During the past few months, our family has had a few difficult issues to deal with and I have to confess that I haven't dealt with them in the stoic, Christian-like fashion that I thought I would have. It's easy to give others hope and encouragement but it's so difficult to take your own advice. So, because I felt that I had no hope to give and no encouragement to offer, I simply stopped blogging and stopped writing.
For those of you who remember why I started this blog in the first place, it was to be obedient to what God was telling me to do. I felt the Lord was leading me to write and, oh, the freedom and joy I feel when I'm obedient is beyond my vocabulary. Having said that, I also feel that when you're not following the path that God has laid for you, that opens up the doorway for the enemy to slither in and just mess with you. And, boy, let me tell you, he's was messing with me and my family big time. But, in the midst of the many storms that Jack, Josh, Jakob and I were enduring, God reached down using a friend who I hadn't spoken to in a long time and through email, this friend asked why I wasn't blogging. I touched on a few of the lighter issues I was facing and after her unrelenting pursuit of meeting with me, I finally agreed to meet her for breakfast. Here, I found myself pouring out to her all of my troubles and she so lovingly and unjudgmentally listened and comforted me. Thank you, Lord, for putting Lorrie in my path, and thank you, my friend, Lorrie, for obeying God's call to reach out to me.
I'm not going to share with you all of the struggles my family and I had faced, but I will share with you my personal struggles which a few of you already know and have been such a huge support and I thank you. I have a 3-fold constant battle going on in my body. Each, by itself, is a battle in itself, but interwined together, it's a horrific storm that rages in my body every day. The components are weight, hormones, and joint pain. Here it's only fair that I admit to you something that's been such a battle and a struggle for me, something that has brought me much shame....
Hi, I'm Alesia and a I'm a sugaraholic.
Some of you might be chuckling at reading that statement and that's because you've never been addicted to sugar. But for some of you, you read that statement and felt something stir in your soul and my prayer is that you will find encouragement and hope in reading this blog.
For those of you who don't have a weight problem, perhaps you're battling another type of addiction...food addiction (carbs), alcohol or drug addiction, pornographic addiction, nicotine addiction, gambling or shopping (yes this is an actual psychological addiction). An addiction is anything that takes precedence over you and I'll be touching on this more in the days and weeks to come. For the rest of you who don't have any types of addiction, this blog is about healing, hope, and encouragement and will be based on scriptures and obeying God so if you've felt the need to start to dive into the Word more or have something that you haven't obeyed God for, then this blog will be a source of encouragement.
Today's blog is a bit long but I need to share a few things to get to the point where I'm at today.
My sister, Cheri, and I have been on a Christian-based eating program called Prism - not prison, although at times I felt like I was in prison. It's a wonderful program where you stop eating sugar and all bad carbs cold turkey. It works if you work it. I had lost 28 pounds 3 years ago in 12 weeks but I fell off the wagon when I stopped allowing God to be the focus and allowed by flesh to take over. Long story short, my sister and I had started back on Prism this past February 1. I feel off the wagon only a few weeks later but my sister is still doing it and you go girl!!! I'm so proud of you!!!
After beating myself up over why I can't stick to this diet and my sister can, I stumbled on a book called, "The Anatomy of a Food Addict." The author explains how sugar and carbs effect your brain's chemical balance in exactly the same way alcohol affects alcholics and drugs affect a drug addict. After reading this book, I now understand why I have such a difficult time not eating sugar. So, factor in the sugar addiction which leads to my joint pain and throw in menopause and no wonder I'm a mess. The hormones alone are enough to drive me over the edge. When they take over my body, I have no control over my cravings or my emotions. I would knock someone over and step on their body to get to a chocolate chip cookie!!! I admit that to you because I'm sure someone reading this can say "Oh, I've done that!!" Come on now, you know who you are!! The good news is I realize that I wouldn't actually kill anybody to get to the cookie - can I get a thank you Jesus!!!
After a few days reading and praying about how I was going to shed the weight, help my joints, and put my hormones in a very much needed time-out, I decided to make an appointment with a doctor who my dear friends, TJ and Linda, go to. I'm not sure how to describe Dr. Novak, and what he does since it's nothing I've ever experienced before. I suppose he's a homeopathic naturalist who utilizes your body's nervous system to determine what foods your body needs to heal itself. If your body needs only lettuce, peppers and green beans, that's what you'll be eating until your next visit. It's extreme, but at this point in my life, I need something extreme (I can hear the whip crack my hormones into remission as I type - ha - take that menopause!).
My main struggle with going to Dr. Novak was this question - was I putting my faith in Dr. Novak instead of putting my faith in God? God being God, who we all know is awesome, especially when things occur supernaturally when we don't expect it - allowed me to came across a book called "Made to Crave, Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food," by Lysa Terkeurst. Lysa discusses her weight loss journey and how she learned to replace her cravings for junk food with craving God's Word. While reading her book, I came to a section where she describes going to a nutritionist who put her on a strict eating plan, no sugar, no refined carbs (is there a theme here??). Then it hit me - the author went to a nutritionist. Let me say that again - the AUTHOR went to a NUTRITIONIST. Dr. Novak wasn't replacing my faith in God. God gave me Dr. Novak to go to but only God will get me through this journey. God and the help of my family and a few friends.
So, my appointment with Dr. Novak is this Tuesday, March 6 at 10:00 a.m. It will be my evaluation and then at the follow up appointment, I'll be given the foods to eat and the journey will begin.
Join me on this journey daily here at Hope Today Cafe. I'll be serving up my struggles, holding back nothing when it comes to the raw emotions of my screaming flesh not getting its way, putting my faith in and following God with lots of Bible verses to sustain any addiction you might be facing, and finally, I'll be serving up big heaps of hope and encouragement for whatever trials you're facing. Sign up to recevie this blog via email by simply clicking on the link to the right of this post.
If you know someone who needs encouragement in any of the areas above, please forward this on to them - you might just be the "Lorrie" in their life.
Until tomorrow...I leave you with Psalms 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (curing their pains and their sorrows)."
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