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/

My Overeating Contributed to My Losing a Job Once

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Proverbs 4:14-15

I was somewhere the other day when I remembered how overeating contributed to my losing a job, years ago. I was a senior in high school and I had worked at a hamburger/ice cream drive in. The boss had told us that he was deducting a particular amount from our wages to cover what we ate on breaks and he told us that we could eat what we wanted, so I took him at his word.

I worked there part of my junior year, senior year, and following summer. I missed my Junior Senior Ball, because I stayed to work there, because they were short-handed. Now, I say that, but the person who asked me to the ball really wasn't someone I was interested in, so working became an easy excuse for not attending. So, saying it was because of the job was really the chicken way out of dealing with the situation. I've found I've done things like that a lot in my life...more than I'd like to admit!

Anyway, I was working on a weekend and my shift was over. I was waiting for my ride home from work, when I grabbed someone's incomplete ticket that hadn't been totaled. I totaled it as a favor to the person, thinking I was doing this nice thing and the owner looked at it and fired me. He said that I had made some type of error in my calculations.

I thought it was a pretty dramatic response to an error, because I had never been told about errors in the past. As I thought about it over the years, I realized that my overeating probably had more to do with it than the error on the ticket. I was always on a diet, so when I took my break, I used to cook up a frozen hamburger steak that they used for steak sandwiches. It cost less than the amount that the owner took out of my wages and he said that we could eat what ever we wanted, so I thought nothing about it.

The owner had employees use plastic cups for their soda drinks to save the expense of cups. I don't like soda, but what I did was to put a layer of soft serve ice cream and a layer of crackle chocolate, followed by another layer of ice cream, etc. until it filled the cup. Now, this seems so funny. I was eating hamburger steaks to lose weight, but never gave the layered ice cream and chocolate treats a second thought.

Although I don't know this to be true, I have come to believe that the owner must have wondered why he was having to order more hamburger steaks when the receipts didn't show that many were ordered. Also, he may have wondered why he had to reorder the crackle chocolate when not that many dipped cones were sold. I'm figuring that once he identified that I was the one costing him money, he looked for a legitimate reason for firing me, which made itself available when I made a calculation error on that unfinished ticket that I totaled for someone.  It would be easier if I hadn't let food control so much of my life, but I didn't realize the negative impact it had on my life, at that point. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Proverbs 4:14-15

I Can't Ink Out the Time, but God Can

 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Romans 12:12
Life continues to be busy far beyond my control. In fact, there are days that I sit in amazement at the end of the day and reflect about how God got me through all the things that are going on. The sad thing is that I am letting all this keep me so busy that I don't get time to talk to God the way I usually do.

I've allowed these months of extreme busyness to work a wedge in my relationship with my Savior, although I didn't realize it. When I was writing some recent posts, it became very apparent to me that this was happening. I think I must have been putting off my time to pray throughout the day until a later time when things were less hectic, but that time never really came.

Becoming aware of this, I was first fraught with frustration, because my relationship with Christ is of utmost importance, more important than getting through these busy days. I realized that there have been little to no gaps of time to ink out to pray, to sing, etc. I realize I've been waiting for perfection, but goes doesn't expect perfection from me. He wouldn't mind if I said short prayers or hummed songs in my mind in the midst of all the busy things going on during these months. In fact, what God has shown me is that these are exactly what I need at any given time in order to get through all these events that are out of my control. I like the part in this Bible verse that says: continuing instant in prayer, exactly what I need!   Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Romans 12:12

Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!

Types of Christians

A Christian Caregiver

Labels:

It's So Easy to Get Confused

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:6-8

I was telling a dear friend about this not long ago and thought it was worth sharing. Years ago, I visited with some people that I knew. During my visit with them, they proceeded to tell me how my faith was totally wrong. They quoted all types of Bible verses that seemed to reinforce just how wrong my faith had been all these years.

Bewildered when I arrived home, I turned to the Bible to get some clarification on this new information that was shared with me. When I did, I was shown that they pulled particular verses out of the Bible to support what they were saying, but in reading before and after the passage they used, the Bible passage wasn't even talking about the topic they related it to.

This is called Quoting the Bible out of Context. In other words, some people deliberately use portions of the Bible that has nothing or little to do with the topic they are talking about. I have found it very helpful to read the chapter before and after any verse or passage someone shares with me to determine if that's really what it's talking about. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Colossians 2:6-8

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

The Gossip Factor

A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Proverbs 11:13

I've been in situations where friends were sharing derogatory private information about others. I guess if I'm really being honest, there have been times in my life where I indulged in The Gossip Factor, as well.

The thing is, when I'm around others who are gossiping or I indulge in this vice as well, I don't feel good about myself and my faith walk with Christ. I had to make a change. I could no longer be a part of a group saying how some other person looked too big to fit into the outfit that they were wearing. I could no longer be a part of a group saying how the other person made unethical personal choices. I could no longer be a part of a group that put others down to make themselves feel better.

Even if I don't have a group of friends crowded around me, I find that I sleep much better at night, feel closer to my Lord and Savior, and can look these people in the face when I'm not a Gossiping Christian. A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Proverbs 11:13

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

Busy, Busy, Busy

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3: 15-16

It seems that for the last three months I've been all too busy. Usually, I can fit some time in to work on one blog or the other, but this time it's been very different. There have been situations that have made it difficult for me to ink out some time to get on my computer. I know it shouldn't be that way for months, but it has.  I'm not complaining...or...maybe I am.

The most significant part of this isn't just the keeping up with the editing of blog posts. It's more that when I write these posts, God teaches me lessons about myself, my human fallible nature, and brings me back to focus on Him when I start to stray. 

In recent posts I've come to realize that some of my Christian priorities need to be refocused, which saddens me. Fortunately for me, I have a Savior that shows me what is lacking in my life and what needs to be done. I'm not sure how to change some of the busyness, because some of that is totally out of my hands right now. The part that can be changed is focusing more on Christ in the midst of those busy times by praying, singing and letting Christ lead the way, instead of me trying to be able to do it all. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3: 15-16

 Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!

Types of Christians

A Christian Caregiver


Food Always Tasted Better When I Was Mad!

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forebearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:12-13

It's funny how a compulsive overeater like me associates so many different things with food. I ate when I was lonely. I ate when I was stressed. I ate when I was happy. I ate when I was afraid. I ate when I was worried, but I also ate when I was mad.

Its funny how the food always tasted better when I was mad! I'm not sure if that's because it's an extreme emotion or what. All I know is that I used food for comfort all too many times and in all too many situations when I really should have been turning to Christ, so food became a false god in my life.

I needed to turn to Christ, not just to heal those feelings of anger, but to resolve the issues that caused these emotions. Sometimes, I can prayerfully work these situations out with those involved rather than eating over them. Even if it isn't possible to rectify some situations, I can turn my heart and my pain over to God to be open to letting Him heal my heart, so that I can genuinely forgive those who have offended me in one way or another. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forebearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:12-13
Since I am applying these Bible Verses to my life, it may not convey the whole meaning of the verses. Debbie

I Didn't Need Their Friendship Anymore

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13

Do I really need to be a Vindicated Christian? There was a time where I was in the midst of my compulsive overeating that I thought it was important. I thought that I would prove all those skinny snobs wrong when I'm finally thin. I will show them that I am somebody special and that I really didn't really need their friendship any more.

In some ways, that was right. Christ taught me that when I started turning to Him in times of stress instead of to food, that I was worthwhile and I didn't have to belong to particular groups to have self-worth. I didn't have to be thin to have self-worth. I didn't have to wear certain clothes to have self-worth. God gave me that self-worth freely, when I started turning my life, my eating, and problems over to His very capable hands.

 I learned that I don't have to stay clear of people who are skinny or are drawn to their friendships either. God gives me a whole other perspective on those I choose as friends. He showed me that I should choose friends because they were worthwhile and they support me, as a person. They needed to support my relationship with Christ and have a mutual relationship with Him, as well. I am no longer dependent on others to determine what type of person I am or whether I am worthwhile. Christ does this!  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:13


Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my overeating, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verse.
These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:

Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life

Bible Study: Relating the Bible to YOUR Life!

Types of Christians

A Christian Caregiver


Turning a Blind Eye

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3

 Some times, I think I live my life hoping that God looks only at the good things I do on His behalf and turns a blind eye on the evil things I've done that I'm not proud of. I guess I'm a Cut Me Some Slack Christian more times than I would like to admit.

The thing is, God takes everything in, the good and the bad, but still forgives me if I remember to ask Him to do so. He's not just turning a blind eye, but loves me in spite of all my many flaws and shortcomings. He loved me enough to send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to give His life to save me from my many, many sins.

God loves me in spite of my compulsive overeating and turning to food instead of to Him in times of stress. God loves me in spite of my gossiping or being judgmental or being short-tempered or ....and the list goes on and on. I am so truly blessed to have a Heavenly Father who sees all and loves and forgives me anyway. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3

A Case of Less is More

Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15:16

This is a case if less is more. Being an overeater, I can carry that one step further. Having less food while following God's will for our lives is far better than having lots of food and having to deal with the resulting: depression, lack of self-esteem, feeling isolated, etc.

It's been over 30 years that God has allowed me to keep off the vast majority of the 80+ pounds that I had lost through His saving grace. Christ saved me from myself. I was turning to food in times of crisis, joy, stress, and everything in between. Food had become a false god to me, because I was turning to it rather than to God.

Over 30 years ago, I told God that I was giving up and that if He ever wanted me to be thin, He'd have to do it, because I couldn't do it any more. At the time, I think I was just working toward self-acceptance, because I just figured that I was always going to be heavy and might as well give up fighting it. Well, it was that very same day that Christ stepped into my life on a whole new level and saved me from myself and my self-destructive pattern with food.

Have I perfectly followed my food program all these years? Unfortunately not, but God is right there to pick me up when I down a half bag of tortilla chips. I want to be a Less is More Christian and Christ is there to remind that I don't want to revert back to the way things were and shows me that He is the better way to resolve stressful issues. When I turn my stress over to God's very capable hands, my life falls back into place again. Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15:16
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Links to Other Blogs I Felt Led to Create Below: