Renewing our mind is a huge key to getting set free from the bondage of emotional eating. This is at the very heart and soul of what the Thin Within ministry is about. As leaders Heidi Bylsma and Christina Motley have shared encouraging videos and comments in the small group they lead (that I'm privileged to be in), I have been gathering numerous ways to renew our mind to God's way of regarding eating.
To introduce you to the idea, and encourage you in the process, here's a video that Heidi did:
[NOTE: The link below will take you out of this blog page, so you'll need to either X out the YouTube page once you've watched this video, OR click your back-button to return to this spot on this page.]
As Heidi puts it, we want to "think God's thoughts after Him about zero-to-five eating, about the lies we've believed."
This is a process we need to enter in to fully and joyfully if we want to experience the freedom God has for us!
So, getting specific, and putting lots of renewing-our-minds ideas in one place, here we go with...
1) Read and pray through Scripture. Obviously the Word is the primary means of renewing our mind. But you will soon see that is actually the foundation of most of the other ways to renew your mind. It's the silver thread that's interwoven throughout them... creative ways to incorporate it.
(My Bible here has seen better days, but I am seeing better days than I would have ever imagined seeing without this!)
2) Review my truth cards. I put mine in a blank journal I had on hand, but, because the pages were just paper, and therefore very flimsy, I went to using a pack of 4" X 6" index cards. You can also use 3" X 5" recipe cards, make bookmarkers out of them, write on post-a-notes that you put on the inside of cupboard doors, or "E - all the above"! ~ whatever works best for YOU!
3) Make a(nother) truth card. I get ideas from Scripture, from what Heidi and Christina share in their chats and videos, from what gals in our group share, from sermons I hear, and from the books I'm reading. A truth is just a sweet tidbit of truth that I want to keep close to my heart and embed in my thinking so that it has more of an opportunity to transform my heart and my mind! So transforming it into something pretty is not only fun, but it helps plant it deeper in me! It's also totally fine to just quickly write it out without decorating it! There are lots of different ways to make truth cards, and here's an article I wrote on the Thin Within blogsite on how to make them, called "Truth Cards 101"! (I'll include the same link at the end of this article if you'd like to finish this one before heading over there!)
4) Make a God List. This is a list of attributes of God. You can get your ideas from the Bible, a concordance, your own experiences with God ~ wherever ideas might spring up! You could also add on things He has done as an application or extension of a particular attribute. Like, for example, you could have "faithful" listed on your God List. Then, when God does something that proves His faithfulness, add that after "faithful." (Like if you needed money to pay the rent, and had no idea where it would come from, but then He provides it!)
5) Watch a Thin Within video of Heidi or Christine. These are just wonderful!!! With grace, humility, humor and wisdom, these two tackle all sorts of topics relating to the struggles we face on this journey! (It's accessible within an online Thin Within group.)
6) Listen to a Soundcloud teaching by Heidi Bylsma. Go to Soundcloud.com and search for "Heidi Bylsma" there. She has many excellent teachings there!!! Note that these are audio recordings; not visual. These are very nice for when you are folding laundry, driving in a car (without kids), putting on make-up ~ just doing anything that your mind is free to listen while your hands get something else done. (We women call this "multi-tasking" and it totally works! In fact, it's how we get stuff done!!!) Here's what the website looks like on my computer:
And here's what it looks like on my phone:
7) Truth Journaling. This is described fully in the Freedom From Emotional Eating workbook (item 14), but the basic idea is that, when you eat past your boundaries ~ like not waiting for a 0 (true hunger), or eating past a 5 (which is "satisfied") ~ you sit down and "truth journal" by stating the situation, identifying the emotion that was connected to it, then the belief you must have been believing, and then the TRUTH about it. This is very exposing!!! Which is exactly the idea! "Search me oh, God, and know my heart. Point out anything You find in me that grieves You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalms 139:23-24) It's not very fun, but allowing God to expose the lies we are believing is the only way they can be brought into the light and then decimated! Here is one of my entries. (Feeling very vulnerable here, but that's okay!)
8) Have a praise fest. Praise God for all the good things He has blessed you with, all the things you're thankful to Him for, all the attributes about Him that are praiseworthy. Use your God List in #4 for prompts for this!
9) Share a struggle you went through, plus its correction and/or resolution with the Thin Within group I'm in. If you're wanting to be part of a group, check out this "Thin Within Discussion and Support" group on Facebook!
10) Share an encouraging tidbit, quote, link, or graphic poster you find online. Just the finding and the sharing of it helps transform MY mind as wel!!!
11) Get & share a picture of something you come across in your day-to-day life! Like this is an overhead slide at church that my pastor used during a sermon! Or you might see a sign on the road or a store window, or something in a magazine, or... just anywhere!!! Capture it in a photo and then share it!
12) Read an article or testimony at the Thin Within Website. These are always SO encouraging. Go to the website and click on "Blog" ~ there you'll find hundreds of wonderful blog articles!!!
(This blog post contains Amazon Affiliate links. The Honeycomb Oasis Blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com at no additional cost to you.)
13) Process a section of I Deserve a Donut by Barb Raveling. By "process," I mean: when you are struggling with something relating to food, use this resource to identify what it is, read the verses that "counter" it, and pray them through into your own heart, allowing God to wash you with the Word, heal you, draw you to Him, and/or help you refocus and get an understanding of the truth ~ which will truly set you FREE!!! And not to eat a donut if you aren't hungry, but are just thinking you deserve one!
Pictured here is an iPhone ap ~ which is well worth the $2.99 price!!!!! I got it from my phone's ap store.
And here's the I Deserve a Donut book. Same basic content; the ap's just quicker and easier to access ~ literally "at your fingertips."
14) Read and journal in my Freedom From Emotional Eating workbook, by Barb Raveling. This book is helping me get to the bottom of some things I have been either unable or unwilling to look at, realize, and deal with.
(Yes, I do realize that you can read what I wrote here, if you care to, and that's exactly why I made sure it was shareable.)
15) Read a "Day" in God Speaks to Me (devotional book by Heidi Bylsma) and write my response. This book draws you to the Lord, and then provides a place to respond! Enlarge this photo (if you can) to see what I mean! LOOOOVE IT!!!!!
In closing... You've probably noticed that many of the above ways of renewing your mind are actually things you share or give away! This reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:
"The fragrance
lingers in the hand
of the one who gives
the rose."
As you bless, you'll be blessed back! In fact, this poster that our daughter, Sharnessa, created says it well!!!
Here's that link to my
article at the Thin Within blog!
