A few weeks ago I started a Bible study by Lysa Terkeurst. The study is subtitled “Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food”. A very good thing.
Last night she stepped on my toes a little bit. I arrived at the study with my water bottle and really, I was okay with that. Until I saw the coffee pot.
With coffee in it.
I innocently asked if it was decaf, because honestly just being with the ladies in the study was enough caffeine for me, and I really prefer decaf anyway. Sadly the coffee was not decaf. My dear friend however, realized I could not possibly be without coffee, so she made me a whole pot of decaf.
Bless her soul, Lord!
I decided to splurge and add some flavored creamer to my coffee. Luscious goodness. (Not getting into the fact that I actually greatly prefer coffee black, blacker than a thousand midnights down in a cypress swamp.) The creamer was not sugar-free. I added it anyway. Just a smidge, and I took my seat.
Early in the video Lysa starts talking about craving sweet things.
And salty things.
Oh yeah. She had to go there. She HAD to go there on a night I had already promised myself a trip through McDonalds for french fries after Bible study. She had the audacity to mention it several times.
And the guilt heaped upon my shoulders. Guilt for putting the creamer in my coffee. Guilt for planning on getting fries anyway. Guilt for justifying my sweet and salty cravings.
I justified the creamer by thinking, “I almost never do this.” and “It’s okay just this once.” I justified the fries by thinking, “I skipped supper and I’m really hungry!” I justified both of them by thinking, “But I already ran today, I’m sure I’ve burned them off already.”
Please hear me here.
There is nothing wrong with coffee creamer. There is nothing wrong with McDonalds french fries. Nothing.
There is something wrong with them though when we turn to them instead of God to meet us in our place of need. When we reach for physical food to feed a soul hunger we are missing the chance to see God meet with us. We hinder His movement in our lives by reaching for the potato chips,or chocolate chips instead of reaching for Him. When we turn to a half-gallon of Haagen-Dazs double chocolate chunk ice cream, instead of running to Him with our hurts and our great need for comfort, we’ve missed the boat entirely.
Snickers candy bar doesn’t satisfy you, no matter what their slogan says. We know this. Yet we continually turn to quick fixes, easy meals, and junk to meet our soul needs.
It’s not working. It’s not working for me. It’s not working for you. We might delude ourselves into thinking it’s working just fine, thankyouverymuch. But deep down inside we know it’s not. We know were settling for a cheap fix to an expensive problem.
Every time we turn to physical food to fill our soul hunger, satan wins. He parties like a parasite. He wins, and we lose. He heaps on the guilt, he keeps spouting lies, and we keep accepting, believing and eating. We’re physically obese and spiritually malnourished.
It’s the guilt and the lies that keep us from quitting and turning to God. It’s not the creamer. It’s not the french fries. It’s the lies we’re believing. It’s the guilt we’re accepting. It’s the sins we’re justifying. Those keep us from God.
What if we choose differently? What if instead of choosing to believe the lies and accept the guilt, if we pushed back and turned instead to God to meet our deepest hunger? He alone is capable of meeting and filling all our cravings. What if we pushed back from the physical table so we can scoot our chair closer to His table? What if we shunned instant gratification for food that satisfies, for living water?
What if…”
virginiagarrett.com 
This post is not about whether it’s better to home school or go the public, or Montessori or other route.
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No. It’s not about school at all.
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it would still be disputed by devout Atheists. Einstein is so highly respected, and such a key to Atheist beliefs, the presupposition must be held that he was not the originator of this famous quote. If he were, it would REALLY damage your position.This betrays to me how I’ve seen many Christians project how they approach ideas of truth onto others. Einstein is not “such a key to Atheist beliefsâ€! Unlike the Christian who turns to a source of authority, my views of the origins of life do not rise or fall on Einstein’s opinions about a god or lack therefore, nor Darwin’s Dangerous Idea about the origins of the species. In fact a great many atheist have filled the stage of history long before Einstein or Darwin were ever born. Unlike Christian faith, no individual nor Institution is the ultimate source of authority. It is the sum total of all the parts that form my views – which you are trying to avoid a discussion about to prop up your SOLE source of authority. If you can’t take on the practical application of your beliefs to life, then I’d say your arguments don’t really mean much. It’s sort of like making a fine case for the existence of trolls. You keep accusing me of pointing to the failure of Christians, yet all I have ever asked for is to share with me it’s teaching that says something that nothing else does. I’ve never asked to judge a Christian’s performance as the measuring stick. Please again, share with me point for point how Christianity teaches something no other religion or philosophy can. You said you already did, but I’m honestly not recalling anything other than you mentioning it offers hope, which all beliefs also offer.
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I am not understanding your comment. You say, “You keep accusing me of pointing to the failure of Christians…”, when have I done this? I don’t recall ever accusing anyone of pointing to the failure of Christians. I don’t recall being asked by you to share it’s teaching that says something no other religion says, and I certainly do not recall saying that I had in fact, answered that question.
No other religion says Jesus is, in fact God’s Only Son. That He came to the world, not to judge or condemn, but to rescue us from certain death. No other religion talks about the great love of God. No other religion says Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven.
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If your guilt isn’t trying to correct an actual mistake you made in your behavior (e.g., it’s unhealthy guilt), then there’s not a whole lot you need to learn. Instead of learning how to change that behavior, a person can instead try to understand why a simple behavior most people wouldn’t feel guilty about is making one feel guilty. For instance, I felt guilty for spending some time playing a game during regular work hours. Since I work for myself, however, I don’t really keep “regular work hours,” but it’s hard for me to change that mindset after years of working for others.
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You see, I have been wracking my brain, weighing the pros and cons, desperately trying to come to a decision about THIS. I’m searching for my happy place, if you will. For normal people, having the opportunity to choose between two awesome things is a frikkin’ blessing. For me (I’m totally NOT normal people) — it’s utter torture. I’m much better at having decisions made for me. Which is why my husband is in charge of dinner . And food shopping. And pretty much anything that involves decision making of any sort. I swear to God, just watch me painfully deliberate over grape tomatoes versus cherry. And last week, for instance, the networks had the audacity to run Glee and Lost simultaneously. I seriously thought my head would explode.
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