THE INEXPLICABLE JOY OF LESS (FOOD) by Elizabeth Brickman

November 4, 2016 Leave a comment

Today, I am honored to have Elizabeth Brickman join me with an excerpt from her book,

Elizabeth Brickman’s book Thin & Blessed

Thin & Blessed. I’ve shared with you, my reader, how I’ve struggled with my own weight and there are many times I said “ouch” because I could relate and had made the same mistakes and excuses. I hope this touches you as much as it did me and that you will check out Elizabeth’s wonderful book. Welcome Elizabeth!

Excerpt from THIN & BLESSED: 10 Wise Decisions of Love, Power & Joy

“The Inexplicable Joy of Less (food)”
by Elizabeth Brickman

The fire of my passion to get thin was stoked by my Christianity. I love God. I wanted him to fix what was wrong with me.

What darkness has crept into your life?

For me, the time was coming to dethrone the false gods of appetite and craving, which held a merciless grip over my stomach, my thoughts, and my time. For too long had I coped with these deceitful gods in much the same way one resigns to a minor physical ailment that is ever present, never to be cured, only somehow managed with the least strain and distraction one can orchestrate on any given day.

I made a wise decision to forsake food sins. I knew there was more to our diet struggle than just our childhood or our habits. For many of us – though we didn’t know it, didn’t intend it, never meant it to be – that root cause is sin. Darkness doesn’t just happen at night. There is darkness around us and there are false food-gods we may knowingly be serving.

What false god do you worship?

“Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies.” Jonah 2:8 {New Living Translation}

When we joyfully forsake false gods that have ensnared and locked us into a weight struggle, new mercies await. Weight loss becomes far easier than we would dare to imagine.

Freedom is just one decision away from you right now.

Funny how I had unknowingly shut God out of this central part of my life. Lord, I give you myself – but not that part. A person of faith, I had long considered myself “sold out to Christ.” But I was sold out to pizza, really, or to whatever smelled good to my ever-needy stomach. I had artfully created a disconnect between my eating and his Lordship. Oh, how I had sold myself short.

What parts of your life have you shut God out of?

Why do man-made diets never seem to work? Because the world’s food and diet wisdom, though helpful, does not overcome sin. The diet du jour tries to stand on its own, as if it contained some innate power. But God’s wisdom is not exchangeable for any other. Oh, dear one, we’ve been expecting God to bless something he’s never been a part of: our food intake. We’ve asked the Holy Spirit to infuse mighty power from on high to a private, self-indulging space within us where he has never been granted entrance. Where other gods rule.

In our heart of hearts, we know the craving stomach is a dark place of want and grasping. It’s a shadowy place where truth and freedom are smothered under the false god of excess food. A frightening place with no light, the craving stomach is where we go to feel better. We tell ourselves we go to God, but we really go there. God is the God of most of our life, but there is a different god being served there: the merciless god of unrestrained appetite.

What truth is God whispering on your heart?

Our Holy Father is not Lord of that space. His law is not served. His principles are not applied. And his blessings upon our weight loss schemes have been noticeably absent.

God created us, loves us, and yearns to be invited into every inner space, including the darkest of darkrooms. His dazzling light wants to shine – even there.

So what would you guess happened when I finally granted him tearful, tentative access to my untamed appetite? Total transformation. Believe it, dear one. I’ve lived it. At the age of 60, I joyously won my lifetime battle with overweight.

Allow God’s mercy and truth to shine through. Will you accept the challenge?

There is nothing like the power of God to break through an impasse, stimulate change,

and deliver us, body and soul, into a preferred future. A preferred thin future.

Make a wise decision to end the influence of this false god of craving and appetite. Shake off the sin-shackle so that while eating well, you may also live your life – your authentic, thin life – without unproductive distraction and needless serve-no-purpose heartache.

Think about it carefully, and make the 6^th Wise Decision:

I will forsake the false food gods of appetite and craving.
Signed___________________ Dated_____________

Elizabeth Brickman

From the book, THIN & BLESSED: 10 Wise Decisions for Love, Power & Joy, by Elizabeth Brickman. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Christianbook.com.

Elizabeth Brickman’s book Thin & Blessed

THIN & BLESSED joyfully motivates you through 10 Wise Decisions to replace your diet resistance with love, power, and joy. It makes losing weight easy, joyful, natural, and fun – on any diet you choose – or on no diet at all!

Elizabeth Brickman is an author, speaker and consultant, entrusted for over 25 years with the major decisions of her client’s lives. Look for her upcoming devotional books on love, prayer, and spiritual challenges of second marriage.

Stay in touch with Elizabeth on her website at ElizabethBrickman.com or through email at eb@elizabethbrickman.com.

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