Sunday, June 2, 2013

Made To Crave, Week 4 - Truth

Bible Verse for the WeekDeuteronomy 2:3 – “You have circled this mountain long enough.  Now turn north.”

Comment Winner - last week’s winner is: Doris
Congratulations! This week the prize is a box of notecards from DaySpring.  Very cute.  Your gift will be in the admin office at the church waiting for you. 

Don’t forget to comment each week (below or by email).  Each time you comment your name goes into the drawing for the weekly prize.  Some people asked, what do you want me to comment?  You can reflect on anything you got from the lesson, answer a question from the participation guide or book or you can just “talk” as if we were all sitting together, what would you share then?  Anything you want to share would be great!  Again, if you can’t post on the blog, just email me your comment.

Our video session this week is 23 minutes long.  This is another great video with our author, Lysa TerKeurst.  Be sure to follow along with the participants guide to get great notes along the way.  Please click below to watch.


If it doesn’t work you can go directly to You Tube –

Assignment for Week 4 - Read Chapters 10-12.  You have all week to complete this assignment, do it at your own pace. 

Additional assignment - Go through all the Personal Reflections Questions at the end of each chapter.  Also, complete the Participant Guide for Session #4. 

Here are some extras from this week’s video & book. 

Video/Participant’s Guide

Our scripture verse for the week, “Now turn north” – we need to make sure now that we are on this journey to healthy eating and taking care of our temple that we never look back.  I have to be honest ladies, I’m a little scared.  I’ve been here before.  I’ve gotten to a place where I’m comfortable where I’m at and I don’t want to go back to where I was.  I’m off of one of my blood pressure medicines.  My doctor is happy.  I feel better health-wise.  I have more energy.  I’m scared I’ll go back to where I was.  Seeing this scripture telling us we have circled this mountain long enough (you can say that again) and to turn north helps me to know that God is telling us not to look back.  I CAN do all things in Christ who strengthens me.  And ladies, I believe you will help me by being my accountability partners, that you will pray for me as I pray for you.  That together we can “turn north” and not go back to circling the mountain again. 

The curse of the skinny jeans, I see her point.  Being able to fit into smaller clothes doesn’t make the world any better of a place.  We are still going to have a rough day with the kids, we are still going to have trouble at our jobs, there are still going to be days when we feel stressed and overwhelmed, even in our skinny jeans!  I sometimes get in a situation with the “if onlys”.  Have you?  If only I were thinner I would have more confidence.  If only we had extra money, I could have a pool and the neighbors could come over our house instead of my kids wanting to go over their house all the time.  If only I didn’t have to work so much, my house and office would be clean (haha).  The truth is even getting to my goal weight, having extra money and not working so much I still might not have all the confidence, a pool and a clean office… We need to stop focusing on the “if onlys” and work with what we have now.  Where does God want us right now?  I know he wants us happy, no matter what our circumstances.

Triggers to truth – what triggers you to temptation?  Can you replace it with God’s truth?  Do you know that only God can satisfy (Ephesians 3:17-19) and it is possible to use self-control?  Do you know that God loves us so much (1 John 3:1) and that God’s word will not return empty, but will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent it? (Isaiah 55:11).  From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him (Psalm 103:17).

Counting the cost – I like how Lysa says we should count the cost of the food we eat.  That brownie and milkshake worth 800 calories certainly isn’t worth me doing housework for 4 hours.  Don’t forget to spiritually count the cost.  We need to remember what we have learned on this journey so far.  We were made for more than this!
Book

Chapter 10– This Isn’t Fair!
Saying “it’s not fair” has caused many a girl to toss aside what she knows is right for the temporary thrill of whatever it is that does seem fair.  Guilt, questions, self-doubt, anger, all come after we do what we know we shouldn’t have done.  We need to think beyond the moment.  Say out loud, “This feels good now, but how will I feel abut this in the morning?”

Once we taste the forbidden fruit, we will crave it worse than we craved it before.  Thereby giving temptation more and more power. 

Lysa realized having a pity party was a clue she was relying on her own strength, a strength that has failed her before and would fail her again.  Have you been there?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” …For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The struggle to say no may be painful in the moment, but it is working out something magnificent within us. 

He wants us to come to Him for fulfillment, emotional healing, comfort – and if we could go to food for that and never gain an ounce, well then, what would we need God for?  Life as a Christ follower will always be a learning process of depending less on our own strength and more on God’s power. 

I help out in the school for a certain teacher once a week.  I got to be close to her and we chat during the breaks.  She is this very sweet, thinner woman.  I’m ashamed to say, as I started this healthy eating plan I started to get jealous of the skinny people.  Why do they get to be so thin and I have to work so hard and be where I am?  One day she had a very honest conversation with me.  She told me that she was scared.  That her doctor put her on a special diet because diabetes runs in her family.  She had to stay away from sugar and eat only certain foods.  She was eating 5 times a day and she kept losing weight.  She was scared because she couldn’t keep the weight on and said, “you don’t realize when you get to be a certain age, it’s scary when you keep losing weight and you aren’t trying to.”  Wow!  Skinny people have problems too?  That was mind-blowing for me.  How self-centered I have been…  Being little doesn’t make a person any more happy or faithful or joyful.  The struggles are similar, just in a different size package.

Chapter 11 – Stinkin’, Rotten, Horrible, No Good Day
Isn’t it just like Satan to make us think we have to have something to comfort us, fill us, satisfy us, only to be haunted by the consequences of this comfort later? 

We are not only tempted during times of celebration but also during times of struggle.

Prayers where I don’t speak at all – have you ever had this?  Where you just sit quietly before the Lord and let the Holy Spirit intercede with perfect prayers on our behalf?  Sometimes we just need to “be still” and know God is there.  I like to envision myself sitting on God’s lap, like I’m a child.  When I’m alone with God this is the best quiet time.  I read a story of a woman that had a box of scripture verses that were cut out and she took the verses and spread them all over her bed.  Then she sat in the middle of them and literally felt “surrounded” by God.  This week our comment winner is going to get a crystal candy dish that is filled with personalized scripture verses that I will create just for you (don’t forget to comment below or by email). 

Whatever it is, if we are really going to stop circling the mountain and head north toward lasting changes, we have to empty ourselves of the lie that other people or things can ever fill our hearts to the full.  Then we have to deliberately and intentionally fill up on God’s truths and stand secure in His love. 

Chapter 12 – The Curse of the Skinny Jeans
What could possibly trouble me if I could fit into my skinny jeans?  We have to remember that our body size is not tied to our happy. 

Remain – John 15:9-12…”Now remain in my love…”

We are taught to remain in God’s love so that we won’t tie our happy to anything but God.  So that our joy will be complete (not lacking anything).  Incomplete people are desperate for others to notice their diet progress, but quickly realize compliments don’t assure connection or intimacy.  Incomplete people think that putting on their skinny jeans will right all their wrongs and fill up all their insecurities.  Bad news – we are all incomplete people.  Good news – Jesus loves incomplete people.  We can have complete joy by being secure enough in His love to reach out and love other incomplete people.

Ultimate Goal – making us crave Jesus and His truths as the ultimate filler of our heart.  Let His thoughts be our thoughts.  Let His ways be our ways.  Let His truths go to the depths of our hearts and produce good things in our lives.  Be led forth in peace because we’ve kept our happy tied only to Jesus. 

Group Get Together – This week let’s meet at the church on Tuesday, June 4th at 10:30am.  Please let me know if you can make it and if I need to get a nursery worker for the kids.  Next week with be another “night time” meeting.

Last week’s Exercise was AWESOME!  Thanks to all the ladies that came out to sweat, breathe and then speak about the book.  I love your honesty, you are all amazing and a gift to me!  Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Closing Prayer – I thank you again for this study we are taking on together.  I thank you for these women and their openness and honesty and willingness to make a change.  I thank you for our self-control and accountability toward one another.  I pray as we get closer to fitting into our “skinny jeans” that we know our happy is not tied to our body size but our happy is only tied to Jesus.  I pray peace and truth in the lives of these beautiful women.  All my Jesus friends say, “Amen.”

If you missed other posts find them here:

Live in the Truth my friends,
Shila

9 comments:

  1. From an email I received: What has really stuck with me is that our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit. I heard it and have said it dozens of times, but this time I am more conscious of it and how I nourish myself. Thanks again Shila. From, Leslie

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  2. Email comment from Marie: I enjoyed the exercise class and was surprised I was able to keep up with you all !! You never know if you can do something until you try it............
    I am keeping up with the book and need to pray more before I make decisions to eat the wrong thing. It's not easy for me.

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  3. Prayer request from an anonymous online bible study buddy: please pray for her job situation. She has accepted a job that she doesn't like and doesn't want to be on unemployment.
    Since we all stand in agreement on this healthy journey together, let's be willing to pray for one another on other issues as well. Together we lift up our sister and her job situation. We pray in agreement that God would work things out for His glory. In Jesus name, Amen!

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  4. Email comment - In the book, where it talks about having a plan...I knew I needed to figure something out - FAST. So I chose weight watchers and Zumba a couple times a week. With Gods help I've lost a few pounds and feel great. I still have a way to go but with God, this plan and this book study I finally feel I'm on the right track.

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  5. An anonymous email comment - I can tell you that one of the biggest problems I am having with the book is that weight has NEVER been something that I would pray about. My weight is something that I feel very guilty about. No one is making me put too much bad food into my body yet I do it over and over again. I feel like a huge failure over and over again. The whole idea of stopping when you are mid food craving and starting to pray is completely foreign to me. I am one of those people that failed the quiz thing at the end of the first session. I hide food, I eat in secret all that "bad " stuff. I would love to see what some other women think about when they are in the midst of a food binge.

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  6. Email comment - For me it's still very difficult to see me as God sees me. I'm very judgmental of myself.

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    1. If you can learn to really look inside, you will see yourself the way God sees you. You are beautiful my friend!

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    2. I agree with that Shila. I've seen it in my own life. It was only when I looked inside, saw that Christ was right there with me, that he loved me more than I could ever imagine - just as I was. That changes started happening in my mind first (being content right where I was) & in my body second. My diet changes came from advice within -more water, more walking. I'm feeling better & in more control with Him as my Guide instead of me.

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  7. The study is going well and the word that stood out for me this week was "obedience" in Christ. "Obedience" reminds me to remain in God’s love that enables me to love others. Also that I should not focus on things such as skinny jeans and other objects as a way of happiness but to rely on Jesus.

    Thank you Shila!

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