“If I am thin I am successful. If I am thin I deserve love. If I am thin I am in control” These were some of the pieces that constructed the idol that Lisa Bevere had built in her mind. Her father told her that guys will not like you because of her weight and you need to deal with this. Lisa felt like she was walking in shame because of the number on the scale. At 15 years of age she began to bow down to this idol and conform to the images that were presented to her. She also believed the lie that if she could be “bikini ready” then everything would be great.
After she became at Christian at 21 years of age, through her relationship with the Holy Spirit. God told her that her weight is an idol to her (which is the first commandment of the 10 commandments). An idol is something that I give my strength to or draw my strength from. It’s a misplaced trust…could be in our religion, jobs, children,relationships, success, food, Netflix. First we have to expose the idol to the light. Put a finger on what triggers you. If someone were to take that thing away, how would you feel? The light can show all the dirt, but helps for cleaning purposes.
Declare what God has done in a situation instead of trying to earn it in our own strength. It’s idolatry to think I keep myself free. I can’t. When we surrender ourselves to Jesus and realize we can only find our strength in Him then our spirits shift and minds are renewed.
We love our comforts. God is trying to help us and He has a better way but it’s like we fear change…or letting go of what we know…for something way better. I really related to this YouTube because the number on the scale gets me down too. While it can be sobering especially since I haven’t weighed myself in a year and realized I gained 20 lbs since I got married. Comments from others saying you don’t need that burger or we aren’t gonna stop at the Czech stop because it won’t help your goals or why don’t you try weight watchers feels shameful. Although I know others have good intentions for me, it strikes a nerve because these people have always had a comment about my weight. I realize that it strikes a soft spot because I have tied my worthiness to my weight, how I look or the feeling that everything has to look perfect. I’m not about that life anymore. I used to live a pretentious lifestyle. My weight is a number not my worth. People we know can hurt us unintentionally with their comments and we cannot let those comments get wrapped around the axel in our mind. We are to capture comments and hold them up to the light. We don’t have to internalize the comments. That statement wasn’t my issue. I had a choice to make I could feed the thought and let it grow into an identity or I could see it for what it was. A careless comment. Just like I can make the choice to leave the ice cream in the freezer and the snacks on the grocery store shelf. I could make the choice to walk away from that remark. “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We can say to any comment are you true? Are you beneficial? Are you necessary? If the answer is “No”, then we don’t open the doors of our hearts.
I’m dedicating my weight loss journey in order to be obedient to God and not to obtain perfection. I know that my spiritual apathy lately has been a correlation with giving into my flesh cravings of laziness and food my mind craves but doesn’t fuel my body. I know that working on myself can only grow me. Living undisciplined only sets me back.