For Today: April 5th

For Today: April 5^th

…..the more total our surrender, the more fully realized our freedom from food obsession.

Overeaters Anonymous

Surrender. Now there’s a word that stops people cold. Everybody knows that losers surrender; winners keep on fighting. That idea kept me battling my problem of food and fat until it brought me to my knees---and to OAs door. Step one was easy when I finally understood that fighting the problem of compulsive overeating would never in this life relieve me of it.

Proof followed swiftly in the form of abstinence and weight loss with unprecedented peace of mind. In short, sanity. In surrendering I gained what years of struggle could not bring me.

For Today: There isn’t a single problem in my life, including food obsession, that would not be resolved in direct proportion to my ability to stop fighting it, turn it over to God and know that a solution will come.

The more I fight my food addiction, the more power I give it. Should I or shouldn’t I? …is probably THE worse question I can ask myself.  When I stay committed to my Food Plan, there IS NO question….no choice, no chance to make the wrong decision. This, to me, is the definition of Abstinence: The Food Plan With No Options.

The first time I read Step 1, I cried. I could not believe there was someone else who understood what it meant to be powerless over food, never mind a whole ORGANIZATION devoted to it! My God, where was OA all my life while I fought tooth & nail to ‘get a grip on myself’, but not being able to?!

Nowadays, I know I don’t lack willpower; I know that I’m not weak; I know that there is no quick fix diet that will cure me if only I could find it.  What I know today is this:

I have a disease called Compulsive Overeating.

I am Powerless over food.

God can and will guide me when I ask Him to, and He will relieve me of my compulsive overeating when I do the footwork by staying true to my Food Plan. 

That is ALL I have to do to find  inner peace & relief from compulsive overeating: surrender my life & my powerlessness to God.

For today, I pray for the willingness to ask God to keep me on track, to direct my life & to give me the answers to problems I can’t figure out on my own.