I am reading Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst and it is rocking my world. Mostly because it feels like she is writing words directly from my heart. Although it may be about struggles with food addiction, it absolutely applies to whatever struggles you face in life and/or any addiction you have.
There has been something in just about every chapter that has truly grabbed my heart and made me think hard about how I live my life. But this...this statement below, once it takes root, I believe it is going to redirect my thought patterns for days to come.
Chapter 10, “It’s Not Fair!” of Made To Crave, focuses on the notion of how unfair it is that some of us have to struggle with food, instead of just enjoying it like others who can eat a bag of chips or a handful of chocolate chip cookies and not gain a pound. Personally, food is my drug of choice when I am stressed, emotional or just plain bored, so that is why I relate to just about everything in this great book. It has truly blessed my soul.
But WOW! What if we had a different perspective about the struggles God has trusted us to handle? What if instead of being exhausted by our struggles and life’s challenges, we were empowered by them? Lysa TerKeurst quotes 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, that in part says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Funny how you read a verse over and over again, and it lays quietly on the pages of the Holy Bible, until the moment it is specific to your life; then it explodes across your heart and mind and you finally get what is being said - you get a revelation.
The part that caused me to journal this moment was Lysa TerKeurst sharing what a friend wrote:
When I get all caught up in how unfair it is that my friend is skinny and doesn’t have to work at it, how she can eat what she wants when she wants, and how much it stinks that I can’t be like her, I remind myself that God didn’t make me to be her. You see, He knew even before I was born that I could easily allow food to be an idol in my life, that I would go to food, instead of to Him, to fulfill my needs. And in His great wisdom, He created my body so that it would experience the consequences of such a choice, so that I would continually be drawn back into His arms. He wants me to come to Him for fulfillment, emotional healing, comfort - and if I could go to food for that and never gain an ounce, well then, what would I need God for?
WOW! So the very thing I struggle with is the very thing that keeps me close to God. So instead of seeing my addiction to food as something that defeats me, that I can’t seem to overcome, what if I began to see it as the very platform I can stand on to walk closer to a God who loves me? A God who will deliver me from the addictive element of this thing, when He knows I will turn completely to Him in the midst of whatever emotions I am having. WOW!
That shifts a lot for me; in my heart, in my mind... and the fact that I can make the connection because I’ve experienced it personally just fills my heart with joy! In everything God has saved me from - a broken heart, depression, an almost lost marriage - I have gained a part of Him I would never have known had it not been for the challenges I faced.
In those times I have NEVER felt closer to God than I did when it was darkest; when I was at my weakest. Now, I can say, I wouldn’t trade any of those things for what I have become so far because, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7-8). Mercy...I know what Paul means now...
There is no other way to experience the power of God except when we are weak. When I had nothing left to fight with, His Power said, “Now, I can do what I have always wanted to do. Heal you and rebuild you into the daughter I originally designed you to be!”
Lysa TerKeurst says on the same page:
What if this battle with food isn’t the curse we’ve always thought it to be? What if it’s actually the very thing, if brought under control, that can lead us to a better understanding of God?
When we are in the battle of whatever struggle we face, it is the very platform we can stand on for having “a better understanding of God”. The struggle is a platform. Not a battle. The battle has been won! It is not our battle; it is the Lord’s! (2 Chronicles 20:15) And God has already won!
BLESS HIS HOLY NAME! I can easily say I wish I didn’t have this struggle. I wish I didn’t have this on-going battle with food and cravings, but if I didn’t, what would my relationship with God be like? I would not know what I know of Him, that He is long-suffering, full of forgiveness, mercy and grace. That His love is not based on my eating habits but is solidified by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Maybe if I stopped living in fight mode and lived in victory, I would experience the freedom Christ died for me to have more often!
LORD, I LOVE YOU AND I THANK YOU for the struggles in my life. May I see them as platforms to stand on and walk closer to your heart every single day of my life until You alone are my source for everything!
Blown away by Jesus!
There has been something in just about every chapter that has truly grabbed my heart and made me think hard about how I live my life. But this...this statement below, once it takes root, I believe it is going to redirect my thought patterns for days to come.
Chapter 10, “It’s Not Fair!” of Made To Crave, focuses on the notion of how unfair it is that some of us have to struggle with food, instead of just enjoying it like others who can eat a bag of chips or a handful of chocolate chip cookies and not gain a pound. Personally, food is my drug of choice when I am stressed, emotional or just plain bored, so that is why I relate to just about everything in this great book. It has truly blessed my soul.
But WOW! What if we had a different perspective about the struggles God has trusted us to handle? What if instead of being exhausted by our struggles and life’s challenges, we were empowered by them? Lysa TerKeurst quotes 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, that in part says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Funny how you read a verse over and over again, and it lays quietly on the pages of the Holy Bible, until the moment it is specific to your life; then it explodes across your heart and mind and you finally get what is being said - you get a revelation.
The part that caused me to journal this moment was Lysa TerKeurst sharing what a friend wrote:
When I get all caught up in how unfair it is that my friend is skinny and doesn’t have to work at it, how she can eat what she wants when she wants, and how much it stinks that I can’t be like her, I remind myself that God didn’t make me to be her. You see, He knew even before I was born that I could easily allow food to be an idol in my life, that I would go to food, instead of to Him, to fulfill my needs. And in His great wisdom, He created my body so that it would experience the consequences of such a choice, so that I would continually be drawn back into His arms. He wants me to come to Him for fulfillment, emotional healing, comfort - and if I could go to food for that and never gain an ounce, well then, what would I need God for?
WOW! So the very thing I struggle with is the very thing that keeps me close to God. So instead of seeing my addiction to food as something that defeats me, that I can’t seem to overcome, what if I began to see it as the very platform I can stand on to walk closer to a God who loves me? A God who will deliver me from the addictive element of this thing, when He knows I will turn completely to Him in the midst of whatever emotions I am having. WOW!
That shifts a lot for me; in my heart, in my mind... and the fact that I can make the connection because I’ve experienced it personally just fills my heart with joy! In everything God has saved me from - a broken heart, depression, an almost lost marriage - I have gained a part of Him I would never have known had it not been for the challenges I faced.
In those times I have NEVER felt closer to God than I did when it was darkest; when I was at my weakest. Now, I can say, I wouldn’t trade any of those things for what I have become so far because, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:7-8). Mercy...I know what Paul means now...
There is no other way to experience the power of God except when we are weak. When I had nothing left to fight with, His Power said, “Now, I can do what I have always wanted to do. Heal you and rebuild you into the daughter I originally designed you to be!”
Lysa TerKeurst says on the same page:
What if this battle with food isn’t the curse we’ve always thought it to be? What if it’s actually the very thing, if brought under control, that can lead us to a better understanding of God?
When we are in the battle of whatever struggle we face, it is the very platform we can stand on for having “a better understanding of God”. The struggle is a platform. Not a battle. The battle has been won! It is not our battle; it is the Lord’s! (2 Chronicles 20:15) And God has already won!
BLESS HIS HOLY NAME! I can easily say I wish I didn’t have this struggle. I wish I didn’t have this on-going battle with food and cravings, but if I didn’t, what would my relationship with God be like? I would not know what I know of Him, that He is long-suffering, full of forgiveness, mercy and grace. That His love is not based on my eating habits but is solidified by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Maybe if I stopped living in fight mode and lived in victory, I would experience the freedom Christ died for me to have more often!
LORD, I LOVE YOU AND I THANK YOU for the struggles in my life. May I see them as platforms to stand on and walk closer to your heart every single day of my life until You alone are my source for everything!
Blown away by Jesus!
RSS Feed