Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Food is not my problem

My problem is not food.

It’s not ice cream or French fries or even Chipotle… my problem is that I use food to deal with my emotions. My problem is that I have an unhealthy desire to eat when I’m not hungry. And I would guess any alcoholic or drug addict when you get right down to the core of how they ended up as an addict is that they use their drug of choice to deal with their emotions & that they have unhealthy desires to use. What it all really comes down to is disobedience. God designed our bodies to function a certain way. He created me to need a certain amount of food to operate. The fact that I want more than that, and that I frequently cave in to the cravings is what my problem really is.

This is why I go to Crossing Recovery. I hear a lot of people say they think CR is just for drug addicts & alcoholics, so I just wanted to set the record straight. CR is for anybody with a hurt, habit or hangup. My hangup happens to be my disobedience with food. What is YOUR hangup? What do you need to CHANGE?

How does CR help me?

#1: At CR I learn or am reminded of the fact that I don’t have to stop overeating by my own sheer willpower. I remember that there’s a God who is wiser, bigger, and more powerful than anything I can ever dream of being & that when I tap into HIS will for my life, things get better, and my desire to overeat is lessened. So instead of trying to live by my own willpower, I am living out God’s will. You should try it. It'll change your life.

And #2: I've learned to work the 12 Steps. They help me make better choices. It's crazy awesome having them pop into my head the moment I’m about to make the wrong move. For example, I could be craving (and a craving for me is the biggest moment of temptation…) a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich. And because I’ve been coming to CR I’ll all of a sudden remember (*DING* lightbulb moment) that eating more fast food is just a cycle of insanity. Each time I do it I’m expecting a different result. So I admit that I am powerless over this desire to overeat (which is Step 1)… PLUS the 12 steps have helped me to figure out why I have this desire in the first place, and help me figure out how to deal with emotions other than eating.

Now, why am I telling you all of this? Simple. Because I know there are a whole lot of people out there who need to be reached with the truth of Jesus & the tools of the 12 Steps. The scope of the amount of people that need help with their hurts, habits & hangups is SO MUCH MORE than an alcoholic or a drug addict (although we really want to see them, too!). I want to see a whole bunch of food addicts & sex addicts & gambling addicts & codependents start to make a real change. Crossing Recovery can help them do it.

Monday nights at the Princeton Party House or Thursday nights at the Elk River Crossing campus. 5:30 potluck dinner, 6:00 meeting. Childcare provided. See you there?