Made to Crave

I just started a new online bible study on Monday on the book, "Made to Crave." I signed up online with over 42,000 other women through the Proverbs 31 Ministries. Each week they do what is called a, "Blog Hop." You write a blog about a specific topic related to this weeks study, and then you go to their site, enter your blog information and you can share what you are learning with all the ladies of the study. I think this week I am just going to blog and maybe next week I will be more brave and share it on the blog hop. 

These first two chapters in the book help you figure out what the real problem is. As a Christian woman, my food cravings are a spiritual battle. If I crave anything more than God, then there is something more to the story... She talks about the fact that God put the desire to crave into our hearts, because we were made to crave Him. But the enemy wants to distract us from this desire and puts other cravings in our path. So, we have to replace our cravings, which requires a shift in our attitude. We must come to God in prayer and kneel before him when we are struggling. And one way she suggests doing this is with scripture memory... And a very effective way to memorize scripture is to do what the study calls, "verse mapping." I'm blogging from my iPad, and I can't seem to figure out how to make links look pretty, but here is a link to a bloga about scripture mapping... 

http://heatherbleier.com/2012/06/13/a-day-with-jesus/

Each week we have a verse to dive into and a word to challenge us. This weeks verse is:

Psalm 84:2, "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." This is truly a desire- to crave God, and nothing else.

The word for the week is: #EMPOWERED. I have really appreciated this word. God's Word has really made me feel empowered in many ways this week. I'm still struggling in many areas, but im thankful for him helping me feel empowered in some. For example, I'm training for a marathon, and Monday I had to run 18 miles in 2:30. Which is faster than I've been training. But, I continued to quote Philippians 4:13 and remember that my focus and prayer should be to rely on God, and thank him that I am able to run. I am running with team world vision for clean water in Uganda. And thinking about them helps me to be thankful for clean water, food and shelter- stuff I take for granted. And wouldn't you know I finished the mileage on time. 

Any way, God has also helped me feel empowered in my food choices this week. I don't feel like I've stuffed my face or given in to large cravings... And glory be to God!