True confessions time…did you manage to get through Day 5’s “Mirror Mirror” exercise? Did you gloss over it quickly? Or did you go slowly, intentionally, methodically through it? What did you discover, if you did? What have you discovered, if you didn’t do it? 🙂
I hope that God blessed you in whatever he led you to do. If you felt his leading not to do the Mirror Mirror activity in Day 5, ask him to show you when his timing is for you to do it. He intends for us to be healed–completely. Fear is not in his plan for us!
Truthfully, I still haven’t done this activity, even though it is Saturday night as I am writing up this coming week’s assignment.
I have been evaluating why I am so unwilling to do the Mirror Mirror exercise and the only thing I can think of is that I must feel shame for not keeping all my weight off. As much as I spout off about not allowing physical appearances to be what we focus on, as much as I shout from the rooftops that we have to focus on the Lord, when push comes to shove, I still struggle with that longing to be back in the smaller size I lived in for a year.
This tells me that my focus is still on ME ME ME and APPEARANCE APPEARANCE APPEARANCE. I must commit afresh to focusing on him–to continuing my attributes of God list, taking time daily (or more often) to praise Him for his attributes, and writing out gratitudes daily. I know for a fact from experience that these things (combined with a few others which we will get to) are life transforming!
So, will you join me in recommitting to these things? I hope so.
This week’s assignment:
1.) Continue to keep a cumulative list of all the characteristics of God and how he treats people. Share with us here what some of the attributes of God are that are blessing you! It encourages us to hear! I don’t think many of us shared that last week…I don’t recall it if we did. Please post here…I would LOVE to see 5 or 10 of the attributes of God that mean the most to you in comments.
2.) Are you sick of me asking you to please continue to take a few minutes at the beginning of your study time each day to praise the Lord for at least three of the things on your list? Has this been affecting you in any way? I know when I DO this, I seem to start the day in a much more humble place and then I am not so prideful and arrogant about food and other things! When I exalt God to his rightful place, I see myself in the place where I am. It really is amazing that he has chosen to esteem us so very much, isn’t it?
3.) Read and complete Days 6 and 7 – through page 74. And PLEASE!!! If you haven’t been able to keep up with the reading, do NOT worry about it one bit! The cool thing about doing an internet study is that the questions and discussion are here for you whenever you get to it! If it is a week after I post the assignment or a month after…even a year after…no worries! You can still enjoy what God shares with you through the study and post here…someone will comment, even if it is December of 2011! 🙂
4.) I am excited about the material in chapter 6 as I believe it can unlock a lot of the mystery behind eating when we aren’t hungry. Fat machinery or flesh machinery is sort of the concept of eating on auto-pilot. There are a bunch of reasons we may do this. As you study this chapter see what resonates the most for you. You may want to journal about this stuff, too. I am still discovering new flesh machinery that crops up. Well, it isn’t new…it has been there all along and I just didn’t realize it! See what God uncovers for you! This is when the freedom bell really begins to toll!
5.) Ask the Lord about the tools that are introduced in chapter 6. Does he want you to use it or any of the others? The Thin Within food log is different from other food logs. Nevertheless, many of us just can’t yet “go there” or we will find ourselves caught in legalism and the Path of My Performance once again. On the other hand, you may be at a place in your life where God leads you personally to take on a bit of accountability in the form of this food log. Either way, freedom is yours! We are so unique and he leads us uniquely! Praise His Name! Also, keep in mind that he may lead you this way only for a short season. So if you sense his direction to use the TW Food Log, it may be for two weeks or a month. If you don’t sense that freedom, it could also be temporary. He will direct you. 🙂
6.) In Chapter 7 we hit emotional eating on the head. There is an exercise to help you do this. Please feel free to post here what God reveals to you as the week unfolds. On page 69, there is a list of “Reasons We Overeat.” Which can you identify most with?
7.) The Fat Machinery Log offers an opportunity to record ways that you are affected to slip into auto-pilot with your eating. See how many different ways you can identify fat (or flesh) machinery affecting you. Jot it down to refer to later, too. You can make a cumulative list in your journal if you need more room. I still remember how, after practicing the Thin Within principles for a number of years, I discovered that bad weather acted as a fat/flesh machinery for me! When the weather got bad, all kinds of emotions surfaced and I really struggled with the desire to comfort myself with food! That sure surprised me. 🙂
8.) As with any week, please post your thoughts and insights. You never can tell when God will use your words to bolster up a sister or brother in Christ who desperately needs encouragement!
9.) Friday night’s chat was fun as we had a number of people who had never come to a Thin Within chat before and/or those who hadn’t come in years. Why not carve time out to join us? The next real-time chat at the Thin Within website is Monday morning 7-8am Pacific time and Friday we will join together at 10-11am Pacific time. Click here to find out how.
Kim Finley is doing a great job helping to keep on top of approving comments here at the blog. I appreciate her support and help–and wisdom–so much! Please keep checking any updates of our special God is Doing a New Thing website. I have included Kim’s bio here.
Keep on praying for one another! You are precious to my heart and to Jesus! 🙂
