I was fat. Obese. I had more rolls than an overstocked bakery. One day I took a good look at myself and took in the facts: I was thirty-six years old, unemployed, divorced, mother to a fourteen year old know-it-all, no savings account, and seriously addicted to food. I was the heavyset, lonely woman who lived with her three cats. I had issues!
I stood at the stove, frying up my breakfast of a cheese and ham omelet, hash browns, toast and a pot of coffee. I was bemoaning life and asking myself what could I possibly do to improve it. Almost immediately a little voice inside me whispered, “Offer me this meal”.
Excuse me? I took another long gulp of hot coffee, hoping to clear the morning sleepiness away. I dished up the eggs n things and sat down to tuck in, offering up a little prayer of thanksgiving. Like many people I had been taught as a child to give thanks before a meal. As I lifted up that first bite the little voice spoke again, “That’s enough food for three people”.
Many of you would have probably reacted differently to a little voice telling you things, but I had been raised that God speaks to people. And so when I heard this little voice a second time I burst into tears and said, “Yes, I know!” and continued to eat that whole giant plate of food with tears streaming down my chipmunk cheeks and dripping onto my plate.
I reminded God that I had been to see a therapist for my overeating, how I’ve always loved food, how I first used it to comfort me when my parents divorced, that I was just a Foodie gone Rambo. And in telling God the litany of reasons why I was addicted to food, I realized I had taken the wrong exit. Instead of giving excuses I should just ask the little voice what I could do about it, maybe I’d get an answer that would fix me. So I asked, “What do I do about it?”
“Offer me this meal” the little voice said again.
And that advice began a journey into the beautiful and greatly changed life that I enjoy now.