I’ve been trying to figure out the balance between obsession with weight and maintaining a healthy eating habit.  I, like many of you, have tried several different diets and read several different books that take several different approaches.  I loved many of the books and can say I took something from each one.  The workbook, The “Weight of Grace” by Paula Neall Coleman  is excellent.  I loved the book “Made to Crave” by Lysa TerKeurst.  Weight Watchers can work for me at times.  Sugar Busters was phenomenal years ago but not so much now.   I’m learning more and more every day about my own unique body and how my Heavenly Father wants me to relate to it.  You see, we have a relationship with our body whether we realize it or not.  And I’m sad to say that most of us have a love/hate relationship.  We lose a little weight and LOVE how great we look!  Then we gain a little weight and not only feel bad but go into self-contempt!  This is not good!!!

Do we really believe what the bible tells us about HIS children? John 10:3-4 says, “My sheep hear my voice and follow me.”  Do you think your eating habits are minimal compared to all of the problems of the world that God has to handle?  Well, I believe HE genuinely cares about every detail of our lives.  And I believe that HE knows we have an enemy that hates us!  HE knows that if the enemy can persuade us to make poor choices with our health that half the battle is won for him.  We won’t feel like “doing” anything and we will begin to believe lie after lie about our worth.

I believe God speaks to me through His word, through other people, through books, through circumstances, through sunsets and through many different ways that will be unique to the individual.  I spent several weeks recently making wise choices and dropped 11 pounds.  The past four weeks I have struggled and begin seeing some of the weight reappear.  I began thinking, “Oh no!  Why is it so hard to get started back once you stop?”  This statement from Dr. Phil got my attention that day.  “People get momentum in life, they roll the direction they’ve been rolling.”  Now that is true.  Once I get going in making healthy choices it seems easy.  Once I spend a few weeks not thinking about what I eat it’s easy to just keep being unintentional.   I then thought; “What did I eat before?”  Maybe I can reenact.”   My poor memory that arrived after I turned 50 was not helping me with this question.  I know it’s good to sometimes write down what you eat but I believe God was showing me “freedom” as I made individual choices and saw great results the past few months.  It wasn’t about me so much as Him.

This is what I believe God spoke in my heart.  Rebekah, every small decision makes a difference.  With each wise decision the results you want will come.  Whether it’s choosing unsweetened tea instead of your half and half tea or saying no to that second helping; IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  Do what you want!  Do you believe you really do want to be healthy?  Do you believe that you really do have the power to say no?  Do you believe that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you?  Do you believe that you don’t HAVE to make the wrong choice?  Do you believe Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.?”  What about Romans 8:2, “Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life HAS SET YOU FREE from the law of sin and death.”  Keep going!  Romans 8:3, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God DID by sending his own Son…”

I have a problem.  I like to live by formula’s.  But God’s word tells us that the just shall walk by faith.  It also tells us that law produces rebellion.  So do I say, “I will not get a milk shake. I will not get a milk shake. I will not get a milkshake!”  (As I pull into the drive through)  OR do I say, “I want a milk shake but what do I want more?  I really don’t want my knees to keep hurting.  And I want my clothes to feel better on me.  So….I’m free to get a milk shake but I think I will choose to say no since I want these other things more.”

You may say, “Wait!”  “That won’t work for me.”  “The real me WANTS to eat _______.”  (You feel in the blank)  Oh really!  Romans 7 tells us, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, (The real you, the new identity you have been given) but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

So for me….the experiential victory that I have seems to come in believing what God says about me.  I AM a new creation.  I CAN do all things through Christ.  When I fail there is NO condemnation.  I CAN achieve the desires of my heart.  I WILL walk by faith and listen moment by moment for God to lead me in my relationship with food.  If he chooses a diet, I will follow.  If HE chooses to cut back on portions, I will follow.  If HE chooses to make simple healthy choices, I will follow.  HE loves me and wants me to have the desires of my true heart!  Ask Him if this is true for you too.  Ask Him.  He will answer.

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