Over the past few months, two topics have been woven into numerous articles, books, conversations and situations; I find that I either need to seriously seek out what God is trying to tell me or ask Him to leave me alone about it.  So, the end of last week I finally told the Lord I was ready to listen.  Well, as usually happens when an important message is just on the tip of God’s tongue, things came up.  By Friday afternoon I had come to realize that this must be important for Satan to keep doing the “distraction dance”.

“Food” and “Fasting” have been common subliminal threads lately.  At first I thought them two separate messages but after finally taking just a moment Friday afternoon to ask God point blank what He was trying to say (and actually listen to His response) I believe they are related.  Very simply, God told me I’m not fully relying on Him, I have an unbiblical view of food and that I have failed to acknowledge the power Biblical fasting could have in my life.  Talk about a humbling sentence.

I can see now that what I thought was a “new message” is one He’s been trying to get through to me for several years.  In 2000, I lost over 100 lbs after the birth of my third child.  You see, in the beginning of that weight loss journey I relied on God for every ounce of strength because I had none.  I knew I couldn’t climb that mountain apart from Him.  As the weight began to come off, my praise of God turned to praise of myself.  Of course I didn’t see it then, but I certainly do now.  I began to say, “I lost xx pounds.”  My focus shifted from glorifying God for what He was doing through me to glorifying how far I had come.  I reached my goal weight but I didn’t stay there.  I relied on my “plan” and my “willpower” to keep me thin.  Because I had turned away from seeking God for each weight related hurdle and the strength I needed, I failed to come to Him when things took a drastic turn.  I suddenly found myself physically unable to workout (Drs. Orders); this was followed by a series of events that threw me into a tailspin of depression.  How clear it is now whose strength I’d come to rely on for my “weight loss success”.  That was Spring 2001 and I’ve floundered with my weight ever since.

Looking back over the last few years I can see every instance where God has tried to get my attention in this area.  I’ve had my focus on the scale, the meal plan, the workout, the experts, and the past even; but with my focus off the one true healer and conqueror, none of those will prove effective, not for the long haul anyway.  Fortunately, through the weekend God supplied opportunities for me to read and pray on this message of faith, food and fasting.  He further solidified it by providing a perfectly timed message at church (White Noise) on hearing God’s voice above all the “noise” in our lives.  It was exactly what I needed.

Through this, the Lord has laid it on my heart to do a post series called, “In Relation to Food”.  It looks as though it will be three parts but we’ll just see where God leads.