“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7-8 NIV

Verse Reflections:  I must let go.  I must relinquish control.  I have sown seeds of recklessness.  I have poured pounds of sugar into my body.  If I were honest I have no doubt I have poured tons of sugar in my body.  There are two cups of sugar in a pound, or 4,000 cups equal a ton.  I easily eat a pound per week so I have eaten over 3 tons of sugar in my life.  Easily.  No exaggeration.  I am mocking God.  If I have knee problems or joint problems , heart issues, kidney issues or pancreatic issues as I age, it is totally my fault.  I have sown, I have planted seeds of destruction in my body.  Why do I take my eating lightly?  Why do we criticize the alcoholic so vehemently but we just laugh about our eating habits?  This verse reminds me that this is very serious.  I will have destructive consequences for my choices.  So often we take God’s grace, God’s graciousness, God’s miracles for granted and we treat our bodies as if they will last forever and we do not have to be conscious of what we put into them.  I am done.  I am going to plant seeds that are pleasing to God, not pleasing to myself.  I am done.  I am done with my bad habits.  I can still enjoy baking and share the results with others without overindulging.  I can still enjoy an occasional treat without having two and three and five helpings.  God has given me an order in this verse that I have torn to shreds.  I have eaten to please my flesh, my body, my brain and my heart.  I am going to suffer the destruction of my body if I am not careful.

Prayer:  Father forgive me.  I literally have tears in my eyes as I realize the depth of how I have mocked You.  I am destroying my body with my eating habits.  I have take You for granted as I made choices that please myself not You.  Daniel was so wise in the Bible and yet I ignored all the lessons.  Thank You Father that I have been eating my fruits and vegetables.  But forgive me Father that I have overeaten so many other Carbohydrates/Sugars.  I am going to reap destruction.  I feel like a curtain has been lifted and I can never go back.  I have known it was bad for me but Lord I have not been as conscious of the consequences as I should have been.  Father, You have opened the eyes of my heart.  Today I am done.  Today I am going to reach out for Your power.  I know this verse refers to eternal life but it also refers to life here on this earth and the consequences of my choices.  I ask for grace.  I ask for Your graciousness as I change my habits, my choices and repair my body.  Lord I bow my head in shame.  I have mocked You.  I have mocked the science behind Your creation and expected my pancreas, my liver and my kidney to keep up with my ridiculous intake of sugar.  Give me the strength to reach out for Your beautiful, amazing foods and change my life.  Forgive me and help me to reach forward with power and plant seeds of health and right-ness.  Today is God foods and healthy choices.  I love You forever and look forward to pleasing You.

"Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God. For I will praise Him who is the help of my countenance and my God." Psalm 42:11

Verse Reflections:  God is the help of the countenance of our soul!  No amount of anti-depressants, exercise, meditation can equal the hope we find in God. This verse sounds a lot like some of my conversations with myself.  I think David and I have a lot in common.  I am willing to bet he would have majored in psychology as well—he loves to think deeply. So, on those days our soul is down and we feel that flicker of unrest or disquiet we need to reflect on this verse.  Instead of letting this anxiety build into a full blown foodathon we must turn to God.  He is our help, our hope that will turn the gray shadows of our soul into a bright, glowing countenance.  The key element in this verse that can get lost is “I will praise Him.”  Stop yourself and write a list of all your blessings.  I’ve learned with age that no one’s life is easy.  Don’t let it destroy you, your eating habits, your spirit or your body.  Praise God for your blessings.  Slowly but surely the light will shine and you will want to glorify God by eating healthy.

Prayer:  Father, I will praise You today.  Take any disquiet in my soul and shine a light on the shadows.  You are our hope.  You have blessed us so much.  Thank You for the gorgeous spring flowers, the green in the trees, the reminders that beauty exists even on the gray days.  Lord, as You change my countenance to reflect Your glory, change my mind, my choices and give me the firm desire to choose Your foods.  You are my hope and I will praise You all day today.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Hebrews 11:2 NIV

Verse Reflections:  I get so frustrated when I don’t see the pounds dropping off.  Eating healthy foods does not mean I drop 10 pounds in one month but I have dropped 10 pounds in three months.  This is a good verse for me to focus on.  I have to have confidence that eating right, eating God foods will give me “what I hope for”—a body that is at a healthy weight, a weight that will allow me to wear the clothes I am used to wearing.  I must continue to have faith –confidence in what I hope for.  I must be assured that my body will change even when I do not see the changes quickly.  I allowed myself to gain so much weight that I can barely notice ten pounds visually.  I can notice it in my clothes but I do not look in the mirror and cheer.  We must have “assurance about what we do not see”.  If I keep eating this way I will have lost twenty pounds by the end of June.  That will get me back into my clothes.  But more importantly, I am eating in a way that I can eat the rest of my life.  By allowing myself to have one non-God food a day, I do not get myself back into the evil- good game I tend to play with myself.  Bad foods, good foods.  I would tend to chastise myself on the “diets” whenever I would go “off” the diet.  This way I can live with the extras.  If I have three then I just stick with all God foods for three days.

Prayer:  Lord, thank You for this verse.  After 90 days of trying to adjust my eating habits, I have yo-yo’d on this plan but I am getting the hang of it.  Thank You for the power Your word gives me.  I see and feel the difference when I come to You in the morning and pour Your word in my heart.  Thank You for giving me the confidence through this verse for the body and health I hope for.  Thank You for giving me assurance through this verse for the body that I do not see right now.  I know if I keep eating the way You have instructed and provided for I WILL have these things.  I fail, I fall, I go back to bad habits, but I know deep in my soul that I am healing, I am eating better, I am reducing the cravings.  Thank You for this.  Today I go to work with confidence and assurance that we are going to be successful with God Plus 1.  I love You.  I hope today I can give you a little confidence in me as I take confidence in Your plan.

"This is what he Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the vast army. For the battle is not yours but the Lords." II Chronicles 20:15

Verse Reflections:  There is such comfort in knowing that God will fight the battle for us.  We do not have to be discouraged.  We do not have to be afraid that we do not have enough power.  And yet, there will be a battle!  Be ready, be prepared.  How?  Set your mind on God.  Have confidence in Him.  Even if you slide, if you do not eat healthy for a day.  Remember tomorrow is another sunrise.  If you give God the power to lead the charge He will lead the battle.  All we have to do is trust Him, follow Him.  There is a huge army fighting against us.  The media gives us the illusion that perfect bodies are possible.  Youth reinforces this for many of us and then it slips away.  Restaurants teach us that large servings are normal.  Many of us played sports or worked outside and used more calories than we will ever use again so our portions were large and it worked.  Everywhere we turn there are birthday cakes, celebrations, great cooks, reunions, church gatherings.  There is a vast army pushing food our way and usually not low calorie food. Today I am not going to be discouraged because I do not look perfect.  I am not going to be afraid that I can’t do this.  God is going to do this for me.  I am going to relax and let Him rock and roll on leading this battle.  I will win the war.  Correction, God will win the battle and the war for us.  Today, we will eat His foods.

Prayer:  Lord, today is a battle.  This is my war here on earth.  This is what I fight, the temptations of food choices.  I love food.  I love sugar and butter and cheese.  I love bread.  You have given us so many amazing foods.  I will change my words to I love grilled chicken with mango salsa, I love tender butter peas, fresh tomatoes, cabbage cooked with ham., juicy fresh strawberries. The list goes on of amazing foods you have made for us that I love.  You lead this battle so that my mind goes before me to dream of Your amazing fresh foods cooked lightly with delicious seasonings.  Thank You for the reassurance that You will fight this battle for me.  I have lost this battle for years and I have finally become smart enough to realize that I cannot win without You.  I can look the “vast army” in the eyes and know that You have the strength for me to make the right choices.  Thank You Father.  We can do this together.  I love You.

"I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands." Psalm 119:10

Verse Reflections:  If we seek God will all our hearts, our hearts will not be drawn to foods that we know are not good for these amazing bodies He created for us.  Reading His word every day is a sign that we are seeking Him with all our hearts.  My days are sooo much better when I begin my day close to Him.  When I turn my thoughts to Him as soon as I open my eyes or begin to emerge from my sleep it seems my entire day goes better.  Sometimes I find my mind straying to judging someone I see that has issues with alcohol or tobacco or drugs.  The reality is I have just as big of an issue with food.  Oh, I can hide it very well.  But I know in my head the compulsive pull that food has for me.  It is almost like a magnet that pulls at me until I indulge and then my body relaxes and smiles for a while.  And then, slowly that smile turns into condemnation and self-recrimination that I gave in yet again.  On the days I seek God with all my heart the magnet has no power or it has a minor pull that can be ignored.  It is as though just seeking God, reading His word allows me to obey His commands.  It allows me to ignore temptations and even more, the temptations don’t appear.  I see the magnet but the pull is not compulsive.  We must eat our five fruits and vegetables today.  He has commanded us to treasure our temples, our bodies.

Prayers:  Thank You Father for giving us power when we seek You with all our hearts.  It is so easy for me to get up in the morning and start life’s run.  But I am going to work hard to start my days with this prayer time Father.  My heart is Yours Lord.  If I found out I was dying Lord I would clear my slate and spend time with You all day to prepare my soul.  That tells me that my heart is Yours.  You are the most important part of my life and yet I do not always SEEK You with all my heart.  Today Lord, I seek You.  I want to find You.  I want to see You.  I want to hear from You.  I want You to be close to me.  I imagine myself looking everywhere for You and then finding You.  I can touch You, hug You, talk to You, laugh with You.  I know spending time with You changes my power.  I don’t have to rely on myself.  I have found You this morning.  Stay close to me, walk by me.  Allow me to continue to stay in Your presence all day.  That may mean You need to tap me on the shoulder occasionally and remind me I am walking ahead of You.  I thank You for also seeking me as You know in my heart I am seeking You.  Lord I want to obey Your commands and eat healthy.  Keep the magnetic pull of food from me as I seek You with all my heart.  We got this together.

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I Corinthians 13:6-7

Verse Reflections:  We tend to shy away from the word “evil” but it does exist.  My relationship with food has bordered on being evil for me.  Sounds extreme doesn’t it?  Well, in my life it has been.  This would shock anyone who knows me because I have always been within 30 pounds of perfect.  There are those of you out there reading these devotions that struggle with being hundreds of pounds overweight.  I am no different.  satan (sorry I am not capitalizing that word) knows where to strike me.  He knows I will indulge in foods until my stomach can hold no more and trust me I can hold a lot.  He knows to use my emotions to convince me that I deserve to splurge.  He knows to use my vanity to make me depressed when I see my body enlarge or try on clothes that don’t fit.  He knows how to convince me to peemuff and destroy my body and metabolism.  Love would not do that.  Evil does that.  Christ wants us to have the best.  God protects us by giving us perfect foods that taste wonderful.  God trusts us to take care of these beautiful bodies He gave us.  God gives us hope that we can change.  He protects us from the power of satan if we will come to Him.  And finally we will persevere in love!  We will make this life change.  If you failed yesterday, no problem.  God trusts you to persevere!  I have found that I have had two phases in this journey… I had to get through my physical food addictions and cravings and that took about 90 days for me.  I am now struggling with my mental food addictions.  I am changing my mantras from “I deserve this” and “I’ll start again tomorrow” to “I deserve to be skinny and healthy” and “Today is the only day that will change my life”.

Prayer:  Lord, thank You for reminding me that You are not part of the journey of my bad relationships to food.  You protect me.  You trust me.  You have hope and give me hope.  You allow me to persevere.  Today that word persevere really stands out to me because this is not an easy change.  The journey is getting easier but it is still hard.  I thank You for giving me the truth of this life journey.  If we just eat Your foods then this relationship to food can be a great one.  It can be fun with no guilt.  It can be one that protects our body.  Lord, I cannot persevere without You.  I will fail, I have failed for years.  I am slowly getting healthier.  I tried jumping on a new “plan” with my sister recently that was a healthy option and I just couldn’t stick with it.  What was I thinking?  I can’t do these temporary, quick weight loss plans.  This is working slowly and surely and more importantly will work for life.  Thank You Father for giving me patience, for protecting me.  I will trust and hope in and with You and together we WILL persevere.  I love You and hope You have an amazing day today.  May I be one of Your blessings and may we together have a blessed day.

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30

Verse Reflections:  Boy, the beauty is fleeting.  I look in the mirror some days and wonder what happened.  I guess that makes this journey more important to me.  I have to “fix” this roller coaster that I have been on most of my life.  I have to be healthy on the inside.  I think sometimes I depend on God’s grace to get me through my weaknesses, my addictions, my cravings and compulsions.  I assume He will forgive me and I can start again the next day.  It is easier that way.  Perhaps I need to incorporate the “fear” of the Lord more into my life.  Perhaps is will make me look at this love- hate relationship with food differently.  I should fear the Lord enough to make my issues black and white.  I should fear the Lord enough to eat healthy, knowing this is what God has commanded.  I also have to make sure I am on this new life journey for beauty only.  I need to ensure that I am eating healthy for God.

Prayer:  Father, help me not to analyze my looks today.  Help me to focus on You.  When I want to eat, when my mind begins to spin and obsess on eating a certain food, please take my hand.  I guess I can fear You and still take Your hand.  I pray that You will make me fear You enough to know there are NO options in my life.  I pray that I can eliminate the grace I have given myself to make the same mistakes over and over and over again.  I feared my Dad and His discipline enough growing up that I eliminated the behaviors that caused him to get angry.  I think I have absorbed Your grace too many times.  Forgive me.  I hope that I can incorporate a little fear into my life.  I know, like my Dad, You want the best for me so I should value Your wrath that protects me from my own actions that might hurt me.   Today I will try to eliminate my unhealthy habits that might elicit Your wrath.  Today I will try to fear You enough to change forever.  I love You.

"But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Verse Reflections:  Perfect Power.  Incomprehensible.  Unbelievable.  I am so crazy weak, I can’t even choose healthy foods every day.  The releasing freedom is the knowledge that I don’t have to be strong, I can be weak because I have God’s power.  This power is the very reason God Plus 1 works.  If we start our day giving our weakness over to God and access His power then we can do this.  We can eat healthy.  We can choose God foods.  How freeing to know that God’s power is made perfect in my weakness.  I cannot eat healthy on my own.  I cannot keep away the compulsive thoughts that lead to eating way past comfort.   I think anxiety carves out an imaginary hole in my stomach and then I begin to eat to fill it.  My anxiety seems to disappear only after the food nestles in or pushes on all sides of the hole I have carved.  The good news is that these devotions, reaching out to His power daily protects me from myself.  His power is made perfect.  When I give my day to Him anxiety doesn’t creep in.  I am a strong woman, I seldom let life get to me and yet this anxiety hole that I fill is my little secret.  It creeps in, it doesn’t storm.  Everything will be going along great and all of a sudden, something will happen.   I keep smiling and rocking through life but a little treat will pop into my head and a wicked little inside smile gives me an adrenaline rush of excitement that pushes away the negative emotion.  I keep adding thoughts until I run out to buy or run to the kitchen to make and then indulge in all my food thoughts.  The anxiety or depression just seems disappear with every bite.  This imaginary relationship between life and food is a vicious cycle for me.   God’s power is giving me healthier habits such as healthy snacks at 10:00 and 3:00. When I add snacks the food thoughts don’t build.  God snacks make a difference.   I must concentrate on the fact that God’s grace is sufficient.  I don’t need food.

We will never be able to earn grace.  We will never be strong enough, good enough.  And yet, how many times in our lives does something bad happen and we wonder what we did to deserve it?  The wonderful, freeing news is nothing.  Bad things are just going to happen. It will be out of our control.  The even better news is that when we fail, when we fall, when we are at the end of our resources God will be there for us with pure forgiveness and power.  There are times in my life where His pure forgiveness gave me the power to forgive, to move on, to put the past in the past. 

Prayer:  Father, Your grace is sufficient for me.  I do not need food to change my moods, my day.  Help me to depend on Your grace, Your power.  I lift up my weakness to You.  Lord I need You to be strong for me.  I cannot eat right without You.  Bless me and make Your power great inside of me.  I love the thought that Your power is made perfect in my weakness because I have a lot of those.  It gives me such freedom to know that I don’t have to fix myself first.  You thrive in my weakness, and my acknowledgement of the weakness.  I have admitted that weakness, these devotions admit my weakness with each day.  So, now Your strength is made perfect.  Ha ha, so glad I could help build Your strength.  Lord, today, I will remember that Your grace is sufficient, Your power is made perfect.  I don’t have to solve the world’s problems, I just need to do what You have equipped me to do and You will take care of the details.  I love you and need You.  Thank You for this promise.

"Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." 2 Corinthians 7:1

Verse Reflections:  Ugh!  I don’t want to here this.  I want to watch the televisions shows that I want to watch.  I want to read what I want to read.  I want to listen to the songs that I want to listen to.  I want to say and talk about what I want to talk about.  However, I am smart enough, have lived long enough to know the difference in my spirit when I pour in holiness.   I am holier.  I am nicer, I look at the world differently and I love the people in it with a pure spirit.  Today I am going to work on purifying myself.  I am going to work first on pouring holy intangibles into my body.  Then I am going to work on pouring in God foods into my body.  This verse is the epitome of this lifestyle change.  Processed foods do contaminate our body.  And for me, a food addict, it contaminates my spirit.  So, today, I am going to work on purifying both my body and my spirit.  I will work on perfecting holiness—being set apart- out of my reverence for God.

Prayer:  Father, I lift up this challenge to You today.  My eating does contaminate my body and spirit.  I need to change my habits, I need to change the way I perceive food.  It needs to be a reflection of my relationship with You.  I need to “set myself apart” or be holy in my choices.  Father, bless me, hold me today.  Make the grilled foods appetizing and exciting.  Let me take joy in eating these pure foods and purifying my body so that I can serve You better.  I revere You Lord, just as this verse says but I don’t always make the choices that show my reverence for You.  Will You bless me today with Your holiness.  I love You Lord and I am looking forward to “decontaminating” my body today.  I will eat pure foods for You today.  I will work on my holiness in reverence for You.  Love You.  Thank You.

"The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them." Psalm 145:18-19

Verse Reflections:  It gives me a peace to hear that God is near to all that call on Him.  I am calling loudly!  He will fulfill the desires of those that fear Him.  My desire is to eat healthy and to dedicate my food addictions to God so that I will fully recover.  Okay, if truth be told, my desire is to have a great body too.  He will fulfill our desires if we fear Him.  That means we have to fear Him enough to lay our lives out and be transparent, to put the good, the bad and the ugly out there for people.  We have to trust Him to protect us when we are truthful.  What are you hiding, what are you shoving under all that food, that anxiety?  We must lay it all out and trust him to draw near to us.  We must fear Him enough to know that He does not want this for us.  He made us to have healthy bodies.  He made our body as His holy temple, for His spirit to reside in.  He will save you from anything that is making you overeat.  Give it to Him today.  Whatever is causing anxiety, whatever is causing you to crave foods just to settle your soul.

Prayer:  Lord, I give you truth today.  I am anxious about my business.  I have some people questioning our reputation and I have given 30 years of my soul, my family, my finances, my time to this business.  My heart is heavy because I have invested more than I should have of myself into my business and to have our integrity questioned breaks my heart.  My usual way of handling stress is to go splurge.  Today, I am coming to You in truth and fear, asking You to shine Your light on our business, to fulfill the desires of our hears.  To hear my cry and to lift our business up.  I love You Lord and I am coming to You in adoration and humiliation this morning.  I am lost.  I don’t know what else to do to represent You well.  This day is Yours.  I come to You in fear and humility asking for You to change my situation.  I ask that I not turn to food as a comfort.  I am turning to You in total adoration.  May we conquer our day of healthy eating together.

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:2

Verse Reflections:  I love the idea of taking refuge inside a rock.  I can imagine “glamping” with a wonderful mattress and bed, curling up with a good book, a bowl of good God foods and knowing the storms of life outside can’t touch me.  The hard protection of the rock will keep natural disasters and predators away.  Some of you are imagining a cave and the animal coming in through the hole.  Nope.  God says, inside a rock.  There is no hole.  You will be safe inside.  He will be a fortress, impenetrable and safe.  He will be your shield, protecting your vital organs from any weapons.  He is the horn of your salvation.  Animal horns are used for their protection.   We are protected!  We have been delivered!  Accept it and live it.  You have been delivered from your addiction to eating.  Accept that fact.  Eat God foods and eat them often so Your cravings will not get out of control.  Live it and then Crave it.  Don’t expect your cravings to disappear first.  Run inside of the rock every time you begin craving the foods.  This verse tells us we will have enemies.  My enemy is my cravings for processed foods.  This enemy will happen.  I must expect it and be prepared to pull out my horns, my shield and run to the rock and take refuge inside.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for being my refuge.  Thank You for being my rock.  I need this knowledge that I can run inside Your protection when my enemy, the craving of sweets and processed foods, comes after me with a vengeance.  I can go along and eat beautifully and then without warning it hits me.  Father, take these moments from me.  Be my shield so that I am stronger than these cravings.  Allow me to stop and call on You instead of blocking You from my mind when these cravings happen.  At the very least allow me the energy to run inside of You for refuge until these cravings stop.  I’ve lived long enough to know that they will come.  I have asked for the cravings to stop but they are my Achilles tendon.  Satan knows it and He roars like a lion with the temptations.  Allow me to pull out You, my horn, and attack back.  Allow me to know you are my strength, my stronghold.  We can eat God foods and one serving of anything I want.  There will be no guilt.  There will be no seconds.  I can have seconds, I just need to save my second helping until tomorrow.  Thank You for the mindset that You are slowly but surely giving me.  Thank You for strength!  I love You.

"I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Verse Reflections:  And again, this verse tells me that troubles will come.  So often, I try to pray for troubles not to come my way.  So often, I try to associate troubles with sin or choices we make.  So often I try to think those who appear to have no troubles are closer to God.  It would be so much easier to think if we are good we will avoid troubles.  God is telling us that we will have troubles no matter what.  In the same verse He is telling us that He has overcome the world so we need to realize that peace is not determined by the circumstances we are going through.  We can have peace no matter what is happening in our lives.  He reminds us that “in Him” we might have peace.  There is no other way to have peace.  We cannot use over-eating as a path to peace.  Indulging in processed foods gives us a temporary high.  It literally calms our body.  The glucose causes our pancreas to release insulin.  The insulin causes our cells to absorb the sugar which takes tryptophan, which makes us calm and sleepy, and converts it into serotonin or the “happiness molecule”. We have a lot of amino acids in our body but when we eat carbohydrates all of the amino acids are removed or blocked except for tryptophan.  The tryptophan then has a clear path of absorption into the brain cells giving us that wonderful feeling of happiness for a short period.  That is why we have to watch the number of carbs that we ingest.   So, it is normal to crave carbohydrates or sweets.  They literally fool our brain into thinking we are happier.  Know that and fight it.  We must not use eating to give us peace or temporary happiness.  I will tell you that I do this very unconsciously.  I am trying hard to bring this process to the front of my conscious life choices.  I will often find myself get off the phone with one of my sisters (who are my best friends) and realize that I am heading for the grocery store, kitchen or drive in because we have talked about a difficult subject.  This verse helps me put everything in perspective.  Troubles will come.  God has overcome them and this world.  We do not need to use food for an hour long peace when facing these troubles.  We need to find our peace in God.

Prayer:  Okay Lord, I am coming to You with all my troubles.  I am giving You anything and everything that causes me stress.  I love You and I do depend on You for peace.  Take away my desire for foods to give me a temporary peace.  Allow me today to limit my carbs.  It helps me to realize what is happening subconsciously when I crave processed foods.  It helps me to know that I am not crazy.  There are times Lord when my cravings feel uncontrollable but I do realize that my cravings are the result of my anxiety or the result of carbs that I have already eaten that are creating a vicious cycle of cravings.  They are not the result of satan’s power.  Let me turn to You as my sugar high.  Let me turn to you when that anxiety tickles my brain tricking it into wanting food.  You have overcome the world.  Help me overcome my eating addictions and cravings.

"I love the Lord and He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2

Verse Reflections:  Over and over I have had to ask for mercy and grace.  Over and over I have failed to follow healthy eating habits.  Over and over I have abused my body and I have had to ask for forgiveness and mercy.  Over and over I have made promises that tomorrow will be different.  The amazing part of this verse is the last, because He listens “I will call on Him as long as I live”.  He allows us the grace and mercy to fail.  I guess that is the nature of living here on earth.  We will fail.  But He still listens to our voice.  He knows our hearts.  If you are reading this, you are trying to make healthy changes. God is so good to us.  The discipline of making myself get up in the morning and read the Bible verses that help me with my healthy eating habits has made the difference.  It helps me to know that He still has mercy for me when I fail.  But I like the thought of calling on Him in ADVANCE to prevent failure.  When I start my day with His word I fail less often.  I hear His voice when I call on Him first instead of second.  Priscilla Shrirer, a talented Christian writer wrote a fabulous book that reminds us that when we can’t hear His voice we have to move closer to Him.  We have to pray, read our Bible and create quiet time in the midst of our busy lives.  When we do this, we can hear His voice.  And know that He will always, always hear our voice and we can call on Him as long as we live.

Prayer:  Lord, I come to You in amazement and thankfulness.  I appreciate that David called on You as long as He lived.  I thank You for hearing our voice.  I thank You for your mercy, Your forgiveness.  I thank You that You turn Your ear to me.  Today I want You to turn Your ear to me so that You might hear my plea for power.  I have experienced an internal power since I have been searching Your word for verses that can help me with my food addictions and abuse.  You are amazing and I am so glad that You trusted me with this message of eating God foods plus one.  It allows me the freedom to have a few cookies, or chips or cheese or whatever I want to indulge in.  It allows me not to chastise myself for having a little extra.  And yet, I feel my body changing as I crave less and less because I am changing the circling cycle of my cravings.  Eating less sugar and carbs allows me to crave less sugar and carbs.  Thank You for giving me the internal power to continue this change.  I love You so much and I appreciate the investment You have put into me.  I appreciate the fact that You hang with me when I fail and yet, You show me paths that allow me not to fail.  You even convince me that “failure” in my mind is not “failure” in heaven.  Thank You for changing me, growing me.  I will call on You as long as I live.

"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35

Verse Reflections:  We must come to God in order not to be hungry.  There you go!  This is the message we have learned in the God Plus One process of life.  We must start our day by coming to Him.  His food, His fulfillment, His peace will fill our souls.  The overeating we indulge in because of guilt, because of anxiety, because of depression will disappear.  God can overcome, has overcome all of this.  God is saying that He will fill the emptiness in our lives and we will be full of His contentment.  His grace literally erases the past and takes care of the future.  I love growing older because every passing year teaches me that “I can get through this”.  When we are younger today sometimes seems insurmountable.  It never ceases to amaze me what one good night of sleep can do to change our perspective.  And if the one night doesn’t work, it seems a full week of life always changes the situation.  I stress and worry so much less now. I have been through so much and tomorrow always comes.  We have great weeks and we have bad weeks and it all evens out into a great life with God.  He is the bread of life, our eternal, not a temporary solution.  He takes away the anxieties that cause the uncontrollable urges to eat unhealthy foods.  We must believe in Him.

Prayer:  Father today I come to You just as the verse commands.  You are promising me that I will not go hungry if I come to You.  I know in saying that You are the bread of life, You are saying that You are essential for our lives.  And You are essential to me.  When You say we will not go hungry You are aware that we are always craving something beyond this earth and trying to fill our emptiness with the wrong things.  Father, for me I have tried to fill that hole with food.  The insecurities I have despite having had a great life cause me to doubt myself.  Running a company with employees that depend on me to make the right and sometimes difficult decisions cause me anxiety sometimes.  Forgive me and yet I know I am normal.  Today, fill me with You.  Fill me with the satisfaction that comes from knowing You are a part of me.  Conquer my hunger and be the bread that I crave in my life.

"But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble." Psalm 59:16

Verse Reflections:  I love singing while I dry my hair.  Trust me, I have a great voice when the blow dryer is going.  For some reason it doesn’t sound as good after my hair is dry.  I love singing to God to start my day so I can relate to this verse.  David reminds us to begin our day singing of God’s strength and love.  When we know we are loved unconditionally any feedback we get during the day from other people does not affect us as much.  It is amazing how little what others say about me affects me as I age.  When I was younger it would crush me if someone didn’t love me or said something negative about me.  I think now I realize negativity is more of a reflection of their mindset and view of the world than it is a reflection of me.  I kind of like me and I know my heart even if my actions fail at times.  God has created me!  God is amazing and has an awesome plan that we are a part of.  When the world overwhelms us, like David, we can run to Him and take refuge in His strength.  Close your eyes and imagine your refuge.  I imagine a nice spot by a waterfall surrounded by trees with birds singing in the background.  What is your place of refuge?  Go there when you have trouble.  God is there, God IS there.  He is your place of safety, your protection.  Once again, when you go there even in your mind you will relax and God will change your perspective of the world.  Knowing You are safe allows you to realize that nothing that happens in this world that you can’t handle.  So, David was right on by singing of God’s love and strength before Our day starts we can handle anything the day throws our way.  Today, use that strength and love to give you the power to choose God foods.  You can do this.

Prayer:  Father experiencing Your unconditional love has been life changing for me.  I can love myself even when I am not perfect.  You would think I would realize that perfection is not attainable.  However, I still keep trying.  Thank You for loving me despite myself.  Help me use that love to love myself enough to forfeit the short term high of eating the unhealthy foods my body craves.  Help me use the power of Your love to choose to eat Your foods.  Be my refuge so that I know that nothing can touch me during the day.  Help me to trust this plan You have given me.  There are times I feel like I should only be eating lettuce.  I have to trust in You enough to keep going so I can live this lifestyle.  I have to quit trying diets.  They all work but then I gain the food back.  Lord, I feel like You have given me this plan.  Help me trust in it.  I can live this way which actually makes me question it.  Help me.  Today I will trust in Your love and strength.  I will trust in this plan for my life.  I love You.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Verse Reflections:  God has set us free!  We are free from eating unhealthy foods.  We are not slaves to food any longer.  We get to stand firm in this new freedom.  We will not be burdened again by the yoke of slavery to food and its pull on our spirit.  Claim it.  Name it.  Christ sets us free from all temptations of the world.  Our temptation is food.  God has set us free from this temptation and every temptation.  What a great place to be after a long life of fighting and giving in, fighting and giving in.  I will no longer allow this yoke around my neck because Christ has removed it.  I acknowledge the weight that has been taken off.  I actually feel lighter in my spirit.  The next time another power tries to convince you that you “need” that food, just speak your freedom out loud.  You are free from that slavery.  You do not “need” that food.  Choose another one, eat it and you will be amazed how your spirit will calm.

Prayer:  Father thank You for setting me free from my slavery to foods.  I truly am feeling less addicted to food.  I wanted to order the fish that was one of three dishes the waiter recommended.  It was delicious.  Thank You for giving me the courage to stand firm in my commitment to God Plus one. Thank You for making me want to be free.  Today, continue to give me this freedom.  Today, continue to make me want to stand firm in my choice of healthy foods, the foods You created for me to eat.  They are delicious.  Thank You for giving me freedom.  I will stand firm with You today.

"Forget about what has happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?" Isaiah 43:18-19

Verse Reflection:  Grace is magnificent.  It eliminates the past and gives us unimaginable hope for the future.  Making a road through the desert is how I have felt on this journey.  I trudge through the sand, moving the sand from the right to the left and then I turn and see that the sand has folded into the landscape and disappeared.  But the problem is I have tried to create the road on my own.  I need to have a peaceful confidence that Christ is making this road.  He is bringing water into the desert.  God is “about to do something brand-new”.  Hallelujah, God be praised.  We can have perfect-peace and know that Christ has overcome the world and therefore has overcome our challenges.  We are inviting Him on this journey with us.  That is all the difference.  We are going to tell Him over and over that we trust Him.  The past is gone and today is brand-new.  Fear of failure is gone because we are no longer dependent on ourselves.  God is changing us, He is changing our choices.  He will walk with You everyday.  We are going to achieve the victorious life that God has promised us.  We will forget my failures and we will celebrate with God the victory we will have today.  We will look at our past as a beautiful opportunity for God to show His transformative power.  We must not miss the opportunity to be alert.  It is too easy to just run to a meal and eat it quickly.  God’s power and glory is at work.  We need to stop and acknowledge it.  We must be alert and thank God for this power, we must be present and allow God to convict us in our choices.

Prayer:  I know that You are able to do “far more than I have asked”.  If you can create roads in the middle of sand, changing me is easy.  I want to live in the joy of Your “bursting out”.  Let me walk through the door of light You burst out of and allow me to see a view I have never seen because You have taken me to new heights.  God, You can multiply my weakness and in so doing create a strength.  Do not let me teeter on the edges of my inadequacies, my inabilities.  You can change me forever.  You promise me that you are about to do something brand-new.  My soul sings with this promise.  This hope protects me from my own feelings that sabotage my ability to eat Your wonderful foods.  Nothing can stop us Christ if we work together on healthy eating choices.  Lord, I know that seven days of eating healthy will only equal one pound.  The world has told me that this is not enough.  And yet, You promise me a river in the badland.  I will either weigh more in seven days or less in seven days.  I choose to walk with Your transformative power in this journey that will change my life until the day I join You in heaven.  Seven days at a time we are going to “do something brand-new” in my life.  Thank You for creating this new road through the sifting sand of my life.  I adore You and trust You with all my heart and soul.

"Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself is the Rock eternal." Isaiah 26:4

Verse Reflections:  I am so glad to know that the Lord is the Rock, sturdy, hard, unyielding.  I, on the other hand, am more like clay.  I look sturdy, hard, unyielding when the sun is shining and baking me dry.  But as soon as the rains come I become slushy and squishy.  I slide off the path on days and leave a hollow hole that I, myself then fall into.  This verse is why we have to come to God every day.  We cannot trust in ourselves forever, only the Lord.  We are not as strong as He is.  We cannot eat right, eat healthy without his leadership.  We will do well for a few days, a few weeks, even a few months but then the rains will come and we will just slide off.  Why not live the life, not walk a path temporarily?  I love that God gives us one thing we can indulge in every day with no guilt, no chastisement, no regrets.  He has given us a way to live.  He is strong enough to help us live it.  Thank You Jesus! I am going to trust in the Lord because He is eternal.  I am temporary.  I yield, He does not.  I slip and slide, He stays sturdy.  I change forms when the rains come, He remains strong, firm keeping the same form.  Today we are going to trust in the Rock.

Prayer:   Lord, I am so glad to be reminded that You are the Rock.  When I see myself sliding, slipping, yielding to temptation I can remember that You are unyielding.  You are powerful and strong.  I can stand on You and not worry about slipping.  Thank you for Your strength.  I have to have it.  Time has proven that no matter how hard and strong I look on the outside I am soft and yielding on the inside and I cannot face my own temptations alone.  Lord, food is such a crazy, silly item for the devil to have His influence in.  And yet drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, pornography, hording, anger… none of those things tempt me at all.  He knows where to strike us all doesn’t he?  And I am blessed to be called Yours.  That means I can trust in You to have unyielding power over my temptations.  Thank You for healing me. Thank You for giving me the power of the Rock.  Thanks for being my Rock, my foundation.  I cannot eat healthy on my own.  But with You, we have this.  I love You and I am looking forward to God Plus 1 today.

"I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart." Jeremiah 24:7

Verse Reflections:  This is what I’m talking about!  If we don’t return to the Lord with our WHOLE hearts we will never be His partners.  He has given us unlimited power through His word, through our prayers to Him.  And yet, we “squeeze it in”.  We make it an afterthought, a thing we do “on the fly”.  We have to be purposeful.  We have to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our entire soul so that we might LIVE”!  Deuteronomy 30:6.  We have been trying to eat right with just a surface prayer, without passion.  I don’t know about you but I am passionate about changing.  I can’t keep doing the same thing(s) over and over again.  Eating and gorging then chastising myself and feeling guilty.  I seem to always say tomorrow…  Well this minute is the only minute that will change our lives.  Tomorrow will never change our lives. Seeking God with our whole heart will be only way that we can change.  I am truly enjoying eating God foods and yet, when I don’t stay close to Christ and I mean close to Christ, Satan comes in and fills me with His lies.  He convinces me that tomorrow is good enough to “start”.  Well we all know there is another tomorrow after tomorrow arrives.  We all know that there will be another day that we need to celebrate, or to indulge our depression.  I’m done.  I’m am returning to God with my whole heart.  I am beginning my day with these thirty minutes of passion, of giving my whole heart to God. Then I am exuding confidence that he HAS given me the power to overcome my food addictions.   He HAS given me power to eat His foods, to want His foods.  I’m naming it and claiming it people.  I am using the heart He has given me, the heart that hears His calling.  I know He wants me to do this. And we are doing this!

Prayer:  Okay Lord, I come to You with my whole heart, not just a piece of it.  I love You so much and yet I do just squeeze You in some days.  You know I talk to You every day because You are my best friend but I don’t come to You as my Lord and savior.  Today, I come to You as my Lord, my commander, my savior.  Father, You have already won these battles here on earth.  I have lost this one.  I cannot eat right, make the right choices without You.  I cannot be the general in my own army, of my own battle.  You must lead.  Sometimes, I take Your hand but I am walking beside You, or even leading the way with my little confident self.  Well, it “ain’t” working.  I don’t know why I ever thought it would.  I haven’t done it consciously but I have not been on my knees in surrender.  Here I am surrendering my weaknesses to You, my strength.  I love You more than life itself.  I dedicate myself to Your leadership today with my whole heart.  Lead me and guide me today in everything I do.  I will start my day with a healthy breakfast even though I hate breakfast.  Okay, first words I hear from You today is that I need to change my words, they are powerful.  New words:  I am going to enjoy breakfast this morning and every morning.  Thank You for the privilege of living in a country where food is plentiful and even when there are financial issues I still eat.  You are my Lord.  Thank You for loving me enough to care about my battle, the place that temptation strikes me.  We got this together, but I am going to let You lead the way.  Love You

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to Eve. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.”…”The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” Genesis 3:4 & 13

Verse Reflections:  Every day Satan lies to me.  Every day he tells me “that won’t hurt you”, “just one”, he takes the truth and weaves it to his advantage.  Adam and Eve did not physically die but their innocence died that day.  Their purity disappeared.  They began to hide themselves, their bodies and their actions from God.  Someone in a Sunday School class that I taught asked me why I thought my bulimia was a sin.  I explained that sin is anything that separates us from God.  When I overeat to the point of misery, when I overindulge and then peamuff I am definitely separating myself from God.  Those of you reading this book can probably relate.  There will be others in your lives that cannot relate.  For those of us who do not have a problem with alcohol, we can have a glass or two of wine and it is amazing, pure, Jesus is right there with us having a nice evening.  For the alcoholic, the drink separates Him from God because for him it is a sin.  For the food addict, there are invisible lines we have drawn in the sand that no one else can see.  When we cross them we feel separated from God.  Part of my problem is that I have drawn the lines in the sand where no lines have to exist.  God does not separate himself from us, we separate ourselves from Him.  Satan is deceiving us, telling us in one ear that it is okay and then he throws the guilt at us and tells us that we have crossed the line in the other ear.  God just waits and loves us.  We must stop listening to Satan’s deceit.  We can eat God’s foods and change our patterns.  We can even eat other foods and be okay.  We can protect our lives, erase the lines by starting our day out with God.  His word will protect us.  God’s word is our sword , faith in Him is our shield that will protect us from Satan’s fiery arrows of deceit.  When Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan, He quoted scripture back to Satan.  When we start our day with God’s word we are not vulnerable to his deceit.  God shines light in the darkness.

Prayer:  Lord, protect my ears from Satan’s words, Satan’s temptations.  I know Satan was the most intelligent angel in heaven so he has a vast array of tools in His backpack.  But I know You are omnipotent, omniscient.  You can protect me, Your word is my sword to cut any temptation to shreds.  I lift up my life to You today and ask that You protect me Father.  I claim truth and the power in truth.  “The truth shall set you free”.  Yes Lord, I want to be free today, free from food temptations, free from food addiction, free from cravings, free from guilt associated with overeating.  I want to close my ears to words of deceit.  I want to close my eyes to lusts of foods that I walk past.  I want to close my sense of smell to the lure of beautiful creations coming from the oven.  I love You more than my own life and yet, I am often not disciplined enough to listen to Your instructions.  Today I come to You knowing I need Your truth, Your power to set me free.  I love You.  Have a great day.  Together we have this.

"The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Proverbs 18:10.

Verse Reflections:  Some days, I need the comfort of this image.  I love knowing that God’s name in and of itself has power, it is high above the earth as a tower, it is fortified and strong and nothing can tear it down.  We can run to the name of the Lord and know we are safe.  Today, I need that knowledge that God is stronger than I am.  I spent all weekend eating and I got up this morning ready to start again full force.  I am not even having coffee or diet coke now.  We are going to blow the God foods out of the water.  I am going to call on the name of God today to give me the power to rise above my eating addictions.  I am going to know that I am protected.  I am going to run to His name and I will be safe.

Prayer:  Thank You God for the power in this verse.  I need it.  My own power is not working.  I have not been going to Your word and I feel the difference.  Lord, I am trying to invest in the right-ness You have called me to do so I claim my righteousness by Your power.  You tell us the righteous can run to Your name and we will be safe!  I love You and I am going to eat all God food today and I am excited about it.  Thank You for Your power.  Thank You for the safety You give me.  I love You and I am looking forward to eating God foods all day with Your help.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Galatians 5:24

Verse Reflections:  It is easier said than done, crucifying our passions and desires.  And yet, I think the first five words of this verse say it all… “those who belong to Christ”.  When I get up in the morning and begin my day with Christ, it seems my passion for food is manageable.  In fact, instead of having a million foods go through my head I am able to think of delicious God foods and get excited about them.  When I jump up and begin my day without focusing on God it seems my passions and desires for foods take over.  For me this is a daily process of crucifying.  It never ceases to amaze me the power of just a little time with God in the morning.  I feel a little like Harry Potter with the cloak of invisibility over me.  The world can’t touch me when I start my day with Christ.  So today, we are going to crucify our cravings!  We are going to have fun eating our God foods and eliminate the unhealthy extras.  This will be my second day with no coffee or diet coke.  I will be travelling for 6-12 hours in the car so God take over my habits, I’m ready to give them to You.

Prayer:  Dear Father,  I am ready.  I am ready to crucify my cravings, to allow You to crucify my cravings.  We are starting over today and dedicating my living, my eating to You.  I do belong to You, therefore, crucify the passions my flesh has for eating unhealthy foods.  You have given us amazing foods that are delicious.  Focus my thoughts, my time, my passions on these foods today and every day.  Give me the power to not drink diet cokes and coffee.  Allow me to crave the carbonated water and have fun drinking the bubbles.  Thank You for allowing me to exercise tonight.  Bless my day so that I might bless Yours.

"But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Romans 8:5

Verse Reflections:  Yes!  This is why this works.  If we start with God’s word every day then our minds will be in accordance with the Spirit.  This will allow our minds to crave the right foods.  I find it is a cycle that starts with God’s word.  I truly cannot crave the right foods without the power of God’s word.  This verse came to me tonight as my waitress asked if I wanted desert.  I did.  But, I did not order one as I reminded myself that I can live in accordance with the Spirit.  I WILL live in accordance with the Sprit.  I WILL set my mind on what the Spirit desires.  He desires that we are healthy.  He desires that we not let food come between us and Him.  Food comes between me and God.  I think about food as often as I think about God.  I spend more time cooking and eating than I spend on time with Him.  Food sometimes becomes my priority.  I love that on the days I begin with God’s word my entire priorities change.  When I think of food I also think of God now.  His word, His spirit is intertwining my favorite two thoughts:  God and food.  We got this – think of food think of God.  Think God foods.

Something hit me as I was running this morning and thinking on this verse.  In this verse Actions come before the Mindset.  That is a revolutionary point.  We have to make the choices before it is easy.  We have to eat God foods before we quit craving the processed foods.  We have to Do BEFORE it is Easy.  We must live according to the spirit and eventually our mind will follow our actions.  I have always waited on it to be easy first.  I keep waiting on God to change my mind, to make me WANT to eat right.  It just doesn’t happen.  And yet, now that I am eating God foods I am craving processed foods less and less.  I know a lot of this is a physical reaction.  And a lot of it is developing healthy habits.  Now this verse reveals that it is also the Holy Spirit.

When we live and we set our minds according to what the Spirit desires then we will begin to desire what the Holy Spirit desires.

Prayers:  God, thank You for allowing me to set my mind on what You desire for me.  This gives me such confidence.   I pray that Your spirit will take over my body today that I will live as You would have me live. That Your spirit will take over my mind today that I will have my mind set on Your desires.  I love You Father and I need You to stay close to me today.  Yesterday, I started out good and then I inhaled a splurge that kept me awake.  No, I did not read my verse and write my devotion until later.  I am sorry.  I need Your power close even when I don’t get to start my day in Your word.  I need Your power to take over my mind.  I need Your power to take over my choices.  Thank You Father for surrounding me.  I will give it my all down here.  Love You.

"Who is a wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom?" James 3:13

Verse reflections:  I want to concentrate on this wisdom, this humility.  It hit me the other day that I am a “bounce back person”.  I rely on others to give me positive reinforcement for the way I look.  Just a quick smile, a confident head nod, a glimmer of recognition that I “look good”.  That is the only reason I get “ready” in the morning.  I want others to recognize the time and effort I put into looking good.  Honestly, I could care less about putting time into myself for myself or for God.  I want the bounce back reinforcement that I get from others.  I admire those I see that just walk along and don’t notice the feedback they get from others.  I think that is a reflection of the wisdom and understanding God is referring to in the verse above.  The good life, the deeds done in humility are more important to them than the feedback they get from others.

Prayer:  Father, today, let me concentrate (as my hair is up in rollers) on my good life, my deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.  I don’t like my good deeds know and publicized but to be perfectly honest I do want others to recognize that I “look good”.  I love the bumper sticker that Joy got me that says, “I know I am efficient, tell me I am beautiful”.  Take that desire away from me Lord.  Help me to want to be healthy and wise and humble in this new phase of life.  I love you and I know you have made me reasonably attractive.  I want to not take that for granted and yet not try to get “bounce back” approval from others.  Allow me to just be happy inside myself with the way I look and just get feedback from You.  Today we are going to eat healthy for healthy sake and forget any “bounce back”.  We are going to concentrate on living our good life with deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom.  Love You.

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do." Ephesians 2:10

Verse Reflections:  Oh I am so glad that God prepared me in advanced to do good works.  It relaxes my soul to know I don’t have to work so hard to prepare myself for His callings or at least I don’t have to worry about being good enough for His calling.  Knowing we are created by God “in Christ Jesus” to do good works lets us know the importance of accepting our imperfections and giving them over to the grace of Jesus.  Our faults just are.  But Jesus gives us the forgiveness to leave our mistakes behind and go forward into good works.  We are so blessed as Christians not to carry the heavy burden of guilt, or self-recrimination.  We can move forward every day with a fresh opportunity to greet the sunshine and know that we are God’s handiwork.  We have been created by the Master.  Knowing that allows me the freedom, the energy to breathe in and make the right choices in foods.  On the days I feel guilt or anxiety or don’t stop to breathe and begin running with my huge task list I do not have the energy to concentrate on choosing the right foods.  Today I am going to breathe in, claim the beauty I have as God’s handiwork.  Knowing I am beautiful in God’s eyes makes me want to protect that beauty.  Today I am going to know that I have been prepared in advanced to do good works.  I believe those good works start with caring for my body.  Today I am going to make God choices.  When I feel great about myself, I can extend my blessings to others and do good works for others.

Prayer:  Father, I love You so much.  I thank You for making me Your handiwork.  That is a beautiful thought.  I think of Mom spending hours at the sewing machine, making us clothing, her handiwork.  The image of You creating me with the same time and care humbles me but makes me feel so valuable knowing you invested Your love in me.  Father, knowing that, how can I choose to put crap into my body that will not honor Your creation.  I think that would be like putting on a new outfit Mom made for me and then rolling in the mud.  When I put crap in my body, it is like filling my body with dirt, making my organs work hard to metabolize it and evacuate it.  Today I am going to wear my handiwork with pride and I am going to eat beautiful foods that will make the colors more vibrant.  Give me the strength to make these choices with pride without pausing.  Thank You for loving me, and patiently sewing me together.

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." Ephesians 6:11

Verse Reflections:  I like to blame the devil’s schemes on my failure to eat right.  In my head, He is the one whispering in my ear to have some of that cream cheese pound cake, fried chicken… And I have to say, the word “schemes” is pretty accurate.  Every day, someone, at some event comes up with a great reason for me to wait until tomorrow to make the right choices:   someone’s birthday, someone’s feelings because they cooked a wonderful desert or meal, a buffet of homemade foods, the perfect food I don’t get to indulge in often…  I will admit that the devil knows this is my weakness so his schemes sometimes pay off.  I am getting stronger with these devotions.  It helps to stop every day and focus on God.  The devil’s tricks do not pay off when I come to God each day for His word (the offensive sword).  If I am on the offense, I don’t have to worry as much about the defensive protection of armor.  However, when I stop and talk to God, listen to God, I automatically have the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breast plate of right-ness (righteousness).  It amazes me how easy it is to be fully armored when I just stop for 30 minutes, even 15 minutes a day to read the word of God and weave it into my soul.  I CAN stand against the devil.  I WILL stand against the devils schemes.  If you are reading this, you understand that eating can be a tool he uses to make us less Godly.  I am wearing the armor of God, my breastplate has been soaked in the living waters of God so that I can withstand the fiery arrows of the devil.  We’ve got this!! God plus 1 devotion automatically gears us up and protects us.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for Your armor of protection.  I love starting my day with Your word and incorporating it into my struggle against eating healthy.  When I start with the offensive sword of Your word, it is truly like a miracle wrapping me in a cocoon of protection that allows me to want to make the right choices of foods.  The breastplate of righteousness (right-ness) just slips right on when I read Your word.  You save me from myself by putting the helmet of salvation on my head.  Thank You!  I don’t understand Your power but I do know when I start my day with You, I am a different person.  Save me from this temptation that I have.  Allow me to crave the vegetables and fruits You created, the beautiful grilled meats with tasty seasonings.  Thank You Lord.  We are going to have a great day.  I love You.

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8

Verse Reflections:  Changing a lifetime of eating the wrong foods takes time.  I love the thought of God going before me.  If He goes before me then I know the path is cleared of anything that can trip me up.  He also promises in this verse that He will be with us and not leave or forsake us.  If we fall, He will pick us up.  If we indulge, He will not leave us.  He will give us the energy to face another day.  We do not need to be discouraged.  We do not need to be afraid to try again.  We will fail, we are human.  We will feel like we cannot do this and we will be afraid to try.  “If we don’t try we can’t fail”.  NO!!  If we don’t try we will never succeed.  And I look at it this way, every day I succeed is one less day I failed.  Even if my life is speckled with failure I need to concentrate on making the majority of my days successes.  I will not be discouraged if I eat three non-God foods.  I will try to eat all God foods for two more days.  God is going before us.  God will not leave our side no matter what happens.  We can do this.  We will not be discouraged.  We are beautiful, great people made in the image of God and He is by our sides.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for going before me.  I love that You are going to put healthy choices in my path.  You are going to give me the energy, the desire to pick myself up and make today successful.  You are going to eliminate my discouragement and stay by my side.  Knowing You are with me allows me strength from deep inside to know I can do this.  YOU will not forsake me.  YOU will go before me.  YOU will take away my fear.  YOU will take away my discouragement when I do not see any changes.  I love these thoughts.  Give me Your power to make healthy eating choices.  Give me Your power to be Your child that makes the right decisions to honor my body.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Revelation 3:20

Verse reflections:  He is knocking.  We have to be quiet enough to hear the knock.  We have to spend enough time with Him to recognize His voice.  Then we have to be obedient enough to open the door.  All of those things being done, He will come into our lives and eat with us.  Wow!!  If Christ is here eating with us, I know we will want to serve Him the foods He created.  We will want to show off our culinary talents but make sure we are eating foods He will approve of.  I think it is intimidating to think that He won’t come eat with us until after we hear the knock, until after we hear His voice.  That puts a lot of responsibility on us to be quiet enough, still enough to stay in touch with Him.  This time we are spending right now reading His word and putting His words in perspective for our struggles is allowing us that privilege.  God is good.  He gives us the solutions to our problems but we do have to give Him that power.  He is knocking.  YOU have to go to the door.  YOU have to open the door.  YOU have to hear His voice.  Then YOU have to invite Him in for dinner.  I think back fondly to having company when I was growing up.  Many times, we would not invite people over to eat with us until we cleaned the house.   Grace allows us to invite God over now, just as we are.   We can sit down with God and eat even when we are not perfect, even when our house is not as clean as we want it to be.  In fact, Christ is the best company of all.  He will help us clean our house after He comes in.  I like that thought a lot.  He’s already had breakfast with me today.  I’m looking forward to lunch and dinner with my best friend who I am inviting inside.

Prayer:  Father, I hear Your voice through Your word.  I thank You that You have given us this gift of power.  I love having You close by my side.  I sometimes forget that I have to act.  I often think of You as the one who will come to me.  I forget that You never move.  It is me that moves.  I get too busy to hear Your voice.  I get too self-oriented and busy with my own tasks to simply walk over to You and open the door(s) that separate me from You.  A simple door and yet a huge chasm between me and Your power.  God, thank You for this verse that reminds me of my own responsibilities to You.  You have the power and yet, You have given us access to this power through a few simple steps.  All I have to do is stop my life long enough to come to You.  I do hear Your voice this morning.  I am walking over to the door to let You in even as I pray.  Thank You Father for this beautiful, amazing privilege of dining with You.  I will invite You into my body, Your temple, Your home to dine with me today.  Let’s have fun eating Your pure, amazingly delicious foods together.

“You my brothers and sisters were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13

Verse reflections:  Once again, God is reminding us that we have the freedom to access God’s power or indulge in ourselves.  We can choose to love God, serve others or serve ourselves.  Every day, three times a day, we eat, we serve ourselves.  How many times a day do we serve others?  We are wealthy enough to have the freedom to choose what we eat, how much we eat.  We can choose to indulge in unhealthy foods or even too much of healthy foods.  OR we can use this freedom to think of others before ourselves.  I wonder what it would be like if every time we dished up a spoonful of food we thought of ways to serve others.  Would it change our way of looking at food?  Would it change our way of looking at eating?  Today, I am going to think of how I can serve others, “humbly in love” each time I dish up a spoonful of food.  I loved yesterday’s verse, using our freedom to open the door to God.  Today we can leave that door open and open another door to serving others which in turn gives them access to the power of God.  Imagine a clear pathway for those we are serving to God because You and I chose to simply open the door to God and then open the door to them.  Oh, what a beautiful picture.  How much more beautiful than simply sitting down at a meal and indulging our flesh.  Today, we are going to concentrate on serving others rather than ourselves and giving them access to the power of God in the process.

Prayer:  My soul is just singing inside with this beautiful imagery.  Your word is full of such gorgeous ways of looking at this limited earth.  I’ve never thought about my actions as opening the path of Your power to others.  Give me the strength to change my tendency to “indulge the flesh” to one of serving others in humbly in love.  I have often found when I stay busy, I eat less.  This verse is further proof that there is a reason.  If I am serving others, I do not think of myself as much.  Today, open my eyes to others and their needs.   Make me humble.  I have found when I am humble, I automatically think of others more than I do myself.  Allow me to keep the door open to You while I open a second door to those in need.  Then allow me to duck so that they can feel Your power, Your presence through both open doors.  Take this action and convert it to an automatic change in my need to indulge my body with food.  Today, Lord we are going to serve others together.  Let’s go.

"Teach me to do your will for You are my God, may your good Spirit lead me on level ground." Psalm 143:10

Verse reflections:  We have a lot to learn.  I have developed some bad eating habits, some unhealthy cravings.  I love the idea of God teaching us to eat better.  He gives us a great lesson in Daniel.  Daniel takes a firm stand against indulging in wine, in rich foods.  He eats a healthy combination of fruits and vegetables and God honors his stance even to the extent of saving him from a vicious death by a lion.  This lesson is one that we can use to learn God’s will.  He is our teacher over and over in the word.  And yet, I have read it enough to know that I should honor my body.  I need Him to teach me HOW to His will.  I know His will.  And yet, so often I fail to do His will, this is a new concept to me.  We need to ask God to teach me to do His will.   I truly believe that He has revealed this plan to me: eating God foods + one additional splurge.  After riding a roller coaster of writing foods down, eating packaged foods, following someone else’s plan, I love the idea of the Spirit leading me on “level ground”. I have decided I would rather have the extra weight than continue down these crazy paths.  I have to have an option that will work for the rest of my life and I believe this is the plan.  Today He is going to teach us how to do His will.  We are going to eat God foods.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for teaching me to do Your will. Thank You for leading me on level ground.  This sounds like a simple verse but for those of us struggling with weight loss it is actually a revolutionary verse.  Level ground is what we are craving.  We want to be taught to do Your will.  We want to live on level ground.  Thank You Father for once again giving us what we need.  Today, I am going to claim these verses in my life.  You are teaching me to eat God foods.  Today, I am going to be the student that wants to learn.  You are leading me on level ground.  Today, I am going to enjoy walking, then running on this level ground and avoiding the roller coasters of craziness.  I live in Your body Lord.  Let’s take care of it together.

For physical training is of some value but godliness has value for all things, holding ground for both the present life and the life to come. 1Timothy 4:8

Verse Reflections:  I am blessed to love “physical training”.  If I didn’t love to exercise I have no doubt I would weigh 100 pounds more than I do now.  I figured out one day that I would gain 30 pounds a year if I didn’t run.  YIKES!!  I spend a minimum of three hours a week running and I try to spend five hours running.  I’m not fast, but I do it and I love it.  So, this verse is telling me that this is of some value but godliness has more.  Godliness has value for ALL things not just our bodies.  My soul smiles when I hear God talk about preparing for the life to come, the life without bodies.  If I spend three to five hours exercising, how much more time should I spend in devotion, prayer, in developing my godliness?   I have to confess, it is hard for me to make time for these devotions you are reading now.  I have to make myself not turn on the news in the morning, not begin some of my habits I love before I finish this time with God.  I must remembers that the time building my godliness is more valuable and when these physical bodies are gone, the time I put into my soul will continue to have value.

Prayer:  Father, keep reminding me of this verse.  Keep reminding me that my time with You is more important than anything I can do for my body.  I know I am a better person when I invest time into You in the morning. I am more grounded, I am calmer when things happen, I do not look at what happens from an egocentric viewpoint.  I love You Father, more than my body and yet, I spend a full day a week, seven to twelve hours exercising, eating, showering, fixing my hair.  Remind me each morning that I must integrate You into every part of my life.  Today, I want You to just be here with me.  Restore my godliness at a level that is beyond me.  I want that value for the life to come.  I want to have godliness that will sustain me and be me when my body is gone.  I love You so much.  Come into my body, take over today and let me have godliness that makes food seem irrelevant in the big picture of life.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Romans 15:4

Verse Reflections:  Amen and amen.  I need this verse to be reminded that I must continue, endure, this new eating habit even when the weight does not fall off.  I must know that the Scriptures will give me encouragement and hope.  I am truly learning new life eating habits.  It is not easy.  I am used to eating what I want to when I want to.  Then following a rigid plan to take it back off again.  I have to find a balance where I don’t have to think so hard, work so hard.  This verse reminds me that I can do this, we can do this.  We can endure the hard part of finding the balance that will last a lifetime.  I can feel a difference inside my head, I am making better choices.  I am beginning to “show” a difference that gives me hope and encouragement.  But I think my biggest hope and encouragement comes from knowing without any outside accountability that I am becoming healthier in my choices.  I know that this will make a difference in my long-term health and care of my body.  We can eat God foods.  Be encouraged and have hope for changes that will influence the rest of your life.  Claim this “endurance taught in the scriptures”.  We have this.

Prayer:  Father, I just keep finding wonderful treasures in Your word that speak to me where I am in my life journey.  Who would think there were so many verses in the Scripture that help me with my eating issues?  You are telling me that You teach us endurance in the Scripture.  This comes at a great time when I am not wanting to “keep it up”.  You go further and give me encouragement and hope.  Father, I lay my life at your feet.  I lay my body at Your feet. This is Your body.  Right now I am carrying extra weight that weighs on my knees and causes me to not be able to “spring up” from a sitting position.  And we aren’t even talking about fitting into my clothes and “looking good”.  So, let’s endure together.  Give me the desire to endure a life change.  I’m tired of the quick fixes.  I am going to worship You through my endurance.  Thank You for this scripture that does give me hope and encouragement today when I need it most.  Love You.  Have a great day.

Isaiah 55:2 & 3: Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.

Verse Reflections:  God repeats “listen, listen”. He is trying to get our attention, to let us know that this is important.  If we eat what is good, we will delight in the “richest of fare”.  We will know the richness that God wants for us in His kingdom, this is not referring to foods here on earth.  We will know health, we will know peace, we will know a relationship with God that is not harmed by our unhealthy choices, our guilt from abusing our bodies.  Then He goes further and says again, “listen” … that you may live.  He wants us to have long lives, he wants us to live fully.  When we eat too much of the wrong foods it affects our bodies.  We wear out our pancreas with too much sugar, we wear out our liver with too much alcohol, we add fat that puts serious stress on our joints and sometimes even our body organs.  We cannot “live” a long life when we make those choice.  God wants us to live here on earth and to experience the richest of fare in His kingdom.

Prayer:  God, I am reminded of the funny Youtube video with the cute little boy saying “Listen Linda Listen” when I read Your “listen listen”.  You are stopping us with this verse.  You are reminding me that this goes beyond me, beyond my clothes not fitting.  You want us to eat what is good so that we can enjoy the richness of Your kingdom.  Help me today to reach out for the richness of Your kingdom, not the richness of foods.  Allow me to listen to You.  I know your commands to “eat what is good” is for my health that I may live.  This is a great verse for me today.  Help me to weave it into my lifestyle.  Help me to crave the foods that are good today and every day.  I will try to listen to You today.  I know that means I have to turn off the noise so I can really hear You.  Hope You have a wonderful day today.  Thanks for being a part of mine.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. Romans 14:19-23

Verse Reflections:  I came within a mouse hair of tearing down weeks of the work of God today.  I wanted so badly to pig out and pea muff.  I went to the doctor today and had an ovarian tumor but it ended up just being a fibroid tumor.  It was an emotional roller coaster and then I had to spend an unbudgeted $600 on my car.  I feel wiped out.  I have on my pajamas at 6:00 at night and I am drawing close to God.  I did pig out but I have to allow myself that every once in a while.  I have to cling to the verse that says, “Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.”  Food is not bad.  Yes, I took in a week’s worth of sugar in one day, and probably three days of calories.  BUT, I did not pea-muff.  I allowed myself a weakness and clung to God’s promise that “all food is clean.”  I stumble, I have doubts.  Therefore for me it is a sin but I love the fact that for God it is not a sin.  Food does not separate Him from us, it separates us from Him.  I have a horrible headache from all the sugar.  Go figure.  And still I indulge.

Prayer:  Father, forgive me when I indulge in food.  Forgive me my lack of strength.  And yet, thank You for giving me the next step.  Thank You for allowing me to forgive myself and jump back up on the horse while it is still running.  Thank you that tomorrow can be a good one, tonight, this minute can be a good one even with my pain.  You are stronger than my weakness and I claim this.  It actually helps me to know that all food is clean.  I am the one that allowed it to take a position that places it between You and I.  Now I have to change those positions so that I can see You at all times and take Your hand through this journey.  I am weak, You are strong.  Take my hand and walk me down this path I tend to take when I am stressed out.  Why do I make food a weapon?  Is it a mild punishment because I am not invincible?  A sword inserted to make the physical pain louder than the mental pain?  Do I choose a sugar rush as my drug of choice to give me a quick high when my spirits are low?  Is it a cry to You for help?  Do I want to overdose on food so that I am catatonic?  Is an aching stomach easier than focusing on the heartache I so easily (or not) push into a box and lock deep within?  Allow me knowledge that will grow me, mature me in my knowledge of why I change foods into weapons.  Allow me the knowledge of why I come so close to destroying Your work for the sake of food.  Give me the power to not make foods a weapon.  Thank You for the progress so far.  Wrap my day in Your grace.

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

Verse Reflections:  This verse takes a lot of pressure off of me, the competitor.  I want to win.  I want to be as close to perfect as possible.  I want to look perfect, wear my close perfectly, run a good distance.  I want to beat this hold that food has on me.  But this verse tells me to chill out.  This verse tells me that The Lord will fight for us.  Isn’t that a beautiful thought?  We can just be going through our days and God will be in the boxing ring, fighting off our demons.  And yet, we must not ignore the key words “The LORD”.  He must be the Lord of our lives, not just our God we believe in. That means we must give our power to Him, give our time to Him, give our families to Him, give our relationships to Him, give our problems to Him, give our money and our work to Him.  He must be LORD of our lives.  It is simple and yet it is a conscious act of handing over our authority, our leadership to Him.  For me, I have to repeat this process every morning.  I tend to start taking a little bit back, and a little more and a little more until wah-lah at the end of the day I think I am all that and more.  I either rocked the day or I totally blew the day.  Hmmm… I am going to imagine a food fight today with a little impish God throwing the first piece of food.  Then, while I am having fun with the food fight, He runs to the boxing ring to fight off the control food has on me.  Okay, I know this verse says to “be still” but I really have a problem being still.  No, I am not hyperactive just very active.  That is my story and I’m sticking to it.  I am being very still while I “devote” this morning so at least I start off still.

Prayer:  Thank You God for fighting my battles for me.  It really does take pressure off of me to imagine You in a boxing ring behind me or better yet in front of me.  I won’t have to work as hard at just being.  I know I don’t have to be perfect but I tend to want to try to have everything together.  I want my house clean, drawers clean, closets clean, I want my clothes to fit well, I want to have a great figure with no cellulite, I want to be great at my job.  Help me to just be still.  I know instead of focusing on me, I could be still and smell the roses, see the natural beauty, see the wonderful people around me, read scripture.  I think You need me to be still just to refocus on You sometimes.  When I am going and going like the energizer bunny I can be too busy to talk to You.  It helps me so much to start my day by inviting You to lead me.  I am a better person.  Honestly, I tend to talk to You all day even in my business when I start the day with You.  So, today, I once again ask to You to be Lord of my life.  I give You the power to fight my battles for me.  I give You my battle with food.  Today I am going to let You lead my food fight.  I’ve tried to lead for over 30 years and I’m not winning.  It is Your turn.  Thank You for being willing to fight for me.  Love You and adore You.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Verse Reflections:  Once again, the focus is all back on the Lord.  We can be strong but only if we have our hope in the Lord.  We cannot depend on ourselves.  We cannot depend on a temporary diet.  Yes, we might lose weight but it will come back without long-term changes.  God has given us the food, beautiful pure foods that taste wonderful.  God has instructed us.  We can have hope when He is our Lord, when His plan is our plan, when we listen to His word, when we eat the foods He has created.  Many of us are so frustrated because we have clothes in our closet that we cannot wear, because we are not confident in our looks.  Perhaps we saw a picture of ourselves with arms larger than our head (an optical illusion I’m sure), a stomach that showed through our clothes, a couple (or more) chins.  Whatever the reason we get down on ourselves.  And what do we do?  We eat!  It makes perfect sense to me.  I’ve been doing this for years.  I feel fat so I feel depressed.  I feel depressed so I eat.  And guess what?  For two or three hours I am soooo very happy.  Food is a narcotic for me.  The foods I choose make me happy physically. Then what happens?  I crash, actually my sugar levels crash and so I literally crash physically and mentally.  And so the cycle repeats.  Again and again and again and again… When I limit my carbohydrates to one per day and my “splurges” to one per day I am amazed at how little I crave the “fixes”.  My unhealthy eating habits leave me even hungrier after a meal than I was before I began.  God +1 allows me to stop eating and to feel full.  Amazing.  I can hope in the Lord.  I can be strong and take heart.  My clothes are already fitting better.  I can take heart that slowly but steadily I am getting stronger (and skinnier).

Prayer:  Thank You Father that I can have hope when You are Lord of my life.  Thank You that I can be strong when You are my Lord.  It is an amazing new cycle for me.  When I eat Your foods, I don’t crave the other foods.  Keep me on this path Lord, Keep me strong.  Thank You that I can take heart, I can have hope in the rest of my life.  It has only been five months and I really do have hope in the way I am eating.  Thanks for giving me a new direction I can live with.  You know I am not a lettuce bunny.  I can’t live that way.  Thank You for teaching me that I don’t have to be.  I can eat steak, pork chops, chicken… oh yeah. AND I can fit in my jeans.  Okay, it ain’t pretty yet but I have hope in You.  Thank You for being my Lord, for speaking loud enough for me to hear You and I hope one day I can pass this hope onto others.  You are amazing.  I know my life, all of it would be so much easier if I would just be quiet and listen.  I’m working on it.  I have hope in You.  Thank You for that.  Love You.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

Verse Reflections:  How refreshing to think that we can start each day asking God to renew us.  When we have had a bad week, all we have to do is go to God to wash it away.  I love this!  I am good at hiding the anger, the frustration, the anxiety.  The good news is I get to go to God and have Him renew a right spirit within me.  And it works.  At night I hand it over to God as I go to sleep, I can feel it begin to unleash.  When I wake up I have the privilege of handing it over again. I’m a little slow, it takes two times for me (or more) to hand it over completely.  By the time I go to work it is amazing how energized I am.  I feel light and relieved that I have a God that is bigger than me to give over the details of my life to.  I am able to have a spirit of lightness that makes me smile and have a spirit of joy.  It is amazing to me how much this makes a difference in my ability to choose the right foods, to dedicate my eating to God.  When my spirit is light, it seems I do not need to eat the heavier foods, I do not need to mask my emotions or feed my emotions foods that have an artificial and temporary high.  My high is more permanent and comes from within, from my Lord and Savior.

Prayer:  Father, I come to You in thanks for giving me this clean heart this right spirit.  I so feel the difference when Your spirit takes my day from me, my emotions, my anxieties.  My body literally feels lighter.  So, today, take life from me in a good way.  Eliminate the negative energy that weighs me down.  Eliminate my negativity, my negative perceptions.  Help me to look at the world through Your eyes.  Create the right spirit within me Lord.  I know I can have fun eating God foods when my spirit is light instead of feeding my anxieties with sugar or carbohydrates.  I love that just giving over my day to You makes such a difference.  I love You .  Let’s do this.

But You O Lord, are a shield about me; My glory and the lifter up of my head. Psalms 3:3

Verse Reflections:  This verse makes me imagine God covering me with His angels wings (not Biblical just my fun image) and snuggling me up close to His breast.  I am shielded from life.  I am covered, protected by His power.  I looked up the word “glory”:  honor won by notable achievements, magnificence or great beauty.  So true that God is our honor, our magnificence, our great beauty.  He allows us to be proud, to lift our head when we make Him the source of our honor and beauty instead of ourselves.  We can fail in life, we can be knocked down by life but God is the source of our ability to get back up and have confidence in ourselves.  You can weight 200, 300, 400 pounds and lift your head because God is the source of your beauty.  You can be twenty pounds overweight and continually sabotage your diet but you can lift your head because God is the source of your honor and achievements.  I don’t know about you but that takes a lot of pressure off of me.  I am happy to know my accomplishments should not be the source of my pride, thus my failures are not the source of my anxiety.  It doesn’t change who I am, my desire to work hard, to accomplish, to change, to learn.  It does change my anxiety about not being perfect.  There have been times in my life where my husband or others put me on a pedestal and while there is a compliment in that, it also puts a lot of pressure on me.  I like knowing the source of my accomplishments are based on the power, and the abilities given by God.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for shielding me from life.  Thank You for giving me the power to eat Your foods.  Thank You for being the source of my honor and beauty.  Today I want to honor You in return by eating the foods You have given me, chosen for me.  I am humbled by the fact that You shield me.  So often I feel blasted by this world.  How much worse would it be if I was not shielded by Your power?  Thank You for this privilege of being shielded by You.  Thank You for loving me this much.  You are amazing and I want to say thank You by treasuring this beautiful vessel of life You have given me called my body.  I love You, I need You.  We are going to look out at the world today under the protection of Your beautiful wings of feathers and know that we will be a great team.  I will eat Your foods in my little haven of your wings.  I like the idea of having a picnic of grilled vegetables and wonderful smelling items in a little hollowed out recess under Your wings or the wings of the angels You send to protect me.  I love knowing that I hold my head up because YOU are the source of my glory.

Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods. Psalms 63:3-5 NIV

Verse Reflections:  Close your eyes and just breathe in the love of Christ.  Wrap yourself in a blanket of His love, His unconditional, unfailing love.  When we feel it holy, real and all-encompassing we just want to glorify Him, share Him, praise Him.  Music surrounds me with His love.  There are certain songs I listen to and I just have to stop life and lift my hands in praise to Him. I get this verse.  I feel this verse at times.  The rest of the world falls away and God and I are alone in the room even when it is filled with people. However, I need the second part of this verse as a food addict: “I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods.”  We need to take the feeling of being wrapped in God’s love, this craving for God’s love and know that it is enough.  We don’t need the rich foods to make us satisfied.  All we need is God’s love.  We need to carve this verse into our soul and feel fully satisfied before we pick up a fork each day.  God’s beautiful, pure foods are enough.  God’s love is enough.  We can be fully satisfied by His love and let His love sooth our souls as we have for so long allowed food to sooth our souls.  No longer.  We will not eat rich foods to satisfy cravings that are not even physical.  We will not eat rich foods to create more cravings that are physical.  We will break this cycle of eating sugars and carbs and physically craving more sugars and carbs.  God Plus 1.  We will be satisfied with the love of God.  It is enough.

Prayer:  Thank You Lord that we can be satisfied with Your love.  It amazes me that I have been doing my eating devotions for five months now and every day You lead me to another verse that speaks to me.  I guess the fact that eating was one of the ways Satan tried to tempt Jesus lets me know that this is not a new issue for mankind.  It is definitely my issue.  Today Lord let me wrap myself in Your love so that I want to lift my hands in praise.  Take that love and insert it into my soul.  Allow me to be satisfied as I am when I pig out on rich foods.  I love that David also felt that physical satisfaction that comes from eating rich foods.  And yet, he got the fact that he didn’t need the rich foods.  So Father, satisfy my soul.  Fill me to the point of brimming over today.  Allow me to be completely satisfied by You.  That is the secret for me Father, to start my day with You so that I am full inside and I am not seeking to fill an empty cavity inside the center of my being.  Thank You God for being the one that fills me.  Thank You for these verses.  They are the perfect way for me to start my day with You.  Love You.  God foods here we come because my soul is full and satisfied.

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13 NIV

Verse Reflections:  We do not have to fear!  We do not have to worry about losing weight, about sticking with this plan.  We do not have to worry about life.  God will take hold of our right hand.  How awesome that God will TAKE hold of your right hand.  There are times in life where we are too weak to reach up to Him.  There are times in life when we just don’t have the energy to take the initiative in our relationship with Him.  How comforting to know that He will reach down and take hold of our hand.  We do have to make Him our Lord in order to give Him that power.  He needs to be the one we allow to lead our lives, the core of our soul, the core of our decisions.  I find it interesting that each time I discover a verse like this where He takes the initiative in our relationship, it begins with the word Lord.  Once He becomes our Lord, the leader of our lives we are given so much.  He is telling us that we do not have to fear in this world.  He is telling us that He will help us.  I can’t imagine going through life without knowing that I have the greatest power in the universe by my side.  I don’t know about you, but I just can’t do life by myself.  It can be overwhelming.  And this is one of the reasons I have turned to food.  It gives me a temporary high.  It allows me to “control” something in my life.  If something in life stinks at least I have cookies or doughnuts or hamburgers or French fries or a glass of wine…  And I am the best expert on earth to find a reason to make myself feel better with food.  God is telling us here that we do not need that.  He’s got life.  Imagine that problem that is in the back of your mind right now.  Hand it over to Him and thank Him for taking care of it.   Now relax and enjoy your day because God says we do not have to fear.  He will take our hand and help us.  Eat His foods and chillax.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for taking my hand today.  Thank You for telling me that I do not have to fear.  Thank You for loving me.  This verse means so much to me.  I love knowing that Your big self is up there loving on me and caring enough about me and my problems to reach down and take my hand.  Lord, I don’t take this for granted.  For me being able to relax, to “not fear” to know that You are helping me allows me to eat the right foods instead of choosing foods to spite the system or the way my day is going.  Today I am going to chillax because I know You are taking my hand and helping me through life and thus You are helping me eat God foods.  Let’s have fun today Father eating the glorious foods You created for us to eat here on earth.  I am excited to see where this day goes with You leading the way.  I love You more than You can imagine and I am going to glorify You with my choices of foods, my mindset and my body (Your Holy temple).

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 NIV

Verse Reflections:  Yes!!  The temptation of overeating is a weapon.  The temptation to eat three processed foods in one day (like I did yesterday) is real.  And the calories in those three foods doubled everything else I ate.  What was I thinking?  Today God reminds me that this weapon will not prevail!  I love that I have a heritage from God to be healthy.  He is going to help me and we are going to have vindication against this temptation.  I love that God understands ALL the weapons forged against us.  There is a reason one of the temptations for Jesus in the desert was turning the rocks into bread.  If satan had added butter to this temptation he might have had me.  Jesus knows the power of food for some of us.  Jesus also knew the power of scripture over every temptation which is why He quoted a verse for every temptation thrown at Him.  The amazing, wonderful news is that no temptation exists that God cannot overcome.  He is telling us in this verse that He will prevail, therefore, we will prevail against this weapon.  We have a heritage of power.  He will vindicate us.

Prayer:  Thank You Jesus for prevailing against the weapon of food for me.  I love waking up every morning and searching Your word for power.  Your words fill me with strength for the day.  Yesterday, I went right into my day and yes, I blew it.  But today is a new day, a day filled with Your power.  I praise You that you just bluntly tell me that no weapon forged against me can prevail.  I’m claiming it Lord.  Food will not have power over me.  I am Your servant today and we are going to prevail against food. I love that You have given me a heritage as Your child.  I need that heritage, I need the knowledge that all the responsibilities of this world are not sitting on my shoulders.  You’ve got this.  Thank You for letting me begin my day with this crazy little issue I have so I can focus on others and bigger needs during the day.  I hope I honor You by working with You to conquer the power food has on me.  Now we can work on being there for others, which is my passion, what really drives me to enjoy life.  You rock Lord, thank You for prevailing.  Open my eyes now so that I may not pass one who needs me.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:57

Verse Reflections:  The power of Jesus Christ gives us victory.  Food (or drink, or cigarettes, or drugs) has no power over us.  We can start our day knowing that Jesus has given us victory over temptation.  We can thank Him in advance knowing that His power is greater than any temptation.  We have victory.  Name it and claim it.  The word for today is victory because He has won the battle for us.  We sometimes think we have to fight and fight and lose and lose.  The reality is all we have to do is get up and read His word.  There is power in His scripture, in His words.  I don’t understand it but I have lived it.  He has conquered my fight with food.  When I start my day with Him I know it, I live it.  Implanting God’s word in my heart seems to just grow a shield between me and my temptations.  They just lose their power.  I have won the battle and don’t even have to fight.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for this victory.  Thank You for the power that takes away the battle.  I don’t even have to face the fight when I start my day with You.  Why do I even try to face days without starting them with You?  I apologize.  I know your power.  I have used and absorbed Your power.  You are my best friend and I do talk to You every day but some days I get so busy I forget to ask You to walk beside me.  I forget to merge Your words with mine.  I forget to weave Your power into my soul.  Today I am beginning my day by thanking You for the victory You have won over my temptations to overeat.  I want to bless You as You have blessed me.  We have this day together.  Love You.

But I (Peter) said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. Acts 11:8

Verse Reflections:  Oh my goodness, Peter was a better man than me.  Eating common foods, non-God foods has been my modish operando.  Interestingly, at this point he was actually arguing with God about killing an animal and eating it.  God answers, “What God has cleansed, that call not common.”  Bottom line, what God has created is not common or unclean.  He is commanding Peter to partake of meat.  I find it interesting that Daniel actually avoided meat but here God is commanding Peter to eat meat.  Obviously, once again the message is that nothing God created is bad for us.  The details are not important.  We have to find what is right for us.  God has made it easy.  Don’t argue with Him if your body is craving certain foods He created or if You hear His voice like I did telling You to eat certain foods.  I heard Him loud and clear give me the message to eat God foods (clean foods) plus one other or processed food.  He knew I needed the option to add another food in the mix because I am sooooo hard on myself. If I know I can’t have a food, if I deem it “unclean” and I eat it anyway, then I want to purge or I get mad with myself.  I have to have flexibility to make this a lifestyle and I can’t do this without having that 1 food a day that I don’t have to feel guilty about.  Peter gives me a goal of sticking to this plan.  God’s command to Peter to eat what He has created and not to argue takes it on to another level.  None of His foods are bad for us.  Don’t take health press releases out of context when they refer to a God food being “bad” for you.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for giving me the courage, the resolve, the determination to do this.  We are going to be successful and we are going to make this a life change.  However, I know I can’t do this without the daily devotions and the strength You give me.  So… here I am.  I have resolve and courage.  You have the power and ability.  Will You merge these four qualities in me to allow me to follow Your commands.  There is another verse in the Bible (Matthew 26:41) “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  That would be me.  My spirit is all over this Lord.  I am excited, encouraged and ready.  And then comes life and I get stressed.  My brain tells me a little sugar will make you feel better and I believe it!  And for an hour it does, it truly does.  Then I feel worse.  So, I need You to give me the power to eat “clean” foods today and all days.  We are going to do this.  Love You bunches.  And thanks.

And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said, ‘It is written, Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:3,4

Verse Reflections:  I love that Jesus always quotes a verse back to Satan during His desert temptations.  It shouts the power of God’s word against temptation.  I’ve never noticed before that Jesus connects food and the word of God in this verse.  “Man cannot live by food alone but by the word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Wow!  This verse reminds us that the word of God is more important than food.  We must live on the word of God and food together, it is our life team.  This power totally explains why God Plus 1 works.  Just one simple verse gives us power, gives us life.  We all know we can’t live without food but who reminds us that we can’t live without God’s word?  Jesus just did.  I am finally learning the power of God’s word in my struggle with eating too much of the wrong foods.  Now, I need to take it a step further and remember that God’s word is vital, the center of my life.  One simple verse quoted back to the devil in the desert allowed Jesus to say no to the temptation.  All we need is that simple verse, but that infinite power that is encompassed within.

Prayer:  Thank You Lord for this verse that reminds us that Your word is just as important to living as food is.  I stop for 30 minutes to an hour three times a day to eat but I only stop 10 minutes to an hour to worship You.  I do try to incorporate You into my day, talking to You about my day all along the way but… honestly You don’t get as much attention as my food.  So, today, help me to think of You every time I think about my food.  Help me to talk to You, imagine You, savor You just like I do the food I eat.  I love You Lord so very much.  Today, I am going to think of You as a necessity for living.  I am going to try to incorporate three times during today to just be with You just as I sit down with my food.  The blessings today will take on a different meaning for me.  Thank You for reminding me I cannot have life without You.  Just focusing on God food does help me focus on You.  Thank You for the privilege of living this way.  Give me the desire, the power to quote Your verse back to any temptations today.  We are going to live by Your word first, food second.  I love it!

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

Verse Reflections:  Imagine for a moment that the doing the right thing fills your body up.  We can feel a full, satisfied, happy feeling when we choose God’s plan for your life.  The B-attitudes make up one of the most commonly quoted sections of the Bible and yet I’ve never noticed that any of them can address my food issues.  God is telling me that I will be full if I hunger and thirst after His foods, the right-ness of eating.  I will be blessed if I eat the right foods, God foods.  I will admit that my cravings have truly disappeared just from not eating too much sugar and carbohydrates.  So when I hunger after God foods, I am filled, I am full just as this verse promises.  There is a big lesson to be learned for me in this verse.  Ironically, when I eat sugar and carbohydrates, I am never full.  The foods that the world makes trick my body into thinking I am still hungry.  This verse is correct.  When I eat the right foods, God foods, I actually feel full.

Prayer:  Father, I come to you in prayer this morning asking for the power to crave righteousness.  I know this verse goes way beyond foods but today, I need to take it in the context of my issues.  I need to hunger after Your righteousness, the right ways of eating.  I know it is a vicious cycle for me if I eat sugar and carbohydrates, I am never full.  And it can also be a wonderful cycle for me when I eat God foods, all my cravings disappear physically.  So I need You to control my mind, my spirit.  We are getting into a healthy cycle and my cravings have disappeared but then on occasion my mind takes over.  Protect me from years of mind cravings.  Keep me full as this verse promises as I eat right.  I love that You created one of Your B-attitudes just for my issues.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Verse Reflections:  Every morning God give us new grace!  If we “fail” the day before, we get to wake up, breathe in the fresh air of His compassion and start over again.  We do not have to be consumed by our temptations, consumed by regrets from the past, consumed by our issues.  His love, His kindness gives us new lives EVERY day.  This is why I chose Christianity.  I cannot work my way into His grace.  I cannot be good enough for His grace.  It is because of His love, his mercy that we have second, third and fourth… chances.  His compassions do not fail even when we fail.  One of the reasons I majored in psychology was because it amazed me that God loves everyone.  He does not give up on people when others do.  How amazing!  I have failed at eating right for decades and yet I do not have to be consumed by this fact.  It does not rule today, His compassions “are new every morning”.  His faithfulness is so great that I get to start over and make this work.  Just this morning I woke up wanting to order a pizza for lunch and eat the whole thing.  The good news is that I made the hard choice not to.  This verse restores my resolve and it is resolve.  It is not easy, it is not fun.  But the Lord is gracious, His mercies never come to an end.  He is faithful, today is a new day and so we can do this.

Prayer:  Lord, I absolutely love this verse.  I do not have to be consumed by my failures.  Your lovingkindness is amazing.  Help me wake up and remember that Your compassions are new every morning.  Every day I get to start over and be a new and better person.  Thank You for this privilege.  Thank You for this freedom.   I love eating Your foods, God foods.  Thank You for Your compassion, Your loving kindnesses, your faithfulness. Three beautiful qualities.  This verse really does restore my resolve to eat God foods plus one.  This lifestyle rocks.  Ican do this with verses like the one above that give me a fresh start every day.  It is easier than anything else I have ever done even when it is hard.  So today, thank You for the power in Your word.  It truly seeps into my soul and makes me a different person.  I don’t understand the power in Your word, but I live it.  Every day that I begin with words like these I am able to live in Your grace with resolve to eat as You want me to eat.  You have given me this Holy, Holy temple and I want to honor it and treasure it by giving it the nutrition and foods it deserves.  Love You bunches.  Me.

“And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” 2 Peter 1:4

Verse Reflections:  We get to share in God’s divine nature.  There are many words I can use to describe myself and divine has never been one of them.  Just thinking of myself as having a divine (excellent, delightful, of God) nature makes me hold my shoulders a little straighter and expect better.  And this is exactly what this verse promises…  “We can escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” I know it sounds extreme to some people to think of this in reference to eating but I am telling you, my overeating has corrupted me.  It causes me great emotional roller coaster rides from ridiculous anxiety to self-recrimination.  It causes me great physical stress from rewarding myself with over indulgence to punishing myself with starvation or purging.  I cannot win this corruption caused by my human desires.  I am excited by this beautiful knowledge that I can share in God’s divine nature and escape this roller coaster ride that has haunted me for decades.  It is working.  God shares His divine nature with me each morning when I read His verses, I just didn’t have the words for what was happening.  Let’s go eat God foods today with our divine natured selves!

Prayer:  Thank You Father for this promise that I can share Your divine nature.  I certainly will have to share it.  I’m not sure I can capture this quality on my own.  I will take this promise and use it to escape my human desires to eat and eat and eat.  I will claim this promise and use it to escape my own internal and external corruption.  Father free me from this battle.  Free me from waking up in the morning and planning my pig-out of the day.  Free me from thinking of butter and sugar combinations that delight me.  Transform this into a divine nature that delights in the roasted chicken, asparagus and other vegetables.  And I really do love these foods, I just need to change my nature to dreaming of, delighting in and considering them the excellent choices that I crave.  I am going to take these same divine words and think of my food as divine, of You.  Thank You Father for this plan for my life.  I am loving it.  You are making this journey successful.  Thank You for transforming me into a divine person craving divine foods.  Let’s go have a divine day today with our shared divinity.  Love you Lord.  Me.

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

Verse Reflections:  This verse promises that we have everything we need to make this work and abound in every good work.  Keep in mind that we have what we need BECAUSE God is able to bless us abundantly.  This verse explains why we can’t be successful in our overeating battles by ourselves.  We have to turn to Him.  The word “so” is the transitional point.  God is able to bless us but we have to stop our day, our lives and turn to Him, feel Him, incorporate Him into our souls SO that we will have all that we need.  If we do this we will not only be successful in eating right, eating God foods we will abound in this journey.  What a beautiful word. We will overflow with the ability to choose the right foods.  I don’t know about You but I have not in my recent memory overflowed and abounded in my abilities to eat right.  I will share that five months into God Plus 1 I have been blessed abundantly.  I do have all I need when I just take that one powerful verse a day, God’s words and integrate them into my heart.  It is not the daily struggle that it has been for years.  Now, the first 90 days was a mental battle but we won it and I am living this abundantly blessed journey of eating God foods.

Prayer:  Thank You Father that You can bless me abundantly.  You have given me all I need to make my eating choices successful but we have to go further Lord.  I have to get to the point where people notice and want to learn about this journey.  I can talk about it all I want to but if others don’t want to have my figure, my success, they will not hear these words, the lifestyle You have blessed me with.  I want to share with others this beautiful message You have given me because it has changed my life.  I have abounded in my abilities to win this long battle that left me scarred and bleeding.  You are not only changing my fight to a peaceful way of life, You are healing my wounds and making me stronger.  I am starting to believe I can abound in this journey.  I can overflow with the desires to eat Your foods.  Let’s rock this day and have fun eating the awesome, wonderful foods You created.  I love You tons and tons.  Me.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3

Verse Reflections:  So many times I try to “will” my plans into place.  I try to diet by my own willpower.  I just know I am going to be successful and then I fail. The reality of life is we are ruled by emotions.  Will power will not work when it is challenged by the bad day that changes our emotions.  However, talking to God about it, asking for His guidance and comfort and power will allow us to remain committed even when we cannot on our own.  Twice this month God has saved me from myself.  I reached out to a friend one evening and told her I was about to go for a “pig-out” and she invited me over to share a healthy meal with her family.  Mark was travelling and I was on my own.  Another day when I was about to binge a friend brought over a tomato and zucchini casserole that was to die for and it did not have all the creams and soups in it.  I had a lovely indulgent but healthy dinner that night.  So, my commitment to God’s plan allowed Him to establish my plans even when I wanted to demolish them.  Look for signals each day that He is supporting you on this journey and You will be amazed how many times He sends help.  On the one day I decided to override His help, I was absolutely miserable after just three pieces of pizza and two brownies (that was nothing trust me).  IHe is changing me.  He is changing what my body wants and how it reacts to eating unhealthy foods.

Prayer:  Thank You Lord for establishing my plans even when I want to change my plans.  I have seen so many signs that You are with me.  I am committed to You to eat right, to eat healthy.  I know You told me to eat Your foods and You have sent signals that You are with me.  You have helped me to plan a wonderful healthy eating plan of God foods plus 1.  But more importantly, You have sent me help day to day so that I know You are with me establishing my plans.   I looked up the definition for “establish” in the Bible and it says “to fix that which is weak”.  I am weak, my plans without You are weak and I do need You to fix them.

Thank You for know that and being with me.  My sister just out of the blue last night said, “wait, what are you having for supper?” just before I hung up.  I knew that was You keeping me on the plan.  Thanks for all the signals You send.  Keep on “fixing” my weaknesses!  I love You.

Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet your body what you will put on. Is not life more than the food and the body more than the raiment? Matthew 6:25

Verse Reflections:  I love the verses that start out “do not be anxious”.  Once again, God has hidden beautiful messages for us food addicts.  He says we should not be anxious for what we will eat, nor for our body… Is not life more than food and the body more than raiment?  He is speaking my language. My husband has been to 63 countries taking foods and medicines to people that are literally starving.  God is telling them not to be anxious about what they will eat and in the same breath He is telling those of us who can choose any food at any time not to be anxious about what we eat.  In other words, whether we are starving or we are overindulging our minds should focus on Him in our lives.  We need to blend both those messages into relaxation, total dependency on God.  If we begin our day without anxiety, totally dependent on Him, it would be easier for us not to choose the processed comfort foods.  We would already be relaxed and comfortable.   He tells us life is more than our food and our body is more than how it looks all dolled up.  Let’s focus on the sunshine in our souls today, the stress-free, comfort that God gives us from deep within.  We do not need to focus on how we look, we are all good.  We do need to choose God foods so that we will be healthy.  Life IS more than food and God has given us the perfect foods.  He has also calmed down all our anxieties so that we can just focus on Him and eat His foods.

Prayer:  God, thank You for this beautiful verse promising me the ability to rise above myself.  Thank You for reminding me not to be anxious about life.  Thank You for reminding me that I don’t have to be anxious about what I eat.  Thank You for reminding me that I don’t have to worry about how I look.  I don’t have to be perfect.  Life is more than food and looks.  Some days both food and my looks take too much of my time and energy.  Today Father, I give that to You.  Allow me to just have fun eating Your foods and more importantly turn my thoughts to serving You.  I love You and need you tons.  Here’s to a wonderful, anxiety free day eating God foods!  P.S.  God  Thank You for giving me this awesome, amazing lifestyle.  It works for me.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened unto you; for every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7

Verse reflections:  He will give you the strength to eat right!  If You SEEK His will, You will find the strength to do it.  Eating God foods IS His will.  If you ASK Him for the strength, He will give you the strength to crave, seek and eat His foods.  However, remember, time with Him is important.  All we have to do is KNOCK on His door and He will open it. When we start each day in God’s house, listening to His words we will have a new found strength from within.  It amazes me how much easier my day is when I start the day with God.   I love the thought of knocking on His door and going inside to listen to Him speak to us, a candle burning.  It kind of brings new life to having a devotion in the morning.  Imagine that He is telling us now, in the comfort of His home, that He will give you strength to eat His foods if we just ASK Him for the strength.  I think we should go a step beyond and ask Him to help us crave His foods.  Then we have to follow through and SEEK His foods.  This is hard when we are on the road, when we are inundated with drive through eating options.  But there are some great options if we seek them.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for the reassurances in this verse that we can do this as a team.  I am asking You now for the strength to eat Your foods.  I am knocking on the door of Your home and coming to visit so I can hear Your words.  I am going to hide these words in my heart during the day today to remind me that You are with me.  With Your help, I am going to seek Your will, but I am also going to seek God foods.  Thank You that I can come to You and Ask, Seek and Find.  I know You adore me, You love me and treasure me but sometimes I get so caught up in my world down here I forget the details of that.  I forget to have the confidence Your love gives me.  I will say thank You in this same prayer for changing my cravings.  You are healing me after years of horrible, debilitating cravings.  It amazes me that if I just eat Your foods I can stop with one brownie.  Me!  I can stop with one brownie.  That is a miracle.  Thank You.  Why isn’t this lifestyle touted all over the world?  I’m glad You finally spoke loud enough for me to listen to You.  Scratch that, I’m glad I finally got quiet enough to hear You.  Thank You Father, we can so do this.  We are doing this.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

Verse Reflections:  If we would think about glorifying God with every food we choose, with every drink we choose we would make different choices.  I love the thought of glorifying Him by making healthy choices.  I am going to an all-day party today so this is a great time to think about glorifying God.  I know I will encounter those that begin drinking early and I will encounter pastries, deserts, chips and dip and just about any food we could think of.  I needed a verse that reminds me that eating is beyond a surface participation.  It is part of our soul, part of what makes us who we are.  Can I influence one other person by my choices?  Can I glorify God by choosing healthy?  It helps me to go beyond myself when I imagine my choices.  I know as a sugar addict that I must concentrate on my food choices every time I open the refrigerator, pantry or go through a drive through.  I have to choose to eat for the glory of God .  By eating for the glory of God, my own body will become healthy as well.

Prayer:  Father, I am already imagining my favorite French bakery’s sticky buns this morning.  I will so need help to make healthy choices today.  Will you give me Your power because I am a salivating mess around the perfect pastry.  I know I can have one, I’m just not confident in my ability to start my day with one of those and still be able to glorify You with the other choices.  My tendency is to keep on once I start.  This verse is perfect for me.  Thank You for giving me this perspective of glorifying You with what I eat.  I know I will glorify you if my body and my mind is healthy.  Got to go.  Love You.  Will try to glorify You.

And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Proverbs 23:2

Verse Reflections:  Well… okee dokee then.  Imagine for a moment you can afford any food you want to eat, you can indulge in any delicacy, order any food from any country, any menu.  Heaven.  That is what rulers, kings, queens, multi-millionaires can do.  How easy would it be to fall into the trap of indulging in all the delicacies that are bad for you but taste so good.  Our flesh screams for these foods because we have trained our bodies to enjoy that brief rush of dopamine.  The problem is that high crashes and we hit the wall hard and it hurts emotionally, physically.  Hell.  God is clear in what He is telling us here.  Observe what is in the foods, observe the healthiness in the foods given to you.  Don’t crave the delicacies because often they are empty calories.  He is pretty blunt here when He says “put a knife to your throat”.  He is just telling us to go ahead and commit suicide.  That is serious! (you think?).  He is leaving no room for interpretation or excuses.  We are committing suicide when we eat the wrong foods, it is just that black and white.  We are ruining our bodies, we are putting a knife to our throats.  We are destroying what God has given us.  God simply wants what is best for us.  He wants us to be healthy.  We can so easily fall into the trap of indulging into the empty calorie delicacies that are often served.  This verse is black and white.  The world tells us in 2/3 of the grocery store shelves, commercials on tv, recipes in magazines with gorgeous tempting photos.  And yet, how amazing do grilled meats, vegetables and fruits taste?  Don’t do it.  Put a knife to your throat (not literally)… put a knife to the unhealthy eating habits and cut them off.  You will not be tempted by the delicacies.

Prayer: Thank You Father for being so blunt.  It is so easy for me to allow for excuses, to tell myself You don’t really care what I eat.   But that is simply not true.  You are extremely blunt here telling me to “put a knife to my throat” if I am tempted by the empty calorie delicacies.  It actually helps me to know You feel so strongly about this.  I am tempted.  I do crave the delicacies.  I know You love me more than I love myself so I know that this commandment is to keep me healthy.  I know sugar, wine, processed carbs all spike my sugar and crash it down while preventing my body from getting the nutrients it needs.  Thank You for this blunt reminder to stay away from these temptations.  I love You and I appreciate this verse.  You are clear.  You are firm.  I need that.

It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory. Proverbs 25:26

Verse Reflections:  What if we cancelled the sugar, wine and processed foods and didn’t lose any weight?  Or you lose weight and no one notices or cares?  Can you live with that?  God is telling us to eat healthy without seeking glory for it.  I have to admit I feel like God has sent this lifestyle to me but I do want to lose to the point people notice and ask me about it.  I have spent three work weeks on these devotions so far.  What if no one notices the power the devotions have?  What if no one cares?  The people I have shared with so far haven’t cared.  Is it because they don’t see my weight loss yet?  I think it is but am I seeking glory for me or God?  I think it is for God but I will be crushed if I don’t lose weight to the point of the loss being noticed.  Ugh.  I have to mature again.  I have to lose weight, eat right and not care if it is noticed or even if it works to the level of glorifying myself, my vanity in the mirror.  I am going to look in the mirror to see the light of God reflecting out of my eyes.  I am going to look for kindness.  I am going to look for a person with love, no judgement for others or even for myself.  Moses shown a white light from his face.  I am going to seek to glorify God and dig deep to reflect the light of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer:  Father, help me glorify You and You only.  Give me the power from within to not care if anyone notices a weight loss.  Give the power from within to eat healthy despite the feedback, the results I see.  I know I am eating to give my body more nutrition.  I know I feel better each day.  Bless my ability to not “eat much honey”  Yikes!  I love honey, sugar… This is the right thing to do so give me strength.  Surround me with Your sweetness so I won’t crave sweetness or energy from a quick fix through foods or wine.  I love You.  Got to board a flight.

For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God, because He owns it. I Corinthians 6:20

Verse Reflections:  God bought us with the greatest price, the greatest gift available– His life.  We are loved with a sacrificial love that caused Jesus to sweat drops of blood, to be abandoned by His closest friends, to die a painful death just so we could glimpse a fraction of God’s love for us.  He commands us to use every part of our body to give glory back to God in thanks.  I do the opposite of this commandment.  I abuse my body and dump useless calories into it.  I pour sugar into my body causing my liver to become resistant to insulin.  Our bodies will start pumping out more insulin to process the over-abundance of sugar, eventually overstressing our pancreas and causing Type 2 diabetes.  WebMD estimates that Americans eat an average of 20 teaspoons of sugar a day compared to the recommended 6 for women and 9 for men.  That is almost a ½ a cup a day!  Yes, carbohydrate fans, that means you too—carbs turn sugar.  Yes, I am guilty.  Sugar causes inflammation in our joints.  Sugar damages the collagen and elastin in our skin causing us to look older than we are.

God OWNS our body.  He made it, He created it.  He died for us.  Why can we not simply eat healthy to say thank you?  Today we are going to remember to use every part of our body to give glory back to God.  We will use our brains to say “no that is not an option”.  We will use our hands to select healthy foods to prepare.  We will use our mouths to chew healthy foods and our stomach to digest healthy foods.  Eventually the rest of our body will benefit from these choices.

Prayer:  Father, I am rededicating my body to You today.  Thank You for buying my body with Your life, the greatest price of all.  I have to ask You to guide my body, my choices, my selections, the foods I chew, swallow and “eat”.  Lord, I am weak.  I do not honor You.  I do not glorify You.  I now want to come to You in desperation to ask for You to buy me again, to help me.  I cannot eat healthy, crave healthy by myself.  You are strong.  You are the King of creation.  You are my creator.  Please, let me think about the healthy breakfast I am preparing soon with excitement and anticipation.  Give me a meal for lunch that will make me exhilarated.  Allow me to want to eat healthy with your power.  I love You and I am ready to glorify You with every part of my body.  You paid the ultimate price and I can’t even leave off 3 sugar/carb laden foods a day.  What is wrong with me?  If you own my body then you get to make the choices for me. I am Yours and I am weak, helpless and stubborn.  You have to take over Father.  You own me, so please act like it and take over.  I want to be Your slave.  Right now, I am a slave to my own intolerable cravings.  Take them away.   Today we will eat God foods.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Verse Reflections:  This verse should have been the first verse we read and made a part of our plan, woven into the very fiber of our heart.  We cannot do all things by ourselves.  Trust me, I have been trying to control my eating for 40 years by myself.  It has not worked.  With Christ I can choose the right foods.  With Christ we can eat the foods He made for us.  We can treat our body with respect.  We can become healthy.  We can do ALL things.  We can stop eating the foods that cause us to crave more food, that stop the hormone that tells us we are full.  I used to think I was crazy because I was hungry after a ton of food.  It helped me to realize that when we eat the wrong foods we block the leptin that registers our stomachs are full.  Therefore, we keep eating, we keep craving more food.  Once we stop eating these foods we can actually become healthy.  We will not keep eating way after we should stop.  God has given us this new knowledge and Christ strengthens us with this life changing awareness.  Now that we know, we can stop this vicious cycle of ridiculous unhealthy eating patterns.  God strengthens us when we read His word.  The Holy Spirit enters our body and gives us power beyond our own human capabilities.  We must keep reading His word daily and stop relying on our imperfect abilities.  God strengthens us.  We must depend on Him to make this work.  Let’s eat His foods, He uses them to give us the strength and ability to be healthy.

Prayer:  Father, You have given us the power, the strength to do all things.  I am claiming this promise today.  You are telling me I can be healthy, I can lose weight, I can avoid diabetes.  Lord, make me strong.  Lord give me this ability.  I can do all things but only with Your power, Your strength.  Take over my body, my spirit today.  Father, I have no other place to turn.  I can’t do this.  I can’t write down my foods for the rest of my life.  I can’t count calories.  I can’t count carbs.  I can’t count sugar.  I have to make this easy, God centered plan work.  Father, I believe that You gave us this plan.  I believe that You created healthy foods that will give us the bodies You planned for each of us.  I am tired.  I am weary.  I am frustrated.  And yet, breaking through all of this is hope.  Breaking through all of this is the knowledge that You are my strength.  Today is the day God.  Take my hand and give me strength to eat God foods.

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. Philippians 3:19

Verse Reflections:  So many times my god has been my belly, my cravings.  My mind is set on earthly things.  Many days I think about food more than God.  I am destroying my own health.  There are days I feel my feet burn with the amount of sugar/carbs I eat.  I cannot get out of the tub without turning to the side and grabbing the edge.  I know that my weight gain is ruining my health.  I am only 40 pounds overweight.  I do not understand how people that are 100 pounds or more overweight can even walk.  I am truly in awe at their strength.  I am too weak to get my 40 extra pounds off the floor without a struggle.  I feel my weight sitting up in bed with rolls kind of bunching up. We are hastening our death by what we eat.  Our cells degrade when we eat sugar/carbs.  We are destroying our physical fitness, eliminating options of what we can do each day.  We must quit making our belly into our god.  God is our God with a capital “G”.  Starting our day with these devotions can integrate His word into our day, into our trips to the grocery store, into the meals that we eat.  This verse says we glory in our shame—praise/honor our shame.  Some of you are saying, we don’t honor our shame.  Yes.  Yes, we do every time we go back to the pantry and eat more sugar/carbs.  We are adding to our shame.  We are ashamed of how we look, how we eat, how our clothes fit.  We are ashamed of how our bodies act or move and yet we go back and do it again day after day after day.  It is time to quit honoring our shame.  It is time to destroy our shame and honor God.  He has created beautiful foods, that are sumptuous.  Today we eat these foods.  We set our minds on God, heavenly things.  We glory in God.

Prayer:  Father, today You are my only God.  I will not make my belly my god.  I will glorify You and I will not glorify my shame.  Will You give me the power?  I have to depend on You to make this happen.  Help me not to set my mind on earthly things, but to instead set my mind on heavenly things… YOU.  God, this verse is so deep for me.  I do not want to destroy myself with my eating.  Please give me the power to change the path I am on.  I must glorify You, not my shame.  I must not glorify/honor the shame that I have created by making my belly my god.  The only way to stop this shame is to start my day with You each day so that I have the living power of Your word to change my eating habits, change my health and my weight.  We can do this if You lead my day.  We are going to eat God foods today and we will have so much fun.  I love You.

Did you know?  Serotonin improves sleeping patterns.

Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him. Psalm 37:7 AMPC

Verse Reflections:  My tendency is to jump out of bed the minute the alarm rings.  I meet two friends to run for an hour then I shower and talk to my husband while I get ready.  Then I head into work and unless I purposefully stop my life and read God’s word I am not still all day until I go to bed at night.  Taking just 10 minutes for a devotion centers me and gentles my soul.  I have to be still and rest in the Lord every morning, to live in the intimacy of His presence.   As a strong person that is used to being successful in life, I am astounded that I cannot control my eating habits.  My life habit is to work hard and success is my reward.  This just will not work with my eating, my binge eating just 10% of the time destroys the 90% of the time I eat healthy.   I must “wait for Him and patiently lean” myself upon Him.  I HAVE to lean upon Him.  I will fall every time I try to stand alone on this journey.  80% of all people that lose weight gain it back (Dr. Phil 20/20).  I am too old to look for the easy path, the pill that will make me lose weight, the fast weight loss plan.  They do not work long term.  I must not cling to my old habits.  I must be transformed into a new person that leans on God.  I must be patient, this will not be an easy adventure, a fast change in my life.  This is a transformative lifestyle.  I have clung to my old habits,  attempts to be successful on my own.  I must focus my attention on Christ and rest in His ability to change my life.   I am listening to rain drops as I write this, looking out over the ocean and my soul is still.  Oh how I crave this stillness daily.  May I use the stillness of a blessing before every meal to dedicate my eating, my choices of foods to God.  I have never done this.  I thank Him for the foods, and ask blessings on the people I love.  Today I am going to change my blessing time to a time of being still and trusting Him, leaning on Him to guide my choices in eating.

Prayer:  Lord, give me the stillness in my soul that only You can create.  It is when my soul begins to circle and build up anxiety that I crave the foods that destroy my body.  I know that I can rest in You because Your power supersedes my own.  You have the power that I can trust in.  My human failings are so obvious, I am literally destroying my joints, my strength by eating too many processed foods.  Turn Your shoulder to me today God and allow me to lay my head upon You.  Take my hand and allow me to feel Your strength seep into my mind, into my choices.  God, I admit that I want weight loss immediately.  And yet, I will be happy to be patient if You will transform me into a person that eats healthy daily.  I need to wait on You to change my body.  I must rest in the knowledge that if I am following Your commandments than I will be successful.  I must know that You will choose the healthy weight for me.  I will do my part of being still and trusting in You.  I know I will stumble and fall on the days that I choose not to stop and simply read your word in stillness.  However,  I will be patient because You have asked me to trust and lean on You.  I know that being reliant on You will change my life forever.  Thank You Father!

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise. Jeremiah 17:1

Verse Reflections:  This is perfect timing!  I have to be healed Lord, I have to be saved.  I am drowning in my food cravings.  Life is good and I’m using the goodness to excuse my splurges.  Of course, if life is bad, I use that too.  I am just flat sick to the point that I cannot do this on my own.  I cannot allow myself to begin to accumulate treat after treat after treat.  It works for me to allow myself one non-God food, one treat.  But there are days when I begin with one, then add two, then add three and the list goes on.  Father HEAL me.  I have to be healed.  If You heal me I will praise You at the top of my lungs.  I will not worry about my pride.  I do praise You now as my savior.  I just need a true healing from my eating addiction.  I love You sooooooo much!  I am over the line of normal.  I hide it well.  I even look pretty good in clothes, even shorts.  But I am not well.  Heal me, save me.  You are my praise and I know this works.  I am rededicating myself to Your word + one.  I am sorry I have taken a three week break from it.  I’m back.  I need You because I cannot do this on my own.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, I come to You in serious prayer.  I need You seriously.  Father, embrace me, protect me from myself.  When I do not spend time in Your word I am my worst enemy.  Please take me inside Your soul.  Protect me from this world.  I know it is not healthy to fill my body with sugar or processed carbohydrates.  I want to treasure this body You gave me.  And yet, I cannot do it on my own.  I sabotage my progress.  I was at a weight that I have not been at for three years and then I take three weeks off from God Plus one.  I know my body enough to know I have gained at least 2/3 of the weight back.  What an idiot I am.  But even more, my feet are burning because of the sugar.  Protect my health.  Protect me from myself.  I need You close because it is easy for me to push You away just enough to allow me to justify my indulgences.  No!! This will stop today with Your help.  This verse says “heal me and I WILL be healed”.  “Save me and I WILL be saved”.  So, today I am going to be healed, I am going to be saved.  Thank You.  I will praise You and give You praise for both.

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. Romans 14:21

Verse reflections:  I know this verse is referring to my brother stumbling but I am feeling my own pain today.  It is not good for me to eat what causes me to stumble.  And I cannot eat more than one non-God food a day.  Why?  Because sugar and processed carbs cause serious compulsions within my body.  I do not get full.  I do not stop.  I cannot stop.  My body wants more.  My body wants more sugar, more processed food.  I know I can also make a difference in my brother or sister’s life by not indulging in foods that are not good for me.  Interestingly enough, it only takes a little “over-indulgence” to make me stumble.  It is like an alcoholic who has the first drink.  I can eat tons of God food but I cannot eat non-God foods.  If I have more than one non-God food I cannot stop until I am miserable.  I am very conscious of not serving wine or not drinking if there is someone at an event that has an alcohol issue.  I always want to give them strength to say no by just knowing there is one other person not drinking.  Now, I need to take that same “witness” to eating.  I need to bring a healthy choice to the parties and I need to give others in the room the same role model by choosing to eat healthy.  Sometimes it is easier for me to have strength for others than it is for me to have strength for myself.  So, by helping my brother I will also help myself.  We have to work together fellow food addicts.  Come on, let’s quit causing each other to stumble!

Prayer:  Father, give me the strength to stop at one.  Give me the strength to eat God-foods.  Give me the ability to not make my brother/sister or me stumble.  I am so weak.  It is not easy for me to think of myself as a role model for eating habits.  Bless me.  Bless my ability to be strong.  I love You and I want treasure my body.  It is easy for me to want to bake.  Then I give most of the food away.  I have no doubt that I have been part of others not sticking to healthy eating plans.  Lord, You have to be the one that causes me not to make someone else stumble.  Let’s be role models.  I love that thought.  If I think of others watching me I might be stronger.  Bulimia is a closet, secret disorder.  Let’s pull it out of the closet and be public in my desire to change to a role model for others that fight an eating addiction.  Thank You.  I know together we can help our brother or sister not stumble in their eating.  New me God.  The new eating habits role model!

Saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” Exodus 15:26

Verse Reflections:  I know with the addition of grace, God does not “put diseases” on people.  However, I am a firm believer that we are what we eat.  I believe one reason I am a healthy person (despite my overindulgences) is because I make sure I get four to five fruits and vegetables.  I need to diligently listen to the voice of the Lord as Daniel did.  Daniel and his three friends ate vegetable and water.  They were the healthiest, wisest in the kingdom.  I do believe we allow our body to get worn down by processed foods and they become susceptible to diseases.  God is our healer and He will heal us from our food addictions and allow us to be as healthy as we can be in our circumstances.  Today, we must “diligently listen to the voice of the Lord.”  We must “do that which is right in His eyes.” We must trust Him to be our healer.

Prayer:  Father, this verse has a lot of promises that I need to hear.  Allow me to diligently listen to Your voice today.  I know if I listen to Your voice I will stop this crazy cycle of eating that I get into.  You are the ultimate healer and I need to be healed from not eating correctly.  I know I will think better, feel better and just be better if I eat Your foods.  Help me to do what is right in Your eyes and eat the foods You prepared for me.  I love You and need You.  Today I am going to plan to be healed by You as I listen for Your voice inside my body, my soul and my mind.  Thank You for healing me.  Thank You for sending Your voice to speak to me.  I love the thought of Your voice inside of me instead of my voice telling me to eat it.  Today we are going to be healthy and stave off diseases and sickness by eating fruits and vegetables.  We are going to coat our bodies with healthy vitamins.  I love You.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9

Verse reflections:  This is a heavy verse and many people would miss the reference that is relevant to our overeating.  The best way to think about unrighteousness or righteousness is “right-ness”.  If we are not eating “right” or healthy then we are not being righteous.  And yes, that is a sin.  God has given us gorgeous, amazing bodies that do fascinating things.  We have to preserve these abilities.  We have to treasure the science behind his creations.  We can’t gain 30, 40, 100 pounds and then pray that God take away our back or knee pain.  How selfish!  How arrogant!  That is like piling a car on a tricycle and then crying because it bent.  Or worse yet, then praying for God to fix our tricycle.  Our bodies are built for a healthy weight.  Why do we keep eating/piling the car on top?  I have trouble getting out of the tub when I gain just 30 pounds.  What is wrong with me?  I have sciatica issues at this same weight.  I have to get my b-u-t-t in line (literally) and quit taking my body for granted.  I have to quit expecting it to keep working the same way when I am eating the wrong foods.  This verse reminds me that I have to be cleansed from all un-rightness.

Prayer:  God, I AM sinning right now.  I ate an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies over three days (okay my husband ate four).  That is 2 cups of sugar, 1 ½ cup of butter… Today is my day to quit sinning and to get serious about this. You have to cleanse me from this un-right-ness because I have serious shoes (issues) in the closet.  Help me Father, remind me of this verse all day today because I have to do this one day at a time.  Tomorrow will never change my life so help me today to begin this journey.  I am at a life-time high at my weight.  I am wearing a dress that has never been tight and I am popping out all around it.  Yikes!  I can’t do this living any more.  I have to confess my sins to You and accept Your forgiveness.  I have been taking Your precious body here on earth for granted.  Take me to the higher plane that righteous living allows.  Draw me CLOSE to You.  I can’t change my life if I exist separately from You.  I love You but I need You inside of me, reminding me, changing me, making me righteous.  I feel like David on my knees begging You for a life of right-ness.  I have screwed up for decades.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Verse Reflections:  I like the fact that I have been crucified.  I have been nailed on the cross and killed.  The new me integrates Christ into my being. That means I can do this new life of right-ness.  Christ lives in me!  That is hope.  That is relief.  That is freedom from temptation.  Because we live in the flesh we must also live in the faith of the Son of God, Christ.  I am tempted by the flesh every day.  I am addicted to food, to the thoughts of food, to the highs of food.  But because Christ loved me and died for me and with me, I can live in Him.  He is in me and if I think about that fact alone I would eat better.  I should imagine what Christ wants to eat since He is the guest in my body.  Don’t we always want to serve our guests what they want to eat?  Daniel’s story shows us that God wants fruits and vegetable, pure, clean, God foods.  Today, I am going to claim this verse, Christ lives in me.  I am going to serve Him pure foods.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for living in me.  Thank You that because I live in the flesh I also have the privilege of living by faith.   Help me today to have faith in You, and faith in my own abilities to choose to eat Your foods.  Help me to remember that You are my guest inside my body.  I need to ask You what You want to eat.  That will give me the strength and the desire to serve You (and me) healthy foods.  This is a different way of looking at my world.  I have faith that we can do this together.  Thank You for loving me just the way I am and moving into my body.  We are going to make Your home rock healthy.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17

Verse Reflections:  Hmmmm I wake up thinking about eating and drinking.  What if I woke up and thought of righteousness, peace and joy?   I think I am going to write these three words and put them on my mirror to remind myself that these are the important focal points of my day.  I like the order of these three qualities.  If we indulge in right-ness then peace and joy will follow.  How many times do we over-indulge in foods (un-right-ness) and then we are filled with depression and despair?  When we eat right we can indulge our spirits in peace and joy.  We can walk around with our head held high, peace in our souls, sunshine and joy radiating from within.  Why do we ever lose sight of this combination?  If we want it all, the best in life, the best in our spirits we will eat pure God foods and enjoy the peace and joy that the Holy Spirit brings us.

Prayer:  Father, I want this.  I want the peace and joy that comes from being righteous.  I know that when I eat the right foods, I actually feel better physically.  I actually feel better spiritually and mentally.  Thank You for the revelation in this verse that if I eat the right foods I will have peace and joy.  The Holy Spirit is amazing.  It is so good to remind myself occasionally that I have to do the action before I can have the reaction.  I wait on the peace and joy sometimes and fail to do my part to receive it.  Today, we are going to indulge in the right foods, right-ness and then we are going to have us some peace and joy.  Here’s to Your foods, Your peace and Your joy.  Thanks for the amazing reminders You have for me, a food addict all the way through Your word.  Who would have thought You would give me so many verses of strength for my crazy journey of eating and being healthy in body, mind and spirit.  Love You tons!  ME

The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father. Proverbs 28:7

Verse Reflections:  A companion of gluttons shames his father.  Oh my goodness.  What if I am the glutton?  I don’t look like a glutton, I would blend into any crowd as an average person.  However, I know my gluttony… “over-indulgence” “insatiability”.  Yep, I’ve got both.  I can go through days or even weeks of eating normally and then POW, I have a craving and my mind begins picturing all the eating options available.  I go from one meal to two meals, adding ice cream, adding a desert, maybe two or three.  Cheese? Butter? Fried?  Yes, please. There are times my stomach has no walls and you would be amazed at all I inhaled.   I can easily be the glutton that shames his father.  I won’t shame my father here on earth, but my Father in heaven that sees all, knows all. He knows the depth of my weakness.  And yet, I am changing.  His word is fortifying my healthy choices.  I am starting to feel as though Christ is truly building a fort of strength around me.  Oh, the strength I feel when I inhale His word instead of food.

Prayer:  Lord, forgive me for the times I have been a glutton.  Forgive me for the times I have eaten foods that have absolutely no nutritional value.  Forgive me the times that I have made a conscious choice to devalue this gorgeous body that you gave me.  Forgive me for the times I have spent hours cooking, dreaming, indulging in foods.  Time I could have spent dreaming of You, worshiping You.  I know the difference.  You give me a peace that passes all understanding and lasts hours and days longer than the temporary high I receive from sugar and carbs.  Surround me with strength.  Protect me from gluttony.  Do let me shame You.  Do not let me be the one that You shake Your head at in dismay.  I am so sorry I have let You down time and time again.  From this moment forward we are going to erase this term from my life.  My desires for food are now written in chalk, not pen.  When the cravings begin, help me imagine them being erased instantaneously.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; Philippians 4:5e

Verse Reflections:  Ha!  My eating habits are anything but reasonable.  However, every time I say no to a desert or a processed carb I am letting my reasonableness be known to everyone.  Maybe this verse will give me strength to “just say no”.  I need a reason to say no.  I live in a world of great cooks, Southern cooks which means everything has a stick of butter in it and tastes delicious.  I have to “be reasonable” and quit accepting the foods that have been mixed up.  1 Tablespoon of butter is over 100 calories.  Really? That is just not fair.  I can use a tablespoon of butter on one piece of bread. ¼ cup of butter is over 400 calories (1 ½ snickers bar).  I can eat 12 homemade cookies in one sitting and that is more than ¼ cup of butter.  My record on hot melty doughnuts is 18 in one sitting- that is 2850 calories without the milk that has to follow each bite.  I am not reasonable in my choices.  I have to brand this verse on my heart.  I have to be reasonable in my eating choices.  For some reason, letting this be known to everyone is important to me today.  For some reason I have taken comfort in my flippant “I don’t care, I love to eat” attitude.  Today I am going to make sure everyone knows I am making reasonable choices.

Prayer:  Father, help me make reasonable choices today.  I need to eat, pure God foods for the rest of my life.  This is a hard choice for this Southern soul.  I love to cook. I love to mix.  I love the science behind cooking.  I am trying to learn to enjoy fresh herbs and mixing those instead of butter and sugar or butter and flour but it is hard.  I feel less alone when I read that “the Lord is at hand”.  I can be more reasonable in my choices if I know You are nearby.  I like the fact that I need to let everyone know my reasonableness.  I tend to hide when I am trying to make good decisions, this makes me more accountable.  Thank You for this reminder that I should publicly choose Your foods and say no to the processed foods.  Today we will let our reasonableness be known to everyone.

Proverbs 23:2 And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. Proverbs 23:1-3

Verse Reflections:  Well… okee dokee then.  Imagine for a moment you can afford any food you want to eat, you can indulge in any delicacy, order any food from any country, any menu.  Heaven.  That is what rulers, kings, queens, multi-millionaires can do.  How easy would it be to fall into the trap of indulging in all the delicacies that are bad for you but taste so good.  Our flesh screams for these foods because we have trained our bodies to enjoy that brief rush of dopamine.  The problem is that high crashes and we hit the wall hard and it hurts emotionally, physically.  Hell.  God is clear in what He is telling us here.  Observe what is in the foods, observe the healthiness in the foods given to you.  Don’t crave the delicacies because often they are empty calories.  He is pretty blunt here when He says “put a knife to your throat”.  He is just telling us to go ahead and commit suicide.  That is serious (you think?).  He is leaving no room for interpretation or excuses.  We are committing suicide when we eat the wrong foods, it is just that black and white.  We are ruining our bodies, we are putting a knife to our throats.  We are destroying what God has given us.  God simply wants what is best for us.  He wants us to be healthy.  We can so easily fall into the trap of indulging into the empty calorie delicacies that are often served.  This verse is black and white.  The world tells us in 2/3 of the grocery store shelves, commercials on tv, recipes in magazines with gorgeous tempting photos that sugared delicacies, processed foods are the best temptations to indulge in.  And yet, how amazing do grilled meats, vegetables and fruits taste?  Don’t do it.  Put a knife to your throat (not literally)… put a knife to the unhealthy eating habits and cut them off.  You will not be tempted by the delicacies.

Prayer: Thank You Father for being so definitive.  It is so easy for me to allow for excuses, to tell myself You don’t really care what I eat.   But that is simply not true.  You are extremely blunt here telling me to “put a knife to my throat” if I am tempted by the empty calorie delicacies.  It actually helps me to know You feel so strongly about this.  I am tempted.  I do crave the delicacies.  I know You love me more than I love myself so I also know that this commandment is to keep me healthy.  I know sugar, wine, processed carbs all spike my sugar and crash it down while preventing my body from getting the nutrients it needs.  Thank You for this blunt reminder to stay away from these temptations.  I love You and I appreciate this verse.  You are clear.  You are firm.  I need that.

Proverbs 23:20-21 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Verse Reflections:   Once again, God is sending a clear message.  He is sending a karate chop into our comfortable life to break the boards in half.  It is not okay to eat or drink too much.  We rationalize, we excuse, we celebrate and we cry in our glasses and in our plates.  I have a very good friend who just got released from their job.  You are probably thinking it is because they must have been underperforming, not good at what they do.  Actually, this person is a professional, with a rare talent that their workplace needs.  However, this person also has a problem with alcohol.  I have watched this person and have seen this coming for ten years now.  The alcohol addiction just caught up with their professional life and I truly worry that this person will “come to poverty”.  We can take our addiction to food to the same level and God is warning us of this possibility in this verse.  If I put on my robe of comfort in life allowing myself to gain thirty pounds I have problems with my hip or knee.  If I take the robe off, make uncomfortable choices, I lose it and the pain goes away.  Every ten pounds puts 40 pounds of pressure on our joints.  Our weight, our lack of nutrition can send us to the doctor over and over again.  We can tear muscles, create back pain, cause stress fractures, cause heart attacks, destroy our pancreas function and cause diabetes.  What are we thinking?  We can down wine or gorge on food to avoid emotions or “relax” rather than finding our relaxation through our souls, activities, our relationship with God.  We can destroy our bodies, our bank accounts, our relationships through our eating and drinking patterns.  Stop.  Right. Now.  Stop.  You can change.  We will change NOW.

Prayer:  Father, You have given me so much.  Do not let me take it for granted.  Allow me not to be gluttonous.  Give me the strength to treasure the money, the body, the clothing You have given me.  I do not take for granted being able to fit in my clothes.  I do not need to spend money to buy new ones.  I need to treasure my health, my bank account enough to fit in the clothes I have.  I need to make sure that gluttony does not increase my health insurance to the point I can’t afford it or my employer can’t afford it.  I need to make sure the trips to the doctor do not become too frequent for me to afford.  Help me want to eat healthy so that I do not have to “dress in rags” or “come to poverty”.  This sound extreme but our heath can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars with one hospital trip.  I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars for my health.  I need You to help me now to avoid gluttony.  The results of which, You have outlined.  I love You and I am ready.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…

Verse Reflections:  My soul calms down when I read that Jesus himself realizes we can’t do this life without a helper.  He knew that we need that still, small voice inside calming us, steering us, giving us power.  I love Jesus’s confidence that “I will ask… and he will give”.  There is no doubt in Him that God will deliver.  I wish I had this confidence.  I used to have this faith when I was younger.  I guess the older I get the more I realize that I don’t know what I don’t know.  I am 100% confident that God will answer me.  I am not always confident I will get the answer I want or think I need.  So, I pray with my limited knowledge of this temporary life on this earth and try to leave room for God to answer with His complete knowledge to eternity.  (“Squirrel”)  Back on topic… isn’t it reassuring to know that God gives us “another” helper.  We have Him, the big dog in heaven, we have the earthly role model of Jesus and then we have the Holy Spirit living and breathing with us every minute.  I love that we can access God in all those forms just like we can have H2O as water, steam or ice. I think I need different forms of God on different days.  Some days I need my Father figure who loves me unconditionally, some days I need a brother who understands me and what I am going through, some days I need that power that I feel from inside.  And some days I can’t separate them and I just call on GOD the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  We are blessed!  We can make healthy choices of food no matter how daunting the task, because we have another helper that is with us forever!

Prayer:  Father, I love that You have given us the Holy Spirit as that helper that will be with us forever.  I know that You want the best for me.  You want me to have health.  My freedom of choice is mine but if I just pause each day, You will flood me with power that I will not have on my own.  Please, Father place my helper in every fiber of my being.  I need the Holy Spirit to be in my mind, in my heart, in my liver, my kidney (filtering my body), my pancreas producing the right amount of insulin and in my fat cells to help them be processed in a steady, healthy way.  Integrate the Holy Spirit throughout my body.  I do not need to crave short term shots of dopamine.  I do not need to indulge in too much sugar or carbohydrates.  Allow my helper to love on me, give me the power to love myself and KNOW we are going to make the right choices today and every day.  You have given us amazing foods, thank You for this.  Love You, Your son and Our helper.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Verse Reflections:  I think I would have led a revolt Father if I had been one of the Israelites that had to eat manna.  I could have left my home, I could have travelled for 40 years, I could have slept on the ground.  But I would have been “hangry” in the worst sense if you had sent down those nasty plastic tasting wafers.  You definitely humbled them, you let them get hungry.  Then You fed them.  I know at this point they should have been grateful so forgive my attitude from this distance.  It is so easy to say they were so unappreciative here from our carpet lined Sunday School classes.  However, I am ashamed to say that the manna would have done me in.  You remind me in this verse that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.  This needs to be my focus.  I must learn to LIVE by EVERY word that comes from You.  I must change my focus, my enjoyment from food to Your word.  How beautiful to imagine a high from reading Your word, from listening to Your voice.  Can I find the same excitement in reading Your words that I find in awesome foods?  Could I imagine a grocery store of scripture?  I could roll my buggy around and get excited about pulling a verse off the shelf!  I could end up with a beautiful buggy full of verses, sentences You have constructed just for me.  We could take the verses home in little paper bags and unpack them at home, tucking the verses around the kitchen.  In fact, I think I am actually going to do that tomorrow.  I am going to put some of these verses on index cards and put them all through my kitchen cabinets.  Thank You for this thought.  As usual, You are brilliant.

Prayer:  Father, it is not lost on me that this is the quote that Jesus used to turn away Satan’s promise to turn the rocks to bread if Christ would just worship him.  The fact that Christ used this quote to make Satan drop this temptation shows the power in Your word.  Thank You Father for an entirely different way of looking at living on Your word.  I love the idea of a grocery store full of scripture.  I am looking forward to taping up scripture that feeds my soul.  I am going to feast on beautiful words from Your mouth.  Lead me to the right verses to tape up in my kitchen.  Allow the right words to be in the place I need them most.  You are my Savior.  Save me from wanting to eat scrumptious earth based foods and instead give me cravings for Your beautiful scriptures, the words of Your mouth.  You are amazing.  Forgive my attitude toward manna, change my first world, princess self and make me grateful for the gifts I have received.  Focus my heart on the beauty of Your word first, and the beauty of the foods You have created second.  Love You.  Me (again)

I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it

Verse Reflections:  I actually take comfort in the fact that the temptation of food is common.  I am not alone in fighting an overindulgence of food.  There is a part of me that thinks I am crazy –perhaps it is not as bad as I imagine it to be.  And yet, I feel at times I “cannot” control my portions or continued binges.  But this verse tells me that I “can” control it.  This verse reminds me that God is faithful.  He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability.  With each temptation, He will also provide a way of escape.  I do believe these verses we are reading are part of this escape route.  We can endure any dinner, party, any bout of depression, any low self-esteem image, any stress if we will just embrace His word.  We should wrap our heart and mind around key verses that we can remember and use.   Imagine a closed room with a bright light shining from a hidden door labeled “escape route”.  All we have to do is open that door and God’s word will shine brightly, lining the route we run through to escape our temptation.  We WILL be able to endure the temptations.  We WILL be able to escape.  God will not let us be tempted beyond our abilities.  And yet, we cannot use our own abilities, we must run through His escape route.  If we use the “way of escape” He provides then we can endure it.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for providing a way of escape.  Thank You for not letting me be tempted beyond my ability.  I sometimes think I am at the mercy of my temptations but the truth is You have not let it overtake me.  I must remember that when I am overwhelmed.  There is a light shining behind the hidden door.  All I have to do is open the door and “run like hell”.  Is that bad to say in the middle of devotions?  That is how I feel.  I have to run away from the temptations and toward Your light.  Help me take advantage of the escape route You have created.  Allow me to always, always remember that You have provided the way of escape.  I can endure this.  You are faithful to me always.  Give me the strength through Your word to be faithful to You and Your provided escape route.  Others before me, others behind me will be tempted by food.  Even Satan realized this when He made it one of the three temptations in the desert.  I guess I should celebrate that pride and the want of material things do not tempt me but I still have the temptation(s) of the flesh.  I really love to eat.  I know there are so many people that would never understand how this temptation affects me, how it can separate me from You.   But You know.  Thank You for knowing and reminding me that others face the same issue and You have already taken care of us.  Love You.  Today, I am “running like hell” toward Your escape route.

Matthew 5:17 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Verse Reflections: I want my light to shine before others so they can see that God and I have it going on.  There hasn’t been a 20-30 pound weight loss around that people don’t start asking, “what did you do?”, “how did you lose the weight?”  This is the point I want to be at so that others will see God’s light through me and my success in losing weight/having a healthy body.  I know God has given me this plan of eating because He knows that I will give glory to my Father who is in heaven.  I have failed enough on my own (40 years of failure) that I know my ways of “will-power”, “diets”, “exercise”, “purging”… just don’t work.  I love the thought of giving God the glory for the good works, for my weight loss.  I love the thought of my weight loss being a light that shines before others for God.  So often, I have to question my witness, am I able to make a difference for God here on this earth?  He has given me so many gifts of peace and joy and happiness that I want to share them.  He is like a bullet proof vest in the midst of warfare here on this earth.  I want everyone to have that same protection.  If I shine a light (like weight loss) that others want and crave then I will be able to give glory to God.  Maybe my weight loss is more than a gift to myself it will open the beautiful give of Christ’s love and kingdom to others.

Prayer:  I love the thought God, of my weight loss being a light for Your kingdom.  I work better if I am helping others and not just myself.  Let this be a light for other people.  As You have revealed verses to me I have tried to write these devotionals so that they may one day help others as they have helped me.  Now we just need to make sure the verses transfer to successful weight loss that is a light that shines before others.  Help my eating and drinking habits be a reflection of good works for You.  I know (I have been there) everyone will want to know what I am doing differently.  I hope by then I will have enough verses or maybe even a website that they can use to learn more.  I am not strong enough by myself to be this light.  You will have to make the weight loss successful.  I cannot do it on my own.  And therein lies the success in this verse… I will only be able to shine this light when I can give You all the glory.  It’s Yours God.  Let’s rock this program.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Verse Reflections:  Ugh!  Every secret thing will be brought into judgment.  Well, these devotions just brought my “secret thing” out into the light.  Maybe that means I won’t be judged later (just teasing).  My secret for forty years is my addiction to sugar.  It has been an easy secret to keep.  I am just 20-30 pounds overweight and I run 20 miles a week so I carry it well.  No-one would look at me and know that I am an addict.  My friends laugh when I say this but for me it is no laughing matter.   For me, this is as serious as an addiction to alcohol or drugs.  Just this past weekend, I allowed myself to have 3 carbs/sugar indulgences on Saturday.  I got through that day but the next day we went to a hamburger joint that makes fresh doughnuts on Sunday.  We had a doughnut for an appetizer and a burger and fries and to be honest my day “went to hell in a handbasket”.  I craved every processed food available the rest of the day.  And so the story goes.  I like to think that yesterday was a turning point in my critical insight about myself.  I simply am not capable of having 3 cars/sugars two days in a row.  Physiologically my body yells at me, it demands more sugar, more processed carbohydrates and to be perfectly honest for a period of time I am at the mercy of my cravings.  The truth of it is I am not my cravings when I eat God foods and allow myself just one doughnut OR a serving of fries.  It is the combination of multiples that eliminates my abilities to fight.  When I make choices consistent with God’s plan of eating I am 100% capable of resisting temptations.  I need to know that I need to fear God and keep His commandments.  I need to not keep my eating issues a secret and just let everyone know I CANNOT eat sugar and carbs on a regular basis.  It is just that simple.  No more secrets.  We are judging this secret now and changing this lifestyle before judgment.

Prayer:  Father it is actually freeing to know that You are judging me and revealing my secrets and this is a reality.  I cannot keep my addiction to sugar a secret.  I must be honest, forthright and humble in letting those around me know that I can only have only one sugar/high carb food per day in order to keep Your commandment of eating foods that honor this temple You have blessed us with.  I know I have 120 extra pounds of pressure on my knees right now @ 40 pounds of pressure per extra 10 pounds of fat.  I run too much and I am too old to keep up with that wear and tear.  Father I love the idea of being judged and my secrets exposed.  Is that a little weird?  I want to expose this dirty little secret and let’s get it gone.  I have been judging myself for years now.  I’d love to give it over to You to judge, expose and fix.  I love You and I love the exposure of knowing my secret is no longer a secret.  I didn’t even know myself that I was an addict until recently.  I just knew I was not capable of controlling my eating.  Thank You for taking away the compulsions when I eat God foods! I truly honor You and shout alleluia to You in thanksgiving.  I feel like hugging You and dancing with You now that I know I can control my compulsions just by changing the type of foods I eat.  For me it is not about calories or points it is about carbs and sugars.  I do not have to count or write or stress any more.  Alleluia (God be praised)!

And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

Verse Reflections:  For much of my life, I’ve been overly aware of the expectation of others when I eat or drink.  I notice the wine someone thoughtfully brought, the meal someone labored over, the dessert made from a cherished family recipe. Growing up in the South, food is more than sustenance, it is an expression of love, identity and hospitality.  We are often defined by the foods we cook or bring to the party.  We are taught that being gracious means trying every dish and offering praise because the cooks are watching and hoping for approval.  But now, things are different, I am older. My body has changed. I’m dancing on the edge of diabetes and I have to change my entire mindset.  I cannot taste all the casseroles and all the deserts.   This verse reminds me that my eating and drinking must be rooted in a different kind of awareness: not of others, but of God and the body He’s entrusted to me.  I need to treasure my health first.  That means learning to say no- even to Susan’s buttery homemade rolls or Dianna’s grandmother’s legendary pound cake.  And that is okay. Their world does not revolve around whether I take a bite, but my world does revolve around the choices I make. God is showing me a new way, a way of strength and wisdom. I must be brave enough to honor the long-term goal: to be healthy, whole, and faithful to the body God gave me. In this, He will guide me one plate, one bite, one decision at a time. Today we will choose the delicious foods that God created, for ourselves.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for the reminder that I must be true to myself first.  You know this goes against all that I have been taught in the Southern lifestyle.  I will truly have to adjust my thoughts, my developed instinct of having a piece of everyone’s dish they worked so hard on.  Give me this verse in my heart when I reach for the serving.  I know how to be healthy.  Now help me take it to the next level of not thinking of others when I make the choices that are best for my own singular health.  I do not have to have a glass of wine every time others are.  I do not have to have a piece of the cake that was made for the event.  But God, I need Your help to implement this plan, this verse.  Help me to eat and drink for myself, for my health and dedicate it to Your glory.

Exodus 23:25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

Verse Reflections:  Three key points:  1. Serve the Lord   2.  He will bless our food and drink   3.  We will be healthy.  For me those three points form the threads in the tapestry of my eating.  IF I serve the Lord then He blesses what I eat and gives me the power to make healthy choices.  When I stay close to Him, serving Him daily, it is easy to receive the food and drink He chose for me and to eat them in the right portions.   When we choose God’s foods we are healthier.  One cannot exist without the other.  We cannot be healthy without eating nutritious foods.  Our food and drink will not be blessed if we are not choosing the right foods.  And for me, I cannot make these choices without serving the Lord.  If I step away from Him and get wrapped up in living here on earth, I start choosing the wrong foods and my “bread and water” is not blessed.  I do believe that what we eat, how much we weigh, will significantly make a difference in our health.  Certainly, there are illnesses that cannot be controlled by our food choices but so many times our choices make a difference in our health.  We are certainly giving God more power to take sickness away from us by making healthy choice that He can bless.

Prayer:  Father I know I have to begin each day by serving You. Only then can you bless my bread and water Father.  I come to You with a heart eager to honor You, and I pray that the writing of these devotionals becomes part of that offering.  May each word You speak, each verse we hold in our hearts allow us to make healthy, God food choices so that You can bless what we eat.  With these choices, please bless our mental health, our physical health.  Strengthen our joints, protect our vital organs, renew our muscles, and sharpen our minds. Let Your healing push back the illnesses we are vulnerable to as we choose the healthy foods.  Continue to give me the wisdom to choose nutritious foods that You have created. I am addicted to unhealthy eating habits.  Take this sickness away from me.  You know I love eating Your foods.  Let my eating choices be one of the ways I worship and serve You.  Continue to give me that strength and power to make these healthy and delicious choices. May every bite be an act of devotion.

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:17

Verse Reflections:  I grew up going to church, loving Christ.  I have served the poor, I have served on every board available at church, I have taught Sunday School for 10 years but I do not have “works” or action when it comes to my eating habits.  This verse says our faith is dead without the works to back it up.  How often have we prayed for God to change our eating habits, help us to lose weight… but here He is telling us don’t just pray, don’t just have faith… DO IT!!  Have the works to back up your faith in Him.  It will not be easy, it will not come by magic.  If you are reading these devotions, Satan has spotted your weak spot so the war is on.  However, Christ has won every battle.  YOU,  WE can do it! We just have to do it.  Otherwise, this sin (anything that separates us from God), will slowly change us, it will separate us from our purity, our happy, our peace, our confidence.  We will begin to feel bad about ourselves.  Our faith will lose its’ vivaciousness because we have given away our power, it will eventually die because we will be so frustrated, so angry, so sad, even despondent that we will separate ourselves from our Lord and Savior.  Stop right now and claim your power back.  You have faith that Christ has risen from the dead.  Have faith that you can eat God food and be healthy.  Have faith that you cannot pick up those cookies, chips, multiple glasses of wine, whatever processed foods call your name.  You can do the works!  Revive Your faith.  Put on the works!!

Prayer:  Father, I do have total, absolute faith in You.  So, I am going to claim that faith and I am going to back it up with works.  I am not going to let my faith in You or myself die a slow, martyred death.  I’m going to put my works on.  I am going to eat healthy God foods.  Thank You for making so many wonderful foods for me.  Thank You for verses like this that remind me to quit praying for you to come down to rescue me.  I need to put on my big girl panties and just do the works.  It is not easy, it is not magic.  Jesus walked with the cross on His back after He had been whipped.  I can surely put the ridiculous little cookie, cake, chips and wine down.  I can do the works to back up my faith in You, in this amazing wonderful plan of action You have shared.  I love You tons.

Because the creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21

Verse Reflections:  I have created a cage for myself.  I now peer out from behind the bars and I can’t find the key that unlocks this bondage in me.  This verse gives me hope that the power of Christ, His word/scripture is the key.  I am bonded to an unhealthy addiction to food.  For forty years I have been bound in chains that I have not been able to break.  I am praying that this verse gives me one more step toward “the liberty” from this addiction.  It is interesting that this chapter in Romans stresses that we will all suffer.  We will all have bondages.  Even Paul mentioned his bondage.  Ironically, or perhaps logically the verse before this one says “the creation was made subject to vanity”.  For me that is not a great combination.  I have the vanity and the bondage.  I want the perfect body.  In my spiritual mind I sincerely want to pay respect to God for giving me a great, healthy body and yet, the human side of me really wants to look good in a two piece.  Now, reality says forget that, I am of an age that even if I looked good in the two piece I have no business wearing it in public.  So I must focus my mind on healthy eating.  I must be liberated from unhealthy vanity, unhealthy sugar and carb binges.  I thank God that He promises me in this verse “glorious liberty” not just liberty.  We must claim this with confidence.  How glorious is it to reach up to heaven in praise, to shout glory hallelujah, to KNOW that we are delivered.  We are delivered from bondage.  Claim it, live it.

Prayer:  Yes Father, after 40 years I am delivered from the bondage of food addiction.  Thank You for this promise.  At this moment my soul is souring in excitement.  I know I can trust Your word.  I know this is real.  I know you have given me glorious liberty.  I love searching Your word for these amazing promises that are helping me break the chains that I have lived in.  I love Your wonderful God food, thank You for reminding me that these foods are amazing, they are tasty, delicious and if I eat those foods I will not crave the unhealthy ones.  I will be healthy mentally and physically.  Thank You Father. Finally, I am getting the message.  Thanks for delivering it over and over in Your precious word.  Thank you for delivering me from earthly vanity and societal perspectives with a healthy, God perspective.  I love You.

Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. Proverbs 20:17

Verse reflections:  This verse really hit me today.  I am constantly deceiving myself into “allowing” extra foods I know I shouldn’t eat.  I deceive myself into thinking I “deserve” the food.  In reality, I “deserve” to be healthy and thin.  Telling myself I deserve the foods is a lie.  I will deceive myself by saying that I had a hard day so I “need” the foods that I know I should not have.  The truth is that I “need” to be thin and healthy so that I am not putting unhealthy pressure on my joints, ruining my immune system…  I deceive myself into thinking that “one more” will not hurt me.  The reality is that my “one mores” have added up to thousands of unhealthy deserts, carbs and processed foods.  I deceive myself into saying that “tomorrow” I will eat perfectly.  I have put off until tomorrow for decades as one day turns into a week turns into a month turns into a lifetime.  As Dr. Phil says, “Today is the only day that will change your life.”  A promise of tomorrow’s success only sabotages today.  I have deceived myself long enough.  Yes, the morsels of food taste sweet but just like this verse promises all the beautiful tastes disappear shortly and there is only remorse and broken promises that taste like gravel.  And then I chastise myself with renewed vigor as I realize that once again I have “failed”.  Today I am going to quit deceiving myself and I am going to savor the sweet tastes of foods made by God.

Prayer:  Father, remove the lies from my heart, my brain and my pantry.  There are no sweet tastes of breads, pastries and carbs that equal the tastes of all the amazing foods You have made.  Encourage me with the amazing smells, herbs and bites of Your foods.   You make the best foods we could ever eat.  I am convinced that I often crave foods just because they are bad for me.  What is wrong with that picture?  You would think I outgrew that at age 22 or so.  Protect me from the cravings, the deceit, the lies that I tell myself.  I have been “getting away with it” for so long that I just keep telling myself the same lies and over and over and I buy them every time.  Really?  God, I am sorry I am so thick skulled.  I need YOUR power to keep the gravel out of my mouth.  I am going to try to visualize my chocolate chip cookies tasting like gravel today.  Bless me as I work on my lies, my deceit.  It is interesting to me that I don’t lie to others, but I will lie to myself… over and over and over again.  Today it stops.  Thank You Father for verses like this one that open my eyes.

If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. Proverbs 25:16

Verse Reflections:  Noooooo, I love honey on buttered biscuits. I love cookies… I don’t want to stop with one or “only enough”.  And yet, this verse is built for me, a recovering bulimic.  Amazing that God even writes a Bible verse for bulimics.   I will eat to the point of vomiting and feel good about it.  God reminds us here that we should only have one portion or “only enough for you”.   I do believe that is what God is ordering.  Do not eat to the point of gluttony.  Do not waste your money, your health on eating more than is healthy.  If I stop at one portion I do not feel the need to vomit as a bulimic.  It is when I cross that imaginary line that I feel a compulsion to vomit and purge myself of the expanded, extended stomach contents.  And when I have crossed that imaginary line I keep eating to make it worth my while to purge.  How sick is that?  So, Christ is reminding us to watch our portions.  Even God foods like honey we must stop when we have had the right portion.  Amazing that this verse is in the Bible just for us.  Ugh!  I love it and I hate it.  I can love my neighbors, I can easily not covet… but I have trouble with this simple little “eat only enough for you” verse.  It sounds so easy.  So, here we go.  Today we are going to eat one portion.  We are going to keep walking down the road of health and fine tune the details.  We can do this.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for this reminder that I must watch my portions of even God foods.  It is so tempting to order a 12 oz steak when a 6 oz steak will do.  I am used to eating huge portions and getting away with it.  I am not fat, I am not huge but I eat like I am.  Thank You for fine tuning my healthy eating habits even further.  I need this reminder to stay away from unhealthy portions of even healthy foods.  Give me the power to stop at one even when the restaurant gives me three portions on my plate.  Give me the power to prepare the right portions.  Honestly, I’m not there yet so You are going to have to work with me to discipline myself on portions.  I really don’t like this verse because it requires me to change my mind, my rebellion against portion control.  I need You to work with me and I so appreciate the fact that You have even addressed food quantities in Your word.  I need this and appreciate You looking down and knowing we needed these verses even before we were born.  Love You.  Here’s to God + 1 portion.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Verse Reflections:  I love the idea of the devil running from us when we start our day with these verses.  When we submit ourselves to God, we CAN resist the devil.  For forty years I have tried to break my food addictions on my own.  I am a strong woman and I have always thought that tomorrow I would make it happen, tomorrow I would eat right, tomorrow I would start that diet or healthy eating plan.  I finally got to the point that I had to truly submit to God.  I had to infuse the word of God into my soul daily.  Every day I didn’t read God’s word I failed.  It is just that simple.  You are on the journey of submission.  When I finally realized that I had to have the power of God on my side to break my food addiction is the day I became successful in this plan.  I am a serious addict and that means I can’t go one day without a Bible verse that speaks to my addiction.  I can’t go one day without holding God’s hand and at the same time bowing at His throne to request that His power watch over me.  I am powerless against the devil’s wiles.  He has my number and yet God has the power to make him run.  God created me, gave me the key to overcome temptation.  He gave us verse after verse that allows us to resist the devil.  The next time I hear the cookies calling my name I will think in my head “run devil run” and then I will remember this verse and walk away.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for giving us this knowledge that if we only submit ourselves to You we will have the power to make the devil flee.  Lord, You have helped me realize that for me this submission to You is a daily journey.  I cannot skip one day of submission and resist the devil.  And in a crazy beyond this world, unexplainable way I have amazing power when I start my day or end my day with Your word.  There is truly power in Your word.  Thank You for reminding me daily that I can rise above my powerlessness.  Thank You for giving me power that I cannot access without You.  Most days I don’t even have to ask the temptations to flee when I start with the commitment to Your word.  This commitment continues into a healthy craving for God foods:  steak, pork chops, chicken, vegetables, salads, fruit.  I am happy eating all of these beautiful, flavorful foods.  Thank You for Your creations.  Thank You for making Satan “flee” from my life.  I cannot tell You how much lighter I feel spiritually, mentally not having to run down a list of foods that I am planning to eat.  I bow at Your throne in appreciation.  Now help me remain convinced every day to come to Your word to submit to Your glorious power.  I adore You and appreciate You.  Have a blessed day Father as You have blessed mine.

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. Psalm 18:32

Verse Reflections:  Yes!! God has armed me with the strength to eat healthy.  After forty years of trying to do this myself I have to have His strength, His power to do this.  “My way” is not perfect, not even close to perfect. In fact, my way is abject failure.  My way is not consistent.  My way leads to binging.   My way leads to self-recrimination.  My way leads to jumping on the scale to judge my success or failure.  My way leads to diet pills, the latest fast weight loss fad, binging and purging.  My way leads to looking in the mirror and crying.  God’s way allows me to throw away the scales.  God’s way allows me to eat great, delicious foods every day and even have one splurge.  God’s way eliminates the binging.  God’s way eliminates the physical compulsions and cravings that occurred daily when I ate too much sugar or carbohydrates.  God’s way allows me to look in the mirror and know He created me as a perfect being.  How exciting to know that we are armed with all the strength we need to make our way perfect.  Once again, God has this.  Just give it to Him daily and the crazy battle we have been fighting has been won.

Prayer:  Oh Lord I fall on my knees in praise for this verse.  I am so weak.  I have tried to arm myself for this battle for years.  I have chosen the worst weapons possible.  I have chosen temporary solutions, temporary weapons that allow the enemy to come back even stronger.  You have given us a permanent way to eat that is not unreasonable.  It is healthy, it is easy if we will just do it.  Thank You for giving us this option that is not as extreme as Your command to Daniel.  I am just being honest when I say I could not eat just fruits and vegetables the rest of my life.  You allow everything in this plan.  You are allowing me to have my favorites if I limit it to one portion a day of the “non-God” foods.  This took me a while to get used to but I am there and it is totally doable thanks to You arming me with strength.  THANK YOU for this amazing, awesome plan and the strength to make it happen.  You way is perfect and therefore my way following You is perfect.

Before I shaped you in the womb I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you.” Jeremiah 1:5 MSG

Verse Reflections:  Before I saw the light of day, You had holy plans for me.  My breath is taken away with the magnificence of these words. God set up a plan for each of us before we drew our first breath.  Holy means “set apart”.  God created plans for us that set us apart from the world.  In order to accomplish these plans we have to treasure this body that he “shaped in the womb”.  Wiggle your fingers, use your eyes to look around, stand up or roll your wheelchair with your hands.  Our bodies are a work of art.  Each brush stroke is a part of the art.  When we put too much processed foods into our body we are creating fat that blocks our arteries, creating difficulty pumping blood to our extremities and heart issues.  Eating carbohydrates and sugars will spike our sugar and insulin levels causing low energy levels and cravings for additional food.  It can even cause dizziness, burning sensations and issues in our joints.  So… why do we continue to destroy this work of art?  Why do we make choices that do not set us apart from this world?  We know that we should eat God foods.  God shaped our bodies perfectly.  Instead we conform to the world and give into the madness of marketing that convinces us that all these rows and rows of processed foods are better than the foods God created.

Prayer:   You “set apart” plans for me.  You “set me apart” from the world with Your plans for me.  Lord, please allow me today to set myself apart from all the temptations of the world.  Sometimes they overwhelm me.  I crave a certain food and it swirls and swirls in my brain until I indulge.  Today I am going to cling desperately to the holy plans You have for me.  Before I saw the light of day and every day after, You wanted me, planned for me to set myself apart from this world.  Today, Lord, I am going to be holy.  You are the power I need to overcome and set myself on a different plane.  I am going to grasp onto Your plan for me and claim it.  I am going indulge in Your foods and gain Your strength.  I am so crazy Father to jeopardize the health of my beautiful body by eating and drinking foods that You did not create to the point of indulgence and gluttony.  I know I destroy Your plans for me some days and for that I apologize.  I love You and appreciate all You have done for me before I saw the light of day and every day since.

For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. I Timothy 4:8

Verse Reflections:  As an athlete this verse is vital to my transition to God Plus 1.  I would literally weigh 300+ pounds if I didn’t exercise and I am not exaggerating.  I work off a minimum of 30 pounds a year.  Remember I’ve been fighting this battle for forty years.  It doesn’t take a math genius to realize what I would weigh if I added 30 pounds a year.  I love exercising and God gives me some credit for this in this verse but reminds me that exercise is not the full answer.  While exercise is “of some value” this verse is adamant that godliness is “of value in every way”.  Well there you go.  I have been trying to lose weight, maintain weight by using more calories than I inhaled.  I have been trying to at least be consistent in my exercise levels even when I could not control my eating.  To the point there were days I would go run an extra two miles just to make up for that extra binge. For anyone reading this that does not enjoy exercise God is speaking to you and telling you to get up and move.  He has given you a gift of a miraculous body.  Go enjoy using it.  My goodness, just go for a walk and enjoy the beauty you pass, the people you meet.  EASY! Exercise will make you mentally and physically healthy.   This verse, again, mirrors the message I am hearing over and over again.  We cannot fight this battle without God. Physical exercise helps us here on earth but godliness (being God centered) will make a difference in the battles here on earth and it will prepare us for eternity.

Prayer:  Well God, I’ve known this in the back of my mind during the entire last forty years, However, I haven’t backed up this knowledge with action.  I’ve prayed and I’ve prayed and I’ve prayed but I have expected You to play the magic fairy godmother, wave Your magic wand and make it easy.  I’ve expected You to do all the work.  Life and age and Your word have taught me that You have cleared the path but I still have to walk it.  I have to bend down and throw away the sticks that fall onto the path.  I have to start my day by reading Your word so that I know exactly where the path is.  Then I have to reach up to You, trust You and then make the hard choices of saying no to foods even when every fiber of my physical body is screaming to say yes.  In other words, I have to put one foot in front of another on the path You have shown me.  When temptations fall onto the path, I have to scramble over them, pick them up and throw them off the path.  I have to stay close to You in order to have the strength to do this.  I have to exercise consistently, knowing it is important but staying close to You is even more important. God, here’s to walking and even running the path of physical, mental and spiritual health.  Thank You for leading me on this path.

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like a morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Isaiah 44:22

Verse Reflections:  Imagine for a moment that your unhealthy eating habits are floating away on clouds.  Think of a beautiful morning mist over a lake and then the sun rising as the mist just disappears.  The power of Jesus can make years of unhealthy habits just float away and turn into an invisible vapor.  God has bought back our power.  He has redeemed us.  Think also about what clouds signify… storms, shadows or darkness because the clouds are blocking the light.  When the clouds blow away the light is allowed through.  That is the difference between living in darkness and living in the light.  God is light and He alone can sweep away our years of bad habits.  And they are habits, which makes them very hard to break.   Next time we are tempted to stop at that place that has the perfect food keep walking.  Know that He has swept away our bad habits.  Morning mist burns away and the sun comes shining through.  Keep walking, it WILL BE TOUGH for about an hour and then you will get through it with extra joy.

Prayer:  God, I love the image of my cravings moving in like a morning mist.  The mist greets us with beauty and power but then the more powerful sun slowly burns away the droplets that combine in the air to form the effect.  Lord, send the sun to my mind, to my body, to my habits.  I have some bad habits that only You can control.  I go to certain places and order certain things.  I have a bad day at work and want to come home and bake certain things.  I pick up “one” of certain items and keep picking up one until I reach 25.  Thank You for reminding me these are just tiny droplets of water blocking the sun.  Give me the power to ignore the habits for one hour.  If I do that then the power will dissipate.  One hour Lord.  I give You all my one hours until my day is done.  I love You.

T-shirt:  “Like a morning mist” my cravings will be swept away.  Isaiah 44:22

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. I Corinthians 9:27

Verse Reflections:  Ha!  And this is where I personally still fail.  I think it is hilarious that God chose me to put these verses together since I still disqualify myself through my inability to “keep it under control”.  I have the discipline of exercise down, but the eating…. Not even close some days.  Of course, those are the days I don’t stop and breathe in God’s beautiful words.  I know this “God plus 1” works because when I read the scripture and the words God gives me I am disciplined in controlling my eating.  When I leave off the “God” part of my day, I am frankly not disciplined at all and I am disqualified from sharing this beautiful plan God has shared.  Because no one wants to hear about a weight loss plan from someone who hasn’t lost a pound.   I love sugar.  It makes me happy, I love every bite of crunchy pastries, crispy and chewy cookies, pies… Maybe this is why God did choose me to put this together because “I” disqualify myself with this ridiculous addiction but God qualifies me over and over again through His power and His forgiveness of my failures.  Even when I become disciplined I hope to never “preach” to others because then I will have to worry about perfection.  I hope to just “share” God’s beautiful messages, to encourage us in a world that discourages.

Prayer:  Father, I will never feel comfortable posting all of these amazing messages until I lose the 30 pounds I have put on.  YOU are going to have to take over and make this happen.  And yet I know as I type that I have to take the daily action steps of drawing close to You so You can help me.  I do have to discipline myself in order to be able to share these messages.  Please, Please give me the ability to be disciplined.  I have to admit something in me rebels against that word!  What is wrong with me?  I just want to be.  Discipline makes me think of work and struggle.  Can we just eat God food and leave the word “discipline” out of it?  I am hearing You say “no” which makes me mad.  When I try to accept that thought I want to order a pizza and wait until tomorrow to start.  Lord, fix me.  I am broken.  Allow me to want to be disciplined now, this moment.  I love You.  Allow me to discipline my body, to keep it under control TODAY whether I want to or not.  Love me through my failures and let’s “discipline my body” today together.  I am going to suck it up and do this despite myself.

“I discipline my body” TODAY with God’s help.   I Corinthians 9:27

Did you know?  Alcohol decreases serotonin (the feel good hormone).

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

Verse reflections:  I love the idea of taking a big butcher knife to my “evil desire” for sweets, processed carbs, alcohol and all the other processed foods that create passion, impurity and idolatry in me. I need to put my desires on the butcher block and stab them over and over and over again. Now, just when I think they are dead and I make some prolonged progress they come back from the dead and convince me that a week of splurging will make me happy.  And then months’ worth of discipline disappears literally overnight (okay seven overnights).  If you are reading this and it feels like I am exaggerating, then you do not experience the battles I face inside.  I feel impure when I indulge at the levels I eat at.  I feel my desires are evil not because of the desires themselves but because of the unhappiness they create afterwards and the separation I feel from godliness.  I covet a great body to the point that I am depressed when I look in the mirror or try on clothes.  I sometimes make food my “idol” even the god I choose to spend more time with than the God who loves me beyond compare.  I feel immoral, impure when I fail to be disciplined.  I feel depressed, like a failure when I let my passion for food overtake my day.  I am not tempted by sexual immorality, I am tempted by food immorality.  I do not deal with drug abuse, I deal with food abuse.  I am not addicted to cigarettes, I am addicted to sugar and carbs.  I do not have a problem because I am overweight, I have a problem because of the unhealthy emotional results.  Some people have a problem because they are unhealthy emotionally and physically.  We have to do what this verse commands of us.  We have to put to death our desires.

Prayer:  Father, I need Your help to put to death my earthly desires.  I have impure, passionate, even evil desires for food.  I even spend more time with food or thinking about foods than I do with You at times.  I am so sorry I fail at this over and over and over again.  I love You Father, more than You could ever know.  I realize that I do not show You because I let my earthly desires take over even when I know I have to have strength from above to overcome.  I can’t just get through day by day.  I have to KNOW that I have put these desires to death.  I have to KNOW that I will live the rest of my life having put to death the cravings.  I have to know I can eat two cookies, not fifteen.  I have to live today and tomorrow without a question mark.  I have to put an exclamation mark beside my choices.  It is interested that You command US to put the desires to death.  Okay, I am ready.  Let’s stab this baby to death now and insert cravings for pure, God foods.

The God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10

Verse Reflections:  Okay team, we have all suffered a little while so let’s let God restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast.   That would make a great t-shirt.  STRONG  FIRM STEADFAST!!  I am going to claim these three words and shout them out today.  I love the way this verse starts out.  He reminds us that we have access to the God of all power.  The God of all grace that gives us eternal life.  WOW!  The two best gifts we could ever receive.  Grace is the gift of forgiveness and unconditional love that rises above anything we have ever done or has been done to us.  Eternal life is a promise of life with Him long after these crazy human bodies are gone.  Two gifts that no one else on earth can give.  So, if we have access to these gifts, we know He can restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast.  This is what I have been missing in my eating habits.  I have not been strong.  I have not been firm and I have certainly not been steadfast.  I have ridden the roller coaster of starvation and gluttony.  I am taking a deep breath of hope as I write this.  I have to go now and write this fabulous prayer of hope.

Prayer:  Father, I am so excited.  These are the three features of my eating life that I have been missing.  You, the God of grace, the God of eternity remind me here that You can deliver these features to me.  Thank You first of all for restoring me.  I am broken.  I need restoration.  Thank You for giving me strength, firmness of purpose, and a steadfast way of eating.  I have to eat the same every day.  I have to be firm about honoring You by continuing to eat God foods.  I have to be steadfast/unwavering in how I eat every day.  I cannot eat a large bag of candy, a pan of cookies, a bag of chips and be firm in my eating habits.  Father erase my past, restore me to the person You created me to be.  Give me the power to be strong.  I cannot be strong on my own.  I have proven that through decades of disaster.  You can make me firm in my resolutions and habits.  Restore me and let’s make today happen with a firmness, a steadfast, an unwavering goal of eating God foods and wanting to do so for the rest of my life.  I already feel better.  I do not have that soft fuzziness in my head that comes from eating too much sugar.  I do not have the cravings I once had.  Thank You for that.  You are restoring me.  I am ready now to be firm with Your help.  Love You.  Got to go start our strong, firm, resolute day.

The meek will eat and be satisfied: they will praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart will live forever. Psalm 22:26

Verse Reflections:  Maybe this is my problem.  I am not very meek.  “Quiet, gentle, and humble in spirit”  I’m sure it is not an accident that the word quiet comes first in these descriptions.  When we are quiet, we can hear God’s voice.  When we hear God’s voice we are infused with His power, instead of our own which always fails.  We must be humble in spirit and realize that we cannot live this life without Him.  I have tried to power through losing weight by my own strength and it just does not happen.  I know there are plenty of people who can use their own strength to lose weight, to make consistent right choices.  I am not one of them  I am a strong woman who runs a multi-million dollar company but this works to my disadvantage.  I think I can do it all and I can’t.  I must change my spirit to one of meekness, confess my lack of power and totally depend on Him.  My husband has travelled all over the world to serve in medical missions.  One week he arrived in an African village which had been devastated by a disease.  Everyone in the village, including the chief who lost his daughter, had lost someone in their immediate family.  Every evening at sunrise they would gather and sing praises to God.  Mark asked the chief on the last day, “How do all of you praise God so enthusiastically every day when you have lost so much?”.  The chief looked him steadily in the eyes and said, “My son, the question is not how we who depend on God every day for every drop of water, every breath and every morsel of food praise Him, the question is how you in America, who live under the illusion of control of this universe and your lives praise Him.”  Think about this.  When we are not humble, when we think we can control our lives, our safety, our health, our jobs, our finances we resent God when it doesn’t work out.  If we all just live with the knowledge that this world, this life is not within our control, we would meekly depend on His wisdom, His power, His omnipotence.  Today, let’s live meekly and trust that the food He gave us are the foods we should eat and live by.

Prayer:  Father, this is not a prayer I enjoy praying.  I like my strength.  I like who I am most of the time.  But I need to give up.  I am not able to consistently make the right choices in eating right.  I have to come to You quietly so I can hear Your voice tell me what to eat.  My voice screams at me when I have cravings.  Quiet that voice, quiet the power in my own voice.  Please Lord, speak loudly even when I am quiet because I have decades of bad programming.  I am used to hearing the siren call of sweets, carbs, dips…  I am powerless.  I am weak.  I kneel at Your alter in humbleness.  YOU have to change me.  I cannot.  This is my temptation on this earth.  I know I have to be consistent in my habits.  I ask for continued meekness.  Every morning help me to confess to You this weakness, the need for Your power.  WE can do this.  I cannot.  I love You more than this life so allow me to honor You in my life every second of every day.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10

Romans 8:10 reminds us of a profound truth: when Christ dwells in us, the body—prone to sin and weakness—no longer has control. Instead, the Spirit gives us life and righteousness. When Christ is in us, our  body—prone to sin and its desires—no longer rules our lives. Instead, the Spirit brings life and righteousness, empowering us to choose healthy foods. Our unhealthy habits—overeating, emotional eating, or neglecting the care of our bodies—are often rooted in the desires of the flesh. These desires can feel overwhelming, but they are not the final authority in our lives. Christ’s presence within us means that we are no longer slaves to the old ways of thinking and living. The Spirit empowers us to choose life, righteousness, and a healthier way forward. The struggle to lose weight and eat healthy often feels like a battle between what we desire in the moment and what we know is best for us.

Even when the journey is challenging, we can trust that His power is made perfect in our weakness, and His Spirit has spoken death to the temptations of our body and breathed life into our souls given us the power .The “body is dead because of sin” reminds us that the old ways of living—like overindulgence, neglecting self-care, or finding comfort in food rather than in God—have no power over us when we are in Christ. The Spirit now leads us into life-giving habits and choices that reflect His righteousness and our ability to choose “right-ness”.

When we rely on the Spirit rather than our own strength, we find the power to resist unhealthy habits and embrace a healthier lifestyle. Every step toward better health is a reflection of the Spirit’s work in us—bringing life, discipline, and joy as we align our choices with His righteousness. Christ lives in our bodies and today we can choose the right foods – all natural, God foods. The temptations of the body have no power over us!

Prayer:
Lord, thank You for giving me new life through Your Spirit. Thank you for killing the temptations of my body. I confess that I sometimes allow unhealthy habits to take control, but I know that Your Spirit is stronger than my weaknesses. Help me to rely on You as I make choices that reflect Your righteousness and honor the body You’ve given me. Thank You for the life and strength that come from You alone. Lord, thank You for the life and righteousness that come through Your Spirit. I acknowledge that my body is weak and prone to sin, but I trust in Your power to transform me from the inside out. Help me to choose life and righteousness in the way I care for my body. Teach me to rely on Your Spirit when I feel weak and to honor You in all my choices. Thank You for being my strength and my guide. I am going to claim new life and choose God foods.

Know you not that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? I Corinthians 3:16

Verse Reflections:  What a stunning truth: we are the temple of God. Pause and let that settle in. You are where God chooses to dwell. How beautiful is this thought?  In the Old Testament, God gave intimate and detailed instructions for building His temple.  Lavished and adorned in gold and ornate jewels to be treasured, built by fine craftmanship, revered.  Every surface, every measurement, every element was intentional, beautiful, and sacred. The temple wasn’t just a building; it was a declaration of His presence and glory. And now, Scripture tells us that we are that temple made of flesh and spirit. So, we then, must be God’s treasures to be revered.

Do I treat myself with such reverence? The honest answer? Not always. I  have often treasured my food over my body, my temple. I’ve indulged when I should have shown restraint. I think it is interesting that the one-time Jesus lost His temper was when His temple was being violated, disrespected.  That moment pierces my heart. Does God become angry when I treat my body with disrespect?  I have always thought of my body as my body, not a place in which God lives.  I need to think of my body as a Holy, sacred place with beautiful, soft music playing and stunning ornate fixtures.  I cannot throw trash inside such a lovely dwelling.  I must carefully consider everything I eat today so that I am honoring God in my choices.  He made so many perfect foods for me to indulge in.  Today I will begin by caring for this sanctuary more intentionally. I will honor it by choosing the foods He has honored us by creating for us.  He has filled the earth with His bounty- fruits that bursts with color, and vegetables that sizzle with flavor. So begins my journey in God (food) Plus 1. I would love you to join me in choosing foods that honors Him with every bite, every choice. We will choose the foods that God created to become more healthy mentally, spiritually and physically.

Prayer:  Thank You for the beautiful and humbling truth that You have chosen to dwell within me. You, the Creator of the heavens call me Your temple, sacred, set apart and dearly loved. Forgive me for the times I have treated this Holy place with carelessness, for the times I’ve sought comfort in food rather than You. Lord. Bless my body, inhabit Your temple this morning.  Allow me to treat it as the Holy Place that allows Your spirit to dwell inside.  I miss the news this morning but I must say that this beautiful music that I am beginning my day with and the devotional is allowing me to hear Your voice at a different level.  Teach me to nourish it, to honor it and to treasure it as a reflection of Your glory. There are times I have tried to keep myself so busy that I couldn’t hear You.  Running and running and running so that life can’t find me.  Thank You for slowing me down and entering my soul.  I feel a peace and a Holiness that I can’t replicate on my own.  I don’t understand Your power. It confuses me when I try to think of it intellectually, but I feel it from deep within. I thank You for that.  Father, I want to honor You by eating the foods that You have created for me.  Give me the strength to say no to processed foods.  Give me the desire to choose Your foods.  I know how awesome they taste but I need Your power to remind me.  I surrender this journey to You- my health, my habits, my hunger- and ask You to lead me in love and discipline. Let’s go into today treating Your temple/my body with reverence.  Let each choice I make reflect my desire to honor You in all things. I love You.  Thanks for loving me despite myself.

Did you know:  When we lose weight the stomach releases more ghrelin which is the hormone that makes us feel hungry.  It is why we often “sabotage” our weight loss.

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double- minded man, unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8

Verse Reflections:  What a beautiful promise to start this journey with: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” All we have to do is ask for wisdom and our loving Father not only gives wisdom, He pours it out generously!  I desperately need this wisdom that He gives us.  I am just plain powerless and do not make smart choices when it comes to what I eat, when I eat, and how I eat.  But here is the part of the verse that stirs my soul: But when you ask, you must believe and you must not doubt.  Nike invests billions to convince people to take action and “Just Do It”.   How much do we invest in the truth of God’s word? Today, I begin again my journey of faith. I will believe that I am changed.  I have been infused with wisdom about how to eat.  Now I just have to believe and not doubt that I will eat the foods that God created, I will eat the right portions and I will enjoy this process.  I will not doubt that I am on the path that God has revealed to me.  I am a beautiful person and I am going to claim this beauty, this wisdom and this confidence that allows no doubt that I am going to be successful.  I will not let the devil creep in like a wave that knocks me over, that blows me about and tosses me around like the wind.  I will not let the devil place seeds of doubt about my ability to eat right today.  God tells us His power and His wisdom will be given to us.  I will eat the foods He designed for my good, in the portions that bring balance. I will eat with a heart of gratitude and joy. I will not doubt. I will not allow the enemy to creep in with whispers of failure or discouragement. I will not be tossed about like a wave in the wind. God has given me power, and I stand on that promise. I am a smart, beautiful woman formed by God’s hands and filled with His spirit.  Today is the day I begin to use the wisdom that God has given me.  I know what to eat. Why do we search for restrictive diets or use other people’s wisdom?  I am not confused, I am not helpless, I am not alone. We KNOW what to do.  There is no magic.  It is hard but we are led by God’s power and God’s wisdom. Today is the day that we begin to “just do it” in faith, with joy and without a doubt.

Prayer:  Thank You Father, for the gift of a new day and for the promise that if I ask for wisdom, You will give it- freely and without hesitation. Today I come before You, humbled and hungry. I crave not just food but for Your guidance, strength and truth. God, I am so like this verse.  I doubt my abilities, I doubt my desire to give up sugary delicacies. I am like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  I am double-minded and unstable.  I need you to give me this wisdom to the core and marrow of my bones.  I know what to do; You have clearly told me to eat the foods you gave us.  You tell me in this verse that I must not doubt. You tell me that You will give wisdom generously.  I claim that promise today. I will not be tossed about by the wind. I will stand firm in the truth that You are guiding me.  I give You my double-mindedness.  Double-mindedness is a perfect description of all my interactions with food.  I have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.  The angel is sweet and calm and tells me very gently that a protein and two vegetables or the salad is a wonderful choice.  The devil is drooling and salivating and spinning with excitement at the fried chicken and warm brownie with the crisp, chewy sides and coconut rolled ice cream that he throws around in my head.  I have to beg You to give the angel more power, more personality.  Let’s make her salivate too and describe the wonderful garden fresh herbs that are on that piece of chicken and those tasty sautéed green beans with garlic that crunch when we bite.  I need to WANT to eat what my angel is craving.  And You and I both know the angel is a little too quiet sometimes.  Can you give me her single-mindedness?  Let’s name our angle Sindy!  She will help me be Single-minded and sin-free of over-indulgence.  Thank You Lord for Sindy.  I’m ready. Give me strength for each meal, grace for every choice and joy in the journey. I know this isn’t about perfection but about faithfulness. I walk forward through the winds in confidence, because I do not walk alone. May Your generous wisdom fill me every second of our day.

Did you know:  Nuts are packed with protein and can make you feel full.

When tempted no one should say God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. James 1:13-15.

Verse Reflections:  Yep, I would have to say, I am tempted by my own “evil” (morally wrong or bad, harmful, detrimental) desires for those warm, gooey, crisp chocolate chip cookies, homemade cream cheese pound cake and the list goes on.  So, God cannot tempt me and yet I am over and over “dragged away and enticed”.  To the point that I feel like my temptations are bigger than Goliath and they literally drag me by the hair to their side so I will eat them.  This verse leaves me with the humbling realization that only I can drag myself away from this course, only I can indulge in these foods that entice me.  God refuses to participate in the tempting. In fact, He promises to protect us.  There is a beautiful verse in Psalms 91:4:  “He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings will you find refuge.  His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”.  A rampart is a defensive wall.  As usual, God has promised us the power we need to have.  We must again, today “just do it”.  We must hide under His wings and we must not allow ourselves to be “dragged away” from the healthy foods that we know we should eat.  We are only protected if we stay by God’s side, under His wings.  The crazy thing is I really do love God foods.  I love grilled asparagus, steak, grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, pork chops, grilled tomatoes, snow peas, green beans stir fried with almonds.  I just have this crazy game inside of my head that has caused the foods with high calories to be the most enticing.  I have to break this mental bondage.  God is not tempting us.  We are tempting ourselves.  So we must instead reach up to God for protection from the daily temptations.  We must know that not only will He not participate in this temptation battle, He will protect us from it, IF we claim His power. Today is the day we quit with God’s power!

Prayer:  Lord, I hear the verse above loudly and clearly.  Protect me from being “dragged away and enticed” by my own crazy head.  This verse just totally takes away my devil with the megaphone imagery and replaces it with me.  Ugh, I have to be responsible again?   I envision that beautiful verse in Psalms 91:4:  “He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings will you find refuge.  His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”.  A rampart is a defensive wall.  And yet, I also see myself under Your soft wings peering out as I smell warm baked chocolate chip cookies pulled from the oven.  Then there is me slowly sneaking out then running as I am being tempted by my “own evil desire… being dragged away and enticed” to leave your protective, soft wings and eat the entire pan of crispy, chewy cookies.  So, I know You will not tempt me today but I need extra protection of a defensive wall from my own temptations.  I can sure tempt myself just by opening the cabinet and imagining the next buttery, sugary desert I want to bake, going to the grocery store and walking the isles, or driving to the nearest restaurant.  For me, over-eating is wrong.  I am addicted to the over-indulgence and I know it.  I know food is not evil and a few cookies, brownies, bread, one glass of wine or chips are not evil.  Thus the plus 1 not plus 10.  My problem is that I am not able on my own to stop at one serving.  I need Your power to overcome my own temptation.  I know starting my day with Your word and power will do just that.  I am going to hide under your wings today but I need the hard defensive wall around your soft protective feathers.  I need double protection sweet and paternal and hard and defensive.  Yesterday was amazingly fun and easy.  May today reign in Your kingdom with the same victory.  We WILL “NOT be enticed”.

Who (What) shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8: 35 & 37

Verse Reflections:  Which of us has ever noticed the word nakedness in this verse before?  Wow! .  I am fascinated by the fact that God knows us so well that He addressed the issue of our nakedness separating us from His love. Think deeply, our “nakedness” can separate us from Christ.  My vanity, my weight on the scale, my self-proclaimed disgusted vision of myself in the mirror when I am naked or when I try on the clothes that fit too tight separate me from believing in the unconditional love of Christ.  I do not feel lovable.  All of these things separate me from the love for myself and thus the God I love. Starting today, we will not let our nakedness separate us from the love of God.  He loves us just the way we are.  Look in the mirror and tell yourself “my nakedness is beautiful and I cannot be separated from His love”.  If He loves our nakedness, we must love our nakedness and love ourselves unconditionally.  We are MORE than conquerors of our bad eating habits.  We are loved by Christ!  How can we not be successful?

This verse also tells us that hardship or trouble cannot separate us from God.   Today we will begin the hard conquest of our illness or our unhealthy eating habits.  We will pull together with Christ and refuse to be separated from His love and we will overcome our need to binge. I know I am “allergic” to certain foods.  I am addicted to sugar.  When I eat carbs or sugar I crave more.  My brain does not want to give them up. These foods create a release of dopamine that boosts my mood.  The combination of eating these foods and the release of dopamine literally makes me happy but I know I have to give this cycle up.  This is hard!  This is trouble!  Yet in this verse God tells us He has the hardship and trouble covered!  Claim it, live it, bask in the amazing love of God.

Prayer:  Father, I give you my nakedness, my vanity, my weight.  I give you my indulgence of baking with sugar and butter and yet I need You to turn this into a positive new investment.  I’m not sure how to go forward because I am truly powerless.  I know I cannot face life writing down all that I eat.  I cannot buy diet pills that rev me up or tune me down.  I cannot buy pre-prepared meals that come in a box or a silver foiled package.  I truly believe if I eat the foods you gave us with no extra preservatives… I will not have a weight issue.  You have already solved the problem that I am now acknowledging.  Bless the cravings that pop into my head and tend to haunt me until I indulge. It truly is like the compulsion of an addict at times. I give them to you and ask that your love surround me.  Romans 8:37 tells me: “I CAN conquer this through You who loves me”.  I really CAN’T do this alone.  I do not have the ability or the strength.  I have the sincere knowledge that You gave me this dream, this vision of how to live eating God foods plus 1 serving of “other” foods.  If I really think about it, every “diet” we use goes back to these basics but I can’t diet Lord.  I just can’t. It screws with my brain and pierces me down to my very soul.  I have to fill in these stab wounds with Your love and enjoy Your food with all my heart and soul.  Today we will conquer our past eating habits and develop new ones because You love me… even in my nakedness.

So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

Verse Reflections:  I have faith that I can do this.  But I can lose that faith so easily. This verse is the center of our success.  By reading God’s word we can have faith.  If we don’t read God’s word our faith disappears.  I know this is why I have to read God’s word every day.  I cannot eat right without the word of God being the core of my strength.  I have tried to “control” my eating without stopping and reading a scripture and I can’t.  There is power in the word of God.  By reading scripture daily and dedicating myself to eating God foods there is a huge difference in my spirit, in my calm.  Notice that this verse says that “hearing” (and faith) comes by the word of God. How many times have You complained that you just couldn’t hear God?  When we read the word of God we can begin to recognize and hear His voice all the time.  You can’t recognize a friend’s voice on the phone if you only talk to them once a year but that friend you talk to every week just has to say hi and we know who it is.  Because of God’s word I have faith that we can overcome our unhealthy eating habits.  I am able to embrace with confidence my ability to today eat God food instead of wanting to cook a big pan of cookies, biscuits, French fries… and eat every one of them.   My faith changes from having hope for tomorrow to having hope today just by reading the scriptures.  I can bring the light into the darkness just by infusing God’s spirit into today.  Tomorrow will never change our lives.  The only day that will change us is today.  But I can’t have faith in my ability to eat right today without reading God’s word every day.  God’s word is our only “offensive” option.  Somehow, reading God’s word give us the power to score today instead of constantly defending against the temptations that make us put off scoring until tomorrow.  Do you want to score today?  Then read His word.  Take this verse and store it in your heart!  Today we must have FAITH that we will eat God foods.  We read His word and that alone gives us the power, the faith that we can eat foods God created for us.

Prayer:  Thank you Father for giving me this scripture, for infusing my soul with faith in Your power.  Thank You for giving me the faith that I can eat right just by giving me Your words of confirmation, affirmation and power.  I know the strength You give, I know the calm.  You take the rumblings, the temptations within and sprinkle a gentling powder over them.  What used to erupt into a compulsive craving changes into a calm acceptance from one moment to the next.  I have You to thank for that.  I know that scripture is our one “offensive” tool against the power of darkness.  Thank you for giving me faith that I can do this by your word.  Thank You for helping me to stop and read Your word.  I know the key to success is to hear scripture, to internalize Your word every day.  We CAN do this.  We can score today. I have faith!

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. Proverbs 21:21

Verse Reflections:  Today I am going to pursue righteousness which I always translate in my brain to “right-ness”.  I know what is right, and so do you.  Again, I KNOW what is right.  I just have to do it.  I love the way God reminds us that if we do what is right and we love then we will find life, prosperity and honor.  Loving and doing what is right will allow us to live life, find life.  We must also pursue love.  That begins with loving ourselves.  My Mom always told me, “If you aren’t happy with yourself, you will never be happy with anyone.”  This verse says we will find life but how can we lose life?  Haven’t we ever lost our luster, our vigor, our enthusiasm or liveliness? It is interesting to think that if we pursue, continually seek, continually implement right-ness we will find life.  We will be lighter, happier, and more enthusiastic when we know we are doing God’s will.  When we treat our body with love we will honor our body and our life that God blessed us with.  We must be successful in our pursuit of right-ness, or eating right.  We can do this and find a new level of life.   To prosper means to be successful or fortunate.  If we do what is right we will be successful in eating right and having a healthy weight.  I know I will prosper (be successful) in my quest to be healthy if I pursue this right way of eating.    I also know that I honor my body when I eat right.  When I choose unhealthy foods I am dishonoring my body.   I am literally destroying the health, the life God has given me.  Why do I ever choose to dishonor my body by putting in empty calories, by adding weight that causes pain in my joints, causes breathing difficulties, creates dizziness…?  Today we are going to pursue the RIGHT way of eating.  God’s way.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, give me the ability to pursue this “right” lifestyle, to pursue an unconditional love for myself in the process.  I know that if I eat God foods, I will be successful in honoring my body.  I know that if I eat God foods I will be healthy and gain life instead of sickness.  Thank You for this reminder God.  Take away the crazy side of me that can’t divide my foods into right and wrong without getting seriously sick in my head.  Thanks for teaching me moderation with the “plus 1”.  Will You hold me, love me today?  I know what to do.  The key is wanting to.  And yet You tell me I have to pursue the choices; they don’t just happen.  I have to consciously go after this every day.  Surround me with the people, the strength, the foods that will allow me to experience this abundant life.  I know you want health, prosperity and honor for me.  You have given me the tools to reach out and grab all of these things.  Can you be my right-hand man, handing me the tools I need before I even ask for them?  I am not strong enough, nor wise enough on my own.  I love you and desperately seek Your power today.  I want to honor you in the foods that I choose to pursue and eat today.  I want to pursue right-ness.

“I do not seek what I am to eat and what I am to drink; nor is my mind anxious. I only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be added unto me.” Luke 12:29, 31

Verse Reflections:  I love how God put these two verses together.  Who else would have put the huge thought of seeking his kingdom first with what we eat and drink?  Wow!  God truly gets what we are going through here on earth.  So, don’t make eating and drinking your first priority, make Christ your first priority.  If we do that we will not be anxious.  This verse is perfect.  When I get anxious I want to eat.  It is a reflex.  I have trained my body to react to the stimulus of anxiety.  The carbs, the alcohol, the sugar spikes my endorphins and soothes my anxiety.  The problem is this solution is temporary.  In fact, after the soothing is over, it stimulates my appetite and makes me crave more.  God’s kingdom is permanent.  What would happen if reading one verse made us crave more?  What would happen if we devoured God’s word like we devour food?  When I read just one verse I am a different person.  My anxiety is soothed.  I do not crave.  I love, I live, I eat and drink for Christ.  Today I need to seek God’s kingdom first. I know if I seek His kingdom first that I will choose to be healthy naturally and happily.

Prayer:  Lord, I humbly come to You today and try to seek Your kingdom first.  Who is it that You need me to be today?  What is it that You need me to do for You today?  How do You need me to be there for Your kingdom here on earth?  I will slow down today and weave some beautiful music into my life, clean out my soul, my home and my time to give You space to live and grow.  May You and I make Your kingdom alive and wonderful and beautiful here in my little home, my body, our work-place and our community.  I know Your power, I know Your kingdom.  Thank You for slowing me down today so that I can seek You, be with You, reflect You.  I already feel the anxiety of yesterday disappearing.  Thank You!  Love You.  Let’s have an awesome, healthy day in Your kingdom.

You are my hiding place from every storm of life; you even keep me from getting into trouble! You surround me with songs of victory. Psalm 32:7

Verse Reflections:  This verse warms me with excitement.    Being surrounded with “songs of victory” is such a glorious vision that it almost makes me cock my ears to listen.  No matter what storm of life we are facing God IS our hiding place.  We can rest in His arms as the wind is raging, the rain, the sleet are pounding around us.  Even if we get hit by shrapnel we can know that we will be victorious because God surrounds us with songs that shout our victory.  I love David’s second line “you EVEN keep me from getting into trouble”.  How many times a day, a week or a year does God keep us from trouble that we never even learn about?  How many storms never hit because we are resting in God’s hiding place that protects us?  So today we are going to listen to the songs of victory.  We will be victorious in eating foods that are healthy, foods that actually taste awesome and we will hide from everything in life that makes us want to turn to food for comfort.  We will not feed our pain. We will feel our pain, cry, let God wipe our tears so we can get over it and get on with a victorious life.  We will be victorious!

Prayer:  Lord, thank You for the victory over eating.  Thank You for the bigger victory over life.  I know it is crazy that an hour long eating process can sometimes just be a reflection of the storms of life and my reactions to them; my anxiety, my sadness, my pain.  I take food and I gorge and gorge until I physically feel the pain that I don’t want to feel mentally or spiritually.  And yet I believe that overall I am a very happy person.  It is a crazy contrast.  Perhaps it is because I am such a happy person that I internalize anything else and just feed it until it pops.  Then I am all happy again.  Oh, and then I get on the scales or try on clothes and it all comes crashing back in force.  Enough said.  Lord, I am excited about this victory.  New days of victory.  New days of hiding in your arms from the storms of life.  Thank You for “EVEN keeping me from trouble”.  I have had fun (except for that one day) eating Your foods, staying out of trouble.  I am listening to the songs of victory and loving them.  Victory here we come!

He sent his word, and healed them and delivered them from their destruction… Psalm 107:20

Verse Reflection “He sent His word and healed them”.  This is why I am writing these devotions for myself and for you.  He sent us His word and it does heal.   This verse is so true in my circumstances.  I am my own destruction.  God somehow, some way gives me strength through His word.  I don’t understand the power of scripture but it truly does have power.  God brings me peace and confidence through His word just by stopping my brain on the mornings I read His word.  I need to bring His word into my heart before I begin separating my day into good and bad, right and wrong.  He weaves my day into a beautiful tapestry that allows me to start my day by knowing that everything will be okay.  “Everything will work together for the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”    I know this and it becomes relevant to every little detail of my day.  This allows me to give myself a little grace. Instead of perceiving one little detail as bad or one little splurge as being “too much” I can eat “one serving of non-God food” and it is okay.  If I eat two then the next day can be all God foods. In the past, I tended to say that I might as well go ahead on and eat anything and everything that I want to eat because I crossed the line that I myself created.  I love this verse because it references “their” destruction while referencing “their” healing.   I self-destruct when I perceive life this way.  This verse reminds me that He sent His word to heal me to prevent this self-destruction.  I am healed.  He has delivered me from my destruction.

Prayer:  Father, thank you for Your word that heals.  When I perceive  my day as part of YOUR tapestry Lord, each thread is gorgeous and beautiful.  I thank you for giving me the vision of allowing one non-God food a day as being okay.  It allows me not to self-destruct.  It allows me to see the day as a beautiful piece of art.  Thank You for giving me the vision of an eating habit that I can maintain for a lifetime.  I have learned that I cannot write down my foods forever, I cannot refrain from eating “fun foods” forever.  I must allow myself an indulgence daily or as needed.  Thank You for delivering me from my own destruction.  I do believe I have heard Your word and Your word has healed me from a lifetime of unhappiness.

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nation, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

Verse Reflections:  The Greek translation of “be still” means to literally “let go, to surrender”.  Only by stopping our busy lives, by letting go of our control can God take over.  At this point in my life journey, I know I cannot control my eating habits and weigh a healthy weight.  I have to let go and surrender.  I have tried and tried and tried to be disciplined without God leading the way and I fail.  Only by giving up our illusion of control can we allow God to take over, to be exalted.  Imagine for a moment steering the car and then letting go of the steering wheel and watching the car stay between the lines up hills and around curves.  At that point we have to know He is steering.  We can take no credit for keeping the car on the road.  So often we convince ourselves that our “successes” come from our hard work, our discipline.  The reality is, there are many people that work hard with discipline that have horrible tragedies befall them.  We all have to eventually acknowledge that we cannot control certain parts of our lives.  For me, making consistently healthy eating choices is one of those.   I am so ready to be still, to let go and surrender.  And I am excited about the day people start asking me how I lost the weight so I can exalt God in my answer.  Today we are going to let go and surrender our eating habits to God.  We cannot do this on our own!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for this verse.  Thank you for allowing me to be still and KNOW that You are God.  You will be exalted in my body today and every day on this earth. I will celebrate You, I will worship You, I will elevate You through my life.  Let’s exalt together.  I love the idea that by letting go, surrendering I can represent You better in my eating, my peacefulness and my body.  My health will be Yours and I praise You for that.  Thank You for being present in stillness.  I am out on the porch with hummingbirds buzzing around and my puppy snoring through it all.  The perfect way to see and hear You.  Love You.  I look forward to exalting You today.

+1  Time with God

Don’t criticize and you won’t be criticized. And why worry about the speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own eye. Matthew 7:1-2

Verse Reflections:  We sometimes forget that this verse also means that we don’t need to criticize ourselves.  So often we are truly our own worst critic. We need to love ourselves unconditionally as Christ loves us. It is easy to think of this verse in terms of us talking about other people or internally criticizing others.  However, we often criticize ourselves worst of all.  We criticize our bodies, our weight, our looks, every imperfection real or imagined.  We need to also realize that we are God’s temple, His creation.  We need to begin this day by not judging others OR ourselves.   God will give us the power to do that. He loves us with all our faults. And yet often we do not love ourselves with this same unconditional love.  We have to admit this love deep into our souls before we can change unhealthy eating habits that we use to comfort, reward and punish ourselves.  We are so aware of weight and eating habits in America that it is almost revolting.  Let’s begin this day by not being hard on ourselves or others.  I definitely have that board in my own eye when it comes to eating and then criticizing myself. I constantly chastise myself when I eat too much or choose the wrong foods.  Why am I so hyper-critical?   I have no right to criticize anyone’s habits including my own. Just chill and make good decisions.  Let’s begin by asking God to give us the joy of the day.  Let’s ease up on slapping our hand or criticizing ourselves or others (even in our heads) about eating habits.  God gave us delicious, amazing foods.  I made my own cereal yesterday by mixing a variety of roasted nuts with raisins and cran-raisins and pouring milk over it.  No carbs, no processed foods.  Delicious.  I’m taking an apple for a snack at 10:00.  I can’t wait to start this day by not judging myself and having fun with God foods.

Prayer:  Dear Father, Take away this board in my eye.  Allow me to know I am your child and that you made me beautiful.  I need Your help today to not criticize myself.  We are going to have an awesome day and I so appreciate You loving me and accepting me just as I am.  I have developed some habits of daily self-criticism.  I am giving them to You.  So many times I eat just to “spite myself” or others.  I’m not really that hungry in my body but I get antsy, bored, frustrated or lonely and turn to chocolate, sugar and butter or carbs for comfort.  Fix me, mold me in Your image because my own image of myself is a little screwed up.  I adore you and love You and I know you adore and love me.  Allow me to have joy without criticism or judgement or angst today.  When I am joyful, I have amazingly healthy eating habits so let’s go out there and make this happen.  It is time for me to start driving to start the day and my hair is wet so it’s ponytail time but I am excited about this new venture.  Thanks for giving me this awesome message of eating God +1.  Love you.  May You also have a blessed day and may I be part of that blessing for You.

If your eye is pure, there will be sunshine in your soul. Matthew 6:22.

Verse Reflections  I love the thought of having “Sunshine in my soul”.  When Moses came off of the mountain after spending time with God he was white with light.  I am sure that he had sunshine in his soul.  It is revealing that God keeps giving us instructions in the Bible that shows us all the wonderful blessings that we can have BUT He also gives us tasks we must do in order to receive them.  In this verse we must keep our eyes pure.  We must be sure that what we look at, what we read, what we crave, what we put ourselves in front of should be pure.  This verse reinforces what I heard God tell me.  We should eat “pure” (with no additives, no artificial ingredients) foods.  We should eat God foods that are pure meats, fruits and vegetables.  We should turn our eyes on the pure words of the Lord each morning.  If we begin our day with purity, we can feel the lightness, the joy that He is promising us.  I am ready to have the sunshine in my soul.  So let’s do this!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, What a beautiful way to start my day.  Lord, pour sunshine into my soul.  Let it fill me, let others see the joy and sunshine pouring forth.  I totally believe that You are light and I want to be filled with You.  The Greek word for “pure” is clean and blameless.  Let me be clean and blameless today.  Allow me to have the strength to eat pure foods, clean foods.  I want to go a step beyond today and ask You to help me crave those foods.  Allow me to look for and want those wonderful foods You created.  I adore You and this is just one simple, but for me complicated, way I can worship You.  Today I am going to worship You through the foods I eat.  And I look forward to feeling and being warmed by the sunshine spilling out of my soul.

No one lights a lamp and hides it! Instead he puts it on a lampstand to give light to all who enter the room. Your eyes light up your inward being. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. Luke 11:34

Verse Reflection:  Obviously God is wanting me to stress what I put into my eyes, into my body.  Thank you God for this verse.  I love the fact that when we put pure things into our bodies we will literally light up from inside.  How beautiful!  What a great way to start my God plus one today.   We literally feel better emotionally, we need less sleep… when we eat right, when we put pure foods into our bodies. This takes that intellectual knowledge to another level, we can light our inner being by what we read (such as scriptures like this), what we watch on television (yes I am listening to easy music this morning) AND what we put into our mouth even though this verse focuses on what our eyes put into our souls.  I believe He is sending me a message by giving me a similar verse two mornings in a row.  Today I am going to look at pure foods, put PURE things into my body.  More importantly, I am going to radiate to give light to anyone who is in my presence.  How cool is that.  I will be like a moon reflecting God, the sun.  Let me be a full moon so that God’s light is aweing to those around. Today, I will eat only pure foods, God foods, all natural foods. We will change from the inside out!

Prayer:  Father,  You are so amazing the way You give me just the message I need.  I love focusing on the positive with this plan instead of the negative.  I have chastised myself, scolded myself, beat myself up for every cookie (maybe because I eat entire pans ha ha), every bag of chips, every time I eat any of those foods I put into the “Thou Shall Not Eat” category.  Thank you for giving me a positive spin on just having fun finding Your pure foods.  I woke up this morning fifteen minutes before the alarm.  I have a feeling it was because there was no sugar in my body.  Thank You!!  Let’s go eat breakfast even though I don’t enjoy it.  Let’s go have a wonderful light filled day.  I love you Lord.  Another day of God plus ONE here we come.  I am going to be Moses coming off the mountain and shining with Your light.  Okay, maybe 30 minutes with You in the morning doesn’t give me that much light but You are the God of miracles so I will be the moon to Your sun.  You decide how much light I can shine. Give me the wisdom, strength and power to surround myself with pure, Godly music, movies and friends while taking this a step further to eating only pure foods today! Together we will feel our soul light up with Your radiance.

You see, this is what may happen: Someone who thinks it is wrong to eat this food will see you eating at a temple restaurant, for you know there is no harm in it. Then he will become bold enough to do it too, although all the time he still feels it is wrong. So, because you “know it is all right to do it” you will be responsible for causing great spiritual damage to a brother with a tender conscience for whom Christ died. And it is a sin against Christ to sin against your brother by encouraging him to do something he thinks is wrong. So, if eating xx is going to make my brother sin, I’ll not eat any of it as long as I live, because I don’t want to do this to him. Corinthians 8:10-13

Verse Reflection:  God’s word tells us that eating any food is not wrong in itself.  However, it is wrong when it is wrong for you.  One of my pet peeves is dividing foods into a “can” and “cannot” have category.  And yet, I am the queen of this habit.  I guess that is why this new lifestyle works for me.  If I want a candy bar I can have one.  I just have to wait until tomorrow to have the second one!   I guess even with all this knowledge I have to be conscious of those around me because we all have to do what works best for us.  The definition of sin is “anything that separates us from God” and certainly food can do that if we don’t feel good about what we are eating.  I don’t think there is anything we can’t eat, we just need to be okay with it and eat it in moderation.  Ugh!  To be honest, I don’t want to think in these terms of thinking about others around me in this journey.  I have enough trouble making it work for me.  However, God is clearly telling us to think about what we eat in front of others that may need additional strength. Certainly, I have overindulged way too many times in my life because I stayed fairly thin despite my over-eating.  I suppose God is telling me that I have to grow up and be a role model.

Prayer:  Dear God, Help me be aware of others around me and allow me to be an example for that individual person.  I haven’t mentioned this program to many people around me.  I guess I have to make sure it works the way I think it will before I open my mouth.  And maybe I will even wait for people to ask.  Hmmm what a novel idea.  Bless my heart and head because I know me well enough to know that I sometimes respond to life by eating in my nervousness and manic self-awareness.  And I just love food, all food.  I love You and want to represent You well.  Will you allow me to realize that no food is wrong while protecting me from overeating or being a bad influence on others in my choices.  Help me grow up and be the role model I should be.  Perhaps all the turmoil inside of me could be avoided if I would think of others instead of myself.

Now to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask of him. Ephesians 3:20

Verse Reflections:  How amazing that we don’t have the slightest clue how much God can do for us and with us. He is able to do “exceedingly abundantly ABOVE” all that we ask.” I shared with my husband how “easy” this journey has been this time.  Hmmm what have I done differently?  Only ONE thing.  My daily devotionals.  Remember God gave me this message over a year ago.  Christ has already exceeded my expectations.  I’m a slow learner but I am making a solid commitment to my devotionals.  I am astounded that 20-30 minutes in God’s presence each day makes all the difference. We are reminded by this verse that God works exceedingly abundantly above what we ask. That means when we invite Him into our eating habits, our cravings, and our struggles with food, He doesn’t simply offer restraint. He offers transformation.

God’s Word renews our minds before it ever changes our bodies. As we meditate on Scripture, our thinking begins to shift—from emotional eating to intentional nourishment, from guilt to grace, from quick fixes to lasting discipline. The Holy Spirit strengthens us not just to resist unhealthy choices, but to desire what honors our bodies as temples of God.

When we ask God to help us eat better, He may give us more than weight loss. He may give us peace around food, freedom from shame, consistency instead of cycles, and joy in caring for ourselves. What begins as a physical goal becomes a spiritual victory. And yet, I know myself well enough to know all it would take is one or two days of not reading God’s word and infusing His power and it would all come roaring back like a lion.  I’ve lived this roller coaster for years now.  I know that another hill is coming and I can easily fly down it out of control.  So, I daily go to God and ask for His blessings on this journey so that I can receive “above” all that I ask.  I am going to take comfort in knowing I have only scratched the surface of what He can do for me. Today I am expecting to exceed my own expectations through God. I will choose and eat healthy, God foods, and restore my health.

Prayer:  God, you never cease to amaze me when I stay close to You.  Sometimes it scares me and I go run and hide from Your brilliance or the loudness of Your voice.  All I have to do is to stay “too busy” and Your presence fades.  And yet, You never go away, You hold me up, You are always my best friend.  But sometimes I make You my friend that I I forget to call.  Other times we are texting sporadically so I purposely can’t recognize Your voice.  Once again, now I hear Your voice.  I heard You tell me emphatically that I needed to eat God foods and limit the processed and non-God foods to 1 serving per day.  I’m doing it and I am ecstatic that just by staying in the word the desires of my body are changing.  I cannot wait to die (okay I’m exaggerating please don’t take me literally) and find out how all of Your power works.  I feel it, I know it.  It is truly life changing.  I hope this works outside my soul too and I lose weight just so that other people will dedicate their lifestyles and their power to You.  I am enjoying being healthy and knowing that I am taking care of this amazing body You entrusted to me without focusing on weight loss.  Thanks for the power You give to us when we just move closer to You through scripture, devotions, prayers and just talking time.   Thank You for offering Your power that can exceed abundantly all that I can imagine. You have already provided amazing foods to us that will give us health. Forgive us for forgetting how awesome Your plan was when You gave us these pure, God foods.  You are changing me, You have changed me.  I am feeling Your exceeding abundance of power.  If You can change me, You can change anyone.  And I believe! Love You forever.

But one is tempted by one’s own desire being lured and enticed by it; then when that desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin and that sin when it is fully grown gives birth to death. James 1:14

Verse Reflections:  Dang. What is wrong with this picture?  This hits a nail on the head for me.  I do tempt myself.  I start to roll around in my head all the tasty treats I can cook and then I start to get excited about one of them.  I plan the first hour of my evening around what I am going to cook and eat.  I have never thought of that conceptualization giving birth to sin.  And now I weigh more than I ever have in my life and I have trouble getting out of the bathtub.  Those that know me would laugh at that but I am serious!  I am amazed at anyone that can carry weight so elegantly.  It weighs me down spiritually, emotionally and I am sure physically which leads us all closer to our deaths.  So now I am having fun conceiving/planning “God treats”.  I am no longer worrying about paying “too much” for blueberries or raspberries.  I truly “pay too much” when I eat the foods that add useless calories.  I have paid in my additional weight on my body and in my mind.  So today I am going to lure and entice myself with my amazing tomato soup that I prepared yesterday.  OMG it is delicious.  And this lure and enticement is going to give birth to life and health.

Prayer:  Dear Lord, thank you for this verse.  For reminding me once again that I am my best friend and my worst enemy.  Help me get over myself and get on with healthy, fun living.  Help me to just stop my mind when it is conceiving that desire.  I am constantly rolling over all the fun treats I can cook or buy.  Allow me to stop and have more fun planning healthy cooking, healthy foods.  I know I feel better when I eat this way.  I actually prefer most God foods and yet I have this “spite the system” part of me that thinks I should have more fun eating the cookies, chips or pasta.  We are going to have a wonderful day today.  I am ready to celebrate and create beautiful new desires with Your help.  I love You and I am looking forward to the day with You.

Then you put off the concerning the former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. But be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man that was created by God in true righteousness and Holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

Verse Reflections:  God gives us the power to change.  It is just that simple.  He allows us to put our former conduct behind us, to consider our former selves as the “old” me.  How awesome is that.  He is renewing the spirit of our mind every day when we read His word. The power of His word alone can change us and create a new man.  I love the words righteousness and holiness.  Righteousness simply means “right-ness”.  God is calling us to eat right, with right-ness.  Holiness means separated (from the world) by God. This is not merely changing our behavior; it is renewing our spirits with a conscious choice that begins in our mind and manifests in our daily actions. The same principle applies powerfully to our relationship with food, health, and self-discipline.

The “old man” Paul describes is shaped by habits, impulses, and desires of this world that promise comfort but ultimately lead to corruption. When it comes to eating, this may look like turning to food for stress relief, ignoring the body’s signals, or repeatedly choosing convenience over nourishment. These patterns can feel automatic, even justified, yet Scripture reminds us they are rooted in deception—offering short-term satisfaction while undermining long-term health and stewardship.

God does not ask us to fight these habits through sheer willpower alone. Instead, He invites us to be “renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Lasting change begins with how we think. As our minds are renewed by God’s Word, we begin to see food not as an emotional escape feeding our compulsions or reward, but as fuel—something entrusted to us for the purpose of strength, nutrition, clarity, and service. We begin to recognize that caring for our bodies is not vanity; it is obedience and worship.

Putting on the “new man” means stepping into the identity God has already created for us—one marked by righteousness and holiness. In practical terms, this looks like choosing foods that support life and health, practicing moderation, and responding to hunger with wisdom rather than impulse. Each healthy choice becomes an act of alignment with who God says we are, not who the old habits have told us we must be.

This journey is not about perfection. It is about daily renewal. Each meal is an opportunity to put off the old patterns and put on the new, trusting that God’s Spirit is actively working within us. As we submit our minds and bodies to Him, transformation follows—slowly, faithfully, and sustainably. Today we will eat God foods and renew our minds!

Prayer:
Lord, help me to put off the old habits that no longer serve Your purpose in my life. Renew my mind through Your Word so that my choices reflect the new person You have created me to be. Teach me to honor You with my body, and give me the discipline and grace to walk in health, righteousness, and freedom. Thank You Father for creating a new holiness in me.  You have truly set me apart from worldly temptations and worldly views in Your name.  Please keep up the good work in me.  I like this “new” me.  I know I need Your word, this time of centering, to overcome the “old” me that craves sugar and carbs.  It is nice to give myself the freedom to have whatever I want but not exceed ½ cup. Keep giving me strength to eat God foods. Keep changing me. Keep setting me apart in right-ness.  I love You!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Verse Reflections:  God has given us a living hope through Christ.  I know the new birth that this verse is referring to is the great amazing birth of our souls and the lightness of being that believing in the grace of Jesus gives us.  And yet, it also speaks to my current journey of eating right.  I have a living hope, a new birth of who I am because of the POWER that Christ has.  I am amazed at how easy my day of choosing foods that are good for me are if I start the day with Him.  The days I skip that time, that reflection… it is as though there is a hole in me that is not filled up so I must pour foods in the hole to make me happy, to make me full, to make me feel complete.  On the days that I spend time with God I am already happy so the foods just go on top and there are no holes in my soul that must be filled. Boy, we could go into major therapy for those two sentences, couldn’t we?  Maybe I am overanalyzing but the bottom line is I really start the day differently when I take advantage of His word, His mercy.  I am hopeful, I am blessed by Him and I have a strength that I do not have on days I skip His word.

Prayer:  Father, thank you for the new birth that You have given me through the death and rebirth of Your son.  This unprecedented miracle here on earth showed Your power.  Help me to take advantage of, to claim this power today.  You have already blessed me beyond imagination with Your mercy and grace.  I want to be born anew now in my eating, my health, my weight.  I want to use this living hope.  That is such a beautiful phrase.  Thank You for it.  I think I will seize “living hope” for my daily thought today.  Seal it on my heart, my soul and change me with this living hope.  I am Your child that has been born anew and we are going to eat healthy and have fun today.  I love You.  May I bless You with my life today.  I seldom think of my life blessing You but it is the least I can do for You.  You have given me a lightness of being that I could not have in any other religion.  You have given me an unearned grace, forgiveness that gives me every day as a new opportunity to live free from the past.  Today I am going to bless You who has given us a living hope that we can do this!

But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. 2 Corinthians 10:17

Verse Reflection:  This time around I totally understand what this verse is saying.   If I change my eating habits to healthy ones for the rest of my life, then I have to credit God.  I have fought this battle for over 35 years and I can’t win it on my own.  This time with God is definitely making the difference. We must let everything we do glorify God.  We have to glorify God in our speech, in our thoughts, the compliments we give others, the work we do and of course, what we eat.  It is God’s business that we are working for.  It is God’s family He has given us.  It is God’s body he has loaned us.  It is God’s talents He has given us to use.  When we get credit for anything we must glorify God.  Everything we do, everything we are, we must Give God the glory.  Every time we are successful, we must give Him the credit.   When He gives us the power, the strength to stop at one serving, God gave us that strength.  YAY GOD!   That is the cool thing about the God + 1 is that we can have another + 1 tomorrow!  And still glory in success.  When I am asked how I lost this weight that I am going to lose, I must make sure that I give God the glory.  Honestly, I cannot do it without Him.  He deserves the glory.

Prayer”  Bless our day today!  Let me give You the glory for all that happens today.  You are amazing and I am looking forward to living today surrounded by Your glory.  Your world is gorgeous, I am living in the moment, living with You and for that I give You the glory!  God, I plan to listen to You and use Your power.  Allow me to look around and breathe in Your beauty.  Allow me success in this journey.  And when I celebrate, let me celebrate the success YOU gave me.  Let me help YOU change thousands of lives by spreading the word of Your power.  By giving You the glory for giving us this power that is beyond us as humans on our own.   Thank You for the success that I am experiencing in changing my eating habits.  I love You.

Keep your heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. Put away from yourself a wayward mouth, and perverse lips put far from you. Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you. Make level the path of your feet. And let all your ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Proverbs 4:23-27

Verse Reflections:  Diligence is “careful and persistent work or effort”.  This, I feel, is the key to success in the God plus one.  Keeping our heart with diligence: being meticulous and hard working.  We cannot expect to change a life time of habits easily.  We have to work to change our habits.  If 30 minutes a day in God’s word and in the presence of God can make a difference then I am happy to do that. In all honesty, that is an easy, beautiful way to change my life.  Yes, I have to be disciplined enough to find the thirty minutes in my day but I have to say God is faithful and He has truly made eating His foods easier than I ever imagined.  I can do this the rest of my life. I watched my Mother have devotionals most of our lives and she is a beautiful person inside and out.  I saw God in her daily life.  So I know the difference staying close to God makes.  This verse reminds us that the right choices require careful choices, and continuous WORK.  Eating right is not easy.  There is no magic pill, no magic diet, no easy way of eating.  We have to persist no matter how many times we fail.  God tells us that we begin success with keeping our heart centered.  Read God’s word every day.  If we read His word we can get our mouths, our eyes, our hands… to cooperate.

Prayer:  Father, take my hand today and allow me to keep my heart with meticulous care.  I know from this verse that I cannot expect You to guard my heart without a little work on my part.  This is the part of Christianity I often take for granted and forgive me.  You make it so easy that sometimes I forget to work to draw closer to You.   I do know that to live at the highest and most fulfilling level “I need to work it work it” (as Madascar’s lead character said “I’ve got to move it, move it”).  I love You with all my heart.  You know it and I know it but I don’t always keep my heart as pure and Holy as You want me too.  I judge myself and others, I let thoughts flicker by that aren’t gorgeous.  I want to have the right-ness and Holiness that will create the perfect heart and the perfect me.  I do realize that my heart is the root of my “issues” so purify it, cleanse it and I will work hard to keep it close to You and guard it with and for You.  Loving You forever!!  Let’s go enjoy our day God. I want to see more of your beautiful world!!  Fun day ahead with a pure heart and alone time with You.  Soooo excited.

“Long ago, even before He made the world, God chose us to be His very own, through what Christ would do for us; He decided then to make us holy in His eyes without a single fault, we who stand before Him covered in His love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family….”Ephesians 1:4-5

Verse Reflection:  God made a decision before I was born to make me Holy, to cover me with His love.  How can I fail Him?  He has adopted me as His daughter.  I have been chosen by Him.  Long before calories were counted, or habits were formed, God chose us, He made us blameless and Holy. Before we struggled with food, energy, or self-discipline ever entered our story, we were seen, loved and claimed as God’s child.  This truth reshapes how we approach health, not as a tool of vanity, but as a way to honor God and live intentionally.

Weight loss and healthy eating while focusing on God allows us to frame this journey as caring for our body. Period. We do not need to chastise ourselves or criticize our looks. We are separating ourselves from the world’s vanity, becoming Holy by aligning our habits with the choices God wants us to make.  When food becomes comfort, control, or escape we forget our identity in God’s kingdom. We are not striving to earn God’s approval. We are already adopted and loved unconditionally. We do not need to rush, binge, restrict or shame ourselves into change. Create a holy place to spend one-on-one time with God.  Putting me in control of my eating during the day is a constant battle of the good angel (Sindy) on one shoulder and the devil (he that shall not be named) with the microphone on the other shoulder.  When I don’t have that verse, that Holy strength, in my head from my quiet time with God to reflect on, I tend to fill it with a battle with food thoughts dancing around.  I can tell that being adopted into God’s family gives me that base of strength that a loving mother and father give.  It is mazing that we started out Holy, set apart, without a single fault.  I’ve taken that Holy base and nailed a lot of faults to it but God sends His love shining inside and wipes them out every day that I start with Him.  We are chosen by God in this world that is so oriented toward what we wear and how it looks on us. He doesn’t care, He made me Holy, set apart by Him without a single fault.  That is awing and humbling.  I love that we are covered in His love.  How much happier would we be if every time we looked in the mirror we are clothed and covered in God’s love.  Therefore, we are beautiful. Today, I am going to choose God foods, pure natural foods because they honor God and this amazing body He has given to us.

Prayer:  Thank You God for adopting me into Your family and for covering me in Your love. I can tell today because You protect me even when I don’t come to You first.  You help my faults, You gave me power and cover me with Your love.  I am very proud of myself and yet I know it is not me but YOU giving me power because I just can’t be around all that food and not eat a plate full of junk foods.  Thank You for choosing me and opening me up to moving closer to You daily so that You CAN give me the power to do this.  Pretty cool that every time I come to You my faults disappear and I can start all over again.  I am blessed to be a part of Your kingdom.  I am going to celebrate your love that radiates off my body, shining brightly and I am going to feel beautiful.  We can do this and I love You.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done…” Matthew 6:10

Verse Reflections:  One of my friends brought up a mind boggling thought as we were running this morning.  We often emphasize “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s prayer but so often we overlook “Thy kingdom come”.  What an awe inspiring thought that we can help bring God’s kingdom here on this earth.  We can live our lives as though His kingdom is far away, separate from our lives here on earth or we can live our lives to encompass His kingdom daily.  We can start our day asking Him to bring His kingdom here to us.  Every smile we smile can bring His kingdom to others, every word we say can bring His kingdom closer or push it further away.  Even the foods we eat can bring His kingdom closer.  Imagine sitting down with Jesus and His disciples in their kingdom.  What foods would you eat?  What foods do you think He would serve You?  As crazy as it sounds I truly believe that our witness includes trying to be a person that others want to be around or even a person that others want to be.  And that can change based on the culture or the people we are around.  My husband is so good at incorporating other cultures into his actions when he travels all over the world and honoring their standards.  I believe that honors God and brings His kingdom closer to those he is with.  Today I am going to focus on bringing God’s kingdom into my body.  By eating foods that make me healthier, even thinner, I will be honoring Him and those around me.

Prayer:  Father, bring your Kingdom to me today.  Let Your kingdom come into my mind, my body.  I want to help You bring Your kingdom here on earth.  I want to honor You but I also want to partake of this kingdom.  One of the verses above states that You are able to do far above all that we can imagine.  Open my imagination today and allow me to just know You have everything under control, you have things ready for all of us that are so beyond the ordinary.  Today I am going to live beyond.  I am going to live in Your kingdom.  Just call me princess today!  Love You my King.

My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Verse Reflections:  Well I guess His strength is dead on perfect in my life.  Because I have lots of weaknesses.  This verse makes me close my eyes and breathe deeply.  My body relaxes and I feel an energy that comes from deep within in celebration of the knowledge that life is not on my shoulders.  God’s got this!  How exciting, how encouraging to know that the more I give control to God, the stronger He is and the closer I am to achieving all He has planned for my life.  I love the fact that I do not have to always be strong.  Ironically, this actually makes me stronger or perhaps I am feeling the strength of the partnership with God.  A power that I would not have without that union that goes beyond this earth.  So, today my weakness disappears and God takes over.  We are going to dream about, plan for and fill my body with amazing healthy foods.  God’s strength is perfect and this journey is “no hill for a climber”.

I was about to close my reflections and it hit me that my desire for perfection in my life is one of the reasons I am so hard on myself, so analytical and critical about what I eat, so critical and judgmental about my weight and looks.  So how beautiful to think about God’s strength being the very definition of perfection.  So, I can relax and let go of my quest for perfection because I will never achieve it.  I know that, and yet, I keep stressing myself out by trying to be perfect or at least hiding my weaknesses so I look perfect.  Got it—this verse tells me it ain’t happening – so I might as well give it up and give it over to God the only perfect one.

Prayer:  Father, take over my weakness today.  All of my weaknesses.  And yet my most current path requires a specific prayer for my weakness for foods.  Will You take over and become strong in the shadow of my weakness.  Will You shine a light into the darkness that haunts me and make the path bright, encouraging and enticing? I have so much hope knowing the weaker I am, the stronger You are.  We are going to rely on Your perfect strength in this journey.   I love You more than life, I love You more than food (boy that is a big one lol).  Bless our journey today.  You got this!!  And so, I’ve got this with You.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Verse Reflections:  We have power!  We have been given the power of God to do this.  We can say no to the temptations. So many times we wait on the power to strike like lightning or we wait on a magic pill to swallow inside that changes our very make-up.  Those options are not going to happen.  For me, it is just a small light in the darkness, just enough for me to see the way.  When I eat and the voice from the dark shouts you need to eat or drink _______I look and see a flicker of light, just enough power to say no.  He has not given us the spirit of fear.  We do not have to be afraid of failure, of not being perfect.  We have a sound mind.  I know we doubt this sometimes because we have failed at keeping the weight we want but we have the power to do this.  We have the power of love.  We have to love ourselves, now, today.  We have to love our imperfections.  We have to know that all the “bad things” that have happened to us do not define us.  We are more.  We have the spirit of power, we have the spirit of love and we have a sound mind.  God gave us these things and no one, nothing can take these away from us.  We have the power of loving ourselves enough to say no to a 30 minute indulgence in favor of a healthy body and mind.  It is not easy but we can do this because He gave us the power. Today we are going to love ourselves enough to conquer the addiction to unhealthy foods.

Prayer:  Thank You God for this spirit of Power!  So often I have felt powerless in the midst of my bad eating habits.  Learning that I am addicted to sugar has actually freed me from this powerlessness.  I realize that I will not crave bad foods if I do not indulge in them.  A crazy circle that has literally made me feel crazy, powerless. Thank You Father that I am not crazy, I am of sound mind.  Thank You for letting me know that I do not need to be afraid to try again.  This easy, beautiful way of eating has freed me and given me an internal and external power I haven’t had in a long time.  Keep feeding me this spirit of power, this love and this knowledge that I am of sound mind.  I do not have to be neurotic, strive for perfection, count calories, divide my foods into “good” and “bad”, want to take diet pills, purge or starve myself.  I can just eat healthy God foods with one of whatever I want to eat or drink.  Thank You Father for this plan.  You are amazing.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8

Verse Reflections:  I grew up in a small town.  It seemed my Mother always knew I was in trouble before I did.  Her “loving eye” was on me at all times through my teachers, my principal, my friend’s parents, my Sunday School teachers, even the pool manager.  So… I seldom stepped out of the box without being totally aware of the fact that I was going to get in trouble.   And I always did.  The one time I “stole” a couple of grapes and ate them at the grocery store (they were loose so I reasoned) Mom made me go to the manager and tell him.  He was very stern and gave me a lecture about how these were paid for by the store and the store would lose money if people stole from them.  Looking back I am sure Mr. Keisler and Mom shared a twinkle as they taught me the life lesson I would never forget.  I learned so much from my Mother, the teacher.  I think of God in this same way.  God is always gently and sometimes firmly instructing me.  If I get off the path, He reminds me that He has cleared a path for me and when I step off that path I run the risk of stumbling over the obstacles that have not been removed from that path.  He has instructed us about the foods to eat.  The story of Daniel clearly shows us the strength that eating God’s pure foods gives our spirit and our bodies.  He is able to bless us when we follow His instructions.  He counsels us with His loving eyes on us.  He knows we mean well but He also knows when we eat a ton of sugar and wear our pancreas out He cannot protect us from diabetes.  When we eat 6,000 calories a day, He cannot protect us from weighing too much.  When we consistently drink alcohol or take drugs to relax He cannot protect us from addiction and the consequences that follow.  He has told us what to do.  He loves us and watches us every minute of every day.  The least we can do is to listen and act.

Prayer:  Lord, continue to instruct me, continue to teach me in the way I should go.  You have Your loving eye on me and I invite You to speak loudly, to remind me of what is healthy for my body, my mind, my spirit.  I know I sometimes sabotage the beautiful plans You have for me by being unhealthy even when I know better.  Bless my choices today.  Thank You for the role model that Daniel was.  I might not face down a real lion today but I’m sure that are some teeth that will come my way.  Give me the power that health allows me.  Give me the power to listen to Your guidance.  I hear You and I claim the love that You have for me that makes me WANT to follow Your teaching. I love the fact that Your loving eyes will be on me today.  I know that I will remember that when I make my eating choices today.  Have a beautiful day, keep watching and teach on.  I am listening today.

“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’” Romans 9:17

Verse Reflection:  Over and over in God’s word we see that one of the reasons we receive “blessings” and “miracles” is so that others may see God’s power in us or our lives.  I believe that God gave me this easy plan of eating God foods so that He could display His power in my life.  I cannot wait to weigh in a few days not for me but because I believe if I have lost weight then others will eventually want to know how.  In sharing it will help in just a small way to proclaim God’s name in all the earth.  He “raises us up” so that others will want to look up to us.  He gives us “successes” so that God will be honored.  I do not believe that “success” here on earth equals “success” in God’s kingdom.  The homeless man on the street that gives away his only pair of shoes will be more honored in heaven or even in God’s kingdom here on earth than the multi-millionaire that gives away a million dollars.  The difference is that others here on earth want to be the multi-millionaire.  And so, Pharaoh was raised up because God knew others would want to be him.  And so, we strive for perceived perfection here on earth so that others will look up to us and want to hear about God.  So today, I keep eating God foods but today I eat them so that God’s power may be displayed in me and others will want to hear about God.  I like having a purpose bigger than me, my vanity and my wardrobe.

Prayer:  Father, today I ask for success in eating, in losing weight not just for me but for Your kingdom.  We know that You give us Your power, You give us honor and raise us up so that Your name will be talked about.  Your power will be known.  Let me help in my small way to give others that exciting glimpse of how awesome You are.  This is just 30 days in but overall I have enjoyed the process.  I have slipped, I have “failed” but each time You raise me up.  May my purpose be Your purpose.  May we be healthy physically, mentally and spiritually together.  I love You.

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way… Please test your servants for 10 days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food…. At the end of the 10 days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. Daniel 8, 12, 13, 15

Verse reflections:  In just 10 days the official could see a difference between Daniel and his friends and the other chosen men of the kingdom.  It is vital that we eat our 4-5 fruits and vegetables a day and leave off the wine and rich foods.  This is what God has been telling me for a year but it took me a while to listen.  And yet, I feel like He gives us permission to not be perfect- thus the plus one option.  These verses go on to say that Daniel was ten time wiser than anyone in the kingdom.  If we want all that God can give us our choices matter.  This is as clear as anything else in the Bible and yet we keep pouring foods into our bodies that affect our health and our minds.  Why?  Why does the short-term fun out-weigh the long term health we know we will gain?  We are just flat out crazy I think.  That brownie, those chips, those cookies, the sauces… why do we keep going back when the grilled veggies and meats are just as awesome?  I know the sugar and carbs give us a quick flare of happiness both physically and mentally but then it crashes us and creates a craving for more just like drugs.  I will say that eating healthy has eliminated my cravings.  It has been so much easier to eat healthy because I am eating healthy.  Sounds simple?  Well, I had to get past the first weeks of cravings before I got here.  And it is only by God’s power and my devotions that I could.

Prayers:  Father, allow me to be Daniel.  To crave vegetables, to want to put healthy foods in my body and to KNOW that those foods will stand the test of time.  Even 10 days of eating like Daniel will make a difference that others can see.  Give me the wisdom that Daniel had, ten times those around him eating the rich foods.  Give me the courage, the power to make Daniel’s choices.  Thank You for the lack of cravings I have now. I love Your vegetables, I love Your fruit.  Continue to give me the desires for these foods and allow me to see the difference that solidifies this life change I am making.  I want to give You the power to give me health.  I want to give You the power to give me wisdom.  And so, I am rededicating my choices of foods to You.  I am going to concentrate on eating vegetables like Daniel.  Thank You Father.

“He that dwells in the secret place of the most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: in Him will I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

Verse Reflections:  I have always been a fan of Victoria’s Secret and get a warm feeling inside when I choose pretty lingerie.  I smile with my secret because I like the fact that even in my torn up blue jeans and t-shirt or business suit that I am wearing fun, classy and matching lingerie.  It is like a whisper that only I can hear in the middle of a loud room. I love the idea that I have a similar secret every day when I am out in the world that I am really in the secret place of God’s.  How lovely to feel like I can snuggle up under His arm while that business meeting is going on or to be protected when I have to schedule a hard personnel meeting.  He can protect us from loneliness, hurt, anger, sadness, AND the resulting binges.  Today we will trust Him to be our refuge “a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger or trouble.”  WOW!!  Home base!  God is going to keep us safe from trouble.  We can walk into any situation with a secret little smile on our face and know that nothing that happens can touch us.

Prayer:  Lord, today I claim your protection.  I think sometimes I need protection from myself more than from the world.  I love You so much but I still get so busy trying to cram too much into my day that I can’t hear Your beautiful voice.  Allow me to think of the secret place of refuge You offer me to live in.  That alone slows me down and make me quieter.  You create such beauty in my thoughts with that one verse.  I see Your presence as a mother sheltering her child when a storm is coming and she is afraid something may fall on them.  You are keeping me safe God.   You are protecting me from the burdens of life here on earth.  Let me rest in that knowledge.  I love You God today and every day!!  I choose to rest in Your secret place.  Thank you for all the wonderful foods You have provided me there.

Esther: “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he/she be put to death…” Mordecai: “…And who knows but that you have come to this royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4: 11 and 14

Verse Reflections:  Studying these verses in Esther was truly life changing for me.  Queen Esther was one of many wives.  She could literally be put to death if she approached the King without his permission.  She was afraid to approach the King to ask for the lives of the Jews.  Her Uncle Mordecai’s response is the part that changed my view of my life.  “What if you have come to this position for such a time as this?”  Wow!  What if YOU, what if I have come to the positions we are in for a reason that will come our way today?  It makes me take today so much more seriously.  It makes me want to eat right, to protect my health, to protect my relationship with God so that I hear His voice, and I am ready.  I want to not be afraid to do whatever it is that God asks of me.  I know I am here on this earth for a reason.  What if my reason is today?  It is bigger than eating right, it is bigger than fitting into my clothes or weighing a certain amount.  But all of those things are part of me living my life for God.

Wow! It is a couple of days later and I just read in John 12:27 that Jesus used the exact same phrase right before being taken prisoner leading to His crucifixion.  “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?  Father save me from this hour: but for this cause I was born.”

Prayer:  Father, allow me to be Esther.  Allow me to know that I am here on earth for a reason.  Give me the courage to be ready to accept that my reason for being put in the position You have put me in may occur today.  Give me the strength to dedicate my eating to You.  And yet, I want to go beyond and dedicate my life to You.  I want to hear Your voice, I want to have the courage that Esther had.  As crazy as some people may think it is, I know that giving You my eating habits, my health, my vanity is part of living for You.  I want to live for You today and every day.  I want to know that when the moment(s) come I will be ready.  I will be ready to know that it is for such a time as this that I was born.  May I be ready when that time comes to serve You.

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water …Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whosoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:10, 13.

Verse reflections:  It is so true.  We get up every day hungry and thirsty for the food and drink of this world.  It starts all over again every day.  Ugh!  I sometimes think it would be easier to be an alcoholic and completely stop drinking alcohol than to fix a food addiction because we can’t completely stop eating.  We have to eat three to five times a day.  What would happen if we focused on God’s living water, the spring of water that gives us eternal life?  I know when I focus on the bigger picture the smaller choices do indeed seem small.  When I start my day out with these devotions it is easier for me to choose God foods over the “fun” foods.  God’s eternal plan makes my plan for the day pale in comparison.  God give us this gift of living water.  Fill our stomach, our heart, our mind up with God’s living water.  If I remind myself that I am full of living water, perhaps I won’t crave so many foods.  I won’t contaminate this water with processed foods that have little nutrition.

Prayer:  Lord, help me today to focus on You, Your living water, the spirit inside of me instead of the things on the outside.  I need to quit obsessing over my next meal, what I am going to have.  Help me to just listen to a waterfall of living water inside my head.  That calming, beautiful sound can gentle my spirit.  Will You bless me         today with Your plan for my life?  I know Your gift of life, Your gift of grace goes so beyond any little food detail and yet this is my war right now and I need Your help to win it.  I know You understand this battle because You are a part of me.  I love the fact that when I start my day with You it makes a huge difference.  Will You come to me through these scriptures and bless me today?  Bring me Your living water and allow my choices to pale in comparison to the fullness inside.

“Therefore, whether You eat or drink, or whatever You do, do it all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

Verse reflections:  Today I am going to do everything to lift God up, to glorify Him.  I think that is the root of my issues.  When I focus on me instead of Him things magnify, the issues get bigger.  When I focus on God I realize my issues are just a grain of sand on a huge beach.  And somehow, I begin looking outside of myself and I see others in need.  Again, I realize I have no needs, I have no issues.  The mother who can’t feed her children, who has no car.  The child who is terminally ill… those are issues.  So today whatever I eat or drink I do it for God.  YES!! This is what God plus 1 is all about.  I cannot glorify God when my body is not healthy.  I must dedicate every bite to God, to glorifying God.  What would happen if I stopped right before I began to eat, raised my glass and toasted God, “to Your glory God”?  I think I would look down before I raised my glass to make sure all the foods I chose and the serving sizes would glorify Him.  What a great idea to add to my eating processes.

Prayer:  Father, You always put my day in perspective when I read Your word.  Right now I am not thinking about any work issues, any problems I am thinking about You.  I am excited about toasting You with the next thing I eat or drink.  I am thinking about glorifying You, worshipping You, honoring You with my food and my body.  Thank You Lord for this perspective.  We are going to have a wonderful day and I hope in just one little way I will help Your day shine a little brighter and thus we will make someone else here on earth have a better day.  Here’s to Your glory God.  I love You.

"Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Weigh in:  LOST 4.2-5 pounds (I was afraid to get back on the scale after the holidays so it was probably 5 or more!)

Verse Reflections:  I have learned through the years to thank God no matter what is happening in my life.  Age gives you that gift to know that we have to view the world through the eyes of eternity, the eyes of God.  If we do, death becomes life everlasting, sickness becomes a mountain to climb here on earth with a promise of wellness in heaven, not being able to have children means we will have as many as we want to nurture in heaven or the blessings of being a wonderful aunt, godmother, teacher… and the list goes on.  Over and over in the Bible God instructs us to ask WITH thanksgiving.  He also reminds us in this verse to pray constantly.  I will say the success of God Plus 1 for me is in the verses, stopping my day to center on Him and thus my day becomes God and prayer centered.  Amazing how this makes the difference!

Prayer:  Lord, I thank You for this wonderful idea You had to eat God foods.  I thank You even more that I opened my eyes and ears to this plan.  Overall, it has been so easy for me.  And then, there are the days I skip my verse, I skip my time with You and I have a really tough time.  Your verse above reminds me to pray constantly and it does make a difference in who I am, the choices I make and the ease of going through the day.  I am proud of myself losing 4 pounds this first month because I have had some “bloopers” along the way.  I have had some splurges.  My biggest observation Lord is that the cravings have almost disappeared.  The cravings I have now are just “poor pitiful me” or “I deserve this” spites.  I have truly noticed that I am not craving the sugar that I used to crave.  Thank You for that.  I give You thanks for this in my life right now.  I thank You for my job, my health, my husband, my friends, my dog and my home.  I love You.  Better go to work.

“DO you not know that Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within You, whom you have within you, who you have from God. You are not your own; For you were bought at a price, so glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Verse Reflections:  This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  Think of all the beautiful instructions God gave the temple builders in the Old Testament.  King David gave personal treasures of silver and gold to decorate the temple.  In other words, the temple is made of the most precious treasures on earth.  This is the place where the Holy Spirit dwells – in our bodies here on earth.  It is already gorgeous and stunning because of the light within.  Today we must claim that beauty and know that God died for us, gave us the forgiveness of everything, anything we have done and will do.  We must thank Him by glorifying Him with our bodies.  We must know that we are already His temple and we are already made of the most precious treasures.  May we shine today with His light and know we are beautiful as we eat in thanksgiving to Him.  May we eat foods that the Holy Spirit will enjoy, the foods that God himself has made.

Prayer:  Father, I am filled with a beautiful warmth this morning as I celebrate the body You have given me.  Thinking of it this way allows me to look in the mirror with different eyes.  I love You so much and to think that you created me to be a temple, the place that the Holy Spirit lives makes me rise above myself and love everything about this image.  I want to go beyond, I want to live for You when I think of myself as a Holy Place.  Today we are going to enjoy being “set apart” as Your temple.  Hmmm it even makes me want to dress differently.  I am going to pick out a regal outfit to honor You today.  Love You.

“For God’s home is holy and clean and you are that home.” I Corinthians 3:18

Verse reflections:  The verse from yesterday fills me with awe and reverence that we are the temple of God.  It reminds me of His magnificence.  The verse today fills me with a down home comfortable feeling like putting on my pajamas and snuggling down in my home for a great evening.  I like both images.  I am a little different in that I love to clean my home.  I also love when I have a person come and clean my home for me because I am too busy at work.  I just like a clean home.  I love walking in the door after a 50 hour work week knowing I can relax.  I relax when I don’t have 50 tasks to do before I can enjoy my home.  It makes my home a haven, a place of refuge.  It makes me happy when people can drop by and I don’t have to run around picking up.  Think of God coming to visit inside our body.  I am so proud that right now I can invite Him in and show Him around.  He will see my healthy eating choices, the results of my exercise.  I am sure it is cleaner inside there than it has been in a while.  I won’t have to apologize and run around hiding the cookies, bread & butter, chips and dip and resulting surges of insulin or high cholesterol.  Because He knows the home just went through a few years of being hit by a hurricane I won’t even apologize for any extra weight.  I am proud because it is clean today!  It is holy, and set apart from the past.  I am going to imagine me in my pajamas inside my stomach today waiting on God’s visit!

Prayer:  I just love Your word God.  I love the images it stirs in my mind.  Thank You for working with me to clean Your home.  I want You as a permanent roommate.  I know I have to talk to You to keep our relationship going, communication is key in any home.  I know I have to study Your word, have quiet time in order to hear Your voice.  This, I have found is the key to my success in this lifestyle change.  It is the days I don’t stop for thirty minutes that I cannot fight the temptation.  I think the devil with the microphone watches me and waits on me to not talk to You.  He rubs His hands in glee when I run around in the morning too busy to stop and I dash out the door.  Then He waits on the right moment and yells in my ear.  I think I allow You to wrap Your arms around my ears when I listen to You in the mornings.  The good news in Sindy, Your angel and You still have power that far exceeds His megaphone even when I don’t stop.  I am learning Father that this 30 minutes each day is the most important 30 minutes in my life.  Thank You for being the kind of roommate that helps me clean our home even when I don’t pick up on certain days.  Today I welcome You in our home.  Give me the power to keep it clean and set apart.  Love You roomie.

Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

Verse reflections:  The word lovely is rarely used in our day to day conversations.  Maybe that makes it even more precious.  We need to think of ourselves as lovely creations.  This is a true, noble, right and pure statement because God made us.  We are to admire ourselves because we are reflections of God.  Today we will begin our day thanking God for making us lovely, making us in His image which is magnificent, excellent and praiseworthy.  If we begin our day with positive thoughts of ourselves, we will extend the beauty of those thoughts to others around us.  We will not put others down, we will look at others as extensions of God as well which means they are also lovely.  We will keep our minds on true, noble, right and pure thoughts.  We will praise others and recognize their excellence not their shortcomings.  And it all starts with our own loveliness.  Negative words and thoughts reflect more on us than the others we are speaking of.  So today, remember we ARE lovely.  We must feed ourselves lovely foods, God foods, pure foods, excellent foods.  We will focus on excellence in ourselves and others around us.

Prayer:  Father, I should start my day with this verse every day.  It is a verse that centers my soul better than any other verse.  It reminds me not to criticize myself or others.  It reminds me that I should only allow positive thoughts in.  It reminds me that I should always focus on You, on lovely thoughts.  When I start out with this foundation my entire day is different.  I am just a better person when I start my day with You.  Why I ever let myself get too busy to focus on You I don’t understand.  I don’t understand faith, I don’t understand Your power but oh my goodness it is so real.  Father, I am going to take this verse to a new angle and ask You to help me put the pure, lovely, excellent foods into my body even as I focus on pure, lovely and excellent attributes in myself and others.  Thank You, my lovely Father.

"So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17

Verse Reflections:  God cares about us this much.  Can you imagine numbering all the hairs on our heads?   And yet, God knows how many hairs are on our heads.  Why do we ever stress? Why do we worry about the issues of today or yesterday?  We have a God that loves us and invests in us this much.  This verse reiterates that He cares about every detail in our lives.  We can’t throw a detail up to Him that He doesn’t care about.  And this is why I believe in God Plus One.  He does care about what we eat.  He does care about what we weigh.  He does care about our health.  He wants the best for us.  We just have to KNOW that.  We just have to CLAIM that.  We just have to LIVE that.  So today I will remember that God cares about every detail, even details as small and fine as one hair.  I had to look up how many hairs we have, as a blonde I have approximately 150,000.  Wow!  Today I will know that God cares about every bite that I take, every food I indulge in.  He has given me wonderful, clean, pure foods that I can eat.  Today I will imagine my God who is so devoted to me that He is cares about every bite I eat as my loving Father.  It will give me the strength to make the right choices.

Prayer:  Father, how fun to know that You know every detail about me.  It makes me relax to know that You care that much.  I like that You know more about me than I know about myself.  Today I ask that You take that comfort, that love as my Father and translate it to a power within me.  I want to honor Your love for me with the choices I make.  You have obviously dedicated Yourself to taking care of me.  This verse shows Your love for me as a parent who knows every detail of their child’s body.  I feel a stronger foundation within just from the knowledge that You love me that much.  It makes me want to take care of this body that You created with such love.  As I brush my 150,000 hairs this morning may You shine within me and give me the desire to eat Your foods and honor this love You have for me.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Verse Reflections:  “The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”   Uh Oh.  I have more of a cheerleader yelling screaming hugging necks and squealing type of spirit.  I have a lot of work to do today.  What will happen if I walk into the office all quiet?  I think everyone will wonder what is wrong with me.  Yikes!  How do I incorporate this verse into my personality?  My sisters and I went to New York together so Dad offered us $500 each if we got on Good morning America.  Well, we did… Mom’s reaction was “Of course, you would be the one interviewed”.  I don’t think that was a compliment but we did get our $500 each.  Yes, that is me.  Maybe if I look at enough translations one of them will use the word “peaceful” instead of “gentle”.  I do have a peaceful spirit when I start the day with God.  I am nice but I am not always gentle with my employees or my husband either.  I think I might have some major changes to make.

Okay, now that I have had a major heart attack in reaction to this part of the verse I will back up and focus the major message that we should concentrate on our inner spirit today and not our outer looks.  I love this part of the verse.  I grew up in a home that did not focus on looks.  I was very proud of myself because I wore mascara for my senior picture.  I think I even put on makeup when I was elected to the homecoming court but I am not sure.  My Mom (who is beautiful) would sometimes forget to brush her hair before she walked out the door so we always kept a brush in the car.  We are not the kind of family that spends an hour getting ready in the morning.  So I love this part of the verse.  God is reminding us that our beauty does not come from our hair being perfect, the ultimate outfit or the jewelry we wear.  I am sure we can add that our beauty doesn’t even come from having the perfect body.  He knows that our spirit is much more important than what we look like.  Today let’s focus on our inner spirit as we eat the foods that He has made for us.

Prayer:  Father, help me remember that I don’t have to look perfect.  Those clothes don’t have to fit me perfectly.  I need to focus on the inside, on my spirit.  Ironically, when I do this I actually stress less and have less compulsive cravings.  I guess You know this which is why You wrote this verse.  You are going to have to gentle and quiet me down because that is not my natural spirit.  You know I dance and sing around the house when it is just me and You by ourselves.  I always thought You enjoyed that about me.  Hmmmm.   Give me a gentle spirit today.  I know it will change the way I respond to others.  I love You, very much.  Part of me is teasing about my reaction to this verse. I know You are using this peaceful, gentle, quiet spirit description to remind me to keep the battlefield down in my soul.  If my soul is quiet and gentle then I will not fight my compulsive urges to eat.  I have a feeling I can still shake my booty and dance with my crazy self while we gentle my soul.  Thank You for this verse.  Here is to a quiet, gentle day.

“When I said, My foot is slipping, Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my (anxious) thoughts within me. Your comforts cheer and delight my soul!" Psalm 94:17-19

Verse Reflections:  My “foot slips” a lot.  I love the idea of saying this to God and Him holding me up.  I think King David was a lot like us.  He has anxious thoughts and He turns to God for comfort and cheer.  In this verse Daivd turns from being anxious to his soul being delighted.  He turns from his foot slipping to God holding him up.  God is strong.  When we slip He can take care of us.  We shouldn’t chastise ourselves when we aren’t perfect.  We should depend on God to extend us mercy and loving-kindness.  We should plan on getting back on the path our foot slipped off of and letting God hold us up.  When we get anxious or depressed or mad or worried we should also turn to God.  He will not only comfort us but He will cheer us up or “delight our soul”.  Claim this when you wake up ready to stay in bed with the covers over You.  Write a list of what You are happy about, what delights Your soul  So often my anxious thoughts are the root of my overeating.  My thoughts start racing so I push them so far down that my body starts to feel tense and anxious.  Then I just want to eat.  This is when my foot can slip.  But we need to know the Lord can hold us up.  Today let’s expect to be held up by God.  Let’s plan to be delighted in our soul.

Prayer:  Father, I come to You today expecting to be successful in eating Your foods.  I come to You expecting to be cheered up, to be delighted in my soul.  My spirit is happier just thinking about this verse.  I don’t remember ever reading this before.  I am going to imagine You holding me up and sprinkling happy powder all over me today.  Thank You for taking care of me when I slip.  I know I keep You busy because I am constantly slipping.  Thank You for Your mercy and loving-kindness.  Thank You for holding me up.  Thank You for letting me lean on You when I get anxious.  Thank You for comforting me and even cheering me up and delighting my soul.  I love You.  Your friend whose foot slips a lot.  ME.

"For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Verse Reflections:  If God’s word is living that means it grows, it breathes, it has energy.  It can change and evolve.  I feel all of this.  I can read the exact same verse at ten separate times in my life and it touches my soul in completely different ways each time.  When I start my day with God’s word I can feel it pulse inside my heart, it takes root inside my mind and grows during the day.  It fills empty spaces inside my body that can haunt me when I don’t start my day with Him.  God’s word is the only “offensive” weapon quoted in the Bible.  When we read it, incorporate it into our lives we are able to not live defensively.  I don’t have to fight all my food thoughts nearly as viciously, instead I am filled with God thoughts and the food is a secondary part of my day.  My soul and spirit are not divided when I start my day with God’s light.  The thoughts and intents of my heart are God filled and God led.  Today we are going to begin our day with God’s word and claim its energy and life.  It will breathe for us and with us and lead our soul and spirit to eat foods that will give us health and energy.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for Your living word.  Thank You that Your word is active in this world.  It is not a book to be sitting on a shelf.  It is conversation, words that lift us up, that make us better people that give us a perspective beyond this earth.  It joins our soul and spirit with our bodies and gives our heart the desires that You control.  Today, Lord, I look forward to the beautiful thoughts that You give me.  I know You are going to give me desires, thoughts and intents for healthy foods.  Thank You for the strength You gave me yesterday and the living, breathing energy You are going to give me today to live for You.  Love You and I am looking forward to hearing Your words inside of me today and letting them grow as I grow.

"Oh taste and see that the Lord (our God) is good! Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8

Verse Reflections:  One of my favorite five senses is my taste.  How do I taste God?  The first thing we will have to do is to put down any competing tastes.  Think of how we taste wine at a wine tasting.  We swirl the wine around in our glass then we take a long breath to inhale the scents.  We take a leisurely sip so that the flavors can roll onto our tongue.  Many times we even swish it around in our mouth.  Then we go a step further and try to name the flavors we detect.  Let’s stop this morning and name the flavors of God.  He tastes like bright glowing sunshine with a hint of lilac for me.  Then I take another whiff and I think I taste some pine or oak, I can’t tell which, the flavors seem to waiver back and forth.   For me he tastes like the great outdoors, maybe a hint of a campfire.  I am closest to God when I am outdoors looking at His majestic creations so these tastes do not surprise me but it is the first time I have ever tried to truly taste God.  Today as I eat His food creations today I am going to eat a little slower, savor the tastes just a little more and try to mix in God’s flavors.  As we taste Him, as we trust Him He will be our safe place, our refuge.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for giving us a safe place to hide.  Thank You for giving us this verse that stretches our interpretations of You, our relationship with You.  May I concentrate this morning on the way YOU taste, not my food.  That will change my entire eating experience and I love it.  Father, we have done this.  My first month was hard, the first 10 days of February has been hard also but it has been less excruciating.  I thank You for that.  Maybe taking the taste of my foods and weaving You in to that taste will bring me to a whole new level of eating.  I need to grow and change.  Sometimes I live in my teenage head of exploding tastes and indulgences.  May I grow up and experience life more like a slow, leisurely wine tasting.  I love You so much and I am just glowing inside from these beautiful visualizations.  Thank You.

“I seek my happiness in the Lord, and He gives me my heart’s desire. I give myself to the Lord, trust in Him and He helps me; He makes my righteousness shine like the noonday sun.” Psalm 37:4-5

Verse Reflections:  Starting my day with God and making a firm appointment with Him every morning at 7:00 has made the difference.  I know the more I trust in Him, the more His light fills me, the less room I have for darkness or dark thoughts and then His light does begin spilling out.  Maybe someone reading this has some other temptation that haunts you.  Seek Your happiness in God and He will fill you up so that the temptations become smaller and smaller and smaller until they finally disappear.  But you will have to start each day with Him in order for them to diminish.  The more He grows inside of You, the more You trust Him the less room You will have for other things.  The minute you choose not to keep your appointment with God is the minute your temptations will grow again.  Give yourself to the Lord and trust Him every day.  We can do this!! But only with Him shining like the noonday sun within us. When I seek Him first, when I seek my happiness in Him then He literally changes my heart and what I desire.  I am not craving the sweets like I used to.  I still have to concentrate hard before every meal because my mind still flickers through all my potential choices but because I am giving myself to the Lord daily, I am trusting in Him, He is seriously helping me block out the choices that will not make me healthier.  He truly gives me right-ness and the right choices each day.  I do have to say I am happier and I feel His light within knowing I made good choices.  Today is the day for our right-ness to shine like the noonday sun!!  Wow.  How powerful.

Prayer:  Thank You Lord for encouraging me daily.  Thank You for getting through my thick head that I should make an appointment with You daily and then keep it. You really do help me have new desires in my heart when I spend time with You.  It is crazy, it is awesome.  Why do I ever try to do life without spending time with You?  I really can’t do this healthy eating without You.  I shouldn’t try to do life without You but sometimes I get too busy and start running.  It has made such a difference in 2017 to start my day with You.  I can feel a surge of energy within.  I feel the difference because I am making better choices.  Thank You for giving me a plan that allows me to stop by my favorite restaurant for a desert without feeling guilty.  Thank You for allowing this to work.  Give me patience.  I want to drop the weight off faster but I know I am making a life change that I can live with forever so I need to be patient and relax and enjoy life.  You are amazing.  Today I will seek my happiness in You and know that You will give me my heart’s (and mind’s) desire.  Together we will shine like the noonday sun today.  We CAN DO THIS!!

“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14

Verse Reflections:  Fearfully means “in an anxious and extreme manner”.  Ironically it is relaxing and beautiful to think that our God was anxious when He made us.  He wanted to get every detail right.  He wanted to make sure that our heart could pump life-blood to every extremity, giving us oxygen and nutrients that allow us to continue to grow and reproduce new cells.  He wanted to make sure our brain, could think and process thoughts that are reactive and beyond our senses, beyond what we can see and hear.  Amazing!  We can distinguish between right and wrong, draw moral conclusions.  He was extreme in each detail.  I always wonder how anyone can look at a precious wiggling, crying newborn baby and not believe in God.  We are set apart and unique in our individual creation.  No two of us are alike.  That is the most amazing miracle of all.  He set up a creation system that perpetuates distinguishing characteristics.  How can we not want to treasure our bodies?  We are beautiful individuals that God created to be wonderfully made.  How can we not want to eat healthy foods that honors this fearfully and wonderfully made body?  When we eat foods that take care of this body we say thank You to our Father for taking the time to be anxious and extreme when He created us.  Today we are going to thank God for this wonderfully made body and praise Him for His wonderful works.

Prayer:  Father, Every time I read Your word, I discover something else that amazes me.  You have created us as miracles of life.  I’ve never thought of You as anxious and to think that You concentrated so hard on creating us that you worried over every detail is humbling.  It makes me want to stop my selfishness and concentrate on how I treasure this work of art You have created.  Today let me think of You instead of myself.  Every bite of food I take let me take it with amazement as I watch how my fingers move separately, how my mind processes, how my heart loves, how my eyes read little characters that merge into words.  Life is amazing and I must treasure every part of it.  I love You, continue to open my eyes and my heart to make healthy eating choices to honor You.

”But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Verse Reflections:  This verse takes me back to my vision of the devil with a megaphone yelling in one ear while the quiet, sweet demure angle whispers in the other ear.  I will say that since I have been faithfully having my dedicated time with God the angel seems to be speaking a lot louder than my devil recently.  Isn’t that amazing?  The Lord is faithful, He will guard us from “the evil one” (that devil with the megaphone) but we also have to take the time to move closer to Him.  When God seems far away guess who moved?  This question can be life changing.  We must take the time to move toward God in order to hear His voice, to stand in His protection.  And yet He still promises to make our relationship permanent, established even before we move. He promises to be faithful to us.  I have been trying to eat heathy, make healthy choices for years without spending time in His word and it just hasn’t worked for me.  This is “my thing”, my razor that can make me bleed, my temptation that can make me crazy.  I am amazed that I am truly starting to turn a serious corner 45 days into this.  God food is tasting better, it is my first thought now not my second.  I hope sharing these devotions with others will help You move closer to Him and depend on Him to guard you from your temptations.  Today I am going to depend on Him to be faithful to me, to make healthy eating a permanent, established habit for me.  He will guard me from temptation and keep me close as I choose to draw close to Him.

Prayer:  Lord, I actually woke up this morning looking forward to my devotions.  I always wake up talking to You but I’m looking forward now to studying Your word and listening to Your newest message.  I pray that You will open my ears to hear what You are saying.  Thank You for being faithful to me even when I am not faithful to You.  Thank You for guarding me.  I love You soooo much.   We are making such progress together.  Thank You Father.  Protect me from the evil one, protect me from myself.  I need that protection.  I need to be guarded.  I am depending on You to be faithful  I am going to work hard to be faithful to You as well.  Let’s eat God food and have a beautiful day.

"Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Verse Reflections:  Yes!  We can be strong?  Why?  Because God is with us wherever we need to go.  And we need to go toward healthy eating.  We do not need to be afraid of success.  We do not need to be dismayed by our failures of the past.  God commands us to be strong, vigorous and courageous!  That means we have no choice  but to do this.  Why do we ever think we have a choice?  Why do we fight doing what we know is best for us, for our bodies?  God also tells us to be vigorous (strong, healthy and full of energy).  We have to be vigorous in our path to healthy eating.  That means we can’t go into each day with a partial commitment.  We have to decide and do.  There are no if, ands, or buts!  Every day we can invent a reason not to eat healthy.  Some of my favorites are “I have had a bad day,” “I am celebrating (fill in the blank),” this is my favorite, “I don’t want to hurt their feelings.” Don’t let the food pushers get to you.  God commands us.  He tells us very clearly that He will be with us wherever we go.  So, take Him with You today.  My Mom always said, “invite Jesus to the party with You because He will be there anyway”—it kept me out of a lot of trouble as a teenager. So today invite Jesus into your day and claim His commandment.  Be courageous and say no.  Be vigorous and enjoy eating God foods.  Be strong and know that you will be successful in eating healthy today.  Prepare Your mind.  Prepare Your body.  God is with us.  We cannot be afraid to start one more life option of being healthy.  God has already given us the right foods to eat.  All we have to do is eat them and quit eating the other foods.  His foods are amazing.  We cannot be dismayed by our past inabilities to eat healthy.  “Diets” are never going to be successful because they are temporary.  This is a life change!  This is feeding our bodies the nutrients that God created to make our blood flow (without bad cholesterol).  This is the nutrition that makes our brain work, that makes our joints healthy, that gives us energy.  We are idiots for not eating this way every day.  Be strong.  Be vigorous.  Be courageous.  Be Strong in your commitment to eating healthy.  Be Vigorous in choosing God foods today. Be Courageous and try again each day.

Prayer:  God, I am humbled by the fact that You command us to be strong, vigorous and courageous.  For me, that means I need to be strong and not give in to the temptation of eating unhealthy foods.  I am encouraged to be reminded that You are with me wherever I go.  I know this, Lord, but so often in the heat of the moment I forget it.  I need to be reminded that You are there when I buy groceries, You are there when I order off the menu, You are there when I cook or pack my lunch.  Father, I am an energetic person.  I need to be reminded to be vigorous in my efforts to eat healthy, to use that energy in my enthusiasm to eat right.  God, I know You gave us these instructions to eat Your foods and so often I ignore You still.  Forgive me.  I am so weak.  I have failed to listen so many times in the past this verse helps me to remember not to chastise myself, to not be afraid to try again or be dismayed by my failures.  God we can do this.  Bless our day today together.  Let’s go!

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.” Exodus 34:29

Verse Reflections:  I’ve always wanted to have this radiance and I have even felt it flowing inside of me when I have gone to retreats or spent a lot of time with God.  This verse reminds us that spending time with God, speaking with God fills us with His light.  And yet, Moses was not even aware that this light was shining from him.  There is a genuine connection between God and light.  Light allows us to see, it makes things that are hidden visible.  It allows us to know where to walk.  It shines into the darkness, into the corners.  Light also is the understanding of a problem or a mystery.  God brings us both kinds of light.  Today let us absorb God’s light as we spend time with Him, as we speak with Him.  May He shine light in the darkness and give us the desire to eat healthy foods.  May He give us the understanding that this is the best choice for us.  May we be radiant with His light from within.

Prayer:  Father, I want to spend time with You, I want to speak with You.  I want to know Your light is within and radiating out.  If I have a radiance it would be the reflection of You.  May I be Your moon as You are the sun.  Give me energy.  I realize that even as Moses was shining this light You had given Him instructions, laws to obey.  Give me the desire to follow Your laws, to eat healthy foods and treasure this amazing body You have created.  I breathe.  I love.  I think.  I can move any part of my body I command with my brain.  I can look at a problem and solve it.  I am a fool for ever taking this for granted.  Give me today, the desires to eat Your foods and the light that shines from within.

“Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one, Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her”. Luke 10:40-42

Verse reflections:  I am about to crack with the effort of life tonight.  Another way to say this is “I am worried and upset about many things” as Martha was.   I sought out this verse hoping that I could remind myself that not everything has to be done and it certainly doesn’t have to be done perfectly.  And yet, who is going to clean my home?  Who is going to mow the yard?  Spray the driveway?  Wash and dry the clothes?  Read the business contracts?  Read the business proposals that earn or lose $20,000+?  Take care of the real estate investments?  Manage the business?  And still I have to sleep and run and have relationships.  Oh, and then there is serving God!  Today while I was on the phone with someone finding out that an angel at our church was going to pay for my dying friend’s children to go to college I lost $1500 because I didn’t read a contract well enough before I signed.  What happens if I don’t read over the proposal tonight that could win or lose $20,000, what happens if I don’t get to the conference tomorrow?  So… I am trying to be Mary and arrange college funds for my friend and I personally lose $1500.  Hmmmm… doesn’t make me want to be Mary.  I am so far past exhausted I can’t see straight.  I want to be Mary but what happens then?  I have gotten to the age I admire the high school graduates that don’t have to go to college and follow “the career path”.  I think if I had it to do over again, I would get a job earning just enough to get by and travel, live in a trailer or camper truck.  Then I could be Mary and not worry about any other details.  This is what the devil uses in my life to get me stressed out.  So.  I am not the one to be posting tonight.  I am not the one to reflect on this verse.  I’m going to have to go straight to prayer this time.

Prayer:  Father, I don’t know how to leave the details of my life alone.  I’ve quit teaching Sunday School, I’ve quit having a social life so that I can “relax” but I have so many details left I can’t spend the time I need to at Your feet as Mary does.  Forgive me for being in a King David state of desperation.  Allow me to relax.  Allow me to not have to do everything.  I know I have a great staff and most days I can relax and enjoy my job.  Today I cannot.  I am exhausted.  I love You.  Come down here and help me.  I need to sit at Your feet and dry them with my hair.  I need to let the details go.  I need to trust You to take our business and us personally to the next level.  So I am going to sleep, I am going to be late to the conference, and You are going to rock our business and us personally into the next hemisphere.  Thank You for loving us.  I am going to eat healthy and re-dedicate myself to God plus one.  But You will have to take care of the Martha details and show me that it will get done without me.  Thank You.

"Charm is deceptive & beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Psalm 31:30

Verse Reflections:  Yes, I’ve met so many charming people through the years that everyone falls in love with immediately.  They can capture a room and wrap people around their finger. And I watch the beautiful people that hold their head high and expect results.  I know my beauty is fleeting, and it is indeed fleeing.  I look down and see the sagging skin, the pooching stomach, the dark spots and it is humbling.  So I need to turn to fearing the Lord.  I tend to admire God, love God, praise God but I don’t tend to fear Him.  I’ve been taught grace all my life, the gift of forgiveness and I have received it. Perhaps that makes me take God for granted a little rather than fearing Him.  How should I fear Him?  How should I react to that thought?  May I think of my own Father.  We seldom disobeyed him because we knew the consequences.  We knew his wrath would show little mercy on the actions that went against his teachings.  And yet he loved me sacrificially.  Perhaps the fear of God can make me pause in my compulsive eating.  If I think of His anger when His temple was being abused I can use this to my advantage.  My body is His temple and I have abused it.  I can know that my purpose is not to have beauty but to honor God, to fear Him and to take that fear and use it to make myself eat healthy.

Prayer:  Father, guide me to honor you.  Allow me to not focus on myself.  Allow me to not focus on the past “beauty” that I have been honored with.  Allow me to turn my focus onto You.  I know that if I focus on You and not myself I will be more successful in eating healthy.  I think sometimes the way the new testament focuses on Your grace allows me to take You for granted.  I tend to sin, shake my head and ask forgiveness and then overeat again.  Forgive me Lord.  I need to comprehend that abusing Your temple, my body is not an option.  Lord give me the power.  Let me know that it is not an option to overeat, to cram food in.  I should be wise enough to realize You are not happy with me, You are not happy with my choices.  I am not stupid, I realize there are health consequences to my actions and yet I do it anyway.  God, You have got to allow me to glimpse Your anger (okay not really- just help me know it is there) so that I will not allow myself options.  Help me to think of my Father here on earth that loved me enough to give me consequences.  Perhaps that will allow me to follow Your command.  Today, help me to focus on You, fear You and to not fear losing my beauty and charm.

“Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.” Ezekiel 28:17

Verse reflection:  Dang, Satan himself was all into his beauty.  Pride can certainly create a false sense of security in us.  It seems every time I get secure in certain aspects of my life something crashes down on top of it and blows pride right out the window.  It is interesting to me that beauty and pride “corrupted your wisdom”.  Maybe that is why we get wiser as we get older because the beauty, pride and certainly the splendor are not the items we depend on.  We settle into our relationships with God, the friends that are truly friends, the jobs we are good at and would do even if we didn’t get paid.  We learn that we can get through any hardship in life and it won’t crush us.  This verse reminds us that pride and beauty are dangerous.  So as we change our eating habits to depend on God’s food we choose to concentrate on being healthy not gorgeous.  Our wisdom can lead us to know that we need to change our eating habits to honor our body, to treasure this miracle of life.  This will make the difference in staying with a healthy lifestyle.

Prayer:  Good morning God.  Help me today to not concentrate on my looks.  Allow me to concentrate on eating healthy for You and for my health.  Make me wise rather than beautiful and proud.  You are my life and my center of being.  Help me to concentrate on that inside focus instead of the outside.  When I focus on the outside I get frustrated because I am not perfect.  When I focus on You and the inside it almost relaxes me and allows me to be okay where I am, with all my imperfections.  Today Lord, let’s celebrate my imperfections and turn them to my dependence on You.  I love You.  I need to eat healthy, so give me the strength and energy to want to eat right for You and for me.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths or righteousness for His name’s sake. Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23: 1-6

Verse reflections:  It is amazing how so many verses can change meanings to reflect light on the situation we are currently going through.  Today this verse is perfect for eating healthy.  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!”  He can keep us from craving foods, from wanting more.  He gives us all we need and more (green pastures).  He keeps our soul calm so that we don’t respond to anxieties and worries by over-indulging (still waters, restores my soul).  He keeps us on the right path, keeps us eating right so that we can honor Him.  This world we live in is not in the full presence of God, the source of all light so therefore we have mountains that block us from God’s light.  This creates the shadows.  This world has death but the good news is death is just a shadow, an illusion, when we are in the full 360* presence of light, of God the shadows disappear.

And so, think today of God preparing Your food no matter what is going on in your life.  He is going to prepare the table for us in the presence of our enemies.  That means we can eat HIS food no matter what is going on.  We will find goodness and loving kindness today as we eat God foods that He has prepared.  We shall not want!

Prayer:  God, I thank You for Your living word.  I have never, ever read these verses in terms of eating healthy but they are so perfect.  Thank You for giving me these perfect verses with a new meaning for me today.  I already have these verses memorized so they will be so easy to imprint on my heart with this beautiful message for me.  The verse about You preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies is gorgeous and gives me that little vision of eating beautifully even when life is trying to get me down.  I need that “spite the world” attitude in the opposite way I usually view it. Instead of spiting the world by over-eating, today, I will sit at the table You prepare and we will have a lovely meal and I shall not want.  Thank You Father.  Have a lovely day.  (I’ll clean the dishes).

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Verse Reflections:  Amen!  I think my heart can wear a two piece!  It is usually pretty sweet even if I blow it from the outside, my heart is usually in the right place.  It is always centered when I take the time to read God’s word in the morning.  Just that extra 15 to 30 minutes with Him makes a huge difference in my day and how I view everything that comes my way.  I love that God looks at the heart.  Let’s think for a second how long we take to shower, shave, fix our hair, dress and put on our makeup in the morning to get ready for our day.  30 minutes?  45 minutes?  An hour?  Shouldn’t we take at least that amount of time to get our heart ready for the day?  Wow!  What a thought.  I need to dress my heart every day, shower off all the yuck that might have tried to harden it or sprinkle dirt on it.  Then I need to take that squeaky clean heart and dress it in God’s scriptural words so that it is protected and beautiful.  Then I need to add the blush and mascara by talking to God, and adding the light of His presence.

So today, let’s concentrate more on our heart than our outside appearance.  This will give us the privilege of eating healthy for God’s purposes not the purposes of being skinny or getting accolades from the world.

Prayer:  God I am so glad You look at the heart.  I am glad You take my intentions and make them honor You.  Protect my heart today, weave Your spirit inside it and radiate beauty and light from within.  I like the idea of dressing my heart up in the morning to present it to You.  Allow me to focus on within instead of without.  Give me the desire to eat healthy for You and not for me.  Thinking of eating for my heart instead of my outside beauty is somehow reassuring.  Maybe because I am just not confident in my outside beauty, maybe because it takes pressure off of me to not be perfect.  I love You God.  Let’s have a great day and eat right.

"I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He has delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." Psalm 34:4-5

Verse Reflections:  We learned in psychology that a lot of sexually abused women gain weight in order to keep the abusers and other men from looking at them in a sexual way.  It makes sense.  That is not my excuse, I eat in response to other stress, I rationalize that I deserve a treat after a long day.  I love to eat. I love to bake.  Not a good combination.   But I do find myself feeling shame when I see my body change, when I gain weight. This verse is so perfect for all of us.  If we seek the Lord, He WILL answer us.  It is key to note here the word “Lord”, He must have power and influence over us.  When He is our Lord He delivers us from ALL our fears.  Okay, so why do I ever stress?  Why are we afraid of anything this world can hand us?  We should relax.  If I can concentrate on this verse I wouldn’t ever have the splurges that “spite” the world and make me feel better for a moment.  I love the next verse that says not only should we never be ashamed but God will give us an internal source of light and happiness that radiates from within.  I want that radiance.  I want that confidence.  Well today we are going to name it and claim it.  We are going to be fearless, shameless and radiant as we choose to eat God foods all day.

Prayer:  Father, I want to make you my Lord, my leader, the one who has power over me.  I want to have confidence in myself because I know that You have me and You will guide my life.  I have nothing to fear with You in charge.  I will dress beautifully and not be ashamed of my weight gain, I will be radiant from the inside because Your light is lighting my soul.   Give me strength to eat Your foods.  I am so proud of myself skipping the sandwich menus when I am out with clients.  I have actually had some fun dining experiences trying new foods.  Thank You for giving me this new strategy of eating.  I will seek You today and I thank You in advance for answering me. You and I have this Lord.  It is becoming easier finally.  The first 45 days honestly has not been fun.  And they say it takes 90 days to make it a habit so we are ½ way to that goal.  You are my Lord and I want to honor You with my eating habits as Daniel did.  Bless me, continue to give me strength.  Today I want You to light my entire being as we eat together.

"Cast not away therefore your boldness, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that having done the will of God, you will receive the promise." Hebrews 10:35-36

Verse Reflections:  I need to hear this because I am not a patient person.  I would much rather be dropping 10-15 pounds a month and seeing quick results.  However, this verse gives me the boldness to know that if I eat what God has instructed me to eat—His foods then I will receive the promised weight loss.  I do believe that my great reward will be a new life change, not a diet.  It is really pretty easy to eat foods that God made, I love a great hamburger steak, a pork roast, grilled vegetables… what is not to love?  So we must continue to be bold and know that God has given us the right instructions, we know His will.  We must be bold in our eating and our confidence that we will receive the promised results.  We must be patient and know that this will last, so every pound is a real pound lost and we are not dieting we are changing our eating habits forever.

Prayer:  Thank You God.  Some mornings I need to be reminded to be patient.  Losing 4-5 pounds a month takes two whole months to drop a dress size and that is hard.  I will continue to be bold, I will continue to post devotions of Facebook and I will continue to be patient.  Thank You for reminding me that You gave me this plan, I am doing Your will and You will reward me and deliver on Your promises.  We will eat healthy today and be bold about sharing it.  I love you.  Hope You have a lovely day and that I am a part of the loveliness.

“Indeed, the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Luke 12:7

Verse reflections:  Today my husband said the perfect words to me.  Be patient.  It took you 2 years to put on this weight.  Don’t be frustrated after only 50 days.  He is right.  Satan lies to me when I look in the mirror and lies well.  I have to have confidence that God has me in the palm of His hand.  He cares about the details of my life.  We’ve already talked about a similar verse in Matthew but I love the way this verse takes it to the next point, we are worth more than the birds and the animals.  That means a lot to me because I love animals.  I love my dog with all my being.  I know the depths of joy and love that she gives me.  She brings light to my day when she greets me with unadulterated happiness at the front door. Knowing this gives me patience with myself because I realize how much God loves me.  I realize that I don’t have to be perfect, I don’t have to be afraid of this journey.  I am God’s treasure.  I am worth so much that He knows every detail about me.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus wrap me in your arms today.  Take my fears, let me know that you have all the details of my life in Your hands.  You love me more than I can imagine so I know we can live this journey together.  Somehow, this gives me strength on my path of eating healthy.  Not sure I have a direct correlation but today I needed to be patient as I wait for the time to weigh in and I do not see any progress.  Today I needed to know that You know me so well that You even know how many hairs are on my head.  You love me so much that the gorgeous birds that flitter around and bring us joy are just small samples of how much You love us.  You love me so much that nothing life throws at me should bring me fear, worry or disappointment.  We have this Jesus!  Thank You for bringing me this small verse, that somehow, someway, brings me patience.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food…” Luke 12:22

Verse Reflections:  Nooooo I don’t want to hear that life is more than food.  Just kidding.  I do love getting up in the morning and thinking about what I will eat for lunch or dinner.  Food is happiness for me.  Exaggeration?  Maybe, maybe not.  I’m not sure.  I REALLY like food.  I will say that God plus one has helped me not obsess quite as much.  I get to eat it but I’m not conjuring up all these recipes with butter and sugar like I used to.  I do need to focus on the second part of this verse.  Life is more than food.  Beginning my day with scripture seriously has made a difference.  Eating God foods has seriously made a difference.  Ironically, I am less hungry.  Something about those carbs and empty calories disappearing I would guess.  I stay full longer.  God is so smart.  We tend to somewhere along the way use our own brains to take over what He has already perfected.  When did we start creating breads, pasta and cakes and cookies and pretzels…?  Why didn’t we just stop with what He made for us to eat?  I’m not saying these foods are “wrong” and “evil”.  We can have one a day or so.   However, there have been days in my past when these foods were the primary foods I ate.  Obviously, not a wise choice.

Prayer:  God help me remember that life is more than food.  I know this and I truly believe I am living it out better.  I am frustrated because let’s be honest, I got on the scales early and do not see progress.  Knowing You, I will get on the scales again in five days at the end of the month and see the difference.  Right now I am secretly depressed.  Keep my head up, don’t let me worry about my life, what I eat or about my body.  Ugh, that one is hard.  I am not liking my body right now.  I have always had a good one and I do not like cellulite.  I am just being honest here God.  Take away my vanity.  (Okay, take away my cellulite ha ha). Take away my worry about my body, what I will wear and how I look in the clothes.  Take away my obsession with food.  Let me look beyond to what is important in Your kingdom.  In a place with no food.  I love You.  Today we will remember that life is more than food.

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." I Corinthians 15:58

Verse Reflections:  Today this is a good verse for me.  I need to stand firm in eating healthy.  I know this is the work of the Lord.  He wants us to treat our bodies with respect and love.  This means we have to work at it and labor!  This is not the message I want to hear but I know it is true.  We have to give ourselves fully to every work that God calls us to do and that includes eating right.  For me it truly is a job.  It is just plain not fun to have to stop and think about what I am going to eat from a totally healthy standpoint.  Oh, and then if I want to lose I have to add some calorie brainwork and portion control to whatever foods I choose.  He tells us in this verse that this work will not be in vain, it will not be without results.  One of the messages I have to keep telling myself is that even when I don’t see the weight rolling off I know that eating healthy is adding to my general health and lifespan.  In other words, it is the work God has called us to do no matter what.  Let nothing move us!!  We are going to eat healthy today and know that the results will happen.  We will stand firm! Our efforts will not be in vain.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for this verse today.  Help me to stand firm in my eating habits.  Allow me to remember that this is the work You have called me to do even when I don’t want to do it.  Help me to stand firm and know that the results are here and my work of eating healthy will not be in vain.  I know we can do this together but I need You to remind me like You have this morning that You are walking with me.  I need You to remind me to stand firm.  I am passing up the extra processed foods but it has been hard.  I think because the weight is just barely changing I am extremely frustrated.  Give me the patience I need to make this life change.  Give me the patience I need to change my mind from skinny to healthy.  Love you.

"Clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:1-2

Verse Reflections:  This morning as I choose my clothes I am going to visualize putting mercy over my head and wearing it close to my heart.  Then zipping up kindness.  I am then going to slip on my humility on top so that it shows.  I am going to wrap myself in gentleness with a soft flavor so that I can snuggle inside.  Last I am going to slide patience on from the bottom so that I stand firmly in its foundation.  I am going to be beautiful all day.  How can I wear tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience and not be gorgeous?  Those around me will see God’s light shining and will not even notice anything else.  I will not notice anything else.  In these beautiful qualities I will choose to feed my body with healthy, God foods to honor Him and the qualities He has chosen to bestow.  I will not clothe myself with anxiety, judgement or worry.  Therefore, I will not be tempted to binge in an effort to cloak or numb these qualities.  I will choose to give myself and others mercy.  I will choose to treat others with kindness, gentleness and patients.  As I humbly life others above myself, it is with humility I admit that I cannot eat healthy foods without God giving me the strength.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for giving us these qualities to wear.  This very verse reminds us that they don’t have to come from the inside.  We can choose them.  We can put them on every morning.  Today I choose to wear mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  What a beautiful way to start and live my day.  Thank You for giving me powers beyond myself, thank You for giving us these elements to clothe ourselves in.  These qualities make us more beautiful, better than we are.   Thank You for their power.  Lead me in eating right to honor You and these qualities I am clothed in.

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” James 3:17

Verse Reflections:

This verse speaks directly to the way we care for our bodies as followers of Christ. The wisdom that comes from heaven is pure. When we pursue God’s wisdom, it should shape not only our thoughts and attitudes, but also our daily habits — including how we nourish our bodies.

Choosing pure, wholesome foods can be an act of obedience and submission to God’s will. It is not simply about following a diet or committing to a temporary plan. It is about aligning our choices with heavenly wisdom. When we are sincere and impartial in our efforts — not driven by trends, emotions, or cravings — we demonstrate a heart that desires to honor God.

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Caring for them reflects reverence for the One who created them. When we sincerely submit to God’s guidance in our eating, we cultivate discipline, peace, and self-control. This cannot be a temporary plan; 90 days of being disciplined and submissive to His leadership will develop a habit that we can depend on. However, it is hard. James 3:17 reminds us that we must also extend mercy to ourselves if we fail to have the self-control we are striving for. If we keep seeking the “good fruit” we will eventually be able to harvest the return.

The “good fruit” mentioned in this verse can certainly refer to spiritual fruit, but it can also be reflected in tangible outcomes of obedience — strength, vitality, and a healthy body that enables us to serve God effectively. When we follow heavenly wisdom sincerely and consistently, the result is fruit that blesses both our spiritual life and our physical well-being.

Living and eating according to God’s wisdom is not temporary. It is a pure way to live. Let’s continue to eat the pure foods today that God has created.

Prayer:  Thank you God for giving me the wisdom from heaven.  I like that phrase.  My own wisdom has failed me time and time again when it comes to eating.  I have finally opened my ears and I am listening to You, to your wisdom from heaven. I am following a plan of eating that I do believe came from Heaven, from You.  Continue to give me the ability to submit to this way of eating—God foods plus one.  Continue to allow me to be pure in my intentions, to eat pure foods.  Continue to give me Your wisdom.  Give me sincerity in this plan.  Allow me to reap the good fruit of a healthy body.  Today my wisdom is Your wisdom.  May I be pure, peace-loving, considerate, and submissive to You.  One Bible verse per day

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

Verse Reflections:  Being faithful in prayer is the one advantage we have in God Plus One.  I do see a huge difference when I start my day with my God time.  There is a calm acceptance of whatever the day sends my way.  Reduced anxiety makes a difference.  I am less compulsive in my eating.  I am not chasing that serotonin high.  Add to that the verse’s command to be joyful, I find being joyful gives me an energy that encourages me to squeeze my exercise in to the day.  I love that I can be joyful in hope even when my clothes fit too tight, even when my weight is not what I want it to be.  We will be joyful and we will keep our lives hopeful in the knowledge that we are losing weight.  The difference I believe is the faithfulness in prayer.  When we go to God for strength we do not have to depend on our own strength.  I lose the fight with food every time on my own.  The daily devotions with Him leading the way makes all the difference.

Prayer:  Father, I lift my life up today.  I am going to start with being patient in what is going on in my life today.  That red creature tends to throw “afflictions” up in my face to try and get me to remove my eyes from You.  Father, I want to focus on You today.  I want to be faithful in prayer, joyful in hope and patient no matter what comes my way.  I love You soooo much.  Bless our day.  Allow me to somehow, some way bless You with my little life here on earth.  I will eat for You.  I will exercise for You.  I will dedicate this body You gave me to You.  I will be joyful in the hope that together we can beat unhealthy eating.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

Verse Reflections:  My flesh will fail.  There will be days I fail to eat God foods.  There will be days that I decide to eat just because I want to.  There will be times I think I need to eat to spite the system.  There will days I eat to quiet my anxiety.  My heart will want to honor God and then I will not.  I will be sad in my heart because I miss someone I love.  I will be stressed because of something that happens.  I will react to that sadness or stress and I will overindulge in foods that give me temporary happiness.  However this verse reminds me that God is the only strength I need.  God will give me the strength my heart needs to overcome emotions.  I must start my day each day with God and then and only then will I have the strength in my heart that will allow me to eat to honor Him.  I love the part of this verse that refers to God as our “portion”.  I must remember this every time I want second helpings.  God is the only division, the only amount that I need to indulge in.  The only extra portions that I should partake of.

Prayer:  Father, bless me when my flesh and heart fail.  I am weak.  Without You I cannot be strong.  Remind me that YOU are the strength of my heart.  You are the only source of strength that I need.  I need you at the center of my life.  Only by starting my day with You, by inserting You into my heart can I have the strength I require to be Your servant.  I must spend time with You, I must open my heart to let You in.  I must know that You give me strength, the only strength I need.  You have called me to rise above my flesh and my heart.  You have called me to eat healthy foods to Honor You.  You have told me that You will live in my heart and be the strength that I need.  Today, and every day I call upon this strength.  You will be my portion.  I will have a second portion of You today and honor You by having only one portion of the foods I eat.  Thank You for giving me the strength I need in my heart.  YOU are my master and my strength.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10 NIV

Verse Reflections:  God is the strength in my heart.  I can stand and be strong in Him.  I can choose to use His mighty power.  God’s word reminds me day after day that I can be strong.  There is no excuse.  I am weak only if I choose to be weak.  God tells us time and time again that we can be strong IF we stand with Him and in Him.  Why has it taken me this long to accept this truth?  I have tried over and over again to be strong by myself.  The truth is, I will always fail to be strong if I do not stand with God and use His mighty power instead of my own.   This journey we are on is as hard for us as it is for alcoholics to turn down a drink.  Our bodies are craving a fix.  It is not just mental, it is a physical craving.  We must depend on God to give us the power to turn away from the craving.  One of my favorite inspirational books mentions that if we don’t feel close to God, guess who has moved?  I must start my day each day worshiping Him so that I am choosing to move closer to Him.  So that I am standing close enough to Him to be strong in Him.

Prayer:  Lord, Give me this strength.  Oh let me close my eyes this morning and let it wash over me.  Pour Your strength over me, pour it inside my soul.  Let me not question my power to depend on You.  I should not pause in what I choose to eat today.  Give me this strength You have promised.  YOUR mighty power gives me mighty power.  I am going to choose to use Your power today.  Thank You Father that I can be strong in You.  I am looking forward to delicious foods that You have given us.  I am looking forward to honoring You and standing strong.  I love You Lord.  I am blessed because I am Yours, because I can be strong in You.

“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance?” 2 Thessalonians 3:5 NIV

Verse Reflections:  God’s word told us earlier that God is the strength of our hearts and now He is directing our hearts into God’s love.  Perhaps the secret is that God’s love is our strength.  By pouring God’s love into our souls we can love ourselves, we can love others.  That pure love will allow us to be stronger than possible without it.  This love will rise above any self-recrimination we may feel.  This love will allow us to love ourselves just the way we are, right now today.  This love will take away guilt and wash it away with a clean pure shining happiness.  This love will allow us to reach out to those who have done us wrong.  We can see them through God’s eyes.  We can persist as Christ persisted when everyone abandoned Him as He walked with the cross. Christ taught us to persevere.  We will persevere through the love of Christ.  We will eat healthy today in the love of Christ.  We will love ourselves into a body that honors the depth of His love for us.

Prayer:  God, You teach us that Your love directs our hearts.  Today, may my love for You and Your unconditional love for me give me the power to persevere.  I need Your direction in my heart.  I need Your direction in my life.  May I feel Your love in my heart.  May this love give me the power, the strength to live this life of healthy eating for You.  I want to persevere.  I want to keep going even when I can’t. I want to persevere even when my body is crying out.  I want to persevere especially when I fail and have to get back up again.  I am an utter failure without Your love.  Take my hand today and let me walk with You in love.

“Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 NIV

Verse Reflections:  This quiet time allows me to wait on God.  If I wake up in the morning and begin running filing every minute of the day, I do not take the time to wait on Him.  I must allow Him to come to me.  His prevenient grace goes before us and prepares the way.  However, if we do not stop our busy lives we do not allow ourselves to walk on the path He has prepare and created for us to walk on.  Today, let us wait on God.  We will be strong.  We will “take heart” and take this challenge seriously.    Yes, we will wait on the Lord.  We will be strong and eat the foods He has created for us.  In waiting for Him, we allow ourselves a strength we cannot have otherwise.  Be strong.  Wait on the Lord for that strength.  Be quiet, be still and wait.

Prayer:  This morning Lord I wait on You to come to me.  I pause an extra minute in the quiet to allow You to come my way.  I love the idea of You coming to me in the quiet of the morning.  Thank You for loving me and giving me strength just by Your mere presence.  I am so glad that I am keeping my appointment with You this year.  It is by my coming to You and my waiting for You that I am given the strength that is allowing me to eat differently.  I am amazed that this strength has been waiting on me but I failed to wait on You to bring it to me.  This morning I honor You, I honor myself by waiting on You, by waiting on this power.  Thank You for the privilege of this strength.  Thank You for the privilege of spending time with You in the mornings and waiting on You to bring me the strength that allows me to successfully eat for You.

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8 NIV

Verse Reflections:  We can stand strong and not be shaken with God nearby.  It is amazing how easy this has been compared to past experiences because I have kept God first.  When He is the one I turn to first thing in the morning… When I keep my appointment with Him… When I consciously place His word in my heart each morning… my walk with God is steady.  I am not shaken when I walk past the foods that I love.  I do not look at the foods on the menu that are not God foods.  I have seen a difference in my cravings.  I don’t know if this is physiological from the decrease of sugars and carbs or if Christ is giving me the power.  I have a strong feeling it is a combination.  There are times I want to speed up my weight loss but I am reminded that this is my life, this is the life I choose to live for the rest of my life.  THAT I can do.  If I try to “lose weight” I can’t keep it going.  With this faith in action I can be encouraged, not discouraged.  Keeping our eyes always on the Lord will go beyond just eating right.  This will give us the power to discern and do the Lord’s will for our lives.  We will not be shaken.

Prayer:  Thank You God for standing at my right hand.  You are just where I need You to be to give me power, to give me advice, to give me the strength to eat the right foods today.  I will keep my eyes on You as I go through this day.  Thank You for allowing me to stand strong, to not be shaken.  We’ve got this God.  I’m starting to just go right to the “God foods” on the menus when I go out to eat.  And, yet, I didn’t have to feel guilty when I had a waffle yesterday because I have the option of the plus one.  I love You Lord.  I want to serve You today.  Thank You for giving me the power that is in Your word.  I invite You in to my life today to lead me as I keep my eyes on You.  Protect me from others, protect me from work, protect me from temptations and let me not be shaken!  I love You tons and tons.  Have a blessed day Father.  May I be a small part of Your blessings.

“But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 1:20-21 ASV

Verse Reflections: We are beloved. That word seems to take love to a higher level. The definition says “much loved”. Breathe it in. Breathe in God’s love this day. Feel it to your bones because it is not skin deep. It is not dependent on how you look, how you act, how you feel, what you say. God loves us despite ourselves. And yet God calls us to ACT. We are to” build ourselves up” through holy (set apart) faith. We are to pray in the Holy Spirit. And we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. Today we get to have faith in God and therefore ourselves. We are to build ourselves up in the knowledge that we CAN eat right. We are to build ourselves up in the faith that God will give us the strength to resist temptations, to make the right choices. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. This alone will give us power. Don’t let this world pull you away from this love today. The action words in this verse speak clearly.

He loves us beyond our imagination but we have to build ourselves up by staying close to that love, having faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. We can’t just go about our day and expect change. We can’t change our bad patterns without action. God gives us the ability but He is telling us to build ourselves up one brick at a time. Our first brick is to have “set apart” faith in His power, no doubts, no wavering. Our second brick is prayer, talk to Him all day long, you will begin to hear His Holy Spirit talking back inside your heart. Our third brick is staying close to His love, walk confidently today knowing you are “much loved”. Our fourth brick is to accept His mercy, allow forgiveness to wash over you. Imagine a strong fortress of love surrounding you today that you have built with God’s love. You’ve got this. No one can destroy this power. Eat right, make great choices and feel His love, build up yourself in faith in Him and yourselves. You’ve got this!

Prayer: Father, My faith is starting out strong this morning with this verse. There is nothing inside wavering in thinking through my choices for the day. Thank You for giving me that Holy Faith. I love that term “Holy Faith”. I am going to have Holy Faith in You and Holy Faith in myself. I am going to set myself and my life apart today with Your help by changing my life, changing my habits. Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Wash over me God. I am going to pray in the Spirit all day today. I am going to light a candle in my office to remind me of Your beautiful Holy Spirit. I am going to not rush through my day but instead rest in the knowledge that You are in charge. I can get everything done because I have surrounded my life with Your bricks. I have built a fortress around my life with Your bricks, Your instructions, Your power. MMmmm, it just makes me relax and know I can do this. I love You so much, thank You for making me Your beloved.

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Romans 14: 1-3

Verse Reflections:  We must all accept each other right where we are.  I have been through all types of phases in my life.  I have been thin as a rail, able to eat anything and praise the Lord in all things.  I have very quickly gained weight and developed bullemia so that I condemned myself for eating anything that “crossed the line”—a self-defined line that only I understood.   And yet I held on to God in desperation during this time.   I have allowed myself to gain thirty pounds and keep them on just to maintain my sanity.  And now, I have been called to eat God foods and lose the excess weight in order to glorify God.  The good news is that none of these phases could keep God out of my life.  We must not pass judgment on each other or ourselves.  So many times we are harder on ourselves, more judgmental of ourselves than of other people.  God is asking us to not condemn anyone.  We have to accept ourselves today.  God has accepted all of us right where we are.  We have to start here.  Now we must decide what God is calling us to do.  For me, my faith is calling me to eat God foods without condemning others.  I am called to eat 3-5 fruits and vegetables.  I will not condemn anyone but I will do what my faith calls me to do.  My faith no longer allows me to eat everything but this verse reminds me not to condemn those who do.

Prayer:  Father, take me where I am.  Thank You for not judging me.  Thank You for not condemning me.  It gives me a freedom, a lightness that I cannot experience on my own.  You know me better than anyone.  I am a perfectionist in most aspects of my life which causes me to be very judgmental and hard on myself.  Today, right this minute, as I pray I am going to accept me right where I am with Your help.  I cannot eat carbugers and still keep my faith and my eating habits where they need to be.  The production of the dopamine is awesome right after I eat but then I suffer from a sugar low, an energy low and yes a slight depression.  It affects my perception of myself.  Lord take away this poor perception, the self-chastisement.  Give me the faith to know You are with me, that I need to just accept myself and others right where we are.  Lord heal me from my eating disorder which is created by my self-loathing, my ridiculous standards, my judgment of myself.  I still feel like I should have the body that I had at eighteen or twenty.  I sometimes think that I should only eat vegetables, but I’ll be honest, my faith, my discipline, my cravings and desires will not allow that.  I need eating habits that I can live with until I die.  Father, I believe You have given them to me.  Thank You.  No judgment, no condemnation, full acceptance as we take this journey together.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Verse Reflections:  We will choose to be joyful in this journey of learning to eat right.  We will be hopeful that we will lose weight.  We will be patient when we do not lose weight because we know it will happen.  We will faithfully go to our Father in prayer, knowing that God wants success for me and you.  Every day we eat God foods we can know that God is in charge of our lives, our health, our successes.  We can be joyful in the hope of life changing habits.  Already, my psychological changes have far outweighed my physical changes but I do believe they are just as important to my future.  I am being patient in waiting on the physical changes.  I am being faithful in walking beside and with God on this journey.  These choices are giving me joy.  God’s prevenient grace is grace that goes before us.  He has led us to this point in our lives of choosing this healthy way of living.  He fights for us, even when we don’t know He is fighting.  We are alive, we are healthy enough to make these decisions.  Now let’s take this day, and be joyful in the hope that today we are changing our eating habits for the rest of our life.  We will be patient in this process.  It will not be a fast journey but it will be a healthy, forever life change that we can make happen. Let’s eat God foods today in joy, patience and faith!

Prayer:  Father, I come to You in joy today.  I am so hopeful that this way of eating will change my life.  I am going to be patient even though patience is not my strength.  I am going to come to You in prayer, being faithful in bringing You with me on this journey.  You and I both know that if I am not faithful to You it will not happen.  I have to walk this journey with You.  Take my hand.  Go with me to the grocery story, cook with me in my kitchen, grab the spoons with me as I choose portions and then sit with me at the dining table.  Please be faithful to me as I come to You in desperate prayer.  Fill me with joy as we work together to change our lives.  Fill me with patience on the weight loss as I look forward to making this a lifetime commitment.  I plan to live decades more so I do not need to try to lose the weight in a few short months.  I need to be patient and let the weight loss happen on Your time schedule.  We know we are eating right.  Here’s to joy, hope, patience and faithfulness.  The perfect four emotions for a lifetime of eating healthy.  I love You.

One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Ephesians 4:6

Verse Reflections:  Imagine God hovering above us every day.  God is above all.  He sees all.  He is above our imperfections. He goes before us with His prevenient grace.   We can get our lives in order with His help because His power rises above our lack of power. He sees the difficult choices we have to make daily and He knows how difficult those choices are.  It was not an accident that one of Jesus’ temptations in the desert was to turn the rock into bread. It was not an accident that Daniel had to choose between God food and the rich delicacies of the kingdom.   This has been an ongoing temptation for all mankind and we have examples in the old and new testaments.   And this verse goes on to say that God is through all and IN us all.  This reflects my vision of the Holy Spirit.  He is through us like air.  He lives in every fiber of our being, in our tummies.  We have to close our eyes and know the spirit of God is inside our bodies.  What does He want to eat?  He created some beautiful foods for us to cook, savor and enjoy.  We must honor Him by selecting the foods He made.  He is the beacon of guilt, of our knowing right from wrong, the source of our joy when we succeed.  If we imagine God down inside our bodies maybe it will make it easier to choose savory vegetables, meats and fruits.  Let’s try talking to Him while we are in the grocery store to see what HE wants for supper instead of asking our spouses or kids.  Stay on the outside fresh food aisle at the store, don’t go down those aisles unless you have to.  Imagine Him above the grocery store watching You and inside your body waiting on the next meal.

Prayer:  Father, I am weak, I need You to be above all.  I need to know You are above my issues with food.  I need to know You are above this earth.   I need to imagine You watching me.  Maybe, just maybe I will be a better child because I know You are watching.  Help me to know You are also through every fiber of my body inside of me.  Help me today to choose Your foods to place inside my body.  I am helpless on my own so to know You are watching and waiting can make the difference.  Give me the visualization of you hovering above me and waiting deep inside my stomach that I need to make this happen.  I know some of the preachers out there will be thinking I am flat out crazy to interpret these verses this way but You and I know You wrote it so that we can all find the interpretations that work for us.  And I need this interpretation so thank You.  I adore You and love You for writing 365 verses for me to read, heal and rock this eating healthy lifestyle.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Romans 7:15

Verse Reflections:  Yes, Paul understands me so well.  I want to eat right.  I want to lose weight.  I want to honor God with my body.  I want to honor my finances by having one set of clothing.  And then I choose to eat 2,000 calories in one sitting.  And I hate that I did it the next day.  Over and over and over I repeat this crazy behavior.   I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my choices in eating.  I don’t understand how I can go through the week eating perfectly well and then one day I have to gulp down everything unhealthy in my sight.  Or, I have to have what I visualize in my brain which, of course, means a trip to the store or drive through.  Once I start, I just keep going when I get in these moods.  Like Paul, “I do not understand what I do”.  I know what it takes to lose weight, what foods to eat but “what I want to do I do not do”.  What is wrong with me?  Praise God, He has overcome the world, He has given us the power to overcome this cycle.  I HATE what I do, and what I hate I do.  I hate giving in to these temptations, I hate giving in to my love of cookies, chips, cheese or whatever!  And yet I do it.  Paul, the man who stayed joyful when he was in prison, the man who chose Christ when He was a revered leader in the Jewish community…  If Paul has issues he cannot control, we must realize that we all have those issues.  Mine is food.  So today we realize once again our powerlessness to control our eating habits.  Without Christ, we will not break this bond, this cycle.  This verse shows us we cannot understand our inabilities.  We must just accept them and every day we must wake up and once again reach out to Christ to steady us to break this cycle.

Prayer:  Father, I come to You powerless to break this cycle of overeating.  I continue to do that which I hate and I continue to hate that which I do.  I adore You and I love myself and yet I cannot break the power food has over me.  Bless my inabilities.  Allow them to strengthen our bond.  Allow me to depend on You to break this cycle.  You power is indeed made stronger in my weakness.  So You should be really strong in my life, because I have the weakness.  I am coming to you as Paul came to You, humble, contrite and shaking my head because I do not understand why this crazy beast has power over me.  How can I continue to do that which I hate the next day?  How can I not continually make good choices?  I am going to raise my hands in surrender.  I know I cannot break this chain which binds me.  You, will have to be my power.  You will have to break the chains and set me free.  You have freed me from the power of sin through Your grace and yet, this one has me.  Please, set me free from this one also.  Lift me out of the quicksand that sucks me back in day after day.  Give me the desires of my hear for healthy foods today.  I love You.

"This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.” I John 5:3

Verse Reflections:  This verse reminds me of the song, “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother”.  Oh the love that makes us want to carry those that need us, those that love us without thinking of the time, the energy and the weight.  This verse reminds us that eating the foods God made for us is not a burden, it is not a heavy load, it is a privilege, it is an honor.  Each day I get up thinking about what I am going to eat.  I am going to think with joy about the God foods today.  To be honest my first 90 days was a disaster of going back and forth mentally and physically on eating God foods but I do feel a difference in this fourth month.  I know I am making a change for life and I am shopping differently, I am looking on the menu differently.  I am ready to change my portion size now.  The first 90 days I just had to start eating the right foods without worrying about the portions and even though I lost a little weight I knew I needed to take it to a new level.  So today I am going to focus on the love of God and obey His commands.  Over and over I am hearing the message that I need to obey God’s commandments.  We have to show our love for Him by obeying Him. In Genesis 1:23, He says, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding see that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with see in its fruit.  You shall have them for food.   Genesis 9:3 says Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.  Today’s command is going to be “Thou shalt love no other Gods before me.”  I am going to quit making food my god, I am going to spend more time loving the true God.  And I am going to know that His commands are not heavy, they are not burdensome.  I must not think of this as carrying a heavy burden but think of it as a loving privilege of carrying my brother, my savior.  I get to obey His commands.

Prayer:  Father, allow me to bask in the joy of obeying You today.  Allow me to honor You by putting my love for You before my love for food.  I know the time I spend thinking about food far outweighs the time I spend thinking of You, talking to You.  Some days it may be equal, but today I want to begin making You the center of my day.  I want to think of You, my savior as my center.  I think of You carrying the cross and I want to think of picking You up as You stagger under the weight and carrying You today.  I want to imagine that my love for You far outweighs the weight of changing.  Lord, I am excited about eating Your foods today.  I am excited about starting my day with You, honoring Your commands because of my love for You.

"When your old nature was still active, sinful desires were at work within you, making you want to do whatever God said not to, and producing sinful deeds, the rotting fruit of death." Romans 7:5

Reflections:  Sometimes I act like a child and I want the foods that I know I should not eat just because I shouldn’t have them.  There are plenty of amazing, luscious foods that God has created that I know I should eat but instead I decide I want the foods that have no nutrients that are horrible for my body.  What is that?  Why do we push the boundaries that we know are bad for us? We are literally destroying our bodies by eating foods that convert to sugar and yet we do it every day.  There are no nutrients in pasta, and very, very few in cookies, cakes, breads and yet we inhale them.  This verse gives me hope that maybe my “old nature” can disappear.  Perhaps I can quite wanting to do whatever God said not to have.  So… the sinful desires make me want to do whatever God said not to.  I have to acknowledge that, know it and get rid of it.  God has overcome sin.  He died to give us the freedom to escape the power of sin.  That is what I love about Christianity, God’s gift of grace and power

Prayer:  Father, This is ridiculous that I am a mature adult and I still act like a child.  I crave the foods I should not have and I honestly think one of the reasons I crave them is because I know they are bad for me and I want to “spite the system”.  I think when I have a rotten day I want to say, “to heck with everything good for me, I have busted my batootie and this is the day I have had… I deserve something bad for me.”  Help me grow up.  It is time.  Help me change this mantra.  Help me know that I deserve good health, I deserve to eat foods that will retain the wonderful creation of my body.  I love You Lord, I want to serve You.  These verses keep going… and say “now you can really serve God… in the new way with all of your hearts and mind.”  That is what I want Father.  I want to serve You in a new way. I want to to cook healthy.  I love the movie where Jennifer Aniston says, “I want you to want to do dishes”.  God, “I want to want to eat right”.  I don’t want to fight myself and my desires each day.  Keep introducing me to foods that You made that we can cook beautifully.

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

Verse Reflections:  We will not be shaken!  By reading these scriptures every morning we are setting or sending the Lord before us.  He will clear the way for us every day and give us the strength that we need to have to face the day and make healthy choices.  The days that we do not send the Lord before us we fail.  Pure and simple.  We know He has the power we do not have.  We can take His hand in ours and have confidence that we will not stumble.  How much steadier can we walk with a confident strength leading us up and down the rocks?  When I go hiking, it is so nice when a hand is offered to lend steadiness as I am climbing up or down a ledge.  It mitigates any fear I might have of falling.  I am not shaken when I have a partner that can offer a hand.  It is so important to imagine us taking the action each day to “set the Lord always before us”.  We have to stop, think and consciously send Him ahead of us to pave the way.  Otherwise, we fall.  We come to the ledge and there is no one below to offer a hand because we simply just didn’t ask.  Imagine the power of walking through life with another person going before us getting rid of the obstacles for our day.   God is telling us here that He will do this.  Will there be issues, problems?  Of course, but He is at our right hand and will give us the steady hand to climb over, through or under the obstacles.  Hallelujah!  Today, we are going to set the Lord before us so that we can make healthy eating choices.  He will be at our right hand so that we WILL NOT be shaken from this journey of choosing His foods when we eat.

Prayer:  Father, I consciously come to You today and beg You to go before me.  Please pave the way and remove temptations.  When there are temptations, will You take my hand as You stand beside me and allow me to not be shaken from my ability to choose healthy foods.  Lord, forgive me for the days that I do not read Your word.  Forgive me for the days that I do not “set You before me”.  I read this and I feel like an idiot for not stopping life for a short time every day so that my way is paved by You.  I thank You for standing by my right hand.  Allow me to dig the fingernails of my right hand into my hand to remind me that You are there when I want that second helping or that desert or extra carbohydrates.  God I need reminders.  I need You to speak loudly.  And yet, You are reminding me that I have to take the first step every day.  Here it is.  My plea to You to go, to save my day before it even begins.  I am weak.  I have been shaken too many times.  Today, I am begging You to give me a steadiness in choosing my food choices that I cannot receive without You.  I adore You and love You. Go God. I am setting You before me.   I’ll catch up with You soon.  Let’s eat healthy today.

“Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate." Ecclesiastes 5:18

Verse Reflections:  I have always enjoyed eating.  I love celebrating life.  As I read this verse my eyes are drawn to “the short life God has given us”.  I think we must merge these thoughts together.  We must eat and drink the best foods that God has created so that we can enjoy our health that we have worked for.  We cannot enjoy life at the ultimate level without our health.  When we get out and take a walk, when we feel good, when we eat nutritious foods so that we have energy we can enjoy the day.  The “best thing that we can do” is to eat and drink God foods so that our short life can become longer, so that we can enjoy every aspect of this life.  I don’t know about you, but I have lost 9 pounds in the first three months and I am feeling good this morning.  I can enjoy life better because I am working for this new level of health.  I know this verse can be interpreted a million different ways but I am choosing to merge it with God Plus 1.  He has given us the joy of eating and drinking.  He has given us short lives here on earth.  Let us enjoy the process of working for our health.  This is work!  However, if we choose to enjoy what we eat and drink then we also get to enjoy what we have worked for:  our health, our clothes fitting better, our bodies, our confidence in Christ.  And who knows…. Maybe our short lives God gave us just got a little longer!

Prayer:  Father, thank you for reminding us to enjoy what we have worked for.  This is the perfect timing for me since I just weighed in and have lost 9 pounds!  I AM enjoying this!  Honestly, it is becoming less work than it was at first and becoming more enjoyable.  I am eating so much food that I have little time to begrudge this lifestyle change.  Thank You for Your wisdom that is far beyond my own.  I am going to enjoy eating and drinking today AND I am going to enjoy what I have worked for.  My knees now have forty pounds less pressure on them because I have lost almost 10 pounds!  THAT I can enjoy as I go for a walk on the beach, as I run.  I think I would have liked Solomon God.  He has a carefree spirit that is filled with wisdom.  I would like to have that same spirit as I go through today.  Fill me with wisdom, yet help me to celebrate living, to celebrate what I have worked for. Today I am going to celebrate my nine pounds.  However, I am not going to celebrate with empty calorie food.  I have already had a wonderful mango and cottage cheese and I am stuffed!  YAY us.  And You are making me eat again in two hours in order to get all this food in.  I love to eat so thank You Father for this beautiful lifestyle.  I love You.

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" James 2:14

Verse Reflections:  Here we go… God’s word is demanding that our deeds match our faith.  It is not right for us to go through life praising the Lord and then stuffing our bodies with processed carburgers that destroy our health.  If the food does not have nutritional value we should not be eating it.  We have to honor God by eating healthy, God foods.  We have to match our deeds with our faith.  We have to be willing to say a hard “no”.  We have to be willing to turn away from the unhealthy temptations.  We have to honor our bodies by keeping our weight at a healthy level.  We have to walk out our front door to exercise.  We have to take a walk, ride a bike, swim, run, go to yoga or lift weights.  We have to make sure our hearts are healthy.  We are claiming to love God but then we let our bodies gain unhealthy levels of weight.  We are putting too much weight on our joints.  We are disrespecting God when we choose not to maintain a healthy body weight.  We refuse to make the hard decision to say no to unhealthy foods.  We are choosing to gain weight.  We are choosing unhealthy eating habits and then we want to rely on our faith in God to get “healed” from the joint pain, the headaches, the heart issues, the diabetes and the consequences from our unhealthy deeds.  We must match our deeds to our faith starting today.  Choose healthy foods and say no to processed foods.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for loving me and giving me the power to have the deeds to match my faith.  I do not find it easy to eat right.  I want to add desert to every meal.  Send Your power on me to allow me to make the decisions that honor You.  I do have faith in You, I just don’t have faith in myself.  I know I have to have faith in both to choose healthy eating habits, healthy exercise habits.  Father, love on me, take my hand.  I want to honor You with my body.  I know I have to make conscious decisions to back that up.  I have to choose my deeds every day.  Give me the strength to eat right, to exercise for Your glory.  If I focus on Your glory instead of mine I will be more successful.  I cannot shout the message of Your love, of Your power if I am not allowing the full extent of it in my life.  I know people listen to the messages of people they want to be like.  I cannot shout the message of eating God foods if I am not doing it myself.  Honor me Lord with power.  I humble myself at Your feet and ask You for the power to do this.  In Your powerful name I pray.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know after the testing of your faith develops perseverance." James 1:2-3

Verse Reflections:  We do face trials every day.  Imagine if we thanked God for them.  Imagine if we actually faced our trials with pure joy.  Imagine if we looked forward to growing from our trials.  Imagine if we wanted to learn perseverance.  Imagine a world in which perseverance was more important to us than a perfect life.   So today, we are going to persevere in our healthy eating habits.  No matter what happens in our lives today, no matter what happens at work, at school, at home, we are going to eat healthy.  We will not let our faith be tested by life.  We will persevere.  We will not let our trials make us eat Carbugars (Processed Carbohydrates or Sugar).  We will not react to stress today by eating food.  We will eat healthy foods no matter what happens.  We will persevere with joy.

Prayer:  Thank You Lord for the trials I face.  Today I will face every trial with joy.  Give me joy in my heart no matter what happens.  Lord, with Your help I will persevere.  You and I can face the trials together.  So many times I try to run from trials.  This verse promises me that we will face trials, I shouldn’t run from them.  But I have to say that I cannot face them with joy without Your help.  My tendency is to get depressed and come home and eat a pan or bag of carbugars.  Then I feel joy for about 30 minutes to an hour.  I need You to replace my pan or bag of carbugars with an internal joy.  Allow me to know that the qualities You are developing in me are more important than the temporary release of stress.  I need the joy that comes from heaven.  I need to know that trials are good for me.  I will persevere with Your help.  This is truly what I need to hear.  I have failed so many times that it is nice to know that the testing of my faith develops perseverance.  God, give me perseverance.

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all." I John 1:5

Verse Reflections:  Light is knowledge, joy, happiness.  If we stay in God’s presence, if we read God’s word we will embrace the knowledge of eating right.  We will face trials with joy.  We will continue to eat right even if we have a bad day.  We will not let the darkness of depression overtake us.  We will not let the darkness of anxiety enter our souls.  This verse promises that in God there is no darkness AT ALL.  That is a big promise.  There are many times I eat in reaction to stress.  I have to stay close to God in order to keep the darkness away.  If I feel light and warm with God’s love it is as though the temptation(s) stay away.  I know that staying close to God keeps anxiety, depression and darkness away.  And yet, day after day I keep just going through life without calling on Him. Some days I stay busy just to keep His voice out of my ear.  I surround myself with busy.  I start busy and I end with a blaring television to take over every brain wave.  I refuse to stop and listen to silence.  I refuse to stop my day and listen to Christ.  What is wrong with me?  Of course, the darkness sneaks in because I keep snuffing out the candlelight with busy.  I suck out all the oxygen that feeds the fire of God, the light of God out of my day.  I have to feed the light of God with Bible verses, quiet time, positive thoughts and acts of kindness.  If I just get up and go to work, come home talk and watch television I am purposely keeping the light of God out of my life.

Prayer:  Father, thank You for reminding me that I have to seek Your light.  I have to come to You every day to feel Your warmth, Your light.  I have to fill my soul with light in order to keep out the darkness.  Surround me now with Your light.  Shine a light on my eating habits.  Shine a light on the beautiful healthy foods You have prepared.  I know when I feel light in my soul, when I bubble with happiness it is easier for me to eat right.  I’ve lived long enough to know the light is not dependent on what happens in my life.  Keep the darkness out of my body.  Keep the darkness out of my soul.  Lord, I am going to spend time with You today to give me the power of light.  Illuminate my life.  Lord, kick the power of darkness out of my life.  Kick the power of anxiety and depression out of my eating habits.

"When the Father sends the Advocate as My representative- that is the Holy Spirit- He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." John 14:26

Verse Reflections:  An advocate is someone who speaks in support or defense of a person.  The Holy Spirit is our advocate.  On those days we don’t believe in ourselves the Holy Spirit believes in us.  He knows we can get healthy, be healthy, live healthy.  It doesn’t matter what has happened in your past.  Whether your Father didn’t tell you that you were beautiful, you were abused, you were made fun of, you had a hard life, or you were not raised in a home of love… YOU have an advocate.  You have someone who believes in you.  You have someone who defends you.  Remember the guilt we feel when we eat the wrong foods?  This is why.  We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us telling us what we should eat.  We are reminded of everything the Lord has instructed us to do through these Bible verses we have been led to.  We know what foods to eat.  We know what foods not to eat.  The Holy Spirit has taught us.  We feel it inside our souls.  Why then, do we ignore the voice?  Why do we ignore our advocate?  Our advocate is supporting us.  Our advocate is defending us.  We should embrace the voice inside.  We should listen.  Remember this the next time that someone hands you that temptation.  Today, we are going to embrace the Holy Spirit, our champion.  Today, we are going to remember that we have been taught what to eat.  With the help of our advocate, we are going to eat God foods.  Always remember, today is the only day that will change your life.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for loving us enough to send an advocate for us.  Lord, I love You.  I am humbled to think that I have a powerful spirit that supports me and defends me.  Sometimes I feel alone in my fights here on earth.  I certainly feel inadequate, unable to be as good as I want to be.  It comforts me to know that You have sent a representative that will teach me, remind me and fight for me.  Today I ask that this power be evident in my life.  May Your spirit talk loudly to me.  May Your spirit conquer my temptations.  May Your spirit remind me that I want to eat healthy.  May Your spirit remind me loudly that my body belongs to You.  Take my hand and walk me through this day.  Fight for me when I am too weak.  Support me when I am about to give in.  Teach me Your will for my life, when I am willfully ignoring what I already know.  Remind me that we are eating delicious foods that You created to keep me healthy.    I love You.

"For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." I John 5: 4-5

Verse Reflections:  WE have the victory.  WE have the power of overcoming the world, of overcoming our bad eating habits.  Why?  Because we believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  God coming to earth gave us power as humans through His sacrifice.  We can do this because of this power.  If you are reading these verses, these devotionals it is because overeating or eating bad foods has become your reflection of “the world”.  This is the part of the world that tempts us.  For me it is not drugs, alcohol, swearing, stealing, adultery… it is plain old eating.  But the good news is God has overcome whatever temptation you face.  God has already overcome every temptation in the world.  We have the victory we just need to have FAITH in this fact.  God gives us power through our belief in Jesus.  I don’t understand it.  I don’t know how it works but I KNOW it works.  This verse reminds us that we CAN over come this.  Change “the world” to “our temptation to overeat”.

“For everyone born of God overcomes “our temptation to overeat.”  This is the victory that has overcome “our temptation to overeat” even our faith.   Who is is that overcomes “our temptation to overeat”?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.

Doesn’t that give you confidence?  Doesn’t it give You power?  If we believe in God we can do this!  I need that extra power that He give, I cannot, have not and will not do it without Him which is why I am spending 30 minutes in devotion each day.

Prayer:  Father, I love this verse and the way we have inserted our temptation from the world into it.  Thank You for giving us the victory over overeating.  Thank You for giving us the extra power through Jesus Christ.  Lord, I claim this power today.  I am born of You.  I do believe that Jesus is Your son.  Thank You for giving me victory over myself, over the world.  In the U.S.  2/3 of the grocery store foods are processed.  That shows you our priorities.  Help me to focus on the 1/3.  I know I will be healthier, happier and skinnier if I do that.  Bless me today as I reach out for the victory You have already won for me.  I forget that I don’t have to

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." I John 2:15-16

Verse Reflections:  Oh Lord I am in trouble.  I LOVE food.  I LUST after food.  I am a little vain in that I want to look and be skinny.  I don’t spend hours getting ready or reapply makeup or have to wear makeup to the grocery store…  But this verse is slamming my love for food all the way to the ground.  God is telling us in clear black and white, no “if, and, or but” we need to get over our love of and lust for food.  YIKES.  I want to change but I don’t want to give up the fun of loving food.  And then I have to examine why I want to change. Yes, if I am honest it is that vain glory, that vanity.  I want to look good in my clothes, look good in pictures.  I definitely want to be healthy too but if I peek deep into my soul my vanity is the drive for me because I am healthy so I take that part of life for granted at this phase in life.  I have to focus on the love of the Father, focus on Christ.  I do know something powerful happens in me when I focus on God instead of this world.

Prayer:  Father, Surround me, encompass me and let me live in Your world.  I am not successful in my healthy eating habits when I focus on this world and this verse sheds light on some of the reasons why.  Thank You for taking my love for food, my lust for food, my vanity and placing it in a rocket and blasting it away from this world.  Just send it into outer space.  I am not sure I can do this on my own.  Let me rephrase that, I am sure I can’t do this on my own.  When You are inside me looking out I do see things with Your eyes instead of my own.  I look out with love instead of judgement and criticism which means I love my own body.  I look out for people that need me instead of planning a meal.  Father, guide me today and live inside me.  If You are inside me, we can live in Your world here on earth, in this world.  I am going to imagine a little world around me that encompasses You and me floating through the day.  Today, we are going to live in Your world, and eat healthy because other things will take priority.  Love You tons.
Did you know:  Dark-colored berries (blueberries and blackberries) fight inflammation. 

"I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to Him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants- what is good, pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

Verse Reflections:  Every day we should offer our bodies to God.  He has forgiven us, He has given us grace that erases all of our sins, our failures, our past.  He has shown us compassion that is beyond this earth.  The least we can do is to give our bodies back to Him every day in thanksgiving, in worship for His beautiful omnipotence and sacrifice.  He gave His body for us in the worst death possible being beaten and hung on the cross for hours.  He is only asking us to take care of our body and treat it well.  We owe Him everything.  We owe Him our lives, our happiness, our strength.  When then, do we pour flour and water (noodles) into our body?  Why do we boil our foods in grease (fry)?  Why do we eat ½ cup of sugar a day (just 8 tablespoons)?  What is wrong with us?  We need to not think like the others around us, we need to change the way we think.  When we do this we will want what God wants.  He wants what is good, pleasing and perfect.  He wants us to eat His foods.  We can so do this.  How often do we sing praise songs with amazement and awe at His goodness?  How often do we read scripture and are humbled by His power and sacrifice?  And yet, we do not give Him our bodies as a living sacrifice.  He is not asking us to be beaten as He was.  He is not asking us to hang on a cross, stabbed by a sword.  He is asking us to eat foods that are good, pleasing and perfect.  He is asking us to change the temptations of the world and not buy into the processed foods that are tossed our way on commercials, beautiful four color packaging… Have You noticed that His foods are not covered in beautiful packaging?  His foods are perfect in and of themselves.  Today, sacrifice your body in a way that actually gives you the health you deserve.  God only wants the best for You but He realizes that we are torn apart by this world.  He knows that this world will pull us away from what is good, and pleasing and perfect.  It is actually very sad that He even has to ask us to “sacrifice” in order to have the best that He wants for us.  Today let’s kneel before the alter of Christ and give Him our bodies.  It is the least we can do for Him and thus for ourselves. Let’s choose to eat the beautiful, pure foods that He has created.

Prayer:  God, I come to You… I kneel before You and ask desperately for You to take my body.  I sacrifice my desires for sweets, for carbohydrates, for processed foods.  I give You my body and the health of my body.  You have sacrificed so much for me.  You have forgiven me so many times for abusing my body.  I apologize and I come to You and beg for the strength to change the way I think.  Give me the power to crave the foods that are good and pleasing and perfect to You.  Allow those foods to be good and pleasing and perfect to me as well.  You have shown me so much compassion through the years.  How do You watch me and not cry?  I have eaten more than any human should be allowed to.  I have punished myself, rewarded myself with food but the wrong foods.  I ask for Your forgiveness and compassion once again.  Come to me and take my body in sacrifice.  Allow me to live in worship of You by eating the beautiful foods You have made. You ask us in Romans 12:1-2 to change the way we think. You remind us that You only what is good, pleasing and perfect for us. Wow! Thank You for wanting what is best for me. Thank You for Your sacrifices for me. The least I can do is to sacrifice my desires and temptations for You.  I give You my body as a living sacrifice.  Thank You for convicting me today.  I love You.

"Yet they kept on sinning against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They stubbornly tested God in their hearts, demanding the foods they craved. They even spoke against God himself, saying, “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.” Psalm 78:17-19

Verse Reflections:  This is so me!  I keep sinning against God (and myself).  I keep testing God in my hearts and demanding foods that I crave.  I rebel.  I demand.  I sin.  I speak against God.  What is wrong with me?  This verse humbles me and makes me sad.  I am no better than the Israelites.  It is so easy to read the Bible and think I can’t relate, or I would never do what they did.  But when I separate out this verse I so clearly see that I am one and the same.  I stubbornly test God.  I ask for His help and then refuse it when I smell or see the foods that I crave and desire.  I keep choosing my idol, the food, over God.  I know that I am pouring sugar and flour and chocolate and butter and boiled oil into my body because it tastes good.  I refuse His help even when I know I have the power to say no.  I demand the foods I crave by cooking ridiculous amounts of sweets, frying foods, buying processed foods and eating entire bags, ordering from the restaurants foods that I have no business eating.  And I KEEP doing it!  I am these people.  Stubbornly, I do this over and over again.  I have never been in the wilderness where I did not have access to the foods so I don’t have to speak against Him in that fashion.  But I do speak against His power every time I choose food over Him.  My heart gets hard and I even say out loud, “God I don’t care, I am eating this”.  I constantly refer to tomorrow.  And yet, tomorrow never comes.  I am sinning every time I do this.  I am rebelling against Him and the commandments He has given us.  Today I am going to confess my sin and quit testing God.  I am going to eat the healthy foods He has given us.

Prayer:  Father, I confess my sins to You today.  I keep on sinning against You and sadly, I am sinning against myself as much as You.  Perhaps that is always true with sin because when we sin, it affects us.  You always want the best for us.  If we would listen to You we would be healthier, happier.  God, You know more than anyone how I have stubbornly tested You over and over.  I have gorged on food to the point that a football player would probably be amazed at the quantity.  I have demanded the foods I craved even when I heard Your voice screaming at me to stop.  I have spent money I didn’t have.  I have left my home to get groceries.  I have cranked the car to go to a specific restaurant that served a specific food that I “needed”.  God I cannot criticize anyone in the Bible.  I am these people.  I ask for Your forgiveness.  Help me today to quit this sin.  Help me to not demand certain foods.  Convince me not to stubbornly test You.  I adore You.  Help me to show You by choosing Your foods and not the ones that I demand.  I love You.  Today, I am going to show You.

“As for God, His way is perfect; The Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him." Psalm 18:30 NIV

Verse Reflections:  I need shielding!  Yesterday, my client took me by a cookie store and asked the owner to let me taste all the cookies.  Yikes!  She put together an entire plate of cookies and I had to taste all of them.  Crazy!!  Remember, good cookies are my weakness!  And this lady could cook.  She had some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies that were hot out of the oven that were to die for.  I have to say I felt God’s protection because other than that one cookie, I was able to just have a small sample of all the others so it probably only equaled two cookies.  And I gave away all the ones I bought.  Go God!! I didn’t even imagine eating them all.  Every day, I am going to claim this shield of God’s word.  I know the power of God’s word and yet there are days I get up and start running and do not access this power.  Why would I ignore this simple step in my day?  God has been telling me for four years to read one verse a day to help me heal and eat healthy foods.  This one verse can be life changing.  This one verse can shield me from the arrows of a battle I have been fighting all of my adult life.  This one verse can win the war.  This one verse will keep Satan from attacking me.  This one verse will keep Satan from even coming close to tempting me.  Hallelujah.  His word is flawless.  His word is perfect.  And His word just keeps coming with verses that speak to me on this journey.  He knew we would fight this battle and need refuge here on earth.  His ways are perfect even if mine are not.

Prayer:  Thank You God.  Your way is perfect!  Your word is flawless and I have to say reading it daily like this protects me from my own flaws.  Thank You for shielding me yesterday.  Thank You for taking Your word and putting the perfect protection around me.  I sometimes think it is crazy how powerful Your word is. I can literally feel the difference in my strength when I start out with Your flawless words.  Thank You for shielding me from myself!  That was not me yesterday taking tiny bites of these gourmet cookies.  You shielded me.  Your way is perfect and I wish I had started this God plus one back in my twenties instead of wasting so many years fighting stupid, ridiculous cravings.  I love You Lord, let’s have an awesome day.  I take refuge in You!

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:38

Verse Reflections:  This verse congers up an image of a beautiful waterfall and river within my body.  I love the image.  As I crave the foods that are not good for my body, I imagine God just washing these cravings away from within with these rivers of living water.  The clean, pure waters that will bring with them cravings and images of good pure foods from God.  And I can lean my head back under the waterfall and take a bath in His waterfall, the rivers of living water.  The Holy Spirit flows within us every day.  We can’t do this, we can’t take away cravings but He can.  He can keep the waters moving instead of stagnating and becoming impure and contaminated.  We do believe in Him and now we can claim this promise that He will cleanse, and purify our thoughts and cravings through His pure Holy Spirit of living water.  Today we will keep these rivers pure as we eat the beautiful pure foods of God.

Prayer:  God this verse has given me beautiful images of pure, clean, flowing waters within my soul since I read it.  Thank You for this.  Flow within me today.  Wash away all the cravings for foods that are not good for me.  Wash away the endless circle I created of craving carbs and sugar.  Replace these with nutritious foods that will glorify You by feeding my body the foods that will extend life, that will restore energy.  I know when I eat the pure foods You created for us I think better, I sleep better, I run better.  Let the rivers of living water flow within me today as I claim Your Holy Spirit’s power.  You are all powerful and mighty so take away the muddy waters that I have created within my body and replace them with these beautiful springs of living, crystal clear waters.  Let these living waters bring me beautiful grilled vegetables, steaks, chicken, hot bacon salad, and blackened shrimp.  I love You!

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Matthew 25:34

Verse Reflections:  We ARE blessed.  I am a firm believer that our inheritance starts right here on earth.  We can take our inheritance now, today.  The best inheritance I will ever receive from my parents is the gift of their unconditional love and support.  Some of you are not as blessed by your own parents but God’s unconditional love is greater than anything we can imagine.  Our inheritance is grace, peace and love.  He prepared this for us since this world was created billions of years ago.  We get to claim it and live it now.  Doesn’t that make it easier to relax and want to glorify God by eating right?  There is something in knowing that God has loved me enough to create a kingdom for me to live in.  He has given me a blessing.  He loves me that much.  Shouldn’t I love myself enough to give my body healthy food, nutrition that He has created for me?  I am going to have 4 vegetable, 3 fruits, 3 proteins and a fun, blessed day.  God has prepared this day for me and you.  Let’s go out and live it for Him (and ourselves).

Prayer:  Father, thank You for my inheritance of Your kingdom.  I am grateful today for the inheritance You have already given me.  Because of Your grace I live guilt free, because of Your unconditional love I have confidence and peace that I would not have without knowing You love me just as I am.  Your light comes into the dark spots and shines a path.  It is reassuring to know that You have prepared Your kingdom for us since the creation of the world.  Somehow, someway that makes me want to take these gifts and treasure my body at a higher level.  I want to strive to eat right, to use the energy of today in the right way.  I will start off with a healthy breakfast and savor every mouthful even though I hate eating in the morning.  I am running late so I’d better go dry my hair.  I love You Father.  Let me live today worthy of my inheritance.

"Thy word have I laid up in my heart, That I might not sin against You." Psalms 119:11 ASV

Verse Reflections:  The only difference between what I am doing now verses what I have done for my other 30 years of watching my weight is placing the word of God in my heart each morning before I go to work and start my day.  And miracle of miracles it is working!  This verse in Psalms has more power than we can imagine.  Laying God’s word “up in our heart” gives us the power, the strength to not sin against God.  And make no mistake, abusing our bodies by not eating well is sin.  He has blessed us with these amazing, gorgeous vessels that cannot be replicated.  We have been given foods that can make the bodies stronger or make these bodies weaker.  Why is it that we so often choose foods that make our bodies weaker?  Sugar revs up our metabolism, crashes us down, and then makes us crave more!  And so we go back again and again.  I gave blood yesterday and had to choose from five packages of cookies.  I ate a package and I have to admit I craved sugar ALL day long.  It was a true struggle at dinner time to choose healthy.  And yet, I find on the days I do not have sugar I do not have physical cravings.  I have mental ones because I have trained myself to “go to” certain foods for comfort but I find I can get over the mental cravings easier than the physical ones with God’s word.

Prayer:  Father, I thank You for the power I find in Your word.  I don’t understand it, can’t really comprehend it but it is there.  Perhaps it is like a small conversation a young girl has with her Daddy before she goes to school in the morning and He tells her she is beautiful.  With those few words she can withstand all of the girl drama, the lack of positive feedback she receives at school.  You give us confidence that we can do this.  You give us strength to withstand temptation because we know You are on our side.  You give us Your words of love so that if we run into something negative in this world we do not go running to food… we go running to You.  Ahhhh THIS is the miracle of the God Plus One.  We go running to You instead of food.  Thank You Father for this.  Thank You for Your words that I have laid up in my heart that I might eat well today!  I love You.

"And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so." Genesis 1:29-30

Verse Reflections:  And here it is.  The first verse that lets us know that God gave us everything we need for food when He first created the earth.  He reinforces the fact that plants are our primary foods.  “I have given you every plant… you will have them for food”.  What would happen if I planned my meals around the vegetables instead of planning the meal around the meat?  I have never planned meals around the vegetables.  My mind plans the pork chops, chicken, fish or steak first, then adds the “plants” that taste good with the “main” course.  Okay, today I am going to look for the vegetables first.  Hmmm… it is an interesting thought.  I honestly begin to imagine the herbs I am going to prepare them with at a depth I do not normally conjure.   This could work.

Prayer:  Father, I am imagining some wonderful vegetables for dinner.  Thank You for this reminder that Your plants can be the main course.  I was raised on meat and potatoes, bread and desert.  Of course, I had vegetables too but the focus was on the primary meat.  Thank You for creating the amazing vegetables that line our grocery stores.  I love so many vegetables.  I am looking forward to changing my mind to make the vegetables the focal point and accentuating these vegetables with additional foods.  We can do this but I have decades of imagining the meats first.  You are going to have to work on me.  When someone asks me what I want for dinner, the meat always comes first in my choices.   Bless my new psyche change.  Bless my love of vegetables and allow me to have fun imagining great vegetable recipes from scratch.

"Pray for one another that you may be healed and restored. The earnest prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available." James 5:16

Verse Reflections:  Unless you allow yourself to be healed and you forgive yourself you will only allow yourself to be as good as you were on your worst day.  This is why I have chosen Christianity out of all the religions in the world.  Forgiveness allows us to start over.  We can be healed and restored.  And then we are righteous.  It is just that simple.  This verse reminds us that when we pray earnestly, sincerely, we can access the power of God.  I am living proof that the power of God is life changing.  For years, for decades I tried to eat healthy and I could not do it without God.  Each verse, each word from Christ has changed my life.  It has given me the power I needed to change my life and eat the foods that He created for me to eat.  I have “tremendous power available”.  That is an amazing statement that frees us from the endless cycle of failure.  We have tremendous power available.  We can simply choose to use it or not.  We must start with the prayer of healing and restoration of our soul  We cannot believe that we are not worthy, that someone who wounded us has continuing power over our lives, that something we did or allowed to happen has the power to keep us from an amazing life.  If we are overweight or eat foods that do not give our body nutrients we will fail to have the best life possible.  So, it is not just one decision about what we are going to eat today, it is a conscious decision not to live the best life possible.  Let’s pray that we are healed and restored and then with joy from our healing, pray for access to that tremendous power that continue our restoration.  We are going to do this.  We are going to eat God foods today and every day.

Prayer:  Father, this verse gives me so much hope.  Hope for loving myself at a level I could not love myself without you.  Hope to believe that I am attractive even though I never heard my Father tell me I was pretty.  Hope to forgive myself for any baggage that might make me punish myself with food.  Hope that I don’t need to coat myself with a layer of fat to protect myself from attention from others.  This verse lets me know that I do not have to depend on myself.  I am powerless to change this cycle that I have been in.  I simply do not have the power over this aspect of my life.  I love sugar and I love food.  However, after studying the effects of sugar on my body I do not love what sugar does to me.  So, today Lord I pray for healing and restoration.  I pray for your tremendous power.  You promise me that I have this tremendous power available.  Do you know how relaxed that makes me deep within?  I have been fighting for control, fighting my cravings, fighting my desires for years.  I have to face the fact that I do not have the power.  Father, You have the power I need to change my life.  I know I have to make changes for the health of my body.  To be perfectly honest with You and myself, I have to change my life for the health of my mind and soul.  It is devastating  to be so powerless against my own mind, the temptations I create.  I accept Your power over mine.  I thank You God for all these verses that speak to me of Your power that promises me a new life.  Thank You for giving me power to choose Your foods today.  I love You, thank You for all You do for me.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31

Verse Reflections:  If I start my day with every bite I take, every sip I drink being done to “glorify God” then how different my choices will be.  I must honor and praise Him with my food.  Every detail of our life should reflect Him and the love we feel for Him.  Eating foods empty of nutrition, the energy that powers this beautiful body He has given us, does not glorify Him.  Eating sugars or processed foods that give us a quick spike of “feel good” and then crash us down does not glorify Him.  We must breathe Him in and stop and think about our choices.  This verse by its very existence reinforces eating pure God foods.  These foods glorify God, choosing them reminds us to treasure our bodies, to honor Him.  There is nothing in those foods that can harm our body.  We will be able to have a healthy weight, to feel good about ourselves and we will have the energy to do the daily callings of God.  Listen to the birds call and think of what God is calling you to do.  Let’s glorify God with our choices today.

Prayer:  Thank You Father for this verse that reminds me to honor You with all my choices.  Today I want to honor You with the foods I eat and the drinks I drink.  I do love my diet cokes!  So, thank You for giving me that guilt free “plus one” message that allows me to forgive myself for a couple of vices here and there.  I am close to 90 days in and I am starting to feel a difference in my head, which may be as important as my body in this process.  I am starting to make the choices a part of who I am.  It is making a difference in  where I look on the menu, where I shop in the grocery store.  Thank You for being a part of this process.  May I glorify You through what I eat and drink today and all days.  May my foods honor and praise You as they become a part of this Holy temple You have entrusted to my care.  I adore You.  May my choices today show You this adoration.  I lift up my day, to glorify You.

“As for God, His way is perfect; The Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him." Psalm 18:30 NIV

Verse Reflections: Verse Reflections:  It is hard for me to imagine perfection.  And yet, I believe my reach for perfection is one of the reasons I have an eating disorder.  I am constantly battling the desire to be perfect, to look perfect against my love for food and cooking.  This verse reminds us that God’s way is perfect.  His word is flawless.  By drawing ourselves into His word every morning He surrounds us with His perfection.  He can shield us from the imperfections of the world.  He can provide refuge for us from our own imperfections.  My way, my choices, my path is full of deficiencies, insufficiencies.  If I can embrace this and reach up for God’s guidance each morning then I can live in His refuge.  I think when we start our day without the God of perfection surrounding us we are exposed to the world, we are a part of the imperfections and all the consequences.  When we begin our day encompassed in His word, we are protected from the consequences of this flawed world.  We shielded by Him as this verse promises.  Today we claim this refuge as we desire, crave and eat the foods God created.

Prayer:  Lord, I come to You today with all my imperfections and I ask for refuge.  Will You protect me from myself?  Will You give me the desire for pure, clean foods that You have created?  Will You erase my cravings?  Can You let Your word live in me and protect me today.  I am soooo imperfect, sooooo flawed.  I want to be healthy, I want to take weight off this precious body that You entrusted me with so that my knees are not pressured.  I want to live a healthy life that is not a battle of cravings, of portions.  Thank You for the calm You are giving my soul recently.  It is so much easier to eat Your foods now.  I am craving the processed foods so much less now.  Thank You.  I know it is Your power allowing me to change my habits.  It is Your refuge I am coming to every morning and I feel the protection You are offering.  Thank You.  Allow me today to stay close so that we can live this healthy journey together.

Thank You God.  Your way is perfect!  Your word is flawless and I have to say reading it daily like this protects me from my own flaws.  Thank You for shielding me yesterday.  Thank You for taking Your word and putting the perfect protection around me.  I sometimes think it is crazy how powerful Your word is. I can literally feel the difference in my strength when I start out with Your flawless words.  I wish I had started this God plus one back in my twenties instead of wasting so many years fighting stupid, ridiculous cravings.  I love You Lord, let’s have an awesome day.  I take refuge in You!

"You will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you… Do not be afraid or discouraged." II Chronicles 20:17 NLT

Verse Reflections:  Seriously?  I will not even need to fight?  How could that be?  This is a message of victory before we even begin.  We just have to take our positions.  In this case, our position is reading his word every day.  If we will just read His word, His promises, every day then we can stand still and watch the Lord win the victory.  It is so true.  On the days I read God’s word, I barely have to fight against the temptations of food.  And then, I stupidly will go for a day or two without reading His word and the battle comes right back upon me.  I do not understand the power of God’s word but He does fight the battle for me through His promises.  I am a different person, I have a power from inside that quickly disappears when I fail to take the same position the next day.  The enemy can easily pierce my weakness and does.  And then, I position myself with God’s word and once again I win the battles of the day with little effort.

Prayer:  God, give me the wisdom to continue to access Your promises, Your word.  When I position myself with the power of Your word in my heart each day I am able to “stand and watch” Your victory.  I am humbled and amazed at Your power.  I am humbled and ashamed at the number of times I still fail to “take position” each day.  Even though You have proven Your power to fight my battles for me I still get too busy to read Your word each day.  Forgive me.  Bury each promise deeply within my heart so that I can pull them out each day.  I want to have them memorized so that even if I don’t reach for the paper, I have Your promise seared into my soul.  I know Your word is my offense against any temptation that tries to conquer me.  I have seen and experienced the difference in the battles.  You have already won the battle, I just have to remind myself each day of Your power.  Today this verse reminds me to position myself with You and allow You to choose the foods that I will eat today.  Let’s have a wonderful day today.  I am just going to stand and watch while I eat healthy foods that You created to entice me and win our battle.  I love You.  Have a great day.

Did you know:  Fiber rich foods help your bowels move.

“To those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." I Corinthians 1:24-25 NIV

Verse Reflections:  Yes!  I love that on my strongest day I have not touched God’s weakest day.  I am a pretty strong woman on my best days.  I can run a multi-million dollar company, cook dinners for friends going through a tough time, run four to six miles, lift weights, clean house and still have energy left over.  Of course, those are my strongest days so don’t get intimidated if you are reading this.  What we should both get out of this is that day doesn’t even touch God’s abilities on His weakest days.  This thought is so freeing, especially on the days where all I have the energy to do is change channels.  God has the wisdom we need.  He has the power we need.  We don’t have to have it all.  If our child is going through a tough time, we just ended a relationship, someone in our life is fighting an addiction, we have a physical illness or someone we love is fighting an illness, our reputation has been threatened… we can know that “the weakness of God is stronger than our strength”.  We can be weak and call on God’s strength to get us through.  We can not know what to do next and call upon God’s wisdom.  I have learned that neither prayer may change our circumstances but it will get us through the day and the next and the next.  Then one day, we will look around and know that we climbed a mountain, the view at the top is beautiful and we are in the best shape of our lives from the climb.  This takes a lot of pressure off of our day today.  We don’t have to be perfect, life doesn’t have to be perfect for us to begin making healthy choices.  We don’t need to wait on our day to get better for us to start (or continue) this journey.  Too often, I have postponed making the right eating choices because I was having a bad day, week, month or year.  God’s weakness is stronger than our greatest strength.  We can choose God foods today.  We can change our life today, no matter what happens.

Prayer:  Father, give me Your strength on my weakest days.  Give me Your strength on my strongest days.  I am weak every day when it comes to eating.  I need You to transform this part of my life. I love that this verse reminds me that no matter what is happening to me You have the strength and the wisdom that I need.  Lord, You have given me the beautiful message that we need to eat Your foods and yet relax and allow ourselves one extra opportunity to indulge each day.  You provided this wisdom.  Continue to weave this wisdom, this message into the cells of my body.  I know this wisdom is critical.  It gives me the focus on God foods for the major choices of my day and yet the freedom, without criticism, to have a little bread or a desert.  Thank You.  This allows me to not chastise myself if I have a little of the “unhealthy” foods. This wisdom is crucial to heal me from my crazy way of hyper-analyzing any and all foods that I eat.  Give me the strength You promise me to make the right choices and to say no to temptations.  I love that You are stronger and wiser than any human I know.  I am excited to be reminded that You have it all together.  Thank You for imparting to me Your strength and Your wisdom.  Give me both as I choose Your foods and health today and every day.