The Medicine Cabinet: Eat Well — Wednesday
John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV)
As we’ve talked about this week, food is a good gift from God. It’s a practical gift of provision intended to fuel our bodies, and as Ecclesiastes 9:7 tells us, it’s a generous gift meant for us to enjoy.
But along with understanding what food is, another critical aspect of this conversation is understanding what food isn’t. As we mentioned on Monday, Satan likes to hijack God’s good gifts, and one of the main ways he does that is by twisting their purpose so they can easily distract, consume, and destroy us. In the context of food, this can manifest itself in many ways, but today, let’s talk about three things food was never intended to be:
Food was never meant to be our primary source of comfort.
Food was never meant to be a way to gain control.
Food was never meant to be a means of achieving love and acceptance.
I know we’re getting quite personal here, and for many of us, these are painful areas to process through. But I’d venture to guess that the majority of us have used food in at least one of these ways before, if not regularly.
For me, food has always been what I run to for comfort, and growing up, I struggled a lot with overeating and was overweight for the majority of my childhood and teen years. Then when my stomach disorder came along, I discovered things get rather complicated when food is simultaneously one of your basic needs, your biggest comfort, and your primary source of pain. This led to a vicious cycle of over-restricting to avoid symptoms, then eventually giving in and eating beyond what my stomach could handle, and then suffering the physical and emotional consequences. For the first couple of years after my gastroparesis diagnosis, this struggle consumed my mind every day, and I wrestled hard with God in that season to unravel my deep-rooted emotional dependency on food and restore a healthy relationship with it.
But maybe your battle looks different. Maybe when everything else feels out of control, restricting your food intake feels like the one thing in your power. Or maybe someone in your life made you feel as though you or your body wasn’t good enough, and now, your self-worth is defined by the number on the scale or how well you hit your macros each day.
I don’t know what your story is, but if your relationship with food has any kind of stronghold in your life, please hear me when I tell you that you aren’t alone, and freedom is possible! Galatians 5:1 tells us, “For freedom Christ has set us free,” so why not take a step toward that freedom today?
Wednesday’s Reflection
If you’re struggling in your relationship with food, counseling is a great next step (I did it!), and we’d love to help get you connected to a professional who can walk with you on your journey toward freedom. Just click here to fill out our counseling referral form!
