The self image epidemic

I found this in my draft box from quite a while ago... it had already been posted, but i edited it a bit. i have found more information on the self image problem in our world today, which brings hope and is in the January blog posts... god bless.

Friday, October 09, 2009
8:34 AM
If you haven't noticed, we've got a problem. It's an epidemic. But it's hidden. It's spreading. But the lie so craftily hidden by Satan is in nearly every person's mind who suffers from this epidemic. What is it? Lack of confidence in regard to self image. Who does it effect? Nearly every woman. Especially young girls. Why is it occurring? Well. Because it hasn't been fully exposed. We ourselves are guilty of it. And allow it to happen. We don't claim victory in our own minds- allowing for our thought patterns about ourselves to continue. These stats are not to get you down, but to just bring some light to the issue. The stats:

One in 200 american women suffers from anorexia

Two to three in 100 American women suffers from bulimia

An estimated 10 – 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are males

Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents

50% of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight

80% of 13-year-olds have attempted to lose weight

Rates of minorities with eating disorders are similar to those of white women
(It is of ALL races- not just one)

Eating disorders are one of the most common psychological problems facing young women in Japan

Pasted from <http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm>


Anorexia nervosa is considered a mental illness… it goes straight to the heart (that's why it's so hard to deconstruct the old patterns)
"

So yes. This is an epidemic. And it goes against the will of God. It has to- Everything God has made is good. And this is clearly not good. One of the reasons: Many girls look around and see other skinny girls. They tend to think that these girls are naturally skinny. Likewise, the girl who thinks she isn't skinny begins to regulate her eating patterns, look in the mirror too many times each day, care too much about what she looks like, focus on herself too much (rather than focusing on God), and because of her preoccupation with her weight and her constant resistance towards God's better plan in her life, she grows ever further away from how God designed her to think about herself. And the sin creates the feeling of a wedge between herself and God.
He will never let go. He will never let go. But she has. The sin so prevalent (which we convince ourselves isn't a sin at the time) is a trick. The thing she doesn't realize is that the reason why many of the other girls are so skinny is because they are thinking and doing the same thing- the same unhealthy pattern. So because of this trick, our minds no longer desire to obey God. This is unfortunate and saddening. We become futile in our thinking towards God. Watch- prayer slowly slips out. Reading the Bible wholeheartedly slowly slips out. And the mirror slips in. Thoughts about food slip in. Food is all you can think of. When I focused on the food I was eating all the time, I didn't have anything else to talk about. I would talk about high-calorie foods I loved, and I loved baking. Which was true. But I let talking about that food be my supplement so I didn't have to eat them. The Spirit of God no longer seemed to be dwelling in me. I didn't let it. I seemingly became more selfish. In my heart. I don't know if you could tell it on the outside. I bet so. But I knew it. As I was preoccupied with my weight and what I ate, the less I cared about sharing a meal with someone- because it meantthat I would have to eat where they wanted and not stick to what I preferred eating. The more I ate healthy, the more I seemed stuck-up and disconnected. As if I was better because I was eating better foods. i didn't believe this and i gladly knew it to be false, but my heart felt mean towards others many times.
And another lie snuck in there while all this is going on: "But I am supposed to be eating better foods. God says to take care of my temple." You see. It's the half-lies that get us in trouble. Yes. Take care of your temple. Take care of the body christ has given you. But there are multiple meanings to this idea of taking care of his temple. His temple also means taking care of the Body of Christ- other people around you. When you care only about how you look and what you're eating, you aren't thinking about others! It's a horrible trap! The other thing "temple" means is take care of the Holy Spirit- the body of Christ living in you. While being semi-orthorexic, I sure didn't care as much about how I maintained the Holy Spirit living in me. I didn't let him live in me. So yes. Take care of your temple. But if you're starving yourself. Or caring too much about your diet or food at all or if you're preoccupied with how much fat or not-fat you have on your body, you are not taking care of your temple he's given you! IF YOUR TEMPLE IS WEARY BECAUSE YOU HAVE DEPRIVED IT OF CARBS, THEN HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO SUFFER AND LABOR FOR HIM! If you can't hold yourself up because you feel too tired and sick and you look pale, how in the world are you going to resist the temptation of the devil? The sad thing is, when I was preoccupied by my body, I didn't mind giving in to the devil. I just let things slip. It took a very loving mom to get me to stop. To tell me that she was done worrying about me and letting me try and deal with it on my own. And you know what. Everytime someone offered me food I wouldn't let myself eat, the devil came out in me. My spirit grew mean. Cause there was confrontation. I had to lie to find some way to not eat it. Adding another conscious sin to the pile. And when mom made me eat. I in my heart was horrible. There was such ugliness building up in my heart because of my resistance to the confrontation God put in my life. It was the day before our mission trip to chicago. And she told me I had to start eating real foods or I couldn't go. The thing is- it got to the point where I didn't even have a preference to what I ate- I didn't know what I wanted to eat. I just knew what I was allowed by myself to eat. And that became what I wanted. Healing didn't come over the chicago trip. I still watched what I ate. I still censored everything that went in my mouth. I had the healthiest thing at Jamba Juice and the healthiest thing at Oberweis. Not even ice cream when I was in the best ice cream place in the world. I had deep dish pizza. One piece I think. It was good. The thing is. I could have served so much better on that trip. My mind, as much as I tried, still had a long way to go to get back into serving mode. I am ashamed to say that I was trying to talk to God about getting over myself so much that I probably missed many God-ordained moments with the homeless. I know we can't always feel God, because we must live by faith, not by feeling, but we still must see Him working in all things. When we are so consumed with ourselves, it's hard to see Him working. It's horrible. Your mind just lacks praises. And joy. You lose yourself. You don't know what to eat, let alone pray about. What is in the darkness must be brought to light. If you don’t tell someone who will kick your butt and force-feed you, I'll let you know, you might not ever get over it. Tell the person who cares enough about you to sacrifice your comfort for your life. Because if you consider yourself a child of God, and let your eating disorder/preoccupation continue, you'll lose yourself. And you'll quickly lose sight of the plan for your life God's given you. You might feel great in the new clothes you fit into. In the clothes you see on TV and you might have room left in the shorts you never thought you'd wear, but I'll let you know. Those shorts can't go to Heaven with you. Those outfits can't go to heaven with you. They could clothe the homeless though. They could clothe the orphans. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep onesself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:26) I was so consumed with not eating food that I forgot that there are people in our own backyard who don't have the choice of getting to eat today. I was worried about whether my bread was whole wheat or not while the starving would just like a piece of bread. Let me tell ya- jesus doesn't care if the communion bread is wheat or white. The communion juice- it has sugar in it. Don't let it come to the point where you consider not taking communion because it's white bread. Eat. Eat anything. Not gluttony, but if that's what it takes for a bit to get you out of this current pattern, then go for it. Go for balance. Consider every "unhealthy" thing you eat as communion he's provided for you- because you've been blessed with daily bread, no matter whether it's wheat or white. So be thankful for it. Claim every "unhealthy" food your put into your mouth as a stab at the devil who's trying to convince you that your legs are too fat. Look in the mirror! Take a good look! You are fearfully and wonderfully made! REPEAT THAT TRUTH TO YOURSELF UNTIL YOU BELIEVE IT! I STILL HAVE TO REPEAT IT EVERY DAY!
YOU
ARE
FEARFULLY
AND
WONDERFULLY
MADE.
Turning your way of thinking around is hard. I know. Pray through it. And if you feel like you don't think He's listening, just keep praying. Get some truth into your bones and repeat it in your mind. If going into the bathroom to look in the mirror makes you think about food- then don't go in!!!! Put verses on your mirror! Wear sweatpants with a friend for the whole week! Get comfortable and allow yourself to get comfortable! Have someone with you at all times if going into the bathroom makes you want to throw up! (Trust me, they probably care about you enough to not worry about whether they are in the bathroom with you. They'd probably mind you being unhealthy more than they'd mind hearing you pee.) It's hard. Your mind is probably fighting healing right now. Does this make you cringe- the idea of eating ice cream, or not going on a run today, or claiming freedom from this and calling out to God, or praying? Good. I'm glad you realize you've got a problem- that's a start. If you are cringing at the idea of healing, then it's time to heal. It'll be hard but it'll be worth it. Is your soul getting mad at me for saying this? Let it. Then come over and let's have coffee and talk. I know. It's hard. But God is faithful. And I want you to know- HE LOVES YOU. HE MADE YOU. HE SEES YOU AS HIS PERFECT BEAUTIFUL CHILD. AND WHEN YOU SEE HIM IN HEAVEN, HE'S PROBABLY NOT GOING TO CARE IF YOU ATE VEGETABLES AS OPPOSED TO POTATO CHIPS, BUT HE MAY ASK YOU IF YOU USED WHAT HE GAVE YOU TO BRING HIM GLORY. THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO CARE ABOUT. That's my prayer. That I love God enough and have a level enough head to realize that one day, all this around me isn't going to matter. The only thing that will matter is what I did with what He gave me. So please. If you need to talk, shout out to God. He's right there. He loves you. And He made all of the foods in the grocery store just for you- he brought the new covenant of Jesus, and with that comes the fact that we are denied no food in moderation. We can eat whatever we want in moderation! So give God a call. And find that friend who is going to make you eat. You're probably going to feel like resisting that. Wake up, o sleeper, and let Christ shine on you.
Romans 2:5-11

1 Corinthians 4:5
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Ephesians 5:11-17
11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Whatever you are doing that is in the darkness, let it be exposed. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth [God's Truth] buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith [claim faith that He will get you through. Remember- faith not sight] with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation [you have been saved] and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (ephesians 5)
God is with you. There is hope. God loves you and He'll never stop loving you no matter what the reflection in the mirror looks like. No matter what. Claim Truth.
Amen.