Diet No More Step 7: Restoration

by Beth Ann Ziarnik @bethannziarnik

I’m grieved to admit that the unthinkable has happened. I’m again captive to overeating. My glorious peace and freedom vanished. I need restoration to the blessings of God-honoring eating

But is all hope gone?

All praise and glory to our faithful Lord God Almighty! The answer is “no.”

I abandoned his safe path for me, but he never abandoned me. Hebrews 13:5 says he will never leave or forsake me, and he keeps his promises. Instead, he waits for me to turn back to him. Now that I have, he invites me to follow him out of the trap of overeating and back into the peace and freedom I once knew.

How could I ever thank him enough?

So, what does his path to restoration look like? Look below.

Assessment Part One

Review Steps 1 through 6 to discover where I went wrong.

(a) Step 1 – Inquire of the Lord.

      Lord, what is the root of my overeating this time?

(b) Step 2 – Determine where I wandered off track.

Have I taken back control of my eating, no longer offering my body to him as a living sacrifice?
Have I stopped considering myself dead to gluttony?
Am I no longer living for God’s glory in my eating?
Am I obsessing about my weight?

(c) Steps 3 and 4 — Identify my current practices of gluttonous eating.

Do I eat any time I want instead of the times the Lord indicates?
At mealtimes, do I ask the Lord, “What do you want me to eat?”
Am I back in charge of how much I eat?
Do I no longer seek and expect God’s help to guide me as I eat?
Do I trust and obey God as I eat?
Do I eat while watching TV?
Do I eat only at the dinner table?
Do I ask God what to order from a menu, select from a buffet, or eat as a guest in someone’s home?
Before I eat, do I pray, thanking God for the food and asking him to bless it?
Do I ask God to help me eat for his honor and glory?
Do I stay quietly alert for his indication to stop eating?
Do I put down my fork, spoon, or food item between bites to eat slowly and stay mindful of the Lord’s leading?
Have I returned to membership in the “clean plate” club?
When I finish my meal, do I thank God for bringing me safely through another meal?
Have I returned to snacking between meals?

Assessment Part Two

(d) Step 5 – Pinpoint the ways I allow myself to fall into temptation.

I don’t pray for God’s help to honor him with my body as I eat.
I seldom feast on God’s Word to help me resist overeating.
I snack between meals.
I entertain tempting thoughts of food instead of blocking them with a firm no the moment they come to mind.
Without God’s permission, I leave my chair, bed, or activity in order to eat
I eat offered snacks without first consulting the Lord. If I refuse them, I feel deprived or guilty.
I seldom praise and thank God for helping me to obey him as I eat.

(e) Step 6 – Recognize how I failed to maintain my freedom.

Once again, I’m overweight and feeling trapped.
I no longer bother to pray for overweight persons to find God’s peace and freedom from overeating.
When an unexpected crisis hits, I cope by blindly eating more than my body needs.
I either blame God for allowing the crisis or complain about it.
I pray about it, but I also cling to food to help me cope.
I abandoned God-honoring eating and lost the wonderful peace and freedom I once enjoyed.

Moving into Restoration

Armed with the above assessment, I move forward into restoration. I confess and renounce those practices of that lead to overeating.

Next , I ask for and accept God’s forgiveness. ”But if we confess our sins to God . . . he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.” ~ 1 John 1:9, Good News Translation. Finally, no matter how difficult, I forgive myself.

Gaining Restoration

Now that restoration has begun, I give my body back to God as a living sacrifice.

Then, with his help, I return to obeying him—carefully practicing Steps 2 through 6 each day.

Finally, I ask him to restore to me the peace and freedom that is mine as I continue to practice God-honoring eating.

A Brief Story

If you wonder why I included Step 7, the answer is easy. I “fell on my diaper” again. That’s what I call losing ground in my walk with God. It’s up to me to decide whether I’ll get up and try again.

Nothing else works for me, so this is my third attempt. The first time I obeyed the Lord and practiced the biblical principles of Diet No More, I lost all my excess weight and kept it off without a problem for nine months. The second time, I lost the weight and kept it off for eleven months. Both times a crisis took me down.

That was almost ten years ago. All the time, the Lord continued to love me, but he also was honest as I sensed him gently admonished me in the depths of my heart. “Beth, you’re not doing yourself any favors.”

How true! But I had to be ready, and for a long time I was not. After all, I’d failed twice. And, to be honest, I enjoyed being in control of at least one thing in my life. On the other hand, I didn’t like the extra fifty to sixty pounds I carried or the limitations and health issues that went with them. All this time the Lord waited patiently for me to come to my senses.

Lately, I’ve noticed God wooing me back in the most loving way. By the grace of God, I’m finally ready to embrace restoration.

What’s Next

I’m so grateful for God’s Word. I believe you are, too, or you wouldn’t read these Diet No More posts. In the next one, we’ll consider the scriptures supporting Step 7: Restoration. See you then!

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