“We need a new way of thinking!  The diet mentality restricts and deprives.  Compulsive and addictive eating brings painful, life-threatening consequences.  It seems like we can’t live with food and we can’t live without it.  There has to be an answer.

Once again, accepting God’s help and His power is the only way out of the cycle of restricting and bingeing.  We must realize that our best efforts were failures; our best thinking, though perhaps profound in knowledge of calories and exercise, only made the problem worse.  This is a chronic condition that, over time, and without intervention, will rob us of life options.

When our thinking is infused with this reality, we become willing to take whatever actions are necessary to live free.  When we come out of denial about the seriousness of our self-defeating behaviors, we can then see the futility of our efforts to survive without God’s power and strength.

Today, Lord, I pray to see the truth of my condition.  I ask for the willingness to do whatever is necessary to live free from my food addiction.” ”Prepare your minds for action…” 1 Peter 1:13 This devotional is from Lose it For Life, Day by Day by Stephen Arterburn.

“Compulsive and emotional eating can make life bleak and lonely, and many of us are unable to envision any other way of life.  We may realize the devastation but have no faith for taking action.  Al around us there are people living in this land of despair.
But take heart!  The Lord, as our ever-present guide, has allowed us to see into another realm-one with the opportunity for life apart from devastation.  No longer controlled by food obsessions or defined by our weight, gratitude compels us to carry out His will and bring hope to the many others who still suffer.  We have compassion for them, not judgement, because we once lived where they live now, and we recognize how easily we could live there again if we kept a cavalier attitude.

Today, Lord, may I remember the devastation of compulsive and emotional eating.  May I remember the grace You’ve shown me in my effort to overcome my problem.  Build my compassion for those who will suffer.” A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.  - Psalms 91:7  This devotion is from Lose It For Life Day By Day by Steve Arterburn.