Some have asked me what has made the difference in my return to applying the principles this time with Thin Within compared to all the times before. I found something I wrote November 18th, just a couple of weeks after God coaxed me 🙂 into sharing about Thin Within with an online group of horse women who had never heard of the “non-diet approach.” They had absolutely no experience with waiting for hunger and stopping when satisfied and going to God for everything else. It was bizarre that they “discovered” my connection to TW and more bizarre that I was so heavy and not even *close* to walking with God in this area (and thus in my entire life…everything was out of whack). When they found out I had been involved with it, they were intrigued and asked me to lead them…brother. God has a sense of humor. 🙂

Right away, he showed me something profound…God removed 10 pounds almost over night. That floored me of course. I wrote this:

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(Regarding the weight released…)
“That is exciting, yes.

“But more exciting to me is what God has been doing in my heart. He has moved a huge mountain in my heart. There is still much work to do, but he is doing it. I had no idea just how connected my attitude was to what I was willing to let go of food wise. I think I had this attitude that I could “punish” God somehow for some things that I have been angry at Him about. I was trying to “make him pay” by eating what I wanted when I wanted. This is true confessions…I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous. I didn’t realize, of course, that this is what I was doing…

“I see it now.”

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I have no idea if anyone else can identify, but as I began to work through the forgiveness material…well, I realized while I had kept pretty “up to date records” with regards to people, I hadn’t with God. I was filled with resentment toward *God* about lots of things. This is a truth that is hard for many of us “good Christian women” to admit. Sometimes we feel angry at *God* and feel we *shouldn’t* so rather than admit the truth and process it we keep shoving it aside or call it something else. This is deception. We simply have to be willing to see truth if we are going to conquer overeating and contempt for ourselves and our bodies. Or I believe that anyhow.

Some keys for me have been:
1.) I must be willing to face truth and deal with it…not “sugar coat” it or turn away. Jesus said that knowing he truth is connected to being set free and I have found this is true.

2.) I must PRAISE God…if I don’t want in humility, I will return to my sin…my way, my food, my (so-called) wisdom…so in order to feed a heart that is focused on God as good and to put pride to death, I work consistently (and it is work) on gratitude. Right now, I do this, in part, through a blog where I just type in almost daily things I am grateful for. I tell you, this has transformed this journey for me…it is amazing.

3.) I must hate sin, not just avoid sin. It is easy to minimize eating when my body doesn’t need food as not being sin…”Not compared to ‘really bad’ sins, Lord!” But the truth is, each time I ignore the voice of His Spirit, it is rebellion. It doesn’t matter what it is about. God hates rebellion in any form and when I choose my way instead of His, it is pride again. Pride is at the root of my having gained weight back in the past. It is at the root of the struggles I have had with the material “clicking” in the past…so any way that I can get rid of it is helpful (see #1 and #2 above…all three of these are about pride!).

Anyhow, I don’t know if this helps anyone. It is no magic pill…in fact, this is tough to swallow, but for me, the deep changes that God has brought this time have been very much related to these three things….and I daresay that doing these three things could transform *any* life. Just a guess.