Outward Sin

****Posted by Nicole

Kyle and I follow a blog called Stuff Christians Like (http://stuffchristianslike.net/) and today he talked about sin creeping up on you. It got me thinking. There are very few sins that are more blatantly obvious than gluttony. It does creep up on you though. I didn't eat a cheesburger one night and wake up the next day and think "Oh! Look at that, I'm fat now." It was gradual and over many years. Other sins you can at least try to hide for a while. You can’t really hide the fact that you’ve over indulged so much that you are now in a size 14 and 40 pounds overweight.

I know that sometimes overeating is related to a deeper issue so last September I started going to a Christian Counselor through church. She helped me deal with some anxiety and self image problems and one of the things we talked about was the tape that plays in your head over and over again. Your too fat, they don’t like you, your so big they are going to talk about it behind your back.

Why do I say such horrible things to myself? Amazing how some spiritual warfare can completely rock your world. We worked on rerecording my tape and she gave me some scripture to memorize to help me get over the anxiety it caused.

So, I have a wedding to go to this weekend and I am totally playing my old tape. I am once again embarrassed about my fatness and I know it’s nobody’s fault but my own. But, as much as it bothers me, I can’t let it get me down. Those people don’t care that I’m overweight. They care that I came. We are all there to celebrate a good friend’s decision to spend his life with a great gal and nobody is going to be looking at me. They will all be looking at the beautiful bride. Rerecord the tape. I will lose my weight eventually, the only thing they will talk about is how much fun everyone had, smile and have a good time.

Here are some of the verses that my counselor and I came up with to help me. Maybe they can help you as well. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

1 Peter 3:3-4
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Psalm 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them