Made to Crave - Chapter 8: Making Peace with the Realities of my Body

I'm sharing the high points that I found in each chapter and then I answer the questions at the end of each chapter with my honest feelings. I'm reading the book on my Kindle, so I don't have page numbers for any of the thoughts I have taken from the book. This has been a journey that has spanned at least a decade for me. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm farther along than I used to be. Walk with me and feel free to share your thoughts. Be kind. Be blessed.

Lysa wrote lots of personal stories in this chapter that reminded me of times in my past when boys said things that weren't kind that wounded me "for life". I'm still working through those things, but this chapter has helped.

Each of the following points were taken straight from the book. No plagiarizing intended.

• Then I stopped and remembered what I felt the Lord saying this week. Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale. The scale does help measure our progress, but it can't tell us everything. It can't tell us if the problem is too much salt intake that is making us retain a pound or two of water. It can't tell us if we actually lost a pound of fat but gained more muscle from weight training. And (in my case this week), it can't tell us what time of the month it is and then give us automatic credit for the extra two pounds or so those glorious few days bring to us.
• So I had to stop and ask myself the following questions:
• Did I overeat this week on any day? No.
• Did I move more and exercise regularly? Yes.
• Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last Wednesday? Yes.
• Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? No.
• Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God? Nope.
• Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I'd had a successful, God-pleasing week? Yep!
• So, why oh why do I get so tied up in a stupid number? And why did I almost let it trip me up and send me to the kitchen for a 750 calorie binge?
• Yes, eating healthy and exercising get our bodies into better shape, but we are never supposed to get the satisfaction our souls desire from our looks. Our looks are temporary; if we hitch our souls to this fleeting pursuit, we'll quickly become disillusioned. The only true satisfaction we can seek is the satisfaction of being obedient to the Lord.
• The body God has given me is good. It's not perfect nor will it ever be.
• But my body is a gift, a good gift for which I am thankful. Being faithful in taking care of this gift by walking according to God's plans gives me renewed strength to keep a healthy view of my body. and so, like the psalmist, I can pray this prayer of thanksgiving for the body I have and mean it: Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ( Psalm 103:1-5)
• When I studied this verse and decided to rest in the reality of what a good gift my body is, for the first time in my life I thanked God for making me just the way He made me. I am able to look at airbrushed, skinny-ankled women on TV or in the magazines and be happy for that person without loathing myself.

Personal Reflections

1. We all have atleast one physical feature we wish we could change. for some it might be a facial feature like the shape of one's nose; for others it could be breast size or body shape. For Lysa, it's "tankles". What is  your tankle equivalent? My stomach What's your first memory of feeling embarrassed or ashamed by this aspect of your appearance? When I was 19, laying around talking with my fiance at the time, he made a comment that I needed to lose some weight. When I was laying down, any body fat I had on my stomach all fell to the side I was laying on. Mind you, I was 5'3" and 120 pounds at the time. Are you now more or less at peace with this part of your body or is it still a source of painful dissatisfaction? Sadly, I'm less at peace about it now. I weigh 80 pounds more, and have stretch marks and a c-section scar. If he thought I was fat then, what would he think of me now? (not that it matters)
2. Karen Ehman describes how she learned to shift her motivation from the delight of seeing diminishing numbers on the scale to the delight of obedience to God. When you consider previous efforts to modify your eating habits, what experiences or accomplishments provide your greatest motivation to keep going? A loss is great motivation. did those motivations ever backfire or become demotivators? It has backfired... It can cause me to eat something I shouldn't or at a time when I'm not really hungry because I have already lost some weight...
3. Karen made practical her efforts to redefine progress by asking herself the questions listed below. As you review each question and reflect back on your eating over the past week how would you assess your progress: Are there other questions you would like to add to the list?
• Did I overeat this week on any day? no
• Did I move more and exercise regularly? no - I was sick and had my cycle so didn't make it to they gym like I wanted
• Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last week? no- actually feeling a little on the bloated side... :-(
• Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? Its too easy to eat in secret when you are home alone all day. :-(
• Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God? no - any eating was out of hunger or habit not to stuff a void that needed God
• Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I'd had a successful, God-pleasing week? Overall - I think it was a pretty successful week. In spite of the lack of exercise, I feel my calorie consumption was pretty low.
4. Lysa describes how it's possible to park our brains in a place of dissatisfaction about our bodies or to accept our bodies and thank God for making us just as we are. Place an X on the continuum below to describe your current feelings about your body.
• My body is cursed with flaws.                                   X                         My body is a good gift.
• Imagine for a moment that the placement of the X above was made not by you but by someone you love - a child, a friend, a sister. How would the placement of the X make you feel?  What would you want to say to this person? How might you pray for them? are these things you could say to yourself, pray for yourself? Its the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. I know in my heart that I am a beautiful creation made in God's image... but my head keeps me from accepting my true beauty by dwelling on my imperfections. I think if somebody else said this of me, I would probably believe them... :-(
5. Lysa describes the freedom and redemption she felt when she discovered the benefits of her larger ankles. Have you ever thought about  your physical flaws from this perspective? What might be the hidden benefits to the physical features you wish you did not have? There have been recent studies that have said something to the effect that if you have more belly fat you have a lower chance of getting "this" disease (can't remember which one... Since I'm no longer bearing children, I can't think of any other reason belly fat is good for me.
6. If someone offered to grant you one of the following wishes, which would you choose? How do you imagine your life might change as a result of either choice?
• Instant and painless cosmetic surgery to change one thing (like Lysa's tankles) about your physical appearance.
• A permanent reorientation of how you think and feel about your body that would enable you to say wholeheartedly, "I've found my beautiful. And I like my beautiful." I'd chose this one. Too many times I've heard stories about people who've had surgery but their brains still tell them they are fat. If I could like myself as I am, that would be the best gift ever.