What Is Freedom?
People ask me, “Don’t you want to be free to eat whatever you want?” No, I don’t. That mindset is what got me to 430 pounds in the first place. I am free now. I am free from feeling bound to the foods that call my name in the middle of the night and draw me to them.
I am free from my cravings. I am free to say no to food temptations. I am free to walk away and not feel drawn to the foods that will capture and enslave me again. I am free to make healthy choices. I am free to provide good fuel for my body.
My Thanksgiving Meal
This Thanksgiving, I made real food, the kind God created. I had turkey with drippings gravy; baked sweet potatoes; fresh green beans; asparagus; romaine salad with avocados, red onions and almond slices; fresh fruit and pecan salad; and hoecake, which is simply white cornmeal and hot water made like a thick pancake.
I’m going to experiment with a pumpkin cheesecake sweetened with bananas and stevia with a great pecan, date, cocoa crust. I have no idea if it will work or taste good, but I’ll have fun trying to create something healthy and edible.
This Thanksgiving won’t be about the food, though. It will be about the ones I am with and the memories I get to create. In the final analysis, this is what feeling abundantly blessed is all about.
Enjoy Super Abundance
After all has been said and done, you will find me counting my blessings, naming them one by one and taking them to the Father of all, the Creator of me and you, good healthy food and the abundance of love and laughter we enjoy each and every day.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).
Teresa Shields Parker is a wife, mother, business owner, life group leader, speaker and author of Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor and Sweet Grace Study Guide: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Overcome Sugar Addiction and Sweet Freedom. Get a free chapter of her memoir on her blog at Teresa Shields Parker.com. Connect with her there or on her Facebook page or Twitter.
