God restores me so I can stay on track – even when I want to quit. I have my normal triggers – fatigue, stress, and available food calling my name. This past week, I enjoyed feasting on foods I normally don’t eat without overeating.  Instead of turning to food, I cried out to God for comfort. 1 Chronicles 16:11-12 is, “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.  Remember His wonderful deeds which he has done (New American Standard Bible, 1995).  During Christmas, I like to prepare my heart by spending additional reading God’s word.   This helps me to not only deepen myRead More →

I cannot avoid food temptation on my own.  Today, I will go to my first Christmas party of this year.  This is my first time of the Christmas season to face a food table, with gooey holiday desserts and salty, fatty snacks.  My instinct is to indulge and enjoy; it is a special occasion, and I can overdo it just this once. Since I do not want to spend the entire month of December overeating,  I need to depend on God for strength. God takes what I have, my messed up attempts to get it right, my inability to stick to any diet, and gives me strengthRead More →

On this day of thanks, I am thankful for problems and stresses.  When I face a trial, I have a choice. My first choice, getting mad, does nothing.  When I try to fix and resolve issues on my own, I end up with a bigger mess than I started with.  The better choice is to trust God.  He either helps my circumstances, or gives me strength and wisdom so I can make it through the storm.  I gain spiritual growth by depending on God to help me through trials.  My life is not perfect; it seems like I resolve a problem and rejoice, only to find a new dilemma onRead More →

November is social media’s “Thankful Challenge Month” where people are challenged to post one thing every day they are grateful for.  When I have done this, I started by telling the world I am thankful for the obvious; family, friends, health, and jobs.  As the 30 days went on, I was forced to find gratitude in minor details.  I saw God helping me with the small stuff of life. Without doing this challenge, I would have not seen just how much God is involved in everything. Even though I am not doing an official challenge this year, I still find something to praise Him for eachRead More →

For too long, I have turned to food for comfort.  I ate to stuff down my stress, anxiety, and fatigue.  After my plate was clean, I still felt pain, and continued to eat.  My stomach was stuffed to the point of discomfort, but my feelings still hurt. In addition to the stresses I tried to eat away, I had guilt reminding me I slipped again. Instead of food, God can actually comfort me.  Psalm 10:17 is, “Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.  Surely, you will hear their cries and comfort them.” (Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, 2004, 2007).  Food can never comfort me likeRead More →

Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday eating season.  In past years, I started October by stocking up on Halloween candy and eating most of it.  I continued eating leftover candy, and even bought more candy after Halloween.   The candy was gone in time for all the Thanksgiving feasts, including desserts.  This year is already different, because God has changed my heart.  I do not want to overeat any more.   This is the first Halloween that I did not stock up on candy, only to eat most of it. As long as God is in control, I do not worry about overeating.  Romans 8:6Read More →

In the past, I was afraid to get hungry.  I snacked in between meals to avoid hunger.  When I dieted, I grazed on “free” foods throughout the day. Once God showed me that I could wait until my body was hungry to eat, I learned hunger was not as painful as I had thought.  He showed me when I depend on Him, He gives me strength. God recently showed me I had been eating more food than my body needs.  Through prayer, I realized it was partly stress eating.  However, most of my problem was that I was afraid to be hungry.  I had to remember GodRead More →

Sometimes I get an urge to cram as much food as I can in my body.  As this urge goes on, I tell myself I need “just one more”.  It is never enough. This compulsion to stuff food down my body drives me to continue eating, even after my stomach is stuffed.   This compulsion usually comes with a nagging feeling that something is wrong; I am stressed, tired, or worried.  No amount of food can soothe these feelings.  This is a mask for emptiness that only God can fill. I  need to stuff God in my heart when I have the compulsive feeling to stuffRead More →

I had a fairly good week staying on track. I did lean on God and worked to keep my connection with Him strong.  I caught myself about to eat when I was stressed and prayed instead.  God’s ways work to keep me from slipping. 2 Corinthians 10:4 is, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. (Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, 2004, 2007).  The world tells me to resist temptation by staying away from it.  Other experts tell me to post pictures of me at my goal weight for motivation.  These worldlyRead More →

If worrying was an Olympic event, I would win gold.  Sometimes I concentrate on problems and plan “what if” situations that result in the worst possible ending.  I know that worry never solves the real issue. In my mind,  I am working to solve a problem, but in reality, I waste time when I worry. Philippians 4:6 is, “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” (Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 1996, 2004, 2007). God commands me to pray instead of worrying. When I worry, I focus on the problem. I accomplish nothing. Many times,Read More →