Let’s press on and be faithful! Even if you have “fallen” behind…keep in mind PLEASE that God takes us where he wants us in HIS perfect timing! This journey is uniquely yours, so even if you are reading this assignment in the spring of 2011, no worries. You are right where you need to be. 🙂 I hope this encourages you.
Hang in there. Ditch the perfectionist lie. Be faithful.
1.) Ongoing assignments to keep at a tiny bit each day or as often as you can:
- Attributes of God list
- Praise and prayer time using 5 things from your cumulative list
- Gratitudes – 3 each day is a great goal, but whatever you are able to do is great!
- Forgiveness phrases – being repetitious each day, writing these out, can really bring it home to your heart. When you find yourself going “back there” to a place of needing to forgive again, begin the practice again of writing out intentional forgiveness phrases.
2.) Take time to carefully read and complete chapters 24, 25, and 26.
3.) Meditate on the following quote from Day 24 of the Thin Within book:
Look on your trials as an opportunity for the Lord to form and shape your character. He will provide a way of escape if you are open to it. You can be confident that He will not allow anything to prevent the accomplishment of His plan and purpose for His beloved, you. He will provide the grace and the strength you need to emerge victorious.
In light of your current circumstances, how can this truth move you out of a place of distraction, discouragement, or defeat, and into the way of escape and victory that God has for you? Journal your answer to this question and/or post a response here. Others may be encouraged by what you share!
4.) In Day 24, you are asked to re-evaluate your goals. We will be done with our study in a couple of weeks. God can yet do amazing things in your heart, your mind, and in your physical body. While we don’t want our focus to be on the physical, we also understand that often our eating is a barometer of what is going on within. It is not too late to revamp your goals…and then break each down into manageable pieces. Maybe you need to ditch your first set of goals all together! That is fine, too. Do this activity (found on pages 260-261) prayerfully. Share with us here what God leads you to do if you feel so led.
5.) Share with us here: Which Thin Within tools have you found to be the most helpful? In what way has the tool been helpful? Which TW tools have not helped you? Why is this the case for you?
6.) Chapter 25 has some wonderfully practical exercises. Eating the Thin Within Way With My Family can be extremely helpful. Even if you aren’t participating in our group study, you can answer this question! Brainstorm some of your potential obstacles to maintaining eating 0 to 5 eating, given your home life. Do that in a column on the left side of a piece of paper. On the right side, prayerfully brainstorm potential solutions to those obstacles. Share with us what God leads you to come up with!
NOTE: For those of you with children at home, Judy Halliday and Dr. Joani Jack wrote a book called Raising Fit Kids in a Fat World based on the same principles as Thin Within. It is a great book–easy to read, but power packed. I highly recommend it!
7.) On page 270, you have a chance to do a similar activity. What potential challenges will you face eating at a potluck or buffet? Write those in a left column. In the write, prayerfully brainstorm potential solutions. Share with us what you come up with here. We would love to see!
8.) Chapter 26 leads us into a discussion of the difference between satisfaction and gratification. How does this distinction strike you? How might this affect you, your eating, your other choices in life?
9.) In chapter 26 we are encouraged to write a “Goodbye” letter. If you feel so inclined, share your letter with us here and how this exercise has affected you.
10.) Join us for our chat this week. It is Thursday, from 2-3pm Pacific time, 4-5pm Central, 5-6pm Eastern. I hope you can make it. Visit http://www.thinwithin.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2256 to find out how to join us.
11.) Keep praying for yourself, for me, for others in our study.
12.) Plan now for the fall. What will you do to press on in your journey? If you don’t want to do a Thin Within study, here are some other ideas that may help:
- Search for Significance by Robert McGee. Get the version that has the book in the front and the study guide in the back. I HIGHLY recommend this for those of you who have discovered that perfectionism is having an impact on you. This book is amazing and you will be changed! 🙂 I promise.
- Breaking Free bible study by Beth Moore. This study has been updated. Yours truly got to be at the taping of it. 🙂 This material is incredible and dovetails beautifully with Thin Within. I hope you will consider doing it. You can download the videos from Lifeway for $5 each. It is worth it if you have the money. But if you can’t afford the videos, the study is still outstanding!
- Get Thin Stay Thin by Arthur and Judy Halliday – this book gets to the heart behind much of our struggle to put the principles of Thin Within into practice. It isn’t a workbook and the material is very deep. But this little book is POWER PACKED. It was previously published as Silent Hunger and then as Thin Again. God used this to transform my thinking and to set me on this path.
Press on! Be faithful! 🙂
