One more bite!

Have you ever thought what life would be like if you could just have everything you wanted when you wanted it?

Worded like that it seems silly; to have everything we ever wanted, deep down we know to have everything we ever wanted doesn’t bring any sense of achievement or satisfaction. However, If we stop to consider what drives us we realise this is exactly what many of us pursue.

It has a real childish sound to it, doesn’t it?  We are quick to discipline our children when they demonstrate this kind of behaviour so why as adults do we have these same demands and expectations?

Some of you may be aware that there is an increasing obesity epidemic. Everywhere we go there are advertisements encouraging us to lose weight or join a gym.  In our schools our children are being taught about healthy eating and how too much sugar is bad for us. Health officials are even going round schools weighing our children and advising parents that their children are obese.  Governments around the world are investing huge amounts of money to encourage more people to lose weight as they believe this will save the country medical funds later down the line.

However, what if our focus is in the wrong place, what if our focus on healthy eating and exercise isn’t the starting point, what if our maker has already shown us the problem and has the solution available but we just can’t see it?

In the bible, we are made aware that our core problem is sin, what if the solution to the epidemic of obesity is recognising that we are sinners and are in need of a saviour?

Sounds too simplistic?

For 25 years I have been seeking Jesus solution for my addiction to overeating; the problem was I wasn’t ready for the answer that came back.

In the book of Colossians Chapter 3 verse 5 we read ‘ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry’.

Here I came face to face with my problem; the source of my overeating was self-satisfaction in other words greed and the source of my greed was idolatry.  In other words food had become my God. How did this happen? How can I, a grown woman, be caught out like this and use food to medicate myself, use food to encourage myself, use food as a means of celebration, use food as a relationship replacement!

All these years of trying to lose weight, trying to exercise when I didn’t have the energy or the inclination, the lost years of trying to deal with internal issues by focusing on external solutions.

But this is what we do as human beings we try and fix the problem ourselves, we think if only I was size 10, if only I had more time to myself, if only people liked me……the list is endless.

The problem of my overeating was the age-old problem of sin and the only solution was to submit my whole life to the only one who could rescue me, the only one who knows me completely, the only one who willingly went to the cross to pay for my debt of sin.

Jesus Christ is our Saviour for a reason, because we needed him to be.

 

Where to start?

Here we go my first every blog! The beginning is always a great place to start….mmm no plagiarism here!

In recent times family and friends have started to notice a change in me, not quite being able to put their finger on the source of the change.

These are the same people who have seen the yo-yo dieter, the depression that hits from the constant feelings of failure, the obsession with counting calories to the refusal to exercise.  But this time something is different, this time there is something to know….

Is it the hair?  Aah it’s the weight; you’ve lost weight!  No there is something else; what is it?

The bible encourages us to give an answer when we are asked where our hope comes from; this blog is the response to that question.

I want to share with those of you who are interested in knowing the difference Jesus has made to my life, many of my family and friends have shared in some of the heartaches and some of the joys and others have come along at the very moment of change.  However I want to bring encouragement and hope to everyone to say that whatever situation you are in, Jesus has something to say.

As a 52 year old woman who has battled with eating issues, for what seems like forever, I also want other sufferers to know that there is hope.  Overeating is under estimated by many, we are judged for our outward appearance without considering what is happening on the inside. Many people will think that I am over playing the situation after all doesn’t dieting sort out all our eating problems; it’s just a matter of getting on with it!

For those of you who have been seeking a solution that lasts longer than the latest fad or health claim, one that outlasts the false hope that thinness promises; I hope this blog will bring you a change of direction; another avenue to consider.

As a Christian I always knew it would be at the foot of the cross where I would find the solution to my struggle with overeating.

However, I needed to move from head knowledge to heartfelt submission and it is this process that these pages will describe.

What I have learnt along the way is that my desire to be thin, to conform, to be valued were too narrow, and too limiting.  What Jesus brought to my life was far richer, far more purposeful and far beyond what I anticipated.

Ephesians Chapter 1 verse 17 says ‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better’.  This is the Apostle Paul’s desire for those early Christians, but the message takes us to the very heart of God.   That we not only meet Jesus in his word but that we would take the time and guidance of the Holy Spirit to get to know him more intimately.

This is the hope all Christian’s have at their disposal.

My overall desire is to introduce you to Jesus and encourage you to get to know him better.