Inspire! Day 29- Christy

Today is day 29 in the Inspire! Challenge… Let’s hear from our new friend Christy!

Have you ever had an area that you struggled with just hit you in the face?!

Last fall I was challenged by several things at the same time. 1) I was invited to go to India to visit an Anti Human Trafficking program with an organization called Bright Hope. 2) I decided to read through the book of Jeremiah in the Bible. Jeremiah 2:13 said “my people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns that cannot hold water.” As I read about people worshipping idols, I was convicted that I had been “worshipping food”. It was an area in my life that I had let take over. I had become undisciplined and not careful. It was an area where I had “dug my own cistern”, made my own man made rules, instead of really submitting to God.

Food took a lot of my time, thought and money. Here I was getting ready to go to India, where there are hundreds of gods that people worship, and I was being convicted that in this area of my life, I was similar to them. I felt like the One True God was making it clear to me that He wanted to be first in my mind and heart. He wanted my full attention and so I was INSPIRED (propelled by the supernatural) to make changes. I decided to lose 40 lbs. I had to go radical. I was very serious and I wanted total life change. Honestly, my goal wasn’t to “look” different, it was to “be” different.

I took out carbs and sugar for 4.5 months. I went through Halloween, thanksgiving, trip to India and Christmas! Was it hard? Sure. But what’s 18 weeks?! 3 billion people in our world live on less than $1.25 a day. What did I have to complain about? It’s not about a guilt trip, it’s just a good reality check. It was like a cleansing (detoxing) of my body and mind. I was never hungry and I found plenty of new things to eat. Throughout the time God not only helped me change inside, I lost 40 lbs and began to bring back small portions of carbs and a little sugar. It’s been over a year and the weight has stayed off because my mindset has changed. I find that I don’t think about food, nor do I crave it. Food is something that I can enjoy but it’s primary reason is to nourish me and not master me. This goes against our American culture but that’s okay because I’ve found freedom and I’m so grateful!