A Triple-Braided Cord
Many of you have made your way here via the devotion I have running on Proverbs 31 and Crosswalk.com. If you haven’t read it yet, you might be lost so click here to get caught up with the rest of us. :-) Don’t forget to come back!
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Have you ever had a sister or two who joined you in the midst of a battle? Or perhaps you have been such a person for one of your dear friends. God’s directions to us are clear; living a life of faith means connecting with others. We weren’t meant to march alone.
If you have been looking for a support network when it comes to dealing with the addictive tendency to over-eat and under-exercise, you are not alone. Here on this blog you will find a group of cyber sisters who too are in the thick of the battle. We’d LOVE to have you join us.
You can click on the Weight Loss Wednesday link in the sidebar and leave a comment on the last post listed there (and read the others if you desire more encouragement and ideas). Or, just simply begin joining us each Wednesday. You don’t need to tell us what you weigh. You can tell us if the scale went up or down or how you are doing emotionally. You can vent, encourage, pray, joke. Just be our friend in our collective journey to health.
And, as a special incentive, today I am offering a “jump-start weight loss giveaway” compliments not only of me, but of my other two strands, Lysa TerKeurst and Shari Braendel. We are banding together to offer the following “basket-in-a-box” to one of you who leaves a comment on this post. It includes:
- From Lysa for your inner beauty: Lysa’s mission is to lead women in the adventure of faith. So, she is giving away a signed copy of her latest book Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl. Learning to live out your faith in a tangible and real way will assist you in your journey to health. This book will show you how.
- From me for your kitchen connection: A sunny set of citrus-y recipe cards to record some new healthy kitchen concoctions. Six bags of my favorite herb teas including two each of Passion Fruit, White Tea-Raspberry and Chocolate Hazelnut. And some “one-size-fits-all” Bath and Body Works White Citrus body lotion. One of my favorite scents!
- From Shari for Your Outer Beauty: Shari is Proverbs 31’s resident fashionista. She is giving an awesome accessory that will flatter anyone trying to lose weight: a beautiful turquoise jewelry piece!
Okay gals….hop on and leave a comment. If you are a regular Weight Loss Wednesday gal, check in as normal letting us know how your week went. If you are new, just tell us what your goal is for weight loss or exercise or health. Or, if time is tight, just say “I’m in!”
And….if you also visit Lysa or Shari’s blog, your name will be entered each time you comment there. Shari has a related post up about what to wear while you are losing weight that you won’t want to miss!
The winner will be announced Monday.
Glad to have you be a strand in our ever-thickening cord. Leave your comments!
Braided Blessings,
I tried to write earlier today and the enemy stepped in…I was interupted because I was finally confessing what God has tried to get my attention about for years. This time I will be quicker…
Earlier today, I prayed for each woman here – that you will all keep your eyes and hearts focused on God so that we will all be able to point to Him with greatfulness for helping us, through this blog. It is an answer to prayer already for me.
I have struggled for a few years now with depression and turned to food for my comfort, my friend, my reward but it has also been my punishment, my stress, my evil.
God answers prayers and even though it took two years, rescued my teen daughter from an abusive relationship that tore up our family relationships. We are still healing and praying for restoration in our marriage and family and for me to be released from my eating/food issues.
Thank you so much for this service – what an awesome idea.
I am so glad to find your site. Please count me in!
I loved the daily devotion – it made so much sense! I love the idea of a support army – it is so hard to find motivation sometimes.
Hello,
I knew what the “battle” was for Karen after reading the first sentence of her devotion today! I too have battled this for decades! I was bulemic for over 13 years and God delivered me from that horror back in the late 80s. Fast forward 25 years and now I find myself drawn to the pantry, looking for solace there, instead of the LORD. I beat myself up every time it happens. Altho I am not binging and purging, the desire for food is overwhelming and I frequently consume way more than I should. I am not over weight tho – I am a compulsive exerciser!!! So the vicious cycle continues…eating, guilt and shame, depression, exercise, eating, guilt and shame, depression…it goes on and on and I am so tired of it.
I am soooo excited that you wrote today’s P31 devotion and sent us to your blog! You are confirming exactly what God has been telling me in the last two weeks – I cannot go this alone. I need Christian sisters to help me, to mirror healthy thoughts and attitudes towards food and exercise. I want to have the mind of Christ! I have also (just today!!) taken the first step of making an appointment with our church pastor because I no longer want this to be cloaked in secrecy. I am outing the enemy!!! (smile) I am thrilled to have found this blog and I look forward to be finally sharing this struggle with other women. I need a cord of three strands. The enemy would like nothing else than to keep me (and those of us who feel so alone in this) isolated. There is hope, God is stronger than addiction and He can demolish strongholds. Lord, let Your power show up in our lives!
I am joining the Wednesday weight loss group and I am so excited about it. I have been divorced for 2 years and I am raising 3 sons (2 teenagers) ALONE! My ex-husband doesn’t see them and as a result I suffered from depression and turned to food to be my savior. I was constantly stressed and would eat, eat, eat and at the end of the day I felt worse about my situation. I would play the “woe is me” victim and I am sick and tired of it. I will turn to God and I know that he is blessing me and I know that I am a strong woman who is able to balance a career and raising a family alone. I hope to lose 15 pounds and also lose these insecurities and live happier and healthier for that is what my family deserves. Now I am off to join the Wednesday group. THANK YOU and God bless! :)
Roseanne
Rebecca,
Thanks for keeping it reall and putting it into perspective. That is exactly what I need to do…..
“Time to stop trashing the temple with junk and treat it like the vessel of the Holy Spirit that it is.”
Amen sister!!!
We are in the process of starting a food addiction study at church and I am excited to do a study that combines nutrition and facts with the power of prayer and God. I have numerous health issues and need to lose 70 lbs. Just started walking 2 miles everyday and making healthier food choices. I will keep all you posted of weight loss journey. I look forward to your blog every Wednesday. God bless you all!
I’m in! In awe at His work through you.
Thank you.
After going through a few tough years as a single mom, I feel like I’m finally starting to get to the point where I could consider myself healthy mentally and emotionally. The unhealthiness is in my weight loss issues and the inability or maybe lack of motivation to get up away from the computer and move more and eat less. Thank you for starting this blog/group so that we can spur each other on!
Hello,
Thank you so much for setting this up, wow. Great idea and follow through.
I have struggled with my weight since about 15 years old, which feels like all my life. I have so focused on how to keep weight off, how to take weight off, fades, diets, binges,purges, turning it over to God, taking it back, yo-yo-yo-yo,etc.
Today I am trying to erase all these years of not really healthy eating and focus on healthy. This is really hard. This has ruled my thought life and me too much.
May God bless you,
Mychelle
How do I sign up to get your blog? I need to do what you have done I need help. thank you
Hello, and you are so right on. I am a preacher’s wife that is 100+ lbs. overweight and have a lot of illnesses. Without even speaking to my fiends, I know they would be a part of this with me. I love the title you used of “A Triple-Braided Cord.” We women need each other desperately, especially in the ministry. I am afraid to confide in or even ask for prayer for my food issues and weight problem, because I don’t really know who I can trust. Thank you soooo very much for your encouragement. Bless you!!!
I’m in! I would like to lose 75-85 pounds before my husband and I begin trying start a family next year. I want to cultivate a healthy lifestyle so that I can pass good eating and exercise habits on to my children naturally in our everyday lives. I am doing Weight Watchers Online and trying to get on a good exercise schedule. I have been really hit-and-miss with this for a couple of months…but I really want to commit and do it!
@ Jill.. have you had your thyroid recently checked? My mom suddenly gained alot of weight.. she dieted, exercised, everything didn’t loose a single lb. Went to the Dr. and discovered her thyroid was completely inactive.. with some medication (she takes coconut oil daily rather then thyroid meds) she has been able to loose some weight, and she feels lots better.. it is just a simple blood test..
WOW.. I have been slowly gaining weight.. before now it has never been a problem for me, so I didn’t really see this coming.. I don’t own a scale, never needed one.. but at my last dr. appt., I had gained almost 45 lbs!!! I have had 6 children in 10 years… my youngest is 9 months.. it is alot of work, and I have been finding myself saying, wow it was a stressful day, I need a pint! (of Ben and Jerry’s not the pub’s pint :) Or Wow, what a long day, hot cocoa, and a candy bar sure sounds good.. and wow where did all that Easter candy go?! I am a very small person, so alot of people look at me like I am crazy when I say Ya, I need to loose some weight too! But it isnt so much what I look like that is bothering me, or even the fact I can no longer fit into my favorite pants.. it’s the way I feel.. how I feel sooo guilty after eating the ice cream, or hiding in the bathroom to eat the candy bar I would never let my kids have! It’s the fact that I turn to the sweets instead of my Lord for help getting through a tough day.. I don’t even talk to my husband about how I feel anymore. All I get from him is just, I will always love you no matter how you look, or how much weight you gain… that is sooo not the answer I want from him.. I want him to tell me that I need to stop, and he will help me.. I want him to say well, let’s start walking after dinner or something!! And since I wasn’t getting that from him, I just kept going the way I was.. and now, even though to my friends I am this skinny little thing.. I am still 45 lbs heavier than ever, and depressed out the wazoo!! To me it isn’t a weight issue it’s a health issue.. I want to be here in 20 years when my youngest get’s married.. or 30 years when she has her next baby.. or 40 years when my grandbabies are getting married.. I don’t want to miss out on those things simply because of what I ate!
thanks so much for this blog! this is an issue i have been struggling with a lot this year and i want to be a part of your Weightloss Wednesdays so I can later become a success story, too. count me in!
SO excited to have found this blog!!! Just over the last couple months have finally been getting control of my eating and for the first time EVER have stuck to exercising for more than a week.
What jumpstarted this one night i scarfed down a couple donuts even tho i was uncomfortable in my clothes. I got down on my knees and cried out to God and said I could not do this on my own and didn’t know what to do.
That night I came across James 4:7-8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Woo hoo!!
Hi all,
My healthy journey began almost 4 yrs ago and I’ve been going strong since. I’m so thankful to God for His guidance and peace. I know that it was due to His strength that I’ve been able to do what I’ve done. I’ve tried it on my own and guess what……I didn’t stick with it!
Thank you God, for helping me on my health journey and also to all of you who encourage us on our way.
~Amy
I am what they consider obesely overweight and have many health issues. I was in denial for some time and still am to some degree. I really need to loose the weight but it’s so hard. I weigh almost 300 pounds and that’s not good on any level. I often feel ashamed, and then the emotional strain… I really need the encouragement and sisterhood, I look forward to what this has to offer me. thank God for you and what you’re doing. Blessings to all!
Karen – Thank you so much for this devotional. I have been struggling so much with my weight. I have yoyo’d for so many years. I know the right things to do, I think about them, I JUST DON’T DO THEM. I am so tied of the endless cycle. Over the past few days I have been gearing myself back up to pull myself back into shape. I just signed up for volleyball starting at the end of April (I haven’t played in 10 years). Weight Loss Wednesday is the additional support I need.
Currently I’m at 175 – my Goal 140! 35 lbs and counting……..
I’m in. Way to heavy to take care of my Diabetes.
Hello! As I was reading the Proverbs 31 devotion in my email, I felt tears come to my eyes, because I realized how much I am missing in not having that support of friends. My husband and I began our weightloss journey at the beginning of January and we have both done well in changing our eating and exercising habits. My husband is as supportive as he knows how to be, only he is not a woman, and our battles are very different. For every pound I have lost he has lost 2 or 3. Its frustrating at times and I have to try very hard not to compare myself when we are both doing the same things. In the last month though I have jumped off the wagon. After a vacation where we ate whatever we wanted, I have not been able to go back to healthy eating, or rather, not eating those things I crave. For the past 3 weeks I have been craving candy and sadly giving into those cravings by running to the drugstore everyother day to get some. I am feeling ashamed and I am hiding these things from my husband, because he does not understand how powerful these cravings can be. I need the support of women who understand and have overcome or dealt with the differnt battle women fight in weightloss. Giving into cravings turns to shame, the shame turns to depression and the feeling of just giving up, which leads to more cravings. Sometimes I feel very alone in this cycle. I have prayed the prayer for God to bring these cords into my life and will continue to do so everyday. May God bless you all.
Jane:
When you have the craving for chocolate, I found during my cleanse to have a cup of mock chocolate made with almond milk and carob powder and honey. I used the 40 calorie almond milk. It is low fat, low calorie and it even tastes good. The recipe is on the box for hot chocolat. I used it and used almond milk instead of the milk. It really helps in those “got to have chocolate moments”.
Thank you so much for your timely devotion. I have also been battling my weight for the last 5 years. I want to be healthly for my 2 wonderful grandchildren. I also need the support – I need cords in my life.
I am a 54 year old women who has been overweight most of my life and I literally mean most of my life. I was very close to being 300# this spring and finally said enough is enough. My knees hurt. I couldn’t run and play with my granddaughters. I was at that proverbial wall. I went on a 3 week cleans with my sister and lost 20#. I am now following a 1800 calorie meal plan with my daughter. I haven’t weighed in this week so I do not know wt loss at the time of this posting. I still need to find time for exercise. My time is at a premium. I try to walk daily. It may only be 10 minutes but at least I am moving. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I know I will be following this closely. Love to you all.