How to Defeat Harmful Habits (Counseling Through the Bible Series) (41 page)

Following the accident, Abby was submerged in grief. Every bit of her energy was siphoned away by painfully raw emotions. The 5’4” teacher found herself turning to food for solace, and her weight spiked to 247 pounds. “My only real socialization was going out to eat,” Abby recalls. “I had zero energy. I just felt like I had sludge in my veins. I was so lethargic.”
²⁵

But one day Abby’s life became energized by what she calls a divine appointment, changing the trajectory of her life. Abby had a gym membership that she rarely used, but she mustered enough energy to go for a workout. There, she met two contestants who had appeared on the popular television program
The Biggest Loser
. Brady and Vicky Vilcan had appeared during the sixth season of the show, which rewards contestants for losing weight, both individually and collectively as a team, and they inspired her to audition. “God has a way of putting the right people in your life at the right time,”
²⁶
Abby observes. And she hoped that, if chosen to go onto the show, it would serve as a distraction from all of her pain.

The interview process turned out to be a time of intense soul-searching, with numerous questions forcing Abby to dig deeply into her painful emotions. “I shed a lot of tears answering those questions…that I spent a lot of time and prayer on,” Abby remembers. “If it was supposed to happen, I reasoned, it would, and I’d be one hundred percent true to myself throughout the journey. I’d do everything I could to make me the best me I could be.”
²⁷

Abby won the opportunity to achieve her absolute personal best when she was selected as a contestant for season eight. The environment proved to be both physically and emotionally beneficial. While shedding pounds, it was as if she were also shedding pain. Though she did not become the biggest loser, her participation on the show changed the course of her life and ushered in a needed season of healing.

Today, Abby could easily be called The Biggest Winner as she embraces a second shot at life. She knows that God has a purpose for her life—a truth that propels her to travel the country speaking at schools, churches, and community events to inspire others to have hope in their darkest of hours. And when Abby stands before crowds, there’s 100 pounds
less
of her than when she made her national debut.

Abby feels compelled to communicate a key message that changed her life:
Although we can’t always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond to what happens to us
. “Happiness is a choice. You choose how you respond in your life.”
²⁸

Instead of looking to food for comfort, Christ is her comfort. And no matter where she travels, Abby can say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
²⁹

As stated earlier, we all have three God-given inner needs for unconditional love, significance, and security.
³⁰
Compulsive overeating is typically an attempt to meet one or more of these needs through consuming food. If you believe you don’t have the willpower to resist foods that give you pleasure, be assured you
can
devise a successful plan that includes relying on God’s promise to meet all of your needs. He can and will provide the power to resist temptations to overeat. The Bible guarantees this:

“The L
ORD
will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame
.
You will be like a well-watered garden
,
like a spring whose waters never fail”

(I
SAIAH
58:11).

Overeating is an attempt to meet one or more inner needs for…
³¹

•
Unconditional love
—eating food in order to feel
nurtured

•
Significance
—eating food in order to feel a sense of
control

•
Security
—eating and hoarding food in order to feel
secure
because of fear of deprivation

The problem with using food to meet any of these inner needs is simple—it can’t be done! Nothing physical—no human being and no food—can meet your inner needs and satisfy the longings of your heart. Only God can do that. When you yield your will to God’s will, His supernatural power can give you the victory over overeating and provide joy in your life. Getting your habits under control will take a while, but today you can take the first step. You can embrace the hope and freedom that God is offering you.

W
RONG
B
ELIEF:

“I can’t sustain enough willpower to resist the foods that give me pleasure.”

R
IGHT
B
ELIEF:

“The issue is not the power of
my will
, but the power of
my God
—He
will
fulfill my deepest inner needs. When I have Christ living in me, He is able to change my fixation—from food…to faith.”

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”

(J
OHN
8:32).

Although she has forgiven him, she will never forget the judge’s cruel comment as she prepared to perform on
American Idol
before millions of television viewers—“We’re going to have to get a bigger stage.”
³²

Mandisa initially got Simon Cowell’s attention for her out-of-control curves instead of her polished “pipes,” but later all that changed. After losing more than 80 pounds, even the acerbic judge was singing her praises.

Mandisa, a finalist on the fifth season of
American Idol
, has been set free from what she describes as a food addiction, and she is forever grateful for the dramatic change that now has become apparent in her life. The most difficult part eventually became the most empowering part—learning to retrain her brain not to be preoccupied with food,
but with God
.
³³
And Scripture tells us the benefit of having a Spirit-controlled mind:

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their
minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live
in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what
the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but
the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”

(R
OMANS
8:5-6).

The inspiring lyrics from Mandisa’s hit single “My Deliverer” gave glory to God for helping her find freedom from food addiction. Since her national debut on
American Idol
, Mandisa has become a Grammy-nominated Christian recording artist. She stated that the changes in her life extend far beyond a slimmer waistline and slender legs.

“It’s more than the physical and more than what I am eating. It’s a spiritual change. I’ve had to not turn to food for comfort and validation anymore, and that is a complete mind change. Because my entire life, that is what I have done.”
³⁴

Tragically, Mandisa traces the roots of her food addiction to being molested as a child and raped at age 16. “I equated being beautiful with being in danger. When I was heavy, men were not looking at me and I felt safe.”
³⁵
But, as Mandisa learned to conform to God’s pattern for her life rather than to the world’s values, she not only lost weight but also gained vitality.

“God is showing me that my value, my dependence, and my satisfaction need to come from Him. Satisfaction doesn’t need to come from food. It doesn’t need to come from what other people think about me. Finding satisfaction in God is what true freedom is.”
³⁶

Mandisa’s joyful outlook on life is manifested in her single hit “Dance, Dance, Dance,” which encourages people to praise God in the midst of pain. “The song…shows people that, even though they may not understand all of the things God has done in their lives, they can still praise Him with their dancing. It’s like David in the Psalms. I love that!

“This song resonates so much with me because my great God has set me free. I’m going to praise Him with dancing because of all that He has done in my life.”
³⁷

Mandisa’s mind-set has changed. She has gone from fear to faith in God, and all that she does is for the glory of God. The Bible says,

“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do
,
do it all for the glory of God”

(1 C
ORINTHIANS
10:31).

The choicest meats and wine were set before him and mouth-watering smells wafted through the air, but for Daniel, the royal place setting left nothing but a stench.

Without a doubt, the food that lined Daniel’s plate had been offered to a pagan god, and the meat had not been prepared in accordance with Mosaic law. Based on spiritual conviction, Daniel would rather go hungry than defile himself by partaking of royal delicacies from the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel and three other young men from Judah had been brought to Babylon following the king’s besieging blow upon their nation. They were selected to one day enter the king’s service because they were choice men “without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:4).

So then Daniel and his companions—in the midst of being trained in the literature and language of the Babylonians—found themselves in a defilement dilemma. But Daniel was confident in the provision of his God—the one and only true God—and trusted in His provision. He petitioned a royal guard, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see” (Daniel 1:12-13).

The guard agreed, and the test was on. At the end of ten days, the four men “looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food” (Daniel 1:15). And as a testimony to their unwavering commitment to the sovereign God, they continued eating only vegetables. Pleasing God was far more important than pleasing their appetite or the king.

The obedience displayed by Daniel and his companions was richly rewarded, and God blessed them with far more than just great health:

“To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding
of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could
understand visions and dreams of all kinds…
In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which
the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than
all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom”

(D
ANIEL
1:17,20).

Daniel 1:8-21