Partners

Happy Autumn.  God has blessed us with beautiful days. 

Yesterday morning, my meditation included this verse: “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life? (Luke 12:25).”  This verse led me to “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests to God (Phil. 4:6).”

In our last blog, Gloria shared with us her stumbling block:  sweets and being alone.  Then she chastised herself and wanted to stay in bed.  How I related to her post.  How many times have I done/felt the same?  How many times?

As I reflect on Gloria’s comments and on the quoted Scripture verses, I wonder:  Do we worry too much about NOT eating this or that food?  Become anxious about the foods we should NOT eat or have eaten?  So that in focusing on what we should NOT do, we do exactly what we do NOT want to do?  I think of the child told “Don’t eat anymore cookies,” and then he is caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  Forbidden fruit is sooooooo appealing  (as in Adam and Eve!).

Gloria also encouraged us to find an accountability partner—someone with skin.  I agree with her.  That’s an excellent idea, and I found sharing with another my relationship with food to be most helpful when I attended Overeaters Anonymous (a really good fellowship, by the way.  I have received no payment for this plug!!).

Perhaps we need two accountability partners, the second partner being God.  If He becomes my partner, and I trust in His help, perhaps I can stop worrying about what I should NOT eat, and instead thank Him for guiding me and strengthening me through His Spirit to live my life His way.

P.S. One more thing I want to share today.  It’s not related to the rest of my blog, but this acronym has helped me many times (I think it’s a gift of the Spirit):  HALT.  Don’t get too Hungry, too Angry, too Lonely, too Tired.  Think about it.

                                                                                                Sharon Witty

Taking the First Step

“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace,” (Romans 8:6)

When it comes to eating, I have been out of control for months now. Every single day I tell myself I have to change, but every night I go to bed as a failure. Maybe that’s why I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. As long as I stay in bed, I’m not eating. Some days go really well, then I trip over something sweet and I fall into a tailspin. How can I encourage you, when I’m such a mess?

Today I am determined to take the first step toward a changed life. Most of my eating trouble comes from eating when I am alone. I must remove all the temptations from the house. Check all my hiding places and empty out my stash of illegals (of late: the individually-wrapped cream-filled frosted cupcakes that I could eat the box of eight in one sitting – though I usually make it two).

Now that I’ve totally humiliated myself before you, I need to establish an accountability partner who can challenge me to stay on the right path. Since my husband is nearly always with me, I’m going to recruit him to help me. I’m going to tell him when I’m craving something and ask him to remind me of healthy options. I’m going to eat only when he is with me.

If I make these two changes (removing all temptations from the house and being accountable to someone) I think I will be off on the right foot.

When or what is your biggest eating issue? What can you do to change it? Give it a try and find someone to be your accountability partner. Let’s get started together, today. Post your struggles and successes as a comment. We can do this!

Remember: At the end of the day, God still loves us!

By Gloria

October 5, 2017