com (no spaces) and let me know the name of the person you want me to send your email address to and that you are interested in partnering up with her.

There is no reason that, if you want an accountability partner, you shouldn’t have one at this point! If not here online, then get a friend in real life to join you for your journey! We are pressing on and in to know Christ more and to be more like him.

In the activities for this week is a challenge to be still in God’s presence. I highly recommend this activity. It is difficult for us to truly be still. But it is well worth working at it. Share with us what God does!

Let’s welcome what God wants to do in us so that we might experience the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. He gave his precious life so that we might experience it. We were made for so much more than what we often settle for!

Assignment This Week:

  • Complete the personal study portion of Lesson 6 in your HEAL book.
  • Post your thoughts, insights, questions, comments here so we can share in the experience together!
  • If you haven’t gotten an accountability partner yet, DO!
  • If you have an accountability partner, now might be a good time to connect with one another and evaluate how it is going, should you continue, in what ways you should tweak your partnership. Be honest with one another. If you are looking for more accountability, just share with your partner this is so. If your availability has changed, tell your partner that.
  • Evaluate your friendships, using the suggestions in the lesson.
  • Complete the “Be Still Before God” activity. Share with us what happened!
  • Come back here on Friday for the final “Group Session”

Body Beautiful ~ You HAVE it!

Today's Challenge - Exalt GOD! :-) Revisited!

What is TRUE about you and about your body? It isn’t what the world says, what the media says about it. Not at all!

Here is a sound file that I hope will encourage you today. Feel free to download it and listen to it when you have a chance. You can even put it on your iPod if you want. Whatever works!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/94220393″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

What do you think? Are you beginning to know that you have an amazing body? Not only are you God’s incredible creation, but you are also His dwelling place if you are in Christ! How might believing that–REALLY believing that–change how you view yourself and how you act?

Note: Much of the material in this audio was modified/adapted from Lesson 4 in Healthy Eating and Abundant Living by Allie Marie Smith and Judy Halliday and Thin Within (chapter 5) by Arthur and Judy Halliday.

Renew Your Mind After Holiday/Vacation/Dining Out “Mess Up”

Photo Courtesy of iStockPhoto

Photo Courtesy of iStockPhoto

What can we do after we have broken our boundaries during holidays, vacations, or dining out? We can renew our mind. This is how I might do it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yyCBTQh5SQ?rel=0

(If you subscribe by email, you will need to visit the blog to see the video.)

What can you do to ensure you won’t give in to eating outside of your boundaries today and tomorrow? What will you do about the mistakes that have happened previously so that they don’t dictate what happens next?