A Time to End

Dear Readers,

After 97 blog entries, SharingGlory is coming to an end. We have decided to end the blog on overeating and weight management ideas. Our goal was to be a friend who understood the challenges of overeating, struggling with weight management, and provide encouragement because we share the same struggles. We selected scripture related to the topic to show how the Bible is a source for answers to every problem, even overeating.

 

Thank you for sharing our thoughts on this, often difficult, aspect of life.

 

Although we will no longer be writing the blog on the first and third Thursdays of the month, the blogs we have written will still be available at SharingGlory.blogspot.com. You can search through the topics by title and date or read them randomly to find one that speaks to you.

 

Remember at the end of the day, God always loves you.

 

Blessings, Gloria and Sharon

Wholeness

 

Wholeness

 

The following quote was part of a recent morning meditation

             God did not tell us to follow him because he needed our help but because he knew that loving                 him would make us whole.

                                                                                                                                    St. Iranaeus

 As I reflected on this quote, I focused first on the idea of God “telling” us to follow him, and I realized out of God’s incredible love for us, the Divine One has given us many resources in being able to love him, to live our lives his way, the way that can make us whole, filling us with peace and contentment.  

 We are triune people, made up of body, spirit, and soul. All three parts of us need to be kept healthy, and in this blog Gloria and I focus on food and eating, one aspect of the body. 

 As I reflected further, I thought of all the resources God has given us to keep our bodieshealthy--physicians, medicine, nutritionists, dieticians, food….  Over and over, we hear doctors, nutritionists, and dieticians tell us how important our diet is for a healthy body.

Proverbs 23:1-3 tells us “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you given to gluttony.  Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive” (NIV).

Now, we realize that’s a little extreme.  I seriously doubt God wants us to put a knife to our throats, but the essence of these words is clear:  gluttony is not good for us.  It is not going to help us be whole.

As Gloria reminded us in her last blog post, we are in a season now where so much nutritional food is available (and tasty)--tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, sweet corn, melons, grapes, and on and on and on.

 So today I encourage us to go ahead and enjoy these gifts God has given us to help us be whole.

 

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty

Pray and Plan Ahead

Two things I’ve found helpful in my weight control journey are praying and planning ahead. Before doing anything, prayer will make the next step go better. 

 

It helps to take a day and plan meals and snacks for the week ahead. Usually grocery day is a good day for preparation. Clean, slice and dice the vegetables and fresh fruit so they are ready to use and to eat as snacks. If we have something healthy that is ready to eat we are more likely to choose it.

 

It also helps if we are going to eat out, to pray and then check the website for menu items and search for something healthy or low in calories. Usually they post calories with menu items. Praying and planning ahead is a good way to resist temptations. Deciding what would be a good meal choice wherever we are going helps us resist ordering what everyone else is getting. It also allows us the chance to relax as everyone else struggles to decide.

 

Praying and planning ahead gives us more control over our meals and snacks. It gives us something to look forward to and God helps us control our destiny. However, as the Bible says, it is important not to judge others because of what they eat. Because God accepts us no matter what our diet consists of.

 

“One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him,” (Romans 14:2-3 NIV).

  

Summertime

 Summertime

 “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” 

 A grandson’s baseball games and a granddaughter’s summer league volleyball games are making my summer blessedly busy.

This blessed busyness tempts me to take shortcuts in preparing meals.  So easy to say to myself, “I’ll just get a hamburger, or a hot dog, or popcorn, or whatever at the game.”  Picking up baseball concession food is quicker and easier than boiling a couple of eggs and packing them, carrot sticks, and an apple to eat between double header games.

 Or maybe we say, “It’s so hot.  Let’s just go pick up a hamburger at Culver’s.”  And that hamburger may be accompanied by french fries and followed by an ice cream.

 Now we all know that hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, french fries, and ice cream are not “bad” foods, and we are not “bad” people for eating them.  The problem for me is this:  When I eat white bread sandwiches, or fatty meats, or fatty/sugary foods, a desire boils up inside me, setting off a craving for more, and more, and more of whatever kind of food I desire--more ice cream? Cookies? Pie? Chips?  Whatever.

 If we succumb to the craving, we are not “bad” people.  It’s just that we make ourselves miserable, often hating ourselves and taking out our frustrations on others.  I remember that when my kids were at home, they often received the brunt of my frustration after I’d had a binge.  I’d yell at them for the smallest infringement, but it wasn’t them I was yelling at.  I was yelling at myself.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “When I am weak, then I am strong,” (12:10b).  So it is for us.  Through grace, we can be strong.  We don’t need to be miserable, nor do we need to take our misery out on others. This summer, let’s ask for strength the minute we arise each day and have a happy, enjoyable, healthy eating summer.

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty

 

The Comfort of Food

Food has long been a comfort to me. Rather than eating only when I was hungry, I would also eat when I felt empty, alone, lonely, sad, depressed, anxious, ugly, fat, unhappy and more. 

Eating provided a cushion of pleasure for a temporary time. It never solved the problem or filled me up with what I needed. Eating was a quick fix that never lasted. It allowed me to stuff my emotions. Like a balloon that wasn’t tied, they quickly escaped and the desire to eat returned.

 

Somehow I began to set limitations on when I could eat: never after dinner in the evening, only salads for lunch, and only if I exercise. Controlling my eating is still a challenge, but I find with repetition of good habits, it helps keep me on track most of the time.

 

God provides so many good things to eat, and we can find anything we desire in stores. We must remember to choose carefully and be mindful of our eating. Give thanks to God for all things, and remember, God loves us no matter if we eat a whole package of Oreos or not.

 

“He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your heart with joy,” (Acts 14:17 NIV).

 

God and only God can fill our empty spaces with what we really need.

 

Gloria D. Stewart

Comfort

 

Comfort

My body cries

for comfort.

My mind groans

for comfort.

My soul desires

comfort.

 

I pour a glass of Moscato,

rummage through my cupboard,

finding potato chips.  How old?

Slowly sip the wine,

chew the chips.

 

Why?

What is buried deep within me

seeking solace?

coveting comfort?

 

After a bad night, I wrote this poem.  As days have passed, I have continued to wonder why don’t I pray during those difficult times, those times when all I want to do is crunch and curl up into a fetal ball? Pray rather than giving into a glass of Moscato and old potato chips?

 What is it that keeps us from going to our Divine Source to seek comfort and healing?  Is it the desire for instant gratification?  Or is it that we fear what we might find within ourselves?  A fear of opening up wounds that have never been addressed, but pushed down, deep inside but at times something causes us to become aware.

 These are times we need to seek God’s love, for no one loves us as the Holy One does.  He desires only wholeness for us.  In Isaiah 41:10, God reminds us “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed , for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  I will help you.  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand (Life Application Study Bible).

 

                                                                                                           Sharon Witty                                                                                                  

An Occasional Reward

Almost four years ago Sharon and I decided to write this blog to help others who share the same struggle with overeating. We hoped to be a friend who understands and relates to the same challenges and share some things that help us. 

Weight issues and eating challenges can weigh a person down. We have good days and bad days and can be pretty hard on ourselves when those bad days happen. There are lots of temptations out there and everyone has their own weakness. Mine is ice cream. Yours might be potato chips or chocolate or a soda. 

 

One thing I’ve learned is that it is okay to allow yourself to have a treat now and then or the object of desire can grow out of hand and out of control. I allow myself an Ev’s ice cream cone when I go to Marshalltown. I’m not there very often so I can’t overindulge. Or we could say once a month we will have a celebration day in honor of the good days we’ve had. 

 

“Let us give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things,” (Psalm 107:8-9 NIV).

 

No matter how our week goes, we can always give thanks to God for His constant love. He satisfies our deepest needs with the best we could ask for.  Thank you, God.

 

Gloria D. Stewart