* The Way Out

NOTE: All names are purely fictional and do NOT represent anyone in particular

The Way Out!

Jeri had been enslaved to binge eating for a long time. Her doctor had sent her to counseling because he feared for her health. She was very overweight and had a history of heart disease in her family, and he was very concerned about her.

She had “tried” many times before to control her eating through dieting. She would initially lose some weight, but eventually she would give up and quit, only to have the weight that she had lost return, with extra pounds on top of it all. Despair had given way to detachment, and she found herself in a lonely pattern, having given up. Yet the doctor had gotten her attention, and she now feared for her very life.

Need to be cured of the commitment to dieting?
When Jeri came to a Christian counseling clinic, the first thing the counselors had to do was “cure” her of her commitment to dieting. She came in mistakenly believing that all she needed to do was to have more commitment and willpower. She believed that if she made a strong enough commitment, then she would be able to manage her eating.

This is not how addiction works, however!

Jeri had to learn that addiction was by definition the inability to stop. In other words, she had to learn to admit that she was powerless over her addiction and totally helpless to stop. You would think that after gaining a few hundred pounds and after many failed efforts at dieting Jeri would have seen that she did not stand a chance of change by herself. Yet that is part of addiction – the belief that one really is able to overcome the problem.

What does it mean to Lean on God?
Next, Jeri had to learn that she had not truly reached out to God as the Source of power in her life of addiction. She had “prayed” about her problem before, but that is very different than leaning on God as a source of power in the addiction itself. She had to learn that when temptation came, she had to pray and ask God at that moment for the strength to know what to do to flee the temptation.

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength
of my heart and my portion forever--Psalms 73:26

Finding strength through other people.
Then, she had to learn that God also gives us strength through other people. She began to see that part of the reason she had failed before was that she had tried to go it alone. She had thought because she had joined diet groups emphasizing group support, that she was getting that support. She discovered that in moments of weakness, when she was feeling loneliness or self-pity, she needed to be able to call a few people. She needed a “buddy system”.

Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;
so does the sweetness of a friend's
counsel that comes from the heart--Proverbs 27: 9

Here’s her story:
"Well, last night I found myself craving some serious food. I was just about to give in when I remembered what was taught. There were three things. First, I needed to reach out to God. So I prayed and asked him to help me get through it and to show me what was going on. Second, my cravings were not really for food, but had something to do with how I was feeling inside. Third, at those times I could not just depend on myself, but had to reach out to someone else. So, I asked God to help, and then I called another friend from the support group and told her I was struggling.

As we talked, I began to feel really sad. The more I talked, the sadder I got. I felt this deep aloneness that I never had felt before. She just told me to keep talking, and I did. Then, slowly, the feeling went away. And the weird thing was that after that conversation, I was not hungry anymore, but I hadn’t eaten anything. I think I am getting it!”

She learned to reach out to God and to a buddy to talk things out rather than using food to make herself feel better.

Principle 2 -
Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
"Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"

Tomorrow: Discovering the Steps to Overcome--What Jeri did to overcome