Giving up alcohol was his new beginning. The cravings began to go away.
To stay the course he placed perimeters around himself. He didn’t put himself in situations where he would be tempted.
He stopped alcohol, but he started something in its place. He started with small steps until those became ingrained in his lifestyle.
I related it all to giving up sugar. It was understandable and doable, but it wasn’t necessarily chapter and verse from the Bible.
Unfortunately, the Bible had become old hat to me. It was a culture, a lifestyle, but so was eating everything with sugar and flour. The Bible and eating ran together in my mind.
God had to go outside my culture to get my attention. He did it with a story because I am and always will be a storyteller.
The truth unfolded before me and I knew. I knew this was the answer I’d been looking for.
I began the journey with an admission. I admitted I was powerless over food and my life had become unmanageable.
You have to know what a monumental admission this was for me. I was a control freak. I wanted to control everything in my life. Admitting I had something I couldn’t control was saying I was weak, and I never wanted to be weak.
I began to realize truths from scriptures I’d known forever; such as, when I am weak then, and only then, is God released to be strong in my life (2 Cor. 12:9). And all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything (1 Cor. 6:12).
God was in every step of the journey cheering me on even when I didn’t recognize it was Him. I look back and see His fingerprints all over the lenses of my life.
I began to feel His grace like the wind at my back urging me on to be more, go further, push myself more.
Admission two was easier. I need a power greater than myself to restore me to sanity.
What I had done to my body was just plain insane. When I looked at where I was and where I wanted to go I knew I needed a Greater Power to help me.
I began to picture Jesus with me everywhere—at the supermarket, the gym, in my office, fixing supper, raiding the kitchen for a late night snack.
Sometimes I didn’t like Him being there but He stayed and gently reminded me with the question, “What are you doing?”, or sometimes with the reminder of why I had chosen this journey in the first place.
Admission three came when I had been on the journey for a while and had begun understanding the stronghold addiction had on my life.
I made the decision to turn my willful want for foods made with sugar and flour over to the care of God as I understood Him.
I let God out of my carefully constructed box. I allowed Him to mess with my piety and religiosity. When I did that I allowed Him finally to be God of ALL my life.
What I ate and how I exercised became a focus. The doctors, counselors and trainers I met with took priority in my time schedule.
I realized if I were ever going to fulfill God’s call on my life I HAD to focus on getting my body healthy. I am no good to anyone if I am not able to function.
What began as a journey of desperation morphed into one of determination and continues as one of declaration to the strength and power of God in my life. Now, I disciple others on this journey.
