The way you experience life emotionally is based upon the story you tell yourself about life events primarily.
This can count even more than the event itself!
For example, let’s say that you have tried to lose weight in the past and failed. That is a true event.
But then the story you tell yourself is that you are a “failure” and you will never succeed in losing weight.
That story, my friend, is a stinking story! That story will not help you succeed in the future; it is designed to discourage you from even trying.
The Bible says that the serpent was the most subtle of all creatures in the Garden of Eden. Subtle means “making use of clever and indirect methods to achieve something.”
What does the enemy want to achieve? John 10:10 tells us: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…”
What clever and indirect method does he use to do this? I think he does it through the stinking stories he plants into our minds. These thoughts put us down, make us feel helpless, like victims, in prison to our past and hopeless about the future.
Worse, they sound like our own voice!
So you need a new story to tell yourself that agrees with God’s word. Just because you may have failed in the past does not make “failure” your identity. You are a son or daughter of the Most High God.
Plus, telling yourself that you will never succeed in losing weight implies that you know the future, which you do not. But God does!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
– Jeremiah 29:11
For the turnaround, you need a good news story, one that speaks of a good future and filled with hope. One way to do this is to bring the Lord into your story at all times.
What do you know about the Lord’s character that will help you in this situation?
God’s influence on you should smell good:
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing
– 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
My prayer is for each of us to use God’s word to reprogram our minds so that we smell good all over 🙂
Be Blessed with Health, Healing, and Wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple Weight Loss Community
P.S. Do you struggle with overeating sugar? If so, you are not alone!
Overcoming sugar addiction was a key factor on my weight loss journey; I lost 85 pounds and dropped from a size 22 to an 8.
In our 14-day Sugar Detox Challenge online course (inside the Take Back Your Temple Community), you’ll get the same success strategies and support to gain peace in your eating habits and achieve lasting weight loss.
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple Christian Weight Loss Community.
It’s true! I do Weight Watchers also and we call it “stinking thinking”- same idea. If you you think you can’t succeed, or you’re not worthy of success, most likely you will fail. But if you think the thoughts God wants for you, it’s a whole different story. I have a long way to go yet but leaning on the Lord gives me positive motivation and strength. Remember. God wants you to succeed!
Amen, Hilda!
The closer we are to the Lord the more like Him we become. Did you ever notice your small children and one day see or hear them parroting you? Saying phrases that you say or doing things the way you do them( without being prompted?) well that’s because they spend so much time in our presence as very small children. I wonder if that’s what the Lord ment when He said that we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of God? Spending time in His presence will deffinitely ” conform us to His image” both inside and out!
This year, I will stop telling myself stinking stories. God has been trying to help me with conquer emotional eating for years. I’d start but would give up. I will be forty this year and keep hearing the whispers that I will have a heart attack. Im 270 at 5’4 and know God wants better for me. Who will I be after the transformation? I watched the chipping away video this morning and it blew me away.
Awesome, Danel – I will tell you…the person that you’ll become when you get slimmer is the person you choose to become. For me, I was the same person – still a nice person, but I was healthier and happier with myself.
If you are afraid that you will become a different person, like you’ll become mean or some other negative trait, then I can tell you that won’t happen. When I was 240 pounds, I used to think I’d turn into a mean person when I got slimmer. So I sabotaged myself. But God showed me that me being a nice person was not dependent on me carrying excess fat on my body. In fact, I grew in Spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, etc) because I used this challenge to increase my dependency on God to walk this journey with me.
And one of the fruit is self-control! I get “plum” excited about that one! 🙂
I will remember this pearl of wisdom: be wary of stinking stories! It also reminds me that God does not have the word, “Never” in his vocabulary. Too often, I hear never in people’s stories. “I will never… get that great job, get out of this hole, etc.) God is the God of the possible with stories of blessings for us!
Amen, Debbie! I LOVE what you said “God is the God of the possible with stories of blessings for us!” But too often, we block the blessings that He tries to give us! I don’t know about you, but I’ve resolved to quit telling myself stinking stories in 2015 in all areas. And I am confident that greater blessings will follow!