Love,

So what I hear you saying is that it's not the diet or addiction or the whatever I'm craving that's an idol – it's the seperated self thinking it's still alive.  That goes along with what the Lord spoke to me that " The flesh masqueraded as you for so long that you were deceived into thinking it WAS you.  But it was not."  

So if I listen to the real me – who is alive in Christ – then I wouldn't be tempted anymore?

Pondering,

Georgia

Lord, I pray for Suzie (thanks for posting!) and for all of us that you would change our ways of thinking and eating to conform to your will, that we would be whole and healthy and holy in our thoughts and actions. Conform us to Your image, Christ-in-me.

And I hear the Lord saying: "Trust Me, I'm working on it!."

There was nothing like it.  I changed the way I was eating--cleaned house while doing a long series of cleanses.  In my case, it took a couple of years because I was toxic, more toxic than I knew.  Then it happened.  I realized something beyond expectation.  I heard the voice of my body as if it had never spoken before.  And what it told me was that it loved what I was doing.  My head began to clear.  God's voice became even clearer.  I realized the muddy thoughts, tendency towards depression, etc. were connected to the trash coming out of my body. 

This is what I now know by experience: we are not just a spirit and soul living in a body.  Everything is connected.  The reality of spirit, mind and body as one became a living revelation to me.   The physical difference is worth all the effort...still it was nothing when I realize how Christ in me did it. 

 As we've been studying about freedom from the law in our Reflections in Righteousness class, I have related this concept to the idea that dieting is law-based.

 Here's our conversation, with Julie's permission, edited by both of us:

 Georgia: As you are changing your nutrition and everything that goes along with that, do you find it hard to stay on the prescribed foods? (I hesitate to call it a diet!)

 Julie: I just take it one day at a time.  And avoid the idea that some days are failures and other successes.  Every day is just another day, I try and do what I know is right and leave the rest to the Lord.

 Georgia: So what do you do if/when you eat something that is not "recommended"?

 Julie: Move on.  My biggest problem is not eating when I'm supposed to and then I get panicky hungry somewhere that I can't get good food.  I try to keep the vegetables and fish in the house, because I'm more likely to eat what is recommended if it's handy.  I carry almonds in my purse and try to remember to grab a piece of fruit when I leave the house.  Really it's setting up the habits that help me the most.  E.Stanley Jones described self–improvement attempts as requiring a "whipping up the will" I'm just to tired of dieting for that and I haven't ever found a way to keep my will whipped up.  

 Georgia: Thanks, Juls, that helps.  So it's not about not eating the "not-so-good" stuff, but about eating the good things that promote health.

 Julie: Yes, it's about making as many good choices as possible.  There will be less than ideal choices, but if not making bad choices becomes the focus, then it's too hard to make the good choices.  Does that make sense?

 Georgia: I guess it's sort of like trying not to think a thought or if a song gets stuck in my head that I don't like.  I can try really hard not to think that, or I can just choose to think about something else or to sing a different song – it's a lot easier that way!

 Julie: It's moving on to something else and instead of struggling with something I can't beat.  I'm reading about self-surrender right now and I think there's something in it that I need.  I know that if we lose our life for his sake, we will gain it.  I think maybe if we give up our struggles for his, our own will be won? or something?

 Georgia: I am really intrigued by what Jaque posted yesterday:

"To accept ourselves in His total acceptance of us is to get on the side God is already on.

When I learned to 'get on my side because God is on my side,' it was as the changing of the tide in my soul. 

HUGE.

We can hate the sin but NEVER the sinner–this applies to ourselves before we will ever understand how it applies to others.  We think we know this; we do not.  Not until we live it [wink]

You're on track…blessed daughter of God.

Accept yourself.  God wants just you the way you are.

Still on my side,

Jaque"

 In light of this, if I am trying to "crucify the flesh,' I'm struggling in my own strength.  But if I surrender to His love and acceptance of me just as I am, then I'm no longer responsible for the outcome!

Julie: Right, all that's left is to live out the resurrection life.

 Georgia: But I can't really "do" that!  It's only as He lives His resurrection life through me that I experience it.  So what's my part?  My part is to believe. John 6.

 Julie: Yep.  That's it.  It's stunning sometimes how hard that is.

 Georgia: I agree.  Sometimes it feels very hard.  But then I have to ask:  Why is it hard?  If He has done everything that needs doing, and all I have to do is believe and receive it, then WHY IS IT SO HARD???? (sorry for screaming).  Is it my own lack of knowledge that's killing me?  Is it because I don't know how to die to my own desires and let Him live through me?  Is it lies I'm believing that seem like the truth?  Is it doctrine that I've accepted but am not aware of?  Should I try harder? Work more? Strain to figure it out?  There I go getting off into the independent "I' again, trying to make myself "like" God.  No, I will turn to him and ask Him.  "Lord why does it feel so hard to live out the resurrection life?"

 Georgia:

"Lord why does it feel so hard to live out the resurrection life?"
Beloved, you are getting used to your new life in Me, free from the tyranny of the flesh.  The flesh masqueraded as you for so long that you were deceived into thinking it WAS you.  But it was not.  When it starts feeling hard, that’s the time to turn to me, to rest in me, to ask me what’s up.  Just like you just did.  Way to go, Beloved! 

I came to give you rest, abundant life, righteousness, peace and joy.  If those things are lacking, then it is definitely time to come and ask me about it.  And that’s the beauty of having a relationship – we can talk about these things. Things can be hard for different reasons.  That’s why you should always come to me first because I can give you the comfort or knowledge or strength or whatever you need at that time.  I didn’t "do everything that needs doing" and then send you off to live it on your own. I paid the price for your sins, and then invited you to join me in a relationship that will last forever.  As you go through the hard times and experience my love and grace and faithfulness, you learn to trust me and love me more and more. If you get annoyed and blame me for the hard times because I have the power to stop them, then our relationship will be hindered. I will still love you, but it will be hard for you to receive if you are blaming Me for the way things are.

Julie:

Yea, this is it Georgia.  For me, food isn't a god, dieting is a god.  It consumes all of my attention and focus, but we've dedicated our lives to developing this attention to our relationship with God.  We can't serve both masters.  But if we'll keep our eyes on Jesus, "As you go through the hard times and experience my love and grace and faithfulness, you learn to trust me and love me more and more."  Dieting for me, is a distraction from learning to trust Jesus in all things, but to pointedly stay attentive to Him, learning to move and remain in His rest, I really believe I'll find my freedom from in all things there.

I would love to hear any insights that anyone has about this!

Georgia

Just checking in here to let you know that we are currently running an online Reflections in Righteousness course. There are 13 of us taking the course from all over the country. We are in week 3, The Word of the Cross which speaks about dying to self and letting go through the gift of the Cross.Here are some things that God brought before me in my readings today that I wanted to share:

There is so much to think about and learn about the process of letting go. And yet when it all boils down to it, thinking and learning about it don't necessarily help us get very far along, we have to DO it! There's a certain amount of letting go (abandoning self-will and surrendering fully to God) that we can do ourselves, but there is yet a deeper letting go that God works in us as He gently, by His grace,  gives us the experiences, events and encounters that help us find the courage to release our grasp on what we know.

I am currently reading a book called When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd. (Thanks Suebles for your recommendation!) It is all about this process of inner change. This morning I wanted to share with you something very precious I was reminded of as I read.

In lesson one this was Belinda-Marie's prayer:

For this course, I asked the Lord to bring what He will and show me a place of sanctuary within me…I would like for the Lord to use this course to show me that place within my heart.

In the book, the author talks about the process of metamorphosis, which a caterpillar enters when it spins a cocoon. When beginning to form a chrysalis the caterpillar forms a spiny little protuberance at the end of its abdomen called the cremaster. It's like a patch of Velcro that fastens the pupa in the cocoon and holds it in place. It's the anchor point, the place from which the caterpillar hangs as it waits and changes and becomes new. She goes on to liken this to the Center or quiet core within us where God's Spirit dwells. (Do you not know that… God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Cor. 3:16)

"Here at this inmost center of our being, a place where we are deeply and profoundly known and loved by God, is the Presence in our midst. It's here that we attach ourselves to God. But this is also where God attaches to us. Ultimately, the still point is a love meeting, an embrace. Hildegard wrote,

God hugs you.

You are encircled

by the arms

of the mystery of God.

God's hug. What a wonderful image! That circle is your still point. And you form your cremaster by attaching to this inner place of loving embrace with the Divine."

What a wonderful image this is of our place of sanctuary. Our minds get so clogged with the events of each day and that's when we need to pause and reconnect ourselves to this still point within.

For me this speaks volumes because God gave me my own picture of the 'still point within' a couple of years ago in the form of a black and white oil painting of a newborn baby cradled in the hands of a Father. It hangs on my bedroom wall. Over and over again he has used this to remind me that I am always held firmly in his hands in that quiet place within. In the words of a song, Majesty, "Your grace has found me just as I am, empty-handed but alive in Your hands." That's the bottom line for me whenever I feel the stresses of daily living pulling me from my rest in Him.

May you rest in God's hug today!

Amen.

I'm delighted to have you here and ready to go!  I like what you're sharing about eating "living" food.  I'm spent many years with so many physical challenges, some of which I'm not ready to mention, but suffice it to say that the greatest changes came when I became willing to change my attitude (outlook and disposition) about things that needed to be done. Believe me; I used to have a very sour and ugly dispostion in this. 

I chose all the troubles that came with "having things (food and attitudes) my own way" but I didn't know how much my ignorance and sour disposition was going to cost in physical comfort, wholeness and happiness. However, God used my afflictions for good and, with them, humbled me.  When I decided (chose) to gain knowledge about nutrition, health, etc. and apply that knowledge consistently, I didn't realize that I would actually be choosing God (again and again) or that the greatest challenge would be in changing my attitude, because I would need to STAY on the path and KEEP gaining knowledge that would need to be tried, tweaked, and adjusted over and over and over and over again.  That's the part I didn't want to face; I wanted to find "the" answer, apply it and move on, never having to spend more time on a subject I wasn't particularly fond of.  This is one place I had to repent daily; before I was afflicted I went astray! 

I just said I needed to "change my attitude" but we know "I" didn't change a thing; He did it all.  However, I didn't know He was doing it until I began to grasp Casme or Christ-as-me.  Understanding our union in Him is by far the most liberating truth that can be found.  Today I love the healing/holiness journey.  It's definitely a life long journey–tying things that don't work for me and letting that be okay, even though others swear by them. Health for me is a journey of discovery and finding that the goal isn't health at all but wholeness or holiness in Him. "Be ye holy, for I am holy."  Wow. 

This journey is one of the greatest assests in my life.  I wouldn't change the trials I've experienced for the God who loves to prove He is bigger than I would ever have imaginaed without them.

This morning I had the thought, If love is a choice, then so is health.  God is healthy (holy) or whole.  He's never had a sick day in His life–except–when Jesus became sin (sick) on the cross to make us well.  But rising again in holiness makes Him intolerable to the sickly who aren't ready to be well.  Didn't God say He put before us life and death (health and sickness), but then said, "choose life."  I choose life every day and in doing so I'm chosing Him over and over and over and over again. 

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!  Prov 3:5-8 (MSG)

I enjoy this discussion; there's no end to where it can go because it's really all about HIM.  Tomorrow I'll be busy with company, but I look forward to checking back in another week.

Love,

Jaque

I don't really do bread or grains anymore, sometimes if I want it, but not often  I try to stick with fish and chicken, and use turkey if it calls for ground beef.  I'm a terrible cook and I don't like to do it, so I lean toward raw, because you can't burn it, if you only need to peel it.  I don't know much about cooking or nutrition, I'm at the beginning of this journey and just focused on staying open to what ever the Lord leads me to.

It is neat how so much of our freedom comes from learning to be okay with who we are and where we are.  I'd always thought freedom would be some other place, but it's not its right here when I'm here and not trying to be somewhere else.

juls

Foods that can reproduce would be in their whole form - seeds, beans, vegetables, fruit.  What about grains, do you have them ground up, like flour?

I have a long history of being on many different diets, but now I am really looking to the Lord to direct my food choices on a daily basis, without having a lot of food rules.  I received some inner healing last week when I realized I had been rejecting a part of myself (the teenage rebellious part).   I accepted myself, and everything I had done, knowing that the Lord has forgiven me and paid for all my sins. Now I am finding that the intense cravings I was experiencing for sweets are gone.  I am experiencing Romans 6:22: "But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!"  Amazing!!

Georgia

I believe that part of becoming holy is becoming whole.  For me that journey is leading me to a physical health and wholeness, through a better understanding of nutrition and nutritional cause and effect.

juls

Jaque, I know where you stand on this because I saw what you wrote in the study on the Character of God in the chapter about holiness:

“To be holy is to be whole, to be well.”

God is well.  There is nothing unhealthy about Him.  We are called to be as He is.  Holiness has got to be more than the absence of sin, because God was holy before sin ever came into the world. 

There are a lot of places in the Bible that show that Jesus is interested in our physical health.  By His stripes we are healed.  I believe He took all of our infirmities with Him as well as our sin when He died on the cross.

So how do we apply this knowledge to our lives?

Georgia

I've come to stir this pot:

Would you like to discuss the meaning of the verse: "Be ye holy for I am holy"  in light of health? 

Do you think the word "holy" could be related to the word "healthy?"

What is health?  What is holiness?

Do you think God is interested in our physical health or just our spiritual health and why? 

Ready to ponder with those truly curious,

Jaque

It's sorta like putting together a gig-saw puzzle.  Lots of folks don't like that idea--it takes too long; a quick fix sounds better.  Don't we wish there was such a thing? I'm past 'wishful thinking'.  Now I look at it as a life  long journey that is part and parcel of what God uses to hone my "Christ" character.

God is Good...even and especially in the healing "details."

Jaque