John 10: 27 My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: 28 And
I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand.
For years when I was overweight, I felt like a Lost Sheep wandering from one diet to another, hoping that one would call my name and my life would be wonderful! Well, I tried that for lots of years, but these diets never made much of a change for long. For one thing, my life being wonderful didn't have much to do with whether I was on a diet, but I didn't know that at the time.
Although I loved Christ throughout the time I was overweight, I wasn't listening to His voice when He called me. I kept thinking that I can lose this weight. I can have the will power to make a change. I was thinking that I can take care of my growing vice, if I only tried hard enough. I had tried years and years of different diets and even acupuncture, but I never kept any of the weight off for long. It would all come back and then some, quicker than I had anticipated. That only told me that I can do it if I only work harder.
It wasn't until I had been on my "Good Diet" for awhile and only cheated a little and found that I had gained weight, that I gave up. Yep! I said gave up and that made all the difference. I sat on my bed, not really expecting anything, and said, "God, I give up and if You ever want me to be thin, You'll have to take care of it, because I can't do it."
Do you know it was that very same day that the desire for great amounts of food, treats, etc. no longer called my name. It wasn't the day before or the day after. It started from that very same day. I no longer craved these things and it didn't have to do with a specific diet. God allowed me to lose 80 pounds and has allowed me to keep the vast majority of the weight off for over 30+ years.
Did I do any of it? No! I tried to figure out how it happened that God allowed this blessing when I prayed for Him to help me lose weight all those years. Well, that was the answer. I was asking God to help me lose it. I wasn't turning it over to His very capable hands and was wandering about like a Lost Sheep. When I said the prayer above when everything started to change, I was giving up, plain and simple. It was the first time I wasn't trying to be in control of my food, my body, and my eating. It was the first time that I was turning the control over to Christ and hearing His voice instead of mine, which has been a blessing much more than any weight loss. When I slip, which happens from time to time, Christ shows me when I'm prayerful about it, that I've been turning to food again in times of stress, etc. Then, when I apologize and ask His guidance, He refocuses me and I try to let Him be in control.
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.
