I am in the 2015 Holiday Victory class that is studying Barb Raveling’s book, Taste for Truth. Even though Barb isn’t a member of the Thin Within community, reading this book (now for the third time) has been so life changing on my journey towards freedom from disordered eating and thinking and I wanted to share some truths that I found on day one of this Bible study.

On day one in Taste for Truth we look at our role compared to God’s role in the transformation process. I hope after reading this you will agree with me that everything we have done in the past to get to what we felt was the perfect body size without bringing God into the picture was an exercise in futility.

Take for instance the scripture found in John 8:31-32 – Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” In this scripture, my role is to abide in God’s Word and believe in Jesus. God’s role is to fill me with truth and to set me free. Do you see the beauty of what happens here? I abide and He works.

Here in John 15:1-5 I see that my role is to once again abide in Christ Jesus; to stay around Him and remain in Him. As I do this staying attached to the True Vine, I will bear fruit. If I don’t stay attached to Him, I can do nothing. God’s role as the Vine Dresser is to prune me. He will remove from me the sin in my life that prohibits the producing of fruit. How good is our heavenly Father that He takes on the job of changing me?

I love that we read and study the truth of Romans 12:2 in this book and our Thin Within/Hunger Within material. This is such an important step in freedom from disordered eating, body focus and food obsession to dealing with every area of life. In this scripture, my role is to renew my mind through God’s Word which has the power to transform me. I also have to let go of any area of my life that conforms to the world. I have found that if I don’t renew my mind on a regular basis, it is easy to be like one of the masses. Sadly, without abiding in Christ and renewing my mind, I tend to be like everyone else. God’s role is to aid in my transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit and to allow me to know His perfect will.

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, my role is to wield the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s true Word so that I can take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ Jesus. The only way I can wield the Sword of the Spirit is to abide in God’s Word. There is that word again…abide. Hmm, I think I see a pattern developing here. God’s role is to tear down my strongholds. I think about all the times I have tried to tear down and demolish all the “strongholds” or things that had a strong hold over me in my heart and mind, and I find from the scriptures that I was fighting a losing battle. The battle belongs to the LORD God, not me.

In summary: my role is to abide or stay connected to Christ Jesus through the reading and studying of God’s Word; meditating on His Word in order to renew my mind and memorize His Word in order to wield the Sword of the Spirit. This doesn’t work if I just do it on Sundays in church. This is a daily requirement. God’s part in the transformation process is transforming me from the inside out so that my outer frame and countenance reflects the inner change of my heart through my true focus and devotion to the Lover of my Soul, Jesus Christ.

What I usually do when I want to transform myself in the area of weight loss is to join a popular weight loss club and spend a ton of money and chronically work out. If I could have transformed myself, I would not have needed Thin Within and this Holiday Victory class studying Barb Raveling’s book Taste for Truth. According to the verses that I studied by myself and now with you all, what I have done in the past doesn’t even get me started on the road to true freedom from my obsession with food and body image. This is only done through the power of God as I abide in Him. How about you? Are you ready to join me on this journey that we walk together at Thin Within and to finally let go of all those plans that never work for His plan that will?