Sorry, Food, We Need to Break Up [SHAPED BY FAITH]

by Katie Albers, wife, mother, and librarian who is eager to notice God in the little things

I have always been a little on the chubby side.  I thought it was my identity, and it is difficult to imagine myself any other way than a size L-XL.  But, recently, I have been successful at losing 25 pounds. I weigh less today than I did as a senior in high school.  Now, I am carrying size M to the dressing room, and I am confident that soon I will be slipping on an occasional S.  How did I do it?

In the past few months, God has revealed to me that my life-long battle with my body image is really a heart-breaking love story.  How do we know when we are in love with someone?  We think about the person all the time, talk about the person all the time, spend as much time as we can with the person.  I realized that I loved food.  I thought about it all the time, what I could and couldn’t eat and how much I wanted and was “allowed.”  I talked about it all the time, swapping recipes, scheduling and planning meals, and comparing restaurants.  I spent time shopping for it, preparing it, eating it, and even cleaning up after it.  I even have a vegetable garden that I plan, plant, tend, and harvest.  Food, food, food!  Food was my life focus!

I had to ask myself, why, why was I so in love with food?  And the answer is that I was looking for a feeling.  Food gave me a moment of enjoyment with each bite.  Food gave me something to break up the monotony of life.  Food gave me a way to connect with others.  But, the price I paid for these pleasures was extra pounds on my bones, the guilt of diet restrictions, tight clothing, and no energy to play with my family.  Worst of all, excess food could not cover up the sadness that I felt in my heart.  The reason that my love affair with food is a heart-breaking one is because food will never love me back.

Psalm 37:4 reminds us to “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

All these years, I have been chasing the things of this world.  Now, a new love story is beginning.  Now, I am turning my focus towards God, thinking about, talking about, and spending time with God.  I am breaking up with food, and falling in love with God! That’s how the weight is coming off.