Choosing

Are we choosing sin? Am I choosing darkness instead of light? The Bible says that with each temptation I am given a way out so I might be able to bear it. I take this as a promise. If I get on my knees when tempted to overeat, spend impulsively, or gossip, God will give me a way out. I need to take the way out and listen and obery.

stop

My goal is for 7 days to eat when hungry, hungry enough to eat liver, which I do not like very well, stop when the hunger goes away, and pray about my choices eating what my body wants.
Most of all I want to put God first. I want to eat out of stomach hunger and not head hunger. If my soul is thirsty or hungry I want to go to Him, the Living Bread and Water and not to food. Help me in these endeavors, Jesus.

Love

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted. I checked my blog and could not believe that it was January since I had last posted.

The Lord is speaking to me about love being the motive in this weight loss and in maintaining the weight. I love Him and am thankful to Him for creating this temple, so I want to care for it properly. I love my family so do not want to burden them with physical ailments just because I do not care for my own body.

The Lord is also speaking to me about crucifying the flesh. To, in all areas, do what pleases the Spirit and not the flesh.

Thought provoking

I heard something today that goes right along with TW. A TV minister said that we either live by principles or by preference. If we live by preference we live for our own pleasures. If we live by principle we live by what is right no matter how we feel.
He also covered the fact that our body is not our own to do with as we please. It is the Temple of the Holy Ghost.
That makes me think twice before having that fourth cup of coffee or about overeating.

Holidays

The holidays can be very difficult in eating situations. Help us, Lord, to focus on our relationship with you and with people instead of on the food.
On Thanksgiving, with God's help, I was able to stay within hunger and satisfaction parameters. I am noticing that these rich foods are not whole body pleasers. Even though I did not overeat my stomach was a little upset.
I will pray more about food choices.

November

This is Thanksgiving month and I have so much to be thankful for. Two family members came through surgeries very well and with good reports.
During these stressful times the Lord dealt with me about standing on His word and His promises and not wavering no matter what circumstances looked like. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways and if I say the truth one moment and speak out of fear the next I will not be in faith at all.
I can't say there was no turning to food for comfort, but very little. Thank you that you change us little by little, Lord, and that your mercies are new every morning.

Turning

I have retired for the second time and am realizing how important it is to allow ourselves to feel our feelings.
The ususal response for me would be to go immediately to something else. I know this is a big change and a loss for me and if I do not take time to feel the grief of that I will be eating, dieting, or keeping super busy.
I am so excited about the emotional healing that is taking place in my heart.
Thank you for emotions, Lord, and for showing us how to handle them and express them.

Heart

Author Beth Moore says that "the heart of any plan is seeking His plan"
This is so true. With eating we must agree to not eat unless hungry and stop when satisfied. If I do not eat within these boundaries I am overeating .
What works for me, however, may not work for another person. My husband is diabetic so he may need to follow guidelines that his physician has given him and when he seeks wisdom from the Lord he may hear something different than I do.
The Lord may instruct me to fast for awhile and just seek His plan for my eating. Another person may not be instructed to fast at that time.
Seek Him and His plan.

Buffets

I am so thankful for this way of eating. My husband and I just had a wonderful vacation. We ate out at a buffet two different times. I did not overeat at either buffet. I put the meal on one plate and kept portions very small.
The last buffet had a dessert buffet as well. I ate half a roll but no other starches. I like sweets so took 3 desserts and ate a bite of each leaving me at only a 5 on the hunger scale.
At one time I would have filled my plate 3 times.
I spent a great deal of time in prayer and surrender just as I need to do with other areas of my life.

lust

I believe the Lord is showing me that behind this eating too much is lust.
The Lord has led me for the last 2 days to watch Creflo Dollar. He is speaking on casting down every thought and imagination that exalts itself above the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The sin starts in the mind as a thought and as an imagination, or an image.
I picture the sundae or cookie in my mind, I think about the sundae or cookie. If I do not cast down that thought by holding it captive, rebuking it out loud, and then boldly speaking a Bible verse, I will yield to temptation.
This is helping me so very much. It is helping me not only in eating but also in other areas. Last night I came home from work at midnight. As I pulled into the garage I knew it was dark and I was alone. My husband was snoring in bed. I started to get fearful thoughts about what could happen to me. I held that thought, rebuked it, and started speaking the Word aloud. I felt peace before I walked into the house.
At work, people were talking about food. I started thinking about eating a snack. Instead I took a walk up and down the halls, held that thought captive, rebuked it and said Jesus is Lord, not food. Soon the temptation left and I did not eat until my stomach was hungry. To God be the glory.

as a child

If we would remain as a child I do not believe we would have these food issues.
I observed my 7 year old Grndchild yesterday. She laid down for a few minutes because she was sleepy. After about 15 minutes she jumped up and started playing on the trampoline and playing with her hula hoop. Her body knew it needed to move.
After about 30 minutes of this she said she was hungry. I served her supper of which she ate about two thirds, said she was full and was ready to play again.
Help us to remain as children, Lord, and to trust what you have already programed into us. Help us not to interfere with the things you have built into these little ones entrusted into our care.

The Bread of Life

I hadn't been sleeping well at night. I tried cereal and milk sometimes, I tried laying there and meditating, I tried changing positions, hugging pillows etc.
Last night I decided to stay up until I was really sleepy and spend time with the Lord. I talked to Him about not being able to sleep and asked Him to help me. He led me to the Beatitudes and to Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He also led me to another Scripture.
If this works with sleep it will work for anything. Forgive me for not coming to you first Lord.

April

Sometimes I think we focus too much on our program and not enough on the Lord. I continue with the Eden Diet and Thin Within which are both similar and are Bible based and hunger fullness plans.
My focus right now, however, is on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did over 2000 years ago. I sense His presence as I follow along in the Gospels what He was doing on Holy week. Today I enjoyed reading the Uppper Room Discourse as He spoke some of his last words to His disciples. I read His prayer that He prayed for His disciples and the prayer He prayed for me. Thank you for your love for us, Dear Jesus.

Practice His Presence

The sermon today really spoke to me. Practice His presence at all times. Pray without ceasing. Take off the old man and put on the new.
I thought this applies to TW. At lunch I invited the Lord Jesus into my meal. I looked at His picture which hangs in the kitchen. I thanked Him for creating that wonderful food. It made such a difference in how I ate. It was easy to follow the 8 keys when I practiced His presence.

Take off the old man and put on the new. The old me was so food focused and the eating was for my pleasure. Even losing weight was for the praise of man and not for the glory of God. I want to glorify God in my eating and body.

Why do we make this so hard. When our bodies tell us to eliminate or sleep we do it. We have gotten so wordly in our way of thinking about eating. All we have to do is think about other things and when our bodies are hungry feed them until satisfied with whatever our body is calling for.

Flesh

This eating is all about living according to the Spirit and not the flesh. I really want my motive to be to glorify God. To glorify Him and honor Him it is important that I walk decision by decision according to the Spirit.
The Lord will guide me only to do what is good for my body which does not include overeating.
Help me to do this, Lord not only in the area of eating but also in every area of my life.

New Book

Wow! I haven't posted here in too long! Sorry!
The answer isn't another book. The answer is surrender to God in this eating area as well as in other areas.
Having said this, I must confess to you that I have found and read another book on hunger fullness. Another Christian book. This book is one of the best I have read. The Eden Diet. Most of what the author talks about is said in a different way in either the TW or WD book, however, all of these authors offer at least one thing the others do not.
The author is a Doctor and has struggled with obesity herself. The thing I gain from this is her approach to sweets, which have been a weakness for me.
Go ahead, indulge in one more book, you avid readers.

conditions

I am learning that the 0-5 eating varies. I just spent 2 days with family in a large university hospital. I noticed it was taking about twice as much as usual to get me from 0-5. For example I ate a whole sandwich at lunch while I usually eat half. I ate 3 pieces of fish for supper while I ususally eat 1. Yet I still ate 0-5. I believe the stress in combination with walking miles must have been the difference.
I am glad to be home since the most important part of dealing with any stronghold is prayer, surrender, and spending time in the Word. With all that has been going on these things have been cut short.

Roots

I gained one and one half pounds in a month and started getting into some old crazy thinking. I cried out to the Lord to be set free from this and He began showing me some roots. Many cases in my childhood when different relatives fed me instead of talking to me, pointing me to the Lord, and listening to me and hugging and loving me. I learned at an early age, and repeatedly, that food makes me feel better during stressful times.
I felt badly, but am now thankful for this weight gain. I am feeling more compassion for people who are in any addiction. At some point, they were in distress, and a substance made them feel better, thus setting up a stronghold.
The Lord came to set the captives free, and as we come to Him, grieve out those places, ask Him to show us where He was in those instances, ask Him to use this for His glory, surrender these areas to Him, and pray, and quote scriptures of truth and His promises these strongholds will tumble in the name of Jesus.

Continuing

As I coontinue this program I notice some changes. In the beginning the focus was on me doing the 8 keys and how well I did them.
The more I study this program and the longer I walk with the Lord the more I focus on the spiritual concepts and on honoring God and the less I focus on my weight and my performance.

Jesus satisfies

Jesus is teaching me that He is the only thing that satisfies. I ate a piece of cobbler. It tasted good but the good feeling did not last. I bought some new jeans. That was exciting for a day, but then I lost all enthusiasm. I started a new job. That was exciting for a month. I received a lifetime longing for a dream I had. The joy from that lasted for a week.
Only Jesus satisfies the longing of my heart. He is the only constant in my life. He really is the Bread of Life and the Living Water which sustain me.