Uncommon Vessels

I was reading this book this morning and it had a lot of parts that I want to remember and keep fresh for awhile so I am going to put them here. Mostly for myself!

Idolatry= the worship of a false God.
God's children are commanded in Exodus 20:3-5 to have "no other Gods" and although no one actually worships or prays to food, there is a definite connection between the need for communion with God and peace with him and the satiating of that need with food. When anxious or fearful, you may eat instead of praying or waiting on God.

When you are experiencing emptiness and feel the desire to eat, you need to put GOD first, rely on his strength, and feed on HIM.
Ask yourself, "What am I feeling?" and "Do I feel true physical hunger or some sort of empty restlessness which is a craving for something other then food?"


The flimsy and futile attempt to obtain pleasure from food, especially sweets, is frustrating at best. You must be taught reliance on the righteousness of Christ and reliance upon his joys and pleasures instead of food.

The proper course of action is prayer and reliance on Christ through support of other Christians, bible reading, and learning to trust solely in him to meet all of your needs.

You can stand in the presence of God with boldness, not because you have kept to your diet successfully, but because God, in his mercy, has chosen you and redeemed you.

You should learn to acknowledge points of disobedience and sin and must confess and repent of them, asking and accepting forgiveness. The repentance involves a change in behavior- more than saying "I'm sorry" - a true effort must be made to change actions and even motivations, all the time relying on the grace and strength of the Lord.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather then pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

I am FREE!

I hate to say this, but I am glad the hustle of Christmas is over. We had a very nice Christmas, and yesterday we had another Christmas with Kevin's side of the family which was also really nice but I am glad it's all over with. I honestly think that for once in my life, I was sick of shopping! I like to shop, but I was just plain tired of running around, especially last min. It's very stressful sometimes. I love getting together with family, and I wish we did it more often, but without all the stress of presents and cleaning and cooking! I'd be happier with a pizza delivery and a somewhat messy house. My kids are enjoying their Christmas presents, they got Wii and have been having fun playing with it. Jake finally got his xbox live hooked up and can now play video games with his friends and talk through a head set without even having to get together. I'm not sure that's a good thing! Our poor Gracie has been sick through the holidays. Autumn and Ben both have the cough, and Jake has it a little bit, but Grace got hit hard. She has been miserable for days and I feel so bad for her. All she wants to do is be held. Even in the night, laying next to her is not good enough, she wants to be laying on my chest. Poor thing.

One cute/funny thing that she says when she doesn't feel good is "boom". Probably because anytime she falls down or gets hurt we say did you go boom? So now she must think if she's hurting or sick, it's "boom". So she feels her face, when it's hot and she has a fever and she says "boom". It's just too cute. I think this year being closer to the Lord Christmas felt different to me. Shopping for presents was more stress then fun, doing Santa was not FUN at all. We used to give Jake quite a few presents from Santa, this year we only did two a child. If it were up to me it would have been zero from Santa. lol. I guess it's just bothering me more this year. Kevin's idea of picking a different day of the year to do presents is sounding more and more appealing to me! How about an August celebration? lol.

I thank God for sending his son to die for me, and this year I remembered more then an other year to say Thank you to Christ for his gift of salvation and the phrase "saving me from my sins" has much more meaning to me this year then it ever has. Jesus didn't just die on the cross to save me from hell, but he also died to save me from my sins when I'm alive! I never really quite "caught" that until just recently. I've been learning so much through my eating addiction. My eating issues are sins. But Jesus died so that I don't have to have this sin in my life. I don't HAVE to have an eating addiction. Why did it take me this long to go to the Lord for this? I am AMAZED at what he is doing in my life with my eating since I figured out that I will ALWAYS fail by myself and I need HIM! Since I've given this over to him, he has taken away a lot of my desire to eat! I can eat a half a cookie! Or ONE slice of pizza! I can go hours without thinking about food. I feel different. He has changed me. He is delivering me from this sin. I am so very thankful for this. It's almost weird to think like a "normal" person when it comes to food. I have never, ever in my life felt so free from food before. God is SO good. Of course I am praying every morning, and during the day that he helps me with my eating, that I don't eat too much, that I know when to stop, that he gives me strength not to eat when I know I'm not hungry. He has answered my prayers. He is faithful to me because I have given it to him! Today's sermon was a good one at church too, the high school Pastor Don Mingo gave the sermon and I thought he did a great job. He has a way of explaining a story in the bible that it seems like your there. Almost everything he said today, I was shaking my head up and down, thinking yes lord! It seems it all related to what is going on in my life and how God is working in my life. I will post a link to the sermon when it's up on the website. But one of the things I had a big Amen to was when he said God rewards those who sincerely seek him. ( "and without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him") SO true! He has rewarded me, and released me from the chains of a food addiction! Praise God. I know in my heart that if I stay close to God, and keep my relationship with him strong by studying the bible and praying, he will continue to help me with my eating. I'm also sure that he is working on me in other areas of my life! I hope that someday he will use me, to help others to know him by my actions, the way I live my life. I want people to look at me and see Christ! I want people to want what I have and have the opportunity to share Christ with people and share with them how he has saved them from their sins!

So thank you Jesus, Happy Birthday to you and thank you for dying so that I can live and be free!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq3ZFdpOGYs

I am free!

Through you the blind will see

Through you the mute will sing

Through you the dead will rise

Through you all hearts will praise

Through you the darkness flees

Through you my heart screamsI am free

I AM FREE TO RUN

I AM FREE TO DANCE

I AM FREE TO LIVE FOR YOU

I AM FREE

Through you the kingdom comes

Through you the battle's won

Through you the price is paid

Through you I'm not afraid

Through you there's victory

Because of you my soul sings

I am free

[Repeat Chorus]

WHO THE SON SETS FREE-IS FREE INDEED NOW

Unbelievable...

I HAVE to share this post. I just wrote about 10 min ago in my blog how everywhere I look God is talking to me about obedience. I got done writing and clicked on a friends link on my page, and here is what I find!

More taking off...

And........

Put on-put off which is one of hers that I read days ago but it hit so close to home.

Is God amazing or what?

Obedience

I can't believe my last post was on the 10th. I swear this month has just flown right by me! I am not really even ready for Xmas, but am I ever?

My kids went to bed early tonight. (Thank you Jesus) Autumn has been extra whiny lately, I think it's because she has a cold and just needs some rest which is hard to get in this house! Ben is driving me crazy with Xbox. How does a 3 year old boy become addicted to Xbox? He just started playing, maybe 3 weeks ago? Maybe it was longer then that, I don't know, but ever since he started playing it he doesn't stop. He could sit there all day! It started bothering me, and I mentioned it to Kevin and he said, "ah, he'll get sick of it" Well, unfortunately he is NOT getting sick of it. I realized how bad it was today, when two times he didn't even bother to get up to go pee in the bathroom, he just went in his pants! That's a good sign right there it needs to be controlled better. I took the controllers away and told him enough. He cried. I feel bad but he's too young to be playing xbox all day long. Anyway!

Since I last posted I think I have learned some interesting things. It amazes me that I have been a Christian, or so I thought a true christian for about 4 years, and I've done many bible studies, but some things just didn't quite "sink in" until now. I don't know why things work that way? God has really been working on my heart about obedience in the past few weeks. Have I heard of being obedient to God before? Of course! Was I? Um, no. Did I subconsciously choose to ignore the fact that if I am born again I need to be "out w/the old self"? I'm not even sure but lately it seems that every book or piece of paper, or blog I read, or sermon I listen to is about being obedient to Jesus. If I want to have a close relationship with God and feel his peace and Joy, I need to be obedient. What a concept that is. :) I almost feel stupid that it took me this long to get it!

I'm not just talking about eating either, that is another lesson I have learned lately, I'll get to that in a min! But I'm talking about anything! I have NOT been putting God, or what God wants first in my life for many things. I almost feel like in the last few weeks, my brain has been overloaded with information. . God really was teaching me things!

As for my eating goes, this is what I've soaked in so far from the book(s) I'm reading and meeting with Diane and just what God has told me!

For my entire life, I've been dieting & exercising, I'd lose the weight, look good, feel good, then fall back down and go back to my old habits. Always looking for something to fill that hole, that nagging feeling inside that I "need" something, oh it must be food! (uh, no Amy, it's God you air head) But I always went straight to food for my temporary fix. Thing is, it never worked! I'd feel good while I ate, then a 1/2 hour later I'd be looking for something else to eat. Why?? I was trying to fill a void I had in my life, but the problem was, I was filling the void by sinning, which in turn was taking me FARTHER from God, and giving me LESS peace and joy! Why didn't I see this? All those times I dieted, and then went back to eating again, I was falling down, over, and over, and over because I was trying to lose weight for the wrong reasons!

1. I was looking for MANS approval, not Gods. Will others think I look good? Will they tell me after I lose weight how good I look?

Well, I've learned that I am not supposed to care what MAN thinks of me! Only what GOD thinks.

2. I was doing it by myself. Without God, trying to do it with my own "will power" which never worked!

I finally am getting this. First of all, it doesn't matter what I look like to other people, I shouldn't be looking for their approval. I should be looking to God for his and IF I was being obedient to GOD and doing things HIS way, I wouldn't be eating so much and the by product and blessing of that would be the weight coming off, and never coming back, because I am doing to to please God not for man! Hallelujah! I feel like a veil was lifted! I will never keep any weight off unless I am doing it for the right reasons!

So, I have to say, since this revelation, it's been getting easier! HE is helping me! Who would have thought? lol. Do something to please God and he'll help you! (he'll even go as far as making the food at my favorite restaurant not taste as good as usual!) I'm sure some of my seasoned Christian friends are thinking, well duh Amy! lol. That's OK though, I have a sense of humor about how long it takes me to "get" things. Thank the Lord for people like Diane who can explain things to me more then once until it clicks!

I am excited about my new knowledge and closer relationship with Christ. I am not by any means saying it's easy for me and you can expect me to be thin soon. :) It's still hard. I still want to go to the fridge or snack pantry many times a day, and some times I do, but I have to use the self control God is giving me to say no to the food, and Pray to him! When I do that, he helps!

Anyway, I am very happy that he is working on me and my heart and changing me to be more like him. I feel better about things already, my attitude shows it and I feel closer to God (not to mention have a better relationship with my husband) which is such a blessing!

Speaking of blessings, (sorry Kevin but I have to share this) My husband has recently accepted Christ! A few years ago he wasn't so sure he believed the bible, or that Jesus was the son of God but he now believes! That is an answered prayer and such an awesome one. I am happy to say that I have a God fearing husband! The funny thing is, he didn't even bother to share this with me. Like for me, when i got saved, I was excited! I was hungry for God and couldn't get enough information. My husband is just so laid back he didn't even bother to tell me. I asked him what he wants for Christmas and he says, "what more could I want then the gift that Jesus died for my sins?" I about fell off my chair! Then later driving in my van, I cried! God is good! Kevin has been listening to the bible on tape in his truck to and from work. I knew this, but didn't know the effect it had on him. So praise God! God is doing some major work in the Vander Galien household!

Well, I think I am going to go enjoy a cup of tea (thanks Chris!) and read a little bit in peace and quiet and then go to bed early for once!