I struggled with this chapter. Frankly, I didn’t like the questions that it raised.

Questions like:

• Is discipline sustainable?
• When I’ve reached my target weight, can I go back to eating everything I want?
• Does holiness deal with my spiritual life only or does it include my physical life as well?

Everything within me wants the answers to be:

• No worries; discipline is just for a season.
• Yes. Once you look good in your skinny jeans you can go back to trashing the temple of God by eating junk food all the time.
• No. Holiness has nothing to do with your daily life. It is just a sacred word to be discussed in hushed tones in Sunday School class.

Last night I went to bed with this chapter heavy on my heart. And now, I am sitting in my prayer chair asking the Lord, “Do you really want expect me to sustain this healthy living for the REST OF MY LIFE? I can’t do that!”

I decided to lay down my Made to Crave book and open my Bible to distract myself seek the Lord. Lest you think me completely unspiritual, I did begin in prayer asking God to show me His will regarding the continuity of my healthy eating plan.

My Bible reading schedule put me in Acts 19. Excellent. That chapter has nothing to do with discipline or holiness will be very inspiring.

Wishful thinking on my part.

I was reading along nicely, feeling quite satisfied with myself, until I hit the account of the converted magicians beginning in verse 18. Wow, when they found God it really did change their whole lives.

Immediately after hearing of the magnificence of our Lord Jesus Christ these magicians believed. Good for them.

Then they publically repented. Very wise.

Finally, they went back to their homes, gathered ALL their magic books and burned them so they wouldn’t be able to return to their former way of life even if they were tempted. This bonfire destroyed books totaling 50,000 pieces of silver. Yikes!

Those brand new converts obviously believed that followers of Christ are to daily live lives of holiness. They didn’t just talk about it. They didn’t just repent due to their lack of it. Those believers gave up their entire livelihood to make sure that they would do it. They radically committed themselves to living holy lives.

This was the result:

In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Acts 19:20

Can you imagine? What would happen if the followers of Christ in America forsook EVERYTHING that wasn’t beneficial in their relationship with Him? What if we all brought every bite of unhealthy food and destroyed it for the glory of God?

Can you picture the headlines in the New York Times? Christian Women Give All For God! or Food for Faith: Women Who Live What They Believe or even, God: What is He Worth To You?

If we lived what we believed, the word of the Lord would spread mightily and its power would grow exponentially. It’s a great picture, but it all starts with you and me.

The question begs for an answer, in the privacy of my own heart and home, when no one is watching and there is no applause, what do I really believe?

Is discipline sustainable?

How about for you?

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They Lived Happily Ever After

I like happy endings. An avid fan of action and adventure movies, before the credits roll I want to see a smile on the hero’s face and a wedding ring on the heroine’s hand. I’m always eager to see a new movie with this as the plot, thus I fancy myself quite an expert of ways of escape.

I’ve waited breathlessly for the moment when Tom Cruise pulls out his gun and shoots his way past hundreds of foes. I’ve sighed with relief when Indiana Jones finally grabbed the final vine and swung safely over the pit of doom. And I’ve been comforted to see that when Lois Lane cries out Superman isn’t far behind.

When any self-respecting hero or heroine is in trouble they are quick to look for the way of escape.  Those who are not as fast suffer a different fate. They are eaten by alligators, run through with the sword or hung on the yardarm at noon. Either way, as a movie starts to wrap up the tensions runs high while the ending is in doubt.

Stay Safe. Stay Home.

And while it doesn’t make for good movies, it occurs to me that the safest route would be to never travel to the danger zone in the first place. I can’t help but ask myself, why is Tom Cruise always an army of one? Why doesn’t Indiana Jones just stay at home and read a good adventure novel? And couldn’t Lois Lane send the police after the bad guy instead of going herself?

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to hear Lysa TerKeurst’s way of escape started with a plan developed each morning in the safety of her own home. Before she hit the trouble zone.

What a novel thought.

Plan Ahead

Typically, I make a decision about eating Lays when I’m wandering down the aisle of candy and chips. I contemplate the ice cream with the freezer door open and a spoon in my hand. And I wait until I have an emotional breakdown to decide if chocolate is the order of the day.  But at that point, just like the movies, tension is running high and a happy ending is very much in doubt.

Planning a way of escape miles from the point of temptation makes so much more sense. As they say (whoever ‘they’ are), the best defense is a good offense. I like that.

My Way of Escape

Far from the battle line, during my time with the Lord, I too, will choose my way of escape. I’m intrigued with the idea of planning ahead. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m a planner extraordinaire.  But my day is too unpredictable for me to predetermine each meal in advance.

Thankfully, I can do something similar by carefully budgeting my Weight Watchers Points. At the beginning of each week, I will thoughtfully divide up my allotment of points. I’ll even make sure to leave a few ‘in the bank’ for unexpected events so that even these will not throw me off.

I may not be Angelina Jolie barely escaping in skin-tight leather leggings from an army of evil men, but I can prayerfully plan ahead and have a smile on my face when my day reaches ‘The End.’

How About You?

What is your way of escape?

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Biblical and Scientific Reasons

Diets don’t work! We all know that or we wouldn’t be here.  My guess is that this is not your first attempt at living a healthy, balanced life. I know it’s not mine. Yet, if dieting doesn’t work what hope do we have? Where can we turn?

In Chapter 16, Lysa reminds us that for this to be successful it has to be more than a diet. It needs to be “a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.”

Self-discipline!? That sounds harder than dieting! How do overfed, over-indulged Americans learn the fine art of self-discipline?

There is good news. New scientific research is coming out every day that helps us understand the amazing, intricate brain that we have been given by our Creator. And it’s no surprise to discover that when we apply the principles of lasting change that He has woven into us, and shared freely with us in Scripture, we really do experience change that lasts.

Here are two scientific and Biblical principles that will help us make long-term, successful change:

1. Lasting change begins with changing our thoughts as well as our behavior.

Biblical Basis

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Proverbs 23:7

Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2

Brain-Based Research
Today’s new technologies in brain imagining, such as PET scans, SPECT scans and MRI’s allow researchers to see our thoughts as electrochemical impulses. That means they can watch the formation of new neural connections as they happen.

They can observe where in our brain a thought is occurring, and more importantly, they can see what types of stimuli cause patterns to form and how long it takes for those patterns to become strong.

The results are in. It takes at least 21-30 days for new thoughts to begin to become new habits!

That means if we set a goal to eat healthier, we have to continue mentally repeating and reinforcing our goal daily for lasting neural connections to be formed. New neural connections then lead to new behaviors and with continued reinforcement this finally leads to new habits.

The key point to remember is that only the thoughts that are repeated again and again take root and eventually turn into a new habitual way of responding.

The encouraging news from this research is that we can actually change the way we think, the way we behave and even the habits of a lifetime.

But that news is also sobering. If you are like me, you’ve have been eating unhealthy for most of your life.  That means for decades we’ve been training our brains to manage emotions with cheap sugar-highs.

It will take LOTS of RE-training for us to create new ways of dealing with the same old things. We must not grow weary in well-doing.

2. A strong emotional commitment as well as mental assent is essential for new habits to form.

Biblical Basis

“You shall LOVE the Lord Your God with ALL your HEART, and with ALL your SOUL, and with ALL your STRENGTH, and with ALL your MIND.
Luke 10:26 (emphasis added)

Brain-Based Research

Brain science has now discovered that there is a way to speed up and cement the change process: simply link your new goal to a very strong emotion.

The new neural connections that you are forming increase in both number and strength when you are in a highly emotional state. And connections formed with strong emotion are longer lasting and harder to break.

That is why dieting resolutions made on a whim don’t last. An effective resolution must be tied to a correspondingly strong emotional reason why.

No doubt, this is one of the reasons God made us to crave. In that deep craving, everything within us heart, soul and mind yearns for something to satisfy. We feel our need mentally, emotionally and physically and that combination is where we’ll find lasting motivation to make any necessary change.

The goal isn’t to deny, lessen or remove the craving – it has to be there for change to work. Instead, we need to take that God-given craving with all of its strong hopes, yearnings and desires and look to Him.

As we learn to love God more with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, the neural connections grow deeper and deeper and we start to create a new path – one that leads straight to Him.

God has created us with the ability to grow and change, and when we cooperate with His design the change is sure to last.

How About You?

How can you apply these two principles to your healthy living plan?

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Have you ever seen a bag of cookies make a grown woman cry? It’s not a pretty sight.

Several years ago, I was feeling good about the progress I was making on a new healthy eating plan. Knowing that people who keep daily food diaries lose twice as much weight or more than those who don’t (Kaiser Permanente Study), the most effective part of my plan was the discipline of writing out each day’s menu in advance.

Much like our “Made to Crave” study, I was seeking more than just a quick way to lose weight; I was yearning to be closer to God. And the plan was going well until… Until that cookie craving hit.

The Craving

Actually, this went beyond a mere craving. I had a stress-induced, hormonally-charged, completely manic NEED for a Famous Amos cookie. Plants need water, humans need air, and I needed a Famous Amos cookie if I hoped to live to the end of the day.

At the time, Famous Amos cookies were my addiction of choice and like any other self-respecting addict I had carefully stashed away a bag for a rainy day. And it was pouring.

Without a second thought, I rifled through the pantry, cast aside rice cakes and veggies, grabbed my coveted bag and threw it on the counter. I eagerly ripped open the freshness seal, inhaled the sweet savor of chocolate and reached in to pull out a small handful (or two.)

They were beautiful. Perfectly round. Loaded with chips. Crisp yet moist. All of my problems were about to disappear as I mainlined my way to chocolate chip heaven.

The Meltdown

My hand was halfway to my mouth when I heard His voice. While it wasn’t audible, just as Abraham heard God staying his hand before he offered up his son, I heard God call my name. This cookie, this bag of cookies was not on my prewritten, firmly-committed-to plan.

Not to switch Biblical stories on you but just as Jacob and God wrestled through the night, God and I arm-wrestled that cookie down from my mouth and back onto the counter. And I wept. Yep. I stood there sobbing, tears literally streaming down my face all because I wanted that cookie. I had a fully-certifiable, stomp my feet and pound my hands, nuclear meltdown over a bag of Famous Amos cookies.

A thousand justifications came to my mind. It’s only one. You’ve been so good. No one will ever know. I’ll make up for it later. Who cares about a stupid food plan anyway?

The Temptation

But in my heart of hearts, I knew. I knew that I could never stop with just one. That if I went off the reservation now, I would never go back. I knew that there was more at stake than a simple cookie and a momentary thrill; I was considering deliberate disobedience to Almighty God. And didn’t all of mankind fall because Eve ate one little piece of forbidden fruit?

Like Lysa, “I had to remove myself from the source of temptation and I had to do it immediately.” I needed to flee.

The Rescue

I grabbed my car keys, ran outside and drove away. I didn’t feel righteous or good. I wasn’t flooded with peace from above. I wasn’t proud of myself for taking such a courageous stand. I was miserable. I waaaaaanted that cookie. Bad.

But I wanted God more.  I don’t remember how many miles I drove that day before it was finally safe to go back home, but I eventually arrived. And it was okay.  The cookies were just cookies, and I could throw them away. Sanity returned, and the joy of Jesus followed close behind.

The Lesson Learned

I learned a new strategy that day. Walk away. Run away. Do whatever it takes to stay obedient to God. I wish I were strong enough to live by the motto, ‘just say no,’ but I’m not. And I would rather have the neighbors whispering about that wild-eyed, tear-stained women driving manically around and around the block than have a costly setback just as I’m starting to let Him satisfy all my desires.

What About You?

What situations do you face where the best strategy is simply to flee?

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