Discernment

When deciding who to tell and who not to tell about your eating disorder, realize that this is a personal decision. You can take time to make the decision that's best for you. And remember to go to the One who knows you better than anyone to help you. Trust the Lord to lead you in this decision.

Whether it's your parents, siblings, children, other relatives, friends, co-workers, neighbors or others who attend your church, the decision of who and who not to tell is a matter that deserves great care. Why not pray about this decision and see how God leads you? He knows what's best for you even if you aren't sure of it yourself. He knows who will be supportive. He also knows who may not be supportive, but who you might have a learning and growing experience with by disclosing your eating disorder.

See Part One

One of the hardest issues for many people, especially in today’s society, is to know when to trust other people. What I am about to write comes from the books, Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend, and Safe People by the same authors. It is what I have learned along my healing journey, and I can assure you that I am by no means anywhere near the end of it. I believe healing is a lifelong journey. I highly recommend reading ALL of their books. Believe me when I say they have an endless supply of good Christian books that will help you grow and mature both spiritually and emotionally.

Many people teach that we are to trust nobody. After all, look what it gets us a lot of the time. Girls, boys and women raped because they trusted somebody enough to simply speak to them. Now, not every encounter is a bad one, but we cannot guarantee that any meeting will be a safe one. Who is willing to risk their life on a chance meeting?

After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Genesis 22:1-4 NRSV

Have you ever said "no" to God?

As many of you know, my husband and I are in the process of moving into a beautiful house given to us by the Lord. Moving in and unpacking a container we packed up two years ago, discovering things we’d forgotten that we had. It’s like meeting old friends again, finding the things we’d lived with for a long time and then suddenly didn’t have for two years. In many ways, a warm reunion, finding a place to put each thing.

Romans 6:16-18 NRSV
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

The Lord has been talking to me a lot lately about how I make decisions. There has been instilled within me a strong Puritan work ethic: God only helps those who help themselves. And while I do believe that Christians are commanded to work and to work hard (and often), I think that my own worldview has been corrupted with the idea of American self-determination.

Romans is an interesting book. Of all the books, this is the one that is the least personal. All of Paul's other epistles are letters written to churches with whom he had personal relationships, but the letter to the church at Rome was written to people he had never met. Thus, Paul takes the time to outline the doctrines of Christianity. In essence, this--even more than the other epistles--is a book of the Bible written to us for this time, a church which Paul never meets and a church which desperately needs the anchor of correct Christian thought and practice.

Some people are indecisive, their favorite color is plaid! You ask them if they have trouble making decisions, and their response is ? Well, yes and no."

I think our outcomes in life reflect-- to a significant degree -- our self concept. To put it in a simpler way, life generally delivers what we confidently expect. And those expectations flow from our decisions.

So, in a way, your decisions define you. They show how you really view yourself, your self concept, at a subconscious level. Think about it, each decision provides a way for you to express who you are to the world.

For decades authentic Bible-believers have watched - and battled - the slow advancement of paganism inside the Church. This phenomenon is surely becoming much more pronounced today. Right under our noses, there is now a bold blending of holy faith with demonic influence. This synthesis of two opposing worldviews is nothing short of a satanic strategy meant to blur and twist the distinctions which separate real Christianity and New Age beliefs and activities.

How do you apply the Bible to your life?

I have a sad confession. I always figured the whole point of reading the Bible was me.

I thought it was about my life, learning how to live better, do the right things, stuff like that. So my first big revelation about the Bible was that it’s, well, God’s revelation of Himself. The Bible Is About God.

Imagine that. It’s not all about me.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 NKJV

Over the years one of the questions I get asked most often is, “How do I know God’s will in my situation?” At the risk of sounding trite, discovering God’s will in any situation or circumstance really isn’t that difficult. God doesn’t play guessing games with us, and He doesn’t delight in making us take wild guesses only to discover we did the wrong thing. God’s will for us is outlined perfectly in the Scriptures, but that’s where we run up against problems.

Have you ever thought about the original audience for the writers of the Bible?

My answer a couple of years ago would have been, “Who cares?”

Turns out that I need to care if I really want to make sense of Scripture.

I’ve mentioned before a writing team I joined at church and a book we studied together: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart. One important understanding from that study was that interpreting scripture is a three-step process.

Exegesis