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

Never? No, Never!

 

Never?  No, Never!

 Just two weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection of Christ.  Why did Jesus come to earth?  Why did Christ arise?  Why did God make us?  Of course, the answer to each question is Love, because we are loved--unconditionally.

 What’s your trigger food?  What sets up cravings in you so that you eat far more of that food than you need?  For me, it’s sweet, fatty foods.  Through the years I have eaten pounds of cookies, cake, brownies, pastries, and ice cream. I’ve eaten three or four slices of pizza at one sitting.  When the binge was done, and I laid my head on my pillow at night, I hated myself and vowed, “Tomorrow is going to be different.”  But tomorrow was never different.  I just went right back into eating my trigger foods and binging.

One night I came home after binging, sat on my couch, and sobbing, cried out to the Lord, “No more, Lord.  No more.  No more sweet, fatty foods.”

 Since that night I have turned down desserts, pizza, and pastries.  Oh, I am not a monk.  I have to have dessert.  I make my own pudding; I eat yogurt with fruit and nuts, I make a good dessert with sweet potato, honey and cinnamon.  In the summertime, every once in a while, I get a soft ice cream cone--and eat it very slowly.

What has made the difference?  Grace I know.  But that’s not the main idea of this blog post.

Finally, I realize even when I was in the midst of daily overeating and binges, God loved me.  I had grown up hearing that I needed to earn God’s love.  It has taken me a long time to accept the opposite--God loves me, plain and simple.  Nothing can steal the Divine One’s love from me or you, and we don’t have to earn it.  Paul tells us “…in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, not present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39 Anselm Academic Study Bible).

That concerns me about us overeaters.  Too many of us think God stops loving us if/when we overeat.  Nope, nada, doesn’t happen--not ever.  God loves us--always.  Let’s focus on that truth.

 

                                                                                                                                     Sharon Witty

Not Bread Alone

It is Holy Week, and our minds turn to thoughts of Jesus and His final days on earth. Today we remember His Last Supper with His disciples. The bread and wine they shared was a holy meal representing Christ’s body which was to be broken and His blood which was to be poured out of His wounds.

 

Jesus made the unleavened bread significant, never again to be just the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. It became a meal of remembrance for all time. The taking of the bread and the cup is sacred to believers who partake.

 

Jesus spoke of bread early in His ministry. He spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert fasting, being tempted by the devil. Jesus was hungry, and the devil called Jesus to turn rocks into bread to satisfy His hunger.

 

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” (Matthew 4:4 NIV).

 

We may also be tempted by bread. Most commonly we are tempted by luscious leavened bread, fresh from the oven. But Jesus reminds us that it is the Word of God that satisfies and nourishes us. 

 

This week let us remember the significance of bread in our lives, not the physical temptation that calls from our stomachs, but the body and blood of our Savior that was given for our salvation. 

 

Gloria D. Stewart 

Getting It

 

Getting It

 

On Sunday and Monday of this week, I was blessed to spend a bit of time with my eldest grandson, who attends Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ.  He lives off campus in a house he shares with two other male students.

As we prepared a meal together, I happened to ask him, “So do you and your housemates prepare meals together and eat together?”

 “No, we all eat at different times.”  Then he added, “We eat when we’re hungry.”

 ‘Wow,’ I thought, ‘They get it.’

 Toddlers and pre-school children also “get it.”

 You might ask, “Get what?”

 They get that our bodies know when they need to be fueled.  I remember several years ago, and our first grandchild was staying with us.  She was four. We were eating supper, when she announced, “I’m done.”

 “But we have dessert,” I said, “Don’t you want dessert?”

 “No, I’m full.” 

 And I thought, ‘What’s full got to do with it?’  I ate dessert.

 Young children get it, but we adults carefully teach our children to override their bodies’ fuel gauges. When they’re three, and we go shopping with them, what do we tell them?  “If you’re good in the store, we’ll go for ice cream afterward.”

 Or “You were such a good boy during church, I think you deserve a cookie.”

 Of course, by the time we are adults, we have totally learned how to override our bodies’ messages to us when they are full.  We eat because the cookies, ice cream, pie, cake, fried chicken, potato chips, etc., call our name from the cupboard or refrigerator.

 My heart offers thanks that my grandson and his housemates listen to their bodies. What do we who are having a difficult time listening to and hearing our bodies speak to us do?  How can we relearn that gift with which we were born?

A first thought that comes to mind is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

And then I think, ‘This is what Life is, isn’t it--a constant seeking of God’s guidance of us?’

We seek, and we may falter, but we catch ourselves and continue to seek, knowing our Companion always walks with us, waiting for us to be open to guidance.

Let’s listen to that inner, quiet Voice and follow its leading as to when we are to eat, what we are to eat and how much we are to eat.

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty