Made to Crave - Intro

Finding Your "Want to"...

"A typical book on healthy lifestyle choices should contain lots of talk on vegetables, calories, colon cleanses and phrases like 'you must', 'you should', 'or else'.  I have a problem with all that talk.  I know most of it.  It's not the 'how to' I'm missing.  It the 'want to'...really wanting to make changes and deciding that the results of those changes are worth the sacrifice." 

Yup.  That was completely me.  Well, I wanted to change.  I wanted to for years, but the last part there - deciding the results were worth the sacrifices - that's where my problem was.  So, when I picked up this book and read this in the first couple of paragraphs I was pretty excited...okay, this lady gets this part of me!  let's see what else she's got...

She's so honest.  SO HONEST.  I really like that.  She tells where she was on the scale when she started this battle and all her emotions wrapped into that number, although again I related when I read

"the number itself was not the issue.  The issue was how I felt mentally, spiritually, and physically.  It was time to be honest with myself."

She then went on to create a list of rationalizations that kept her and perhaps many of us from tackling our excuses and doing that hard thing:
     *I'm good in every other area
     *I make so many sacrifices all ready
     *I need treats as a comfort in this season of life; I'll deal with my issues later.
     *I just can't give this up.
     *The Bible doesn't specifically say this is wrong.
     *It's not really a problem.  If I really wanted to make a change, I could; I just don't want to right now
     *Oh, for heaven's sake, everyone has issues.  So what if this is mine?

Yup again, all of those had been me and one time or another.  Part of my mental battle was always trying to figure out how important this issue really was.  Because I was always telling myself one of those excuses I wanted to believe, I was having a hard time figuring out why I was still deep inside always so insecure, sometimes depressed, lacking joy and filled with turmoil.

Included in this opening chapter she tells the story of the Rich Young Ruler from the Bible in Matthew 19.  This rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says that he's been following all the rules of the law but still seems to be missing something when he asks Jesus, "What still do I lack?"  Lysa imagines that to mean, "How do I really get close to God?"  Jesus tells him to sell his possessions, give away his money to the poor, and follow Him.

So this story is about how we use our material wealth, right?  And in that case, I can glaze right past it because it just doesn't apply to me.  But what if Jesus was not just out for the guy's money, but his heart?  What if Jesus saw that yes, the man was following all the other "rules" but there was still one area he was not giving up control to.  The craving of the man's heart was money - material possessions, and was he really willing to even let go of that and still follow God?

No.  The story says he went away sad.  Why?  Maybe he knew he should and just couldn't.  Maybe he knew how strong this craving was and couldn't imagine his life existing without it, or didn't want to!  He "won't give away the one thing that consumes him."

Wow.  How many times have I known all the weight-loss rules, the healthy eating plans, and yet instead of drinking a glass of water and grabbing some strawberries for snack, I sneak the cookies out of the cookie jar till I'm sick physically and disgusted w/my lack of control.  I knew the one thing that consumed me but refused to give it up out of fear and excuses.  Now how alike am I to the rich young ruler?  "Kellie, give up the one thing you crave more than me and follow me!"

Didn't Jesus tell us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him?  Never knew what your cross might be?  I've just discovered what mine is.  I want to stop dragging my divided heart in the mud and really follow him.

I'm going to keep moving through the book chapter by chapter and just jot down some of my thoughts on here, but she has a lot of resources.  At madetocrave.org, you can sign up for a 21 day challenge that gets emailed to you or this website - melissataylor.org - is an online Bible study site where women across the country will also be discussing the book together.

Last thing for today...

"Honestly, were made for more than a vicious cycle of eating, gaining, stressing - eating, gaining, stressing... were made to rise up, do battle with our issues and, using the Lord's strength in us, defeat them - spiritually, physically, and mentally - to the glory of God."

Amen.


All quotes were from Lysa TerKeurst's Made to Crave