“(Jesus) said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’” Luke 18:2-3 (NIV)
I have spoken many times about the struggle I have had with emotional eating. I have always known that it wouldn’t be a diet that would break those chains for me, but it was a spiritual problem. I have spent many, many years crying out to God asking for freedom in this area in my life and for whatever reason, continuing to struggle.
This past year was no different. I spent from January through April crying out to God on a regular basis to please take this away. I guess you could say I had some of the qualities of the persistent widow above because I kept bringing my request before God, knowing that He could answer, listening intently for that answer.
One ordinary day in April, after having gone to bed that night crying out even harder than usual to Him and telling Him that whatever His answer was, I would obey, I woke up with one word on my mind: My Fitness Pal. Now, I have to explain a little bit here in order for you to grasp the significance of this. In 2012, I had downloaded the My Fitness pal App. I had faithfully worked the program and seen a little bit of progress in my health but then dropped off and forgot about it… for four long years. For me to wake up one morning with the words My Fitness Pal in my head had to be from God. And I knew that I knew that I knew. While I wasn’t looking forward to having to be chained to a food program to help me gain control of my eating, I had promised God I would do “whatever and not complain.” So I looked up my password from long ago and logged in that very morning.
I decided to take it in steps. The first week or so I was just going to track my food and see where my baseline was – what I needed to improve on. Well, let me just say that was a real eye opener! But, by seeing it in black and white in front of me, I was able to see where improvements needed to be made which made it easier to get started. Also, there is an exercise part to the program and I like to compete with myself, so I started exercising again. It helped that our son was competing in a C25K Club with a 5K race at the end, so he and I tracked our exercise together.
Then I stopped. I’m not sure why I derailed but I did. I stopped obeying God and whatever gains I had made quit. Even though I quit my promise to God, He never gave up on me. That is when He invited me to pray and fast for my family… and I realized that while obeying Him in that area, I needed to begin again obeying Him in the area of My Fitness Pal.
As I write this, I’m halfway through my prayer and fasting period. At the time you are reading this, my fasting period will be finished. I have continued to log in and record my eating and exercise on My Fitness Pal. Come back tomorrow and find out what God revealed to me using something as simple as a My Fitness Pal program.
© Cheri Swalwell 2016