Our Dirty Little Secrets - Eating Disorders

Hey guys!

I've finally gotten to our last and final post on the series: Our Dirty Little Secrets and How God Calls Us Clean.

This post is on eating disorders.

The world in which we are living is ripe for comparison.

And it is filled with a multitude of factors that we cannot control - big and small.

We cannot truly control many things in life, yet our eating patters and the way we decide to take care of our bodies can be a small way that we can gain a sense of control in this wild world.

Eating disorders effect both men and women.

Eating disorders come in many shapes and sizes: over eating, emotional eating, binging and purging, under eating, not eating at all, etc.

Every person on this planet is looking for love, acceptance and connection and each person has their own way of dealing with life when we are not experiencing these things. - We cope.

We fall into unhealthy coping mechanisms when there is a hurtful emotion inside of us that we are locking up and keeping to ourselves. This causes shame - believing that the need that you have to be seen, heard and noticed is either unacceptable or impossible to be understood by others.

But the truth is that we are completely acceptable just the way we are... Mess and all!

Why? Because, as humans, we are built with emotions and needs. And we are wired to connect with God and others on the level of sharing these needs.

We are all on a journey of learning to let love into our deepest places.

Yet! Perhaps you have been taught to believe that emotions are meant to stay on the inside...

Or maybe by experience, you have learned that it actually isn't safe to open up and expose our hurts and needs to those around us because when we do, we get shot down, misunderstood, manipulated, etc.

But I want to tell you that your emotions are meant to be shared and your heart is created to be consoled. We need people. We need God. We need to know that we are not alone.

A friend of mine who was helping me with some insight on this topic told me that it was when she realized that she was loved and accepted not because of what she looked like on the outside, but who she was on the inside, that got her free from her eating disorder. She decided to "break up" with the idea that her appearance determined her value. - So powerful!

I asked my friend to give some advice to those who are dealing with eating disorders and this is what she said:

"Advice I would give... is that they are not alone. Often times we can feel like we are the only ones in the world with an eating disorder. The reality is that there are others who have gone through or are going though it. You are valuable and in no way a disappointment. Don't let shame tell you who you are or silence you. There is a level of freedom that you will receive by telling someone you trust what you're going though. You are worth the fight and God is so for you!"

All in all - YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

& nothing is too big for God; including you!

I encourage you to find someone safe to open up to and begin to show the world who you truly are - beautiful and completely acceptable just the way you are.

Let someone know how your doing and let them surround your heart with love and acceptance.

Open up to God and let Him heal you. Maybe you just need to know that God isn't mad at you - that He loves you and wants to take care of you.

But you'll never truly know unless you let Him in :)

I hope you guys found this post encouraging!

If you know of anyone who is going through this issue, please share it with them <3

With love,

Gracie