the comforting hedge

Four months ago I began the THM journey and what amazes me is how simple it’s been to stay the course with no intention or temptation to quit or get it over with.   I’ve never stayed with a plan in my life—but that’s not to say I’ve not tried a whole bunch of plans, diet-shakes, crash diets — only sticking with them for a few days or even a few weeks but always going back to the whatever, whenever way of eating.  The THM plan is so simple… the freedom is incredible.  There is so much freedom — but that freedom is totally NOT a whatever-whenever way of eating.  If it were, it would be the “fat, sick mama” diet… that’s pretty much where many of us, to one degree or another, have come from—and isn’t that what we never want to be again?!?!

This is the freedom I mean: freedom from sugar and food addiction! It’s staggering.   Freedom from a mocha or two every single day… freedom from tea with milk & honey every morning and every evening… freedom from snacking and snacking and snacking… and never feeling satisfied.  Freedom from cookies, candy, cakes and bread.  And yet… and yet!  I do have alternatives to these favourites—delicious alternatives to these favourites!  And I never feel like I don’t “get to have” this or that… bcz I do get to have so many delicious foods.  All the foods I get to have are delicious foods!  Freedom to control eating food instead of being controlled by eating food is unbelievably freeing.

We never know how comforting hedges are
until we stop kicking against them
and start seeing them as protection.

I can agree with the Psalmist, the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places… (Psalm 16)  Somehow, the Lord is helping this girl — this carb addict to press on and to have freedom from the things that weigh me down.

For me, the journey to health has been a spiritual journey—I truly was not sure I could do it.  So, you see, it truly has been a spiritual matter for me.  Food’s had me in bondage and so I’ve had to pray for freedom from bondage to food.   Interestingly, it’s not that it’s the THM but what God’s doing in me using this method.   I shared this with a friend of mine the other day.  The whole book’s been a training ground for me—it’s forcing me to face and SLAY these giants in my life.  Every day I am attempting to follow the plan as best I’m able with the ingredients I have — it may seem feebly or haphazardly done sometimes. But I do it every day and I press on every day and I will keep on pressing on every day. And God is with me, strengthening me and helping me to say yes to what I ought to do and to say NO to what is not best for me. Sincerely, it’s amazing to me—bcz I am not given to regimens—it’s a battle for me for every regimen I’ve ever followed.  And this? Yes, this one… I was *SURE* I was going to fail — SURE of it!  But I have not failed–even following it very clumsily — very blindly — I have pressed on — every day I have pressed on and it’s astonishing to me to look back now on four months of this way of living & eating… pressing on each day.

And isn’t that our walk?  To press on? To press on even if we have feeble knees?  To press on even if others aren’t with us?  To press on even if we don’t have all the whatever it is we think we need?  To press on even if the way isn’t as smooth as buttah??? To press on even if others mock what we’re doing?  To press on even if we ‘feel’ like we’re alone?

We press on in faith bcz this is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it—-and if He uses a method to retrain and renew me such as the THM plan, then I’m thankful for His provision to help me do what I could not do on my own. ♥

Remember:  Gwen’s got a terrific Trim and Healthy Quick Start page that will show you how to get started and basically give you four weeks of basics — a page I wish I’d known about in the beginning of my journey.  Go take a look = print it!!