Living Proof
Thursday, January 10th, 2013
First off I just want to saw Happy New Year! My hope and
prayer for you is that 2013 can be one where you look back and say, “I made it,
and did it with the attitude of Christ.” Of course there will be mess ups, but
God is forgiving and will not give you anything you cannot bare (1 Corinthians
10:13).
This year
already, I have been giving great thought about the topic of Gluttony, kinda
weird right? Gluttony is described at the indulging of too much, whether its alcohol,
clothes, technology, food or whatever you may be indulging too much of. For me,
this sermon stressed the question, “why are you eating?” Do we look for comfort
in foods? Do we eat simply because we are bored? Most people can say they look
for food as comfort when we are going through a tough time. It’s no surprise we
hear about people on The Biggest Loser who gained hundreds of pounds after a
dark time in their life, they looked to food for comfort. But shouldn’t we run
to God for that? Can God really help us to stop over eating or ultimately cure
our hunger? I believe he can. Jesus spent 40 days and nights without food in a
desert, God helped him through it. When he was tempted –with food- he used scripture
to rid his temptation (Matthew 4: 1-11). If it could work for Jesus, why can’t
it work for us? Pray about it. Ask yourself right before you’re about to eat
that huge brownie right before bed, “Do I really need this?” Probably not. So
pray, and ask God to help you overcome the temptation of food.
For years I have always stressed the importance
of self confidence in girls, and embracing true beauty. It was my platform for
pageants. I was against eating disorders and would often write papers about
their effects. It was time I started taking my own advice. I wrote this on
March 28, 2011 for my LDC application: “Eighth grade was great, I was able to be myself except for
one thing; I was convinced that I was fat. It drove me crazy, I tried eating
less, tried to become a vegetarian, exercised a lot, but nothing was working.
Seeds 2010 woke me up, I believed a lie. Satan told me all these things, which I
believed too much. Trish Propson was one of the speakers that week at camp. She
completely changed my life, I was able to realize that I was trapped in the
cage covered in lies and I couldn’t come out, she helped me and the rest of the
Seeds team to let go of our lies and burn them. After I did that, I felt so
good. The burden was lifted off my shoulders, I was set free. I have now
realized that God created me for a propose. I am a daughter of Christ.” This lie
still drowns me. I look back to when I wrote this and I wonder why I lost this
truth in my life. I found this app back in October called Lose It. It’s an app
where you can track how many calories you have consumed in one day. I became so
addicted to it. I set my limit at 1,324 calories a day, which was supposed to
help me lose two pounds in a week. It was easy. I kept this up from November
till now. I quit eating certain foods, and when I would indulge in “bad foods”
I would work out insane amounts to try to burn off all the calories I had
consumed. I obsessed over every little thing I put in my mouth. If it went over
on my app, I would feel so terrible about myself, a failure. I began to believe
the lie again that I wasn’t worthy. I didn’t like the way God had made me; I
was trying to take control of my life. If God was the ultimate leader of my
life, why did I have to worry and obsess over the way I looked? I don’t. Song of
Songs 4:1a states, “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful!” God
created me. He calls me beautiful. The creator of the entire world calls me
beautiful. And for me, that’s enough. Food can no longer be my obsession, but
God’s truths are. God can cure my hunger and my obsession with food. No self
help book, no therapist, just the almighty God. And honestly, that’s the best
person I can have encouraging me to be me.
