Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how the Lord God has positively influenced my overeating, this doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verse. Debbie

COE Support Note:

If you REALLY want to read how Christ helped me throughout this weight loss and even when I was tempted, you should read some of the 100's of previous posts on https://christianovereaterssupport.blogspot.com/

Suddenly Treated Me Like I Was Worthwhile

Hebrews 10: 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

God is lots more forgiving than I ever was. When I had lost the 80+ pounds, people seemed to be much nicer to me. People in my church, my children's school, and what I call "Hi-Bye" friends, were suddenly much more attentive. They tried to include me in conversations more. They listened to my ideas instead of shunning me because I was overweight.

At first, there was a split second, where I was elated with all the new found attention. It didn't last long, though, because it quickly turned into resentment. I resented all those people who suddenly treated me like I was worthwhile, because I was worthwhile all along! I figured that if they didn't want to be my friend when I was fat, then they didn't deserve to be my friend when I was thin!

There is some logic in my approach, but I'm so glad it's not the approach that God has with me. Jesus doesn't say, "Debbie wasn't being a good Christian last week when she was impatient with her husband, so she doesn't deserve to be My follower, now!" Fortunately for me, God is all-forgiving. He loves me no matter what I do.  I am much more able to forgive others when I'm living my life by the instincts God gives me: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;  Hebrews 10: 16.

Hebrews 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. If Jesus says this after all the sinful things I've done and the many times I've ignored His requests to share my faith with others, then I have to be much better at forgiving those who suddenly treated me like I was worthwhile. 

Positive Impact on Someone's Life, from the Bathroom

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Romans 12:14

This isn't always an easy Bible verse to adhere to. I used to work someplace, years ago, where my supervisor was very hateful, at times. At the time, it felt like it was directed to me. Since then, I've come to learn that, sometimes, people are responding to what is going on in their own lives and it doesn't always have that much to do with us, although we often reap the rewards of their stress.

She would be impatient and, often, hateful to me. I used to regularly turn to food when I felt overwhelmed. I was a single parent, at the time, and really needed the job. There were many times that I hid away in the bathroom, so no one could see that I was crying. That's when I started praying in the bathroom.

I would ask God to get me through the situation that seemed unbearable, at the time. Then, I read this Bible verse: Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Romans 12:14. After that, when I would go to the bathroom in tears, I would pray for God to heal my supervisor's heart, for God to have her come to know Him as her Savior, for good things in her life. At first, I only expected these prayers to get me through another unbearable situation. What I found out was, my supervisor was much more pleasant to me when I returned. 

At first, I thought it was just a coincidence. So, the next time I went to the bathroom in tears, I prayed something similar for God to bless and heal my supervisor. Again, my supervisor was much more supportive of me when I returned. I decided I was on to something!  I didn't have to eat from stress over work any more. Everytime I turned my supervisor over to God, He took care of everything. I prayed my way through that job and God led me on to other things, much less stressful. When I have difficult people in my life, I don't always remember this situation immediately, but when I do, I try to pray for God to bless them, heal their heart, and have them come to know Him as their Savior. You would never know that you could make such a positive impact someone's life, from the bathroom.

At Least, I'm Nice...

And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: Hebrews 1:10

I had so many different things I hid behind.  My being overweight was one of them. When I was at my heaviest, I used to not join in activities with other adults at my children's school. I figured that they wouldn't like me because I was overweight. So, I never even tried to get to know them on any level other than superficial hi's and bye's. I used to think that the other thin mothers were too involved in worldly things, but at least, I'm nice.

One day, one of the most attractive mothers of a student in my daughter's class approached me. I couldn't believe it and was suspicious of her motives.  How could someone that looked like a model want to be my friend? I figured that she was getting to know me, so that she could ask me to watch her child some time. You know what? She never did that. She just wanted to be friends. It turns out that people who look like models, sometimes, have difficulty making friends, as well.

When I ask God to heal my overeating and the control it has on my life, I sometimes doubt that I will ever be thin again. Then I remember that if God could create the whole world, He can surely take care of my overeating, that is, if I trust Him to. And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: Hebrews 1:10

Since I am applying these Bible Verses to my life, it may not convey the whole meaning of the verses. Debbie

Maybe God Wants to Use Us Just the Way We Are


2 Corinthians 13: 8 For this thing I [Paul] besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And He said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

I don't know how many of you have perfectionistic tendencies, but I've been known to have some, although I often elude myself into thinking I don't. I can't tell you how many times I've started to write a letter to someone, start a page on a project, etc. and made a stray line across the paper, only to start it all over again. Now, that wouldn't be too bad if it were for a finished product for work, but I find myself doing this over things much less important.

I think I carry these perfectionistic tendencies over to my eating, as well. All too often, I find that I am chastising myself, because my eating was less than stellar, nibbling on something not on my food program. Not only is being overly critical of ourselves counterproductive, because it hurts having a healthy self-esteem, but I don't think that's what God wants of us, either. Maybe, God wants to use us just the way we are. Maybe, He wants us to learn about turning our food, our stress, and our lives over to Him, but this will happen in God's timing. I need to remember: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

I Had no Remorse-Is that Good or Bad?

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:26

I guess my blog post today is the complete opposite of the Bible passage I've just chosen. It was late, my husband was stuck in traffic, and I was hungry. It was a hunger that goes beyond food, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. I would later find out, when asking God why I responded this way, that I was concerned about situations that were beyond my control and I had to trust God to resolve things.

If I had turned to God first when I felt this strong hunger, I would have better understood what was causing it. Instead, I opened an extra large bag of organic low-fat, low-salt popcorn and ate every last bit of the bag. I want to say that I couldn't believe I did that, but I remember thinking that this was more than a one bread/starch portion of popcorn, but I didn't care. In the midst of nearing the bottom of the bag, I thought about how I used to weigh 50-60 pounds more than I currently weighed, but I still didn't care.

After I finished the whole bag of popcorn, I thought I'd feel remorse, but I didn't have any-which surprised me. I tried to decide whether that was good or whether it was bad, but I didn't really get a clear answer. I could say it was good, because I used to feel extremely guilty, like I broke the law when I overate, and this wasn't the case. I could say it's bad, because I had no feelings at all. I just plowed right through that bag intending to eat every single bite of it.

When I had my quiet time with God praying about this later in the evening, I never decided whether it was good or bad. I don't think God always wants us to find nice neat little labels for everything we do. I think He wanted me to focus on "what was eating me" instead of "what I was eating." Once God helped me realize what was going on, I tried to turn the situations out of my control over to God. Once again, He has blessed me and healed me, my heart, my soul, and my overeating. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. Joel 2:26

Running into Brick Walls...

Psalms 3: 4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Selah. 5 I laid me down and slept: I awakened; for the Lord sustained me.

There have been many times that God has gotten me through insurmountable odds, when I didn't know what to do. I tried eating, I tried to develop a plan, I tried talking to my friends about these issues, to no avail. Actually, all of these just complicated things and made me so confused that I didn't know what to do.

I remember crying myself to sleep as I prayed to God for some answer to these issues, only to wake up the next morning with a calm feeling, knowing God had me in His very capable hands. Sometimes, He's even had me wake up with a specific plan of action in my mind that I had never thought of before.

Since I know how God's gotten me through situations of this nature in the past, you'd think that I would immediately turn to Him when situations arise. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Sometimes, I get too prideful trying to resolve situations myself, turning to God only as a last resort. You would think I would know better. He doesn't want to see me suffer through things alone, running into brick walls.

Fortunately, God never gives up on me and He hears and comforts me. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Selah. 5 I laid me down and slept: I awakened; for the Lord sustained me. Psalms 3: 4

Let's Go Out to Eat because of this Special Occasion...

O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25:1

Let's go out to eat because of this special occasion. Pick your favorite restaurant and let's celebrate! I've done this all too many times in my life. Over my lifetime, I've made celebrations around food. Let's go get some ice cream-this is a special treat.

What is that teaching my family? I'm teaching my family that food is more than what God has provided for us to nourish our bodies...it is a reward, as well. Do I want my kids picking up my old eating habits that had me end up with 80+ extra pounds? Pounds that undermined my self-respect and affected my relationships with my family and others.

Although I don't want them to fall into the vicious cycle of overeating that I had fallen in to, I still find myself celebrating around food. Even though I'm not still eating the sweets, I'm setting the foundation for the rest of my family to do so. I really need to be more prayerful about being a better example to the rest of my family.
We can walk to the park as a special treat, watch a movie, play a board game, read a book together, stay up later than usual, spend time with a friend, take a bubble bath...you get the idea.

What's more important is whether I am being an example of showing God my thanks for what He has done for me. That should be first and foremost, but unfortunately, it's usually something I do in private. I need to be a better example to my family. O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25:1

I Need to be Saved from Myself, at Times...

Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for Thy mercies' sake. Psalms 6:4

I need to be saved from myself, at times. I will think I'm doing much better with my eating and then find myself slipping back into old overeating patterns. I had made a diet pie that I can eat instead of one of my three daily breads/starches. For several days, my dinner was based around a starch like pasta, rice, etc., so I wasn't able to exchange my evening bread/starch for a slice of pie.

Yesterday, we were having beans for dinner and I was really looking forward to having a piece of that diet pie, afterward. I went to get the pie out of the refrigerator and it looked strange. It was extremely dark around the edges. I tried to talk myself into thinking it was alright to eat anyway. I started scooping the pie onto my plate while I was realizing that the darkness on the pie was probably mold of some type, because it sat in the refrigerator for several days.

That didn't stop me, though. I was figuring a way to eat around it, because I had looked forward to that pie all day, when God intervened. He stopped me dead in my tracks with the realization of what I was about to do for a piece of pie. Why in the world would I even consider eating a piece of pie with mold on it?

Usually, when I slip back into old patterns and am resistant to considering change, more is going on than I realize. That evening, I spent some quiet time on my bed talking to God about it, asking why I was doing this. I've mentioned before that my overeating has more to do with stress and other issues than what I eat. Sometimes they just sneak up on me like this which means I'm not even aware that I'm stressed about anything. You would think after all He's done for me in the past, I would turn to God immediately, but I didn't. Fortunately for me, God saves me from myself, my fears, my stress, my insecurities, and my forgetfulness. I am so glad that God never forgets about me the same way that I forget about Him, and returns my focus to Him, once again. Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for Thy mercies' sake. Psalms 6:4 
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