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/

Have You Ever Been Around Hateful People?-

Psalm 6: 8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. 9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

Have you ever been around hateful people? No matter what you say, what you do, or how you do it, these people are going to find fault with it. Being basically a person who tries to please everyone, being around people like this has caused me a great deal of stress. I used to eat over it, but nothing happened, except for becoming even more overweight.

There were times, when my self-esteem was low, I even thought I deserved negative behavior and comments from others because I felt worthless. Once I started turning hateful people and my reactions over to God, He freed me from owning the terrible things some people say. God knows what my motives are for my actions and He doesn't want me to feel worse about myself because of someone else's negative comments. The genuine love that Jesus has for us, frees me from feeling like I am, what the negative comment projects.

God wants good things in my life, and doesn't want me bombarded by negative people. God also lets me know that I don't have to keep company with hateful people. Sure, there are those you might be related to. First of all, be prayerful about these relationships and pray that God heals their hearts. Additionally, there are ways to structure your interactions, by distancing yourselves from them, by being busy doing other things, and by not engaging in coversations that are bound to have a negative outcome. Psalm 6: 8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. 9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

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 verses.

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Jumping Back into the Old Guilt Mode Again-

For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7

I realized that my food plan had been sloppy for some time, causing me to regain about a third of  the 80+ pounds that I had lost over 30 years ago. With this realization, I became all too aware that I must have gotten sloppy with my relationship with God, since He's the one who allowed me to lose the weight in the first place.

After praying to be more focused on God's will, trying to turn the food, stress, and control over to God, and watching my portion sizes, God has allowed me to lose almost all that excess weight I had gained back in the last five years or so. It's funny how all those old feelings start creeping back in as I've gone through this process again.

I have found that instead of letting people see that I've lost weight, I have been wearing baggy clothes and jackets. A man was flirtatious when I was in a public place today. I did nothing to encourage such behavior and I had my baggy clothes on. Immediately, I jump back into the old guilt mode again like I did when I first lost the weight 30+ years ago, feeling like I am responsible for his behavior.

God wants balance in my life. He doesn't want me flaunting my weight loss, neither does He want me taking on guilt for someone else's behavior, nor does He want me hiding behind baggy clothes. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7

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.

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God Doesn't Want Me Sitting on the Sidelines Any More-

Hebrews 13: 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

I went to a diversity training workshop with my husband. It made a major difference on my life. They talked about many different types of discrimination, especially that of race. I was no newcomer to discrimination. I had been heavy for years and had people gawk at me, ignore me, treat me like my feelings didn't matter, but that wasn't the case now.

They gave several examples of discrimination, but the one that impacted my life was: that by saying nothing, we were condoning the discriminatory behavior of others. That means, that by my sitting quietly on the sidelines and doing nothing, I was helping them be rude and hurtful to others. 

The Self-Righteous Christian inside me who thought I was sensitive to the needs of others was stunned! That means I can't sit back like I'm invisible, but I have to take an active stance. I have to say things like: "I don 't like it when you say negative things about other races, those who are handicapped, or are poor."  I wish I could tell you that I always do it, but I try to take a more active stand. I know that God is going to provide the wording, because God doesn't want me sitting on the sidelines anymore.  Hebrews 13: 5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

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 verses.

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Leaving Food on My Plate-

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. Proverbs 3:9.

This is kind of a difficult one to explain to someone else, but here goes...When I read the passage above when God had me lose the 80+ pounds over 30 years ago, it impacted my life. Sure, the Israelites, were bringing the first and best of all their fruits, vegetables, animals, etc. to the priests as an offering to thank God for saving them from bondage to the Egyptians.

At first, it didn't seem like this verse pertained to me. Then, I got to thinking...God saved me from bondage to food. I used to eat over anything and everything. I ate over stressful situations, over joyful situations, over boredom, etc. You name it, I ate over it. Well, God took that compulsion to overeat away from me and it wasn't by anything I did. I just told God that I gave up and if He ever wanted me to be thin, He'd have to take care of it...and He did!!!

Starting that same day, I no longer had the desire to eat great quantities of food. God showed me that when I'm stressed, I need to turn it over to Him. When I'm happy, I need to be thankful to Him and react to my emotions in less destructive ways. After that day, I could look at a banana split loaded with crunchy nuts on it and it no longer called me by name. It really didn't matter to me and neither did it matter that others were eating foods I liked in front of me.

After realizing that God had saved me from the bondage to my food, the idea came into my mind that I could give God my first fruits to thank Him for saving me from myself. I figured the very first bites of anything I ate always tasted the best. So, I leave a bite of each food I'm eating on my plate to remind me that God alone has freed me from the compulsion to overeat. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. Proverbs 3:9.

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.

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The One I End Up Offending is God-

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [Bible], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:19

Sometimes I try so hard not to offend others, that the one I end up offending is God. When I was writing Bible Passages That Can Influence Your Life, a friend kindly offered to edit the book for me. 

I really try hard to be politically correct and to be sensitive to the feelings of others. When I came to a highly debated passage of the Bible, I paraphrased it in a way that skewed the meaning God had, in order to be less offensive to some. My friend was a much better Christian than I, since she drew attention to this. I tried to explain, but she reminded me what the Bible really did say and mine was a watered down version of that, trying not to offend anyone.

As a teacher, I used to stress over dealing with parents who struggled with maintaining appropriate boundaries with their children. I would overeat due to the stress of what to say. I thought it was important for there to be positive change, but I didn't want to offend the parents in the process. Invaraibly, I would express my concerns in such a polite, soft-mannered way, that they didn't even realize the point I was trying to share. Eventually, I learned to be more prayerful before these meetings, to better meet the needs of my students.

Remembering the following passage, I re-evaluated my entry and changed it. I still had a difficult time being as direct as I possibly should have.  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [Bible], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:19

Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

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Until I'm Afraid-

Psalms 34: 21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee.

Sometimes, I get so caught up in the world, I forget about God and all He's done for me...until I'm afraid. When I'm afraid, He's the one I want to turn to, although I often turn to food first, before I identify my fear.

When I have devastating issues in my life, I know from previous experiences where God has wrapped His loving arms around me, no food could ever calm and protect me like my Savior does. From those experiences, I learn to trust Him more each time a new devastating issue arises. Things may not always turn out the way I ask, but I do know God will get me through those situations whichever way is His will, since He always knows the Big Picture. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee. Psalms 34: 21

Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verses.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:


I Was Ravenous All the Time-

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 22:5.

You don't realize how important light is until you don't have any. Several years ago, we had a freezing rain storm that put out the electricity for three days. We didn't have any lights, so I was off of school. I valued the little light I had as I sat by the sliding glass window to read my Bible each morning and the kerosene lamp by night.

We cooked in our fireplace, which seemed to be a big adventure, although it wrecked my pans. I was ravenous all the time. I think it's for fear that the food would spoil and we'd run out. Reading the Bible daily, calmed and reassured me that God was going to take care of me through this episode.

We won't need sliding glass doors or kerosene lamps in heaven,because Jesus is our Light and shows us the way to ever lasting life!  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 22:5.

Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verse.

These Are Other Blogs I Felt Led to Write:


God's Healing Touch on My Selfish Heart-

Matthew 28: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

My husband and I went with the youth group to another country on a mission project. We were sharing our faith in Jesus as we helped to build simple homes for those who had so little. Since I have a bad back, I focused on working with the kids while the others did the actual building.

When it was time to pack for our return home, someone suggested that we leave clothes for the poor. I went through my suitcase and picked out some things I didn't mind parting with, but I didn't feel right inside. I can't truly tell you if I overate, because that's often how I deal with things of this nature, but I know that I truly had an unsettling feeling in the core of my being.

When I turned this over to God, I found I had only been willing to share the clothing that didn't mean as much to me, stopping the Self-Righteous Christian in me, dead in my tracks! This time, I got a bigger stack of clothes to donate, but didn't put in a new nightgown that I had recently purchased. Again, I had that unsettling feeling in my soul. God was working on my heart. I wasn't being a good example of observing all things God had commanded of me.

Possessions had become too important to me. I was asked to share with those less fortunate. I did up to a point, but the point is, Jesus didn't just share His life with us up to a point. He gave His life for us. After God's healing touch on my selfish heart, I left all my clothing with them. Matthew 28: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verses.

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Fortunately, God Gave Me a Questioning Nature-

1 John 5: 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

My previous husband, took me over to visit a couple who had been good friends of his from high school. They were very devout in their faith, which was different from mine. They started questioning me about my faith in God. As they did this, they quoted Bible verses to support theirs was the one true church. Their belief acknowledged Jesus, but not in the same way that most Christians do. They felt Jesus was a prophet, teacher, good man, but they didn't focus on Him as the Son of God who died and arose to save us from our sins.

I should have been stronger, but I wasn't. They quoted Bible verse after Bible verse to demonstrate how all my beliefs were against God's will, and their church was right. After a while, I found myself doubting my own faith. I left their house befuddled, and wondering if I had been wrong about Jesus and my faith all these years.

Fortunately for me, God gave me a questioning nature. I went home and instead of overeating over the stress I felt, I looked up the Bible verses they quoted, because what they said just didn't ring true. When I looked them up, I consistently found the same thing. If  I read the quoted verses by themselves, they might sound like they supported the points they made about their church. When I read a few verses before and after the quoted verses, I found the quoted verses didn't even have anything to do with the topics they discussed. Time after time, I found their points to be invalid.

It's pretty scary to think I could become so vulnerable to people using verses out of context in order to convince me to go to their church. There still are many Christian sounding churches that do this to convince others that their church is the right one. It's vitally important to your salvation to have a questioning nature to not be confused by verses people quote to you. Always read several verses before and after the verses you are checking and be prayerful about them. 1 John 5: 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Since I have used this Bible passage as an example of how God has positively influenced my overeating, this does not necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the verses.


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