Duncan Donuts. The two words together can bring sheer joy to my life. Living in Colorado has meant giving up certain food items that I have loved my entire life. Duncan Donuts is one of them. They simply didn’t exist in this part of the country…until now.
My
husband told me recently that Duncan Donuts was planning to expand and there
would be one opening in a nearby town. One that I visit frequently. My dream of
getting those donuts had become a reality.
My
first thought was, “YEAH!” My second thought was remembering the summer between
my sophomore and junior years of college. I was working at a local department
store in Upstate New York. I passed by a Duncan Donut shop on my way to work
and on my way home from work.
Early
in the summer, I stopped on my way home and picked up a dozen. They were gone
before I went to work the next time; so once again, I stopped by on my way home
and picked up another dozen. That was all it took. I was stopping nearly every
day to get a dozen donuts.
By
the end of the summer, I was nearly 30 pounds heavier. It was donut weight. I looked
like a donut. Not only did I look heavier, but I felt horrible! I was sluggish.
There was no motivation to move at all. I had made a huge mistake through these
three months.
Back
at college, I worked hard to get the weight off. I quit eating donuts and ate
the food that was available. It wasn’t long before I was back to my “ideal”
weight and feeling much better. PHEW!
I
have been leading a Bible study called, “Made to Crave.” If you’ve never seen
or heard about it before, I would encourage you to read the book. It is life-changing.
More so than any study I’ve done in the past.
The
concept is that God created us to crave. He wants us to crave. But He wants
us to crave Him. Not food (or anything else you want to put in here…like money,
success, love, etc.). In this study, Lysa TerKeurst leads the reader to
multiple passages of Scripture that talk about food. It is quite eye opening.
The
one that has had a huge impact on me is from Philippians 3:15-21. This is right
after the section when Paul talks about pressing on…forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead. That in itself is a great weight loss motivator,
but then Paul says something in verses 18-20.
“For, as I have often told you before
and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny is destruction, their god
is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. Their mind is on earthy
things. But our citizenship is in heaven.”
“When the apostle Paul says, ‘their
god is their stomach,’ he means that food can become so consuming that people
find themselves ruled by it…if we find that certain foods are impossible to
walk away from—we can’t or won’t deny ourselves an unhealthy choice in order to
make a healthier choice—then it’s a clue we are being ruled by this food on
some level. Being ruled by something other than God diminishes our commitment
and will make us feel increasingly distant from him.”[i]
Unfortunately,
I’ve allowed my stomach to be my god for years. I have gone through my life
without believing it was an issue, but in reality, it is one thing that has separated
me from God.
I
now know that only through the power of Christ and a daily dependence on God, am
I able to stop craving all the foods that have kept my mind off of the things
above. I am not where I want to be, but am “pressing on” to reach that goal.
Now
that I am working on craving God more than food (or anything else), I don’t
think I will even step foot in the new Duncan Donut shop. A change of mind and
attitude has made all the difference in the world…physically and spiritually.
Grace
and peace be yours in abundance,
Donna
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