Open Letter to God

O Christ of God,

It is for you, through you and because of you that I’ve have taken this journey. As deep calls to deep, so your Spirit has faithfully drawn me closer to you.

You have placed within me an insatiable craving for love, meaning, joy, purpose and most of all, for You.

I confess that I have tried innumerable mind-numbing ways to satisfy the hunger of my soul. I’ve turned to food and drink, friends and fun, ministry and motherhood, yet they have failed me every time.

These are good things, precious things, but they were never meant to be first things. You have helped me put them back in their place.

Like any adventure, this past ten weeks has had its ups and downs, its fill of both pleasure and pain. I’ve wept bitter tears as you’ve pried my hands off some things that have wrongly captured my heart. And I’ve done the victory dance to celebrate your faithfulness to me again and again. But most of all, I’ve clung to you. You, and you alone, are worthy of occupying the throne in my heart.

Thank you for providing strength in my weakness, endurance in times of doubt and for the many, many blessings you have freely bestowed. Because of you, I have eaten better, reached my target weight and met some wonderful sojourners on the way. But even those wonderful blessings are second things. You are the only first thing. You are my great reward.

I want to pray for my fellow travelers who have joined me on this journey closer to you. Our 10-week commitment is passing but we’ve only just begun. This road to a deepening relationship with you will never end. From today into eternity, we will continue to plumb the depths of you, our amazing God.

For many women there is still weight to lose, vows to keep and sacrifices to be made. For them, for all of us, I pray that you would grant us the strength to finish the race and the grace of falling deeper in love with you every day.

Your Child,

Kim

 

Open Letter to You

To my Made to Crave Buddies,

I couldn’t have done this without you. That is NOT hyperbole. I really couldn’t have. The Christ-like life is a community project. God designed it to be that way. So, thank you for your encouragement, prayers, comments and accountability. God has used you to keep me on the path of drawing ever closer to Him.

I pray that in the weeks and months to come, you will continue to be a part of my life and the life of the others who continue to join us along the way. Arm in arm, we are journeying to Jesus, our bright and morning star.

May Christ satisfy all your cravings until we meet again.

Kim

 

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It’s that time again. As a coach trainer at the Professional Christian Coaching Institute, one of the classes that I have the privilege of teaching is the 15-week Essentials course for aspiring Life Coaches. I love watching their coaching skills grow week by week as they prayerfully equip themselves to minister in meaningful ways.

(Hang in here with me; this really does apply to “Made to Crave.”)

Along with coaching competencies, tools, and techniques, we also spend about 6 weeks on a section we call Inside-Out. As coaches, leaders, and teachers, we know that we can never take those we work with to places that we have not been ourselves. In other words, we must walk the talk.

For many students, this is the first time they have sat down with the Lord and asked Him specifically, “What is my life’s vision, purpose and mission?” “What did you put me on this earth to do?” “How do you want me to live out the rest of my life?”

And as the students try to wrestle their thoughts onto paper, I always use this opportunity to pull out my own vision, purpose and mission statements to see what needs to be tweaked and more importantly, to make sure that I am living the way God has called me to live.

This morning, one particular part of my mission statement jumped out at me, “To arrange my life around the spiritual practices that open me up to intimacy with God.” That statement strongly correlates with a prayer of Lysa’s in Chapter 18, “Forgive me (for)… the busyness that makes me forget to stop and consider my ways, my thoughts, my actions. You, Messiah are the best match for my mess.”

It seems that both she and I have realized that spiritual practices can’t be worked around an already busy life, but instead, our lives have to be arranged around the core disciplines foundational to our relationship with the Lord. For me, this means that time in Scripture, prayer, silence, solitude, and meditation must be put on the schedule first before all the other blanks can be filled in.

(Finally, here is the part that applies to healthy living. Thanks for your patience. .

As I’m going through this Made to Crave study it occurs to me that the discipline of healthy eating and living needs to be added to my list of foundational disciplines. This sacrificial lifestyle of love will not be sustainable unless I give it the time and attention it deserves. Hard choices need to be made.

Yes, I need to eat healthy food. Clearly, it’s important to wake up earlier and go to the gym. Success when eating out is dependent on proper planning before I ever leave home. But what I often forget to factor in is the fact that each and every one of these things takes TIME.

Time. It’s the one thing I can never get more of. I can’t beg, borrow or steal a single minute and add it to my life no matter how hard I try.

So, if I am going to say ‘yes’ to my Lord and pursue a lifetime of healthy living, I am going to have to say ‘no’ to some other things. Good things. Fun things. Things I like to do. But as the old saying goes, if I fail to plan then I plan to fail. And I don’t want to do that!

Intentional living is glorious but it is not glamorous. I have some tough choices to make in the weeks ahead as I pray through my daily schedule once again. But it will be worth it.

My vision is for all of the Christian women of the world to be Christ-saturated, joy-filled and purpose-driven. And that’s a vision worth sacrificing for. I hope you will join me.

 

What About You?

What choices are you going to have to make to have an on-going healthy lifestyle?

 

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Math was my least favorite subject in school and for good reason. Numbers give me hives. Well, maybe not literally but at least they do mentally. To this day, I don’t balance my checkbook, keep track of receipts or add numbers in my head.

Now, I suppose I could do those things if I really wanted to, but why would anyone in their right mind ever want to count money, balance checkbooks or work a quadratic equation? (Although, I will say I am glad that some of you do, so that I can call you when I get into a mess.)

Having said all that, I found it strange that the first thing that popped into my head when I read Chapter 18, Paragraph #1 (Are you impressed that I just used two different numbers in one sentence J) was a math equation. Lysa basically said this:

Sacrifice + Repentance = Victory

We all want victory. There’s a lot of talk these days about victorious living. We are supposed to name it, claim it and walk in it but few of us want to do what it takes to have it.

Sacrifice

Anything worth having requires work. That’s what makes it valuable. If any old couch potato could go to Target and buy an Olympic Medal there would be no glory in winning one.

Scripture is clear:

• God’s servants are supposed to suffer hardship so that they can win the prize (II Timothy 2:3-5).

• We are to lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).

• Daily we should forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13).

Victorious living requires sacrifice. But that’s not enough, repentance is also required.

Repentance

In the Greek this word implies an expression of deep regret, accompanied by a change of mind and a change of conduct. In other words, I need to tell God I am sorry, I was wrong, and that with His help I am going to do it differently.

Repentance isn’t just something we do when we first come to know Christ. Nor is it to be relegated to Communion Sunday. Repentance is a way of life. During my average day it may sound something like this:

• Lord, I am sorry for thinking that I know what I need better than you do. Next time help me run to you instead of food.
• Forgive me for caring more about what I want than who you are. Tender my heart so that it desires you above all else.
• I confess that my faith is weak and everything in me wants to believe that eating sugar is better than obeying you. Help my unbelief, and show me your way of escape.

Living victoriously requires ongoing repentance.

Sacrifice + Repentance = Victory is one math equation that makes sense, even to me.

What About You?

What does sacrifice and repentance look like in your life?

 

 

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“The very next choice we make isn’t really about whether or not to eat chips, cookies, or French fries smothered in chili and processed cheese. It’s about whether we are going to stay away from those things that are not beneficial for what we were created to be” (Made to Crave, p. 169).

Really? Can one little, itsy-bitsy decision to nibble the edges off a Double Chocolate Brownie make that much difference in the bigger scheme of life? That question has been rattling around in my head for days. Does each and every choice really matter?

Then the Lord brought the following examples to my mind:

• With one simple choice, Moses thought he knew better than God and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He lost his right to enter the promised land.

• On one occasion, Saul chose to indulge his impatience and made the holy sacrifice himself instead of waiting for Samuel. God took the kingdom away from him and gave it to another.

• One spring, David decided to stay home while all the other kings went out to war. A devastating chain of adultery, murder and cover-up followed.

• One day, wanting to look better in front of others Annanias and Sapphira agreed to lie regarding property they had sold. They were struck dead.

Yep. Each and every choice was critically important.

I’d better take this seriously.

“Lord, please help me to see where I’ve been impatient, gone my own way, indulged myself or tried to impress others. I want to live for only you.”

My Sin

It’s a funny thing about asking God to show you your sin. It seems to be the one prayer request that He ALWAYS answers immediately. Do you remember the way of escape I chose so I won’t give into temptation? It was to keep track of my WW points and then write down everything I had eaten after each meal.

Looking back, I realize that even in the past week, I’ve neglected to write down each bite that has gone into my mouth.

My reasoning was this: “I know what I’ve eaten. I’ve been keeping mental track of it. It’s not like I’ve cheated, so why bother to take all the time (about 30 seconds) to write it down?”

Cheap rationalizations. Choices. Decisions. The wrong ones.

Every choice counts.

I need more help. So, I’ve decided to ask two friends who are joining me in this journey if I can send them my completed food list each day for added accountability. Sometimes I just need to hem myself in so that I’ll do what I need to do.

Excuse me, I need to go write down my bowl of Cheerios with blueberries on top. I’ll see you later.

How About You?

What choices do you need to begin making today? How can you ensure that you will continue to make the right decisions?

 

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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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