ENCOURAGED IN HEART

The BIG question, “What am I going to do now that I hit my goal weight?”

SHOP TILL I DROP BABY!

Or, until the $100 buck shopping spree money is spent!  And given my non-affinity for shopping, it’s a coin toss which will occur first!

So, now that I’ve touched my goal weight, I’m walking on easy street…right? ACK – NO!  Thought I’d be, but I ain’t! I’m not writing this to discourage you, but rather to give you a realistic perspective, which I pray does encourage you.  I used to look at slender or average weighted women and assume things (which reminds me of a little saying, “know what happens when you assume…you made a donkey out of u and me!”

I digress…only God knows what’s going on in the inside.  Outside appearances are quite deceptive and only sometimes true.  And in my opinion, women can camouflage themselves up quite well!

For example, husband says, “are you okay?” The, “I’m F-I-N-E” reply not only is camouflaging the emotion, but also a TRAP! RUN!

My emotional eating recovery has depended on a warrior-like persistence with petitions to God, no other thing nor substance for comfort.

O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Jeremiah 8:18 (NIV)

True dat – hubby, family and friends are part of that, but God HAS TO COME FIRST.

1st!

But seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

When I feel nutty, or that stirring inside, God’s guided me to stop and put a name to that emotion.  The first and biggest one, “I feel angry because Mom died and my childhood became adulthood.”  Or, “I feel sad because _______ treated me mean” or “happy because _____ made me feel special”.

But the next step of this emotional recovery, has been to experience the emotion, sometimes more than once!

This has what the process looks like for me:
1. Feel the wackiness.
2. Identify the emotion/s.
3. Experience the emotion/s.
4. Heal!

Sometimes, #3 has continued to be visited, and on some deep hurts
like my Mom’s death or our first three babies miscarrying, it won’t be
until I’m home with Jesus before I truly experience #4, healing. God heals enough to make the hurt more bearable.

But TRUE healing…that’s the white stuff in the oreo of life, the cream in the Bavarian pie,
the peanut butter in the Reeses peanut butter cup, the gooey stuff in the center of the truffle

the…end of my inappropriate food analogies!

Yes, many habits and bad patterns have changed, but sister, I’m still chugging along, quite humbly aware how each day in my emotion eating recovery is a blessing!

I’m a gal who thrives on order. No wonder I chose the military and law enforcement as my first professions and also, why I like to run from emotions:

EMOTIONS ARE NOT ORDERLY!

There’s no charting, predictability or figuring them out and quite frankly, that annoys me! To experience emotions is a process, that I’d like to get check off my “To Do” list and place on my “Is Done” list! I need the faith and courage to get unorderly and experience them, or in other words, make “time to weep” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).  God wouldn’t have put in in The Book if it wasn’t meant to happen!

Do you “second that emotion”?