Sweet Grace For Your Journey: Recent Episodes
Teresa Shields Parker | Christian Weight Loss Coach, Author and Speaker
Sweet Grace for Your Journey is the podcast for women who want to lose weight and live healthy—body, soul and spirit. Author Teresa Shields Parker shares tip and advise each week from her personal journey of losing over 250 pounds and having kept it off since 2013.
Episode 262-Time to Wake Up
It’s time for Christians to wake up to what’s going on in the world around us. The time is growing short. We are closer to meeting Jesus now than we were first saved.
In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives a dire warning about the future and describes how we as Christians we are still always one day closer to meeting Him.
He tells us how we should live by describing a normal day. First we have to wake up to the spiritual issues around us. Romans 13:11 tells us to wake up from our slumber. Second, we have take off the old clothes we were wearing in the darkness. Romans 13:12 tells us to “strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes.
Next we must dress for battle by “putting on the armor of light,” as it says in Romans 13:12. We also must know our enemy and how to defeat strongholds.
Finally, we have to know where we are going. We have to be dressed to run with Jesus. Romans 13:14 MSG tells us we can’t loiter or linger. We have to be up and about what God is calling us to do.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
What is A Stronghold Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/what-is-a-stronghold/
Episode 261-Holy Spirit Glow
Do you want glow with the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly something I desire. This is lesson 20 in our study of the book of Romans. We’ve learned that Romans is all about the foundations of the Christian life, how to follow Jesus, how to renounce our fleshly desires, how to renew our minds and how to transform our lives.
Now in the latter part of Romans 12 we learn about serving God. After we learn to lay down our selfish desires, we begin focusing on what God wants us to do with our lives. It’s then that He starts showering us with His grace gifts so we can do the tasks He has called us to do.
These aren’t gifts to hoard. They are gifts to be used to serve Him. This where Romans 12:11 TPT says, “Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” The Message says, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 260-From the Inside Out
We can be changed from the inside out. We can renew our minds which will then transform us.
Romans 12:2 AMP and in the MSG gives us several keys to consider which we visit in more depth on the podcast.
First, to renew our minds we can no longer just go with the flow. We have to ask ourselves, is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants?
Second, we let God mess with our priorities, our habits and our comforts in order to transform us from the inside out.
Third, we don’t allow our old programmed minds to talk us into doing things that are not best for us.
Fourth, it’s not enough to just recognize and know what God wants for us we must quickly do what He wants us to do.
Fifth, our goals should always be follow God’s plans and purposes for our lives.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Episode 259-Surrender Delights God
Why should we surrender to God? Because our surrender delights God. If there is anything we should want to do it is to please God. Surrender also has great value for us on our journeys which also delights God. Romans 12:1 AMP: “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves, set apart, as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.” What does it means to be living sacrifices? It means to be alive to what Christ wants for us and dead to evil things. It means to surrender to God and that means everything on our journeys. When God talks about living sacrifices, He is talking about the fact that we have died to living for what we desire and have decided to live for what Jesus wants. Gal. 2:20 NLT: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to God is intelligent, rational, logical because we are obeying God. We are following the God of the Universe who is bigger than we can imagine, but small enough to fit inside us at the same time. Who He is and who we are makes surrendering every single part of our lives to Him a rational, and at the same time a very emotional, course of action. Doing this now and every single day is more than a starting place. It will define how we live in tandem with Him for the rest of our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 258-Listen to God
Why don’t we listen to God? The other day I was jogging in the water and pondering what I would share on this podcast. I had been reading Romans 11 for several days but I had decided I was going to go on to do the next podcast on Romans 12 because I understood how it fit into my journey. Still, the last four verses of Romans 11 kept calling me back.
It’s a great section of scripture but I knew there was something I wasn’t getting. I have to grab hold of it first before I can share it with y’all. So I asked God to show me.
That’s when He asked me the question, “Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you to stop eating sugar the first time back in 1977?”
Then I saw clearly three reasons I didn’t and they all come from Romans 11:33-36 TPT, the passage I was going to skip over and not include in this series. But now I understand that it may be one of the most important lessons yet.
First, I want to read the passage.
“Who could ever wrap their minds around the riches of God, the depth of His wisdom, and the marvel of His perfect knowledge? Who could ever explain the wonder of His decisions or search out the mysterious way He carries out His plans?
“For who has discovered how the Lord thinks or is wise enough to be the one to advise Him in His plans? Or who has ever first given something to God that obligates God to owe him something in return?”
“For out of Him, the sustainer of everything, came everything, and now everything finds fulfillment in Him. May all praise and honor be given to Him forever! Amen!”
Here are the three things He dropped into my heart. All of them hit me hard because I remember believing them and feeling them at the time. They hit me hard because I knew each of these things aren’t true theologically, but at the time they felt very real to me personally.
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You didn’t listen to Me because you felt I was too difficult to understand.
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You didn’t listen to Me because you didn’t think I cared about you, really knew you or really wanted the best for you.
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You didn’t listen to Me because you felt like you knew better than Me.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Episode 257-Grace is Amazing
I know a whole lot more about God’s amazing grace today than when I accepted Jesus at age seven. I knew I had been saved by grace, but that’s all I knew. I also knew it was amazing because we sang about that all the time in church.
I love how grace is explained to believers in 1 Peter 4:10 AMPC: “Each of you has received a gift, a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment. Employ it for one another as good trustees of God’s many-sided grace, faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor.
God’s grace is many-faceted because it is as vast as God. Grace is the DNA of God. It’s what He is made of. The grace of God cannot be explained or contained in a few words, but I see at least seven words that help us understand how grace operates in our lives. Each one seems to build on the other.
Grace saves us, sustains us, surrounds us, searches us, stretches us, strengthens us and stands us each in the place of our assignment or mission.
On this episode we are going to look at each of these aspects of grace.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 256-Rebuilding Jayne & You
This fiction book, Rebuilding Jayne, and the nonfiction book, Sweet Grace, are very connected. My biggest issue when I was super morbidly obese and Jayne’s issue in is we are both refusing to do what God was telling and showing us to do. I resonate with Jayne because in many ways she and I are a lot alike. We’re also very different. She is wealthy and I am not for one.
At one point God even told me, Jayne is you. Well, certainly at the core of her being she is. I do think it is so true that we are all alike in many ways and so very different in others. Yet, we can learn from each other. I never expected a fictional character in a book to minister to me, but she really did.
Even though I wrote the book, God had a lot to say to me through the story of the book. He told me what to write many times when I didn’t have any idea how to get a character to the point or decision they needed to make. I was just the scribe. He is the Author.
I wrote Rebuilding Jayne to help people understand God is not this big person in the sky ignoring what we are doing. He’s with us in every aspect of our lives. When He speaks to us, we need to pay attention and do what He tells us to do.
God knew His plan for me was what I needed in order to live. It took me many years to understand that what I told Him was the truth—I can’t stop eating sugar. I can’t do it by myself. But I can do it when I follow what God shows me to do. I had to surrender every part of me to God, even what I eat.
To Join Overcomers Academy go to https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
To check out my new book go to Amazon.com and search for Rebuilding Jayne by Teresa Shields Parker. Available in kindle, paperback, and hardback.
Episode 255-The Master Potter
We are all lumps of clay in the Master Potter’s hands. God is God. He created us for a purpose. When we find that purpose it makes all the difference in the world.
Instead, a lot of us rebel against how God made us. Romans 9:20-21 TPT: “Who do you think you are to second-guess God? How could a human being molded out of clay say to the one who molded Him, ‘Why in the world did you make me this way?’ Or are you denying the right of the Potter to make out of clay whatever He wants? Doesn’t the Potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay an elegant vase or an ordinary pot?”
God is telling us that no matter what we look like, what our gifts or talents are or what family we were born into, whether we are rich or poor we all have to make a decision about whether or not we are going to follow God’s will for our lives.
The problems come when we want to be something God never intended us to be or we refuse to step into the destiny God has for us or we desire the same destiny someone else has.
God sees us for what we will become. He also sees the ways we have failed Him, but tells us time and time again that if we repent and turn to Him, we will be saved because He is alone is God.
Our bodies are like dust and to dust they will one day return. This is why God uses the analogy of clay and the potter. Our bodies are like the everyday common clay pots and dishes those in Biblical times used to eat their meals on.
The difference between us and those common utensils is God’s presence lives inside of us. “We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.” 2 Cor. 4:7 TPT.
The problem is that dishes get broken and so do we. Our dreams get dashed. People fail us. We fail ourselves. We do bad things that we can’t undo and feel, just like the broken dish we threw in the trash that there is nothing good left in us. If a broken dish needs to be thrown away, then what should be done with a broken person?
God, though, sees value in everything. He will use our brokenness to make something truly beautiful from our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 254-Jesus Loves Me
Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 NKJV
For eight chapters in Romans, Paul has been laying out the plan of salvation and sharing who Jesus is and why trusting Him is important. In this conclusion to the first part of Romans, Paul is telling these new believers that Jesus’ love for them is a trustworthy foundation for their faith. It will stand any test they might throw at it. His conclusion is a convincing and persuasive argument that NOTHING, can separate those of us who are in Christ from Jesus love for us which gives us access to Father God.
The depths of God’s love is seen in what Jesus did. It should be a big deal for someone to say, “I love you.” As awesome as that is, it’s quite another thing entirely for them to tell us that nothing will stop them from loving us. Nothing.
I love my husband. We’ve been married for 44 years. Not every year was perfect, but the imperfect years were mostly my fault. I say mostly because it does take two, right? See, God gave me a gem when he gave me Roy. He is calm, patience, loving. He has a servant nature that I could never outdo.
He loves me and I love him, but are there things that could separate me from his love? I’m sure there are. But he has already put up with a lot from me, think 250 more pounds on my body. That still didn’t stop him from loving me.
However, if I yelled and screamed at him every day, that would do a lot of damage to our relationship. Are there things that could come between even the most committed couple? Yes, I’ve witnessed it happen to those who thought they’d be married forever and then out of the blue, something happened to separate them.
My question then is how can God say that there would be nothing at all that could ever stop Him from loving me? We are humans and we aren’t perfect. We learned that back in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All means all, everyone, yes, me and you, too.
But here’s where Romans 6:23 ESV comes in. “ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse solidifies our fate as sinners, but it also gives us the way out. Jesus is God’s pure gift of love to us. It is only because of what Jesus did that God can love us.
Without Jesus willfully agreeing to leave His heavenly throne and come to earth as a human, die on the cross, be buried, rise again from the grave, and ascend to heaven, God couldn’t love us. We are sinners by nature. It took God with skin on to rescue us when we accept His gift of salvation.
If we have accepted Christ, God now sees us through Christ’s righteousness and as such we are welcomed into God’s presence.
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Episode 253-More than Conquerors
One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way.
Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then he goes on to list a bunch of things that are real fears people have. These are things we are afraid might cut us off from God and everything we love.
As I share this list that I compiled from various versions of the Bible, think of your own life. Have you encountered any of these things: trouble, hard times, tribulation, calamity, anguish, hatred, distress, hardship, persecution, harassment, famine, hunger, homelessness, deprivation, bullying threats, backstabbing, destitute, naked, danger, peril, sword, threatened with death, or the worst sins listed in Scripture.
To be victorious, to overcome, to be a conqueror, I can’t focus on difficulties that are happening or may happen. I really have to follow 2 Cor. 10:5 which tells me to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words I have to intentionally take authority over my thought life.
In this episode we talk more about how to do this and how to be victorious in our lifestyle change journeys.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
What Is A Stronghold Free Offer Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/
Episode 252-God Is For Us
Do you believe God is for you? Are you living that our in your everyday life? Are there times you think you are all alone and have to protect yourself because you feel vulnerable?
Romans 8:31 NIV asks a really poignant question. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The issue for us is believing completely that God is for us. As this passage continues it uses words that remind us of a courtroom scene.
Romans 8:32-34 NIV: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.“
In this scene, God Himself is our judge and Jesus is our defense attorney. The question asked is really a no brainer. If the Judge, is for us then who can ever be against us? Really believing this, though may take some introspection on our part.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/.
Episode 251-What is My Destiny?
You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”
We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if everything is going to work out anyway? Why do we need to try to do what He wants for our lives, if it’s going to turn out great whatever we do? Still we realize that bad things have happened to us, so what does this verse really mean anyway?
Romans 8:28 is talking about our belief in the promise of what will happen if we are in Christ. It might be said this way: We have God’s sure promise that everything will work out for good because we are called by God. Our confidence is based around our belief in God and His calling on our lives.
This verse is here to comfort us and let us know that even the bad things which happen to us are things God can weave into our lives and use them for good. I have seen this in my own life. I have made so many blunders and mistakes on my journey. Eating myself towards an early grave was one of those that took up a huge part of my adult life.
For more watch the podcast.
Overcomers Academy link : https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247
Episode 250-Towards Glory
As we’re running this race called life it’s good to remember that we are headed towards glory.
Suffering is part of living in our very mortal bodies. But suffering for Christ, either physically or in any other way, is not losing. It is winning. Romans 8:18 tell us that “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.”
2 Cor. 4:17 NLT echoes that. “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
I’ve know some great moments here on earth, sweet, intimate moments with my husband, loving moments with my children, beautiful moments exploring God’s creation, awesome times celebrating with family and friends. Multiply those by 1,000 and it still doesn’t come close to the glory that will be revealed to us one day.
1 Cor. 2:9 NLT says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
It’s almost as if God is pulling back the curtain just a little to give us a taste of what is coming. In the great scheme of things, the suffering, the disappointments and pain that we encounter today are not such a big deal because we are in a race to the finish line. We are headed towards glory! Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 249-Run the Race
We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize.
One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing.
God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1 NIV says. Or as TPT puts it, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”
As a Christian weight loss coach, I talk to a lot of women who feel condemned and like there is no hope for them because they just love to eat or feel like they are addicted to certain foods like desserts. They try to stop. They know God wants them to get healthy, but they just can’t.
When I was in this position and weighed 430 pounds, I felt condemned, ashamed and guilty. I worked through that but it took some time.
If you are feeling condemned, remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 NLT, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
We don’t live in the past so let’s step out of shame, guilt, worry and fear, forgive ourselves and then start running the race. That’s what Jesus is calling us to. His goal is for us to gain the victory prize He has waiting for us.
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Episode 248-The Conundrum
A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too.
Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no idea how to solve this issue that kept turning over and over in my mind.
Paul is really bold about his issue. He doesn’t tell us what the exact thing is he is referring to, but in Romans 7:19 he tells us straight out: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
Why can’t I do anything right? Why can’t I do the things that are pleasing to God? I want to do them, but many times I end up doing the opposite. Why is that? These are the questions Paul, is grappling in this chapter. And they are the questions we all struggle with.
None of us are perfect, even Christians, and we shouldn’t purport to be. In this chapter Paul makes that clear. He also tells us how the law shows us our sin, why we struggle with sin and what we can do about it.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 247-What War?
We are in a war. We may not realize it as we walk through our daily lives but we are. Romans 5:17-6:23 talks about this as a war between the power of sin and the greater power of God’s wonderful grace.
If we belong to Jesus, sin has no legal control over us. We are free to follow God. However, we are just as free to be entangled again in the pull of sin.
Romans 6:6 TPT: “Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with Him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.”
The whole purpose of Romans 6 is to remind us that we can choose to disentangle ourselves from the power of sin walk freely following God.
Romans 6:23 MSG: “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”
Find the Spirit-Led Transformation course with action steps, challenge, transcript and video by joining Overcomers Academy. Go here: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.
Episode 246-Patient Endurance
If you’re like me, somewhere along the line in Sunday School you learned the nine fruit of the Spirit which include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all great virtues we should be incorporating on our Spirit-Led Transformation journey. As I was reading Romans 5 this week, I realized that as Christians there is one of these virtues we rarely talk about. That might be because along the way someone somewhere told us to never pray for patience because if we do something difficult will happen that will teach us the hard way how to be patient. How to endure.
After the list of virtues, Galatians 5:23 TPT says: Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. In other words, all nine virtues are things we should desire to have in our lives in limitless quantity, especially patience.
We may not like learning to be patient, but apparently God feels it something we need. In Romans 5:3 we read a bit about why this is. “With joy let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship, distress, pressure and trouble produces patient endurance.”
All the bad stuff we have to go through in this life helps to produce a virtue God wants us to possess. We need patient endurance to get through whatever is going to be thrown our way in this life.
Hebrews 10:36 TPT really sums up what this entire episode is all about “You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.”
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.
Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.
Episode 245-This Thing Called Faith
Faith is foundational on our Spirit-Led Transformation journeys. Without it, we have no transformation. Without it we cannot be Spirit-led. So what just what is faith and how do we know if we are really living our lives based on faith?
I’m a words person, so let’s see what the dictionary says faith is. First definition is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Second definition says it is a strong belief in God.
Hebrews 11:1-2 has long been the go-to verse to explain faith. In NIV is says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” But we read that and say what does that mean?
To help us understand better, let’s read this scripture the Amplified Bible, which has a way of explaining things better.
It says, “Faith is the assurance, title deed, confirmation, of things hoped for or divinely guaranteed, and the evidence of things not seen or the conviction of their reality. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses. For by this kind of faith the men (and women) of old gained divine approval.”
Remember the dictionary definition of faith we see that faith in God, or complete confidence in Him, comes from our foundational knowledge that we can trust Him to lead us.
In other words, we must have complete assurance that God is leading us and the eventual outcome of where He is leading us is for our good and His glory (as it says in Romans 8:28). We have the title deed to whatever the outcome is that God wants to happen. We have the title deed to whatever God has already put in our hands!
Several years ago we reached a milestone on our financial journey and paid off our house. We now have the title deed to our home. It is ours. Whatever God is telling you and me, if we have faith then we have the title deed to that. It is ours. It’s not just guaranteed by a financial institution, it is divinely guaranteed by the God of the Universe, who just happens to be our Daddy.
The next part is harder to understand because it is in the future. “Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” God already sees it. He has called what we can’t see as if it has already happened because He stands outside of time and can see the whole picture of our lives.
Our faith in God has to help us comprehend as a fact what we cannot actually see, touch or feel right now. We cannot experience it by our physical senses right this moment but we trust God and have faith that what He has said will come true. This goes back to 2 Cor. 5:7 where Paul tells us, “We walk by faith not by what we see.” Friends, it wouldn’t be faith if we could see it!
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I feel like I really started living by faith around 2009, when I was 56. It took me lots of years to lose 250 pounds. First I had to totally surrender to God and trust Him for the next step on my journey. I had to get His lifestyle change plan for me and do what He said to implement it. I made a lot of mistakes on my journey and as such I am well-equipped to steer others away from my same mistakes.
One of the most beautiful and spiritual part of any transformation journey is learning how to have faith Jesus Christ, and to be led by the Holy Spirit in each step we take. Then the grace, mercy, favor and glory of God will surround us as we walk in tandem with Him.
Is it easy? I mean some of the things Abraham did look easy. Who knows, maybe he was glad to get away from his mother and father and go somewhere that he had inkling of. However it definitely wasn’t easy waiting for the promised son. And I don’t think for a minute it was easy preparing to sacrifice his promised son.
Yet, through it all, He trusted God. I like to think it all started with that first step out the door of his homeland, going to a place God said He’d show him. That’s faith.
Let me ask you, what would it look like for you to have that kind of faith on your Spirit-Led Transformation journey? What would it take to do whatever God is whispering in your heart to do?
It’s time. He’s calling you. Will you have the faith to take the next step?
Father God, I lift your children to You today. Give them clear directions. Remind them of Your promises and help them take that next step on their journey whatever that may be. Make it clear to them. Give them faith to take action.
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.
Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.
Episode 244--Why Forgive Others?
An important step on our Spirit-Led Transformation is forgiving others. It’s actually a command from God. He demonstrates exactly what He wants us to do for others when He forgives us. He is teaching us by example.
Most of the time, this feels like a really hard thing to do so we sort of just put it in the back of our minds and leave it there. We have a problem with forgiving someone who has done us wrong because we want them to be brought to justice.
However, you aren’t bringing them to justice or hurting them by not forgiving them. You are only hurting yourself. It does you no good to hang on to the wrongs someone did to you. It’s only keeping you further away from God because God clearly says we must forgive others or He won’t forgive us.
Forgiving Others Is A Process
Forgiving others is a process we go through to disentangle or release ourselves from others who have hurt us and let God take care of us and them.
It’s the reason Jesus tells us in Luke 6:37 to “forgive others and you will be forgiven.” It’s the reason Paul reiterates that in Colossians 3:13, “Forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
God wants us to demonstrate His principles of forgiveness in our personal lives and interactions with others. We want retribution, but He asks that we show them mercy and leave everything else up to Him.
Why Should We Forgive Others?
-Because God forgave us.
-Because God asks us to forgive others.
-So we demonstrate God’s forgiveness to the world.
-Because we understand God is the only one who can judge.
-Because it releases us from that person’s control over us.
-Because it is the only way for us to be at peace.
God wants to use His not-so-secret weapon of forgiving others to set you free to live in peace and demonstrate His forgiveness to the world at the same time.
Action steps and challenges for this lesson and others in the Spirit-Led Transformation series can be found in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 243- Forgiven
Forgiven. It’s such a great word. This is the second in our series of Spirit-Led Transformation because understanding the depths of being forgiven can set us free to follow God with all that we are and all that He made us to be. However, when we feel like we are not forgiven and feel deep shame and regret, we are stuck and cannot move forward.
Forward motion on our transformation journey is what we want. The devil will continually remind us of our sin if we let him. He knows that will keep us from any forward motion.
Before we are ready to begin our Spirit-Led Transformation, we have to accept Jesus as our Savior. Then we can begin to walk in tandem with God. Some of us, and I have lots of fingers pointing back at me, have had to learn that the hard way.
On this episode I share how I came to know Jesus as my Savior. Crazy enough, it happened because I stole candy from the grocery store. At seven years old, it made me realize I was a thief, which made me a sinner.
After accepting Jesus because of God’s grace, I was forgiven for everything I have ever done. All my flaws, mistakes, debts and sins have been wiped away by an Almighty God, who could rightly hold me guilty for everything I’ve done wrong. Instead in His grace, He forgave me. And let me tell you, that’s a really good thing because I’ve had to confess a lot of stuff since then as well.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresasShieldsParker.com/Overcomers Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treeparker/
Episode 084-Flesh Versus Spirit
This episode is going to be the first in a series I’m doing based around the book of Romans. It’s really a book that talks to us about Spirit-led Transformation so that will be a topic we’ll be exploring for the next several months.
Because these episodes are so foundational I am putting them into a course that will include the transcript, action steps and challenges. Those last three will only be available to those in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. So if you want the deeper dive you will need to join us there to get this course and all the other things we provide in that group.
In talking about the flesh we need to define what it is, what sin is, why if we allow our flesh to lead us it will lead us astray and why following the Holy Spirit is the right way but we many times resist it until we have no other choice.
Two favorite scriptures from this episode are Romans 2:2 TPT, “God is always right, because He has all the facts.” And Galatians 5:16 TPT, “As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.”
Then there are two of my favorite quotes, “Your flesh doesn’t care about your eternity because it’s not going with you.” And “Flesh cannot fix flesh.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 241-Finding Freedom
One minute I was sitting in the green metal lawn chair in my uncle’s front yard, talking and laughing with my aunt while cousins and our children played hide and go seek.
The next minute I felt the bending and eventual collapse of the rounded legs of the chair as they slowly lowered me to the ground.
Even though I’m sure the sight of a 430-pound woman sitting on a pile of metal was funny, all laughter stopped. My uncle jumped up to help me.
Being super morbidly obese I always tried to blend into the wallpaper and not make more of a spectacle of myself any more than I already was.
That day, however, the proverbial cat had been let out of the bag.
I’m fat, really fat. I break lawn chairs like twigs. I can’t be trusted to sit anywhere.
I knew I had a problem. I denied it constantly. I tried to push it under the rug. However, I could no longer ignore the obvious.
I was a really good Christian. I didn’t drink alcoholic beverages. I’d never done drugs, smoked cigarettes, had sex before marriage, gone to an X-rated movie, watched or listened to pornography. I went to church every Sunday. I taught Sunday School and small groups. I worked in ministry. And I was a glutton.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 240-What God Wants
I’ve learned since childhood that I should listen to God. I knew He wanted me to give up sugar and flour and eat more meat, fruits, and vegetables. However, I continued to do the opposite. I was like the people of Jeremiah’s day. “We will not listen to your messages from the Lord. We will do whatever we want … For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles!” (Jeremiah 4:16-17 NLT).
My desire to do my own thing regarding what I ate and how I didn’t exercise or listen to God about my health was not working. As a matter of fact, I was eating myself into an early grave. I was eating myself to death and thinking I was having a great time doing it.
Because of what I had done to myself, in 1999 I found myself lying in a hospital bed awaiting the results of an angioplasty. The very rude cardiac surgeon came into my room, looked at me and without compassion said, “You don't need open heart surgery. You need to lose at least 100 pounds and keep it off or you'll be dead in five years.” Then, he promptly turned and walked out of the room leaving me very alone. My world came to a screeching halt. I had just been given a death sentence.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 239-King of My Heart
Who or what is King of your heart, the most important thing in your life?
The first stanza of the song, King of My Heart says, “I’m in a war every minute. I know for sure I’ll never win it. I am David up against Goliath and it’s a fight for my attention. I’m being pulled every direction.”
However, David’s real giant was not a huge hairy man, but a beautiful woman named Bathsheba. He saw her. He wanted her. He took her even though she was married and knew it was wrong.
I so relate to David because I had a love affair too. His name was Sugar and He tasted so good.
Let me tell you when something takes over as King of your heart, it’s not easy to dethrone it. But, here’s how.
One-on-One Coaching Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/.
Episode 238-Intimacy
I love this episode! I love talking about real intimacy with my husband and with Jesus. Intimacy is a deep, close relationship that makes us feel validated and safe
In simple language Jesus told us how to be his intimate friends “You show you are my intimate friends when you obey all that I command you … I call you My intimate friends for I reveal to you everything I have heard from My Father” (John 15:14-15 TPT).
Obedience to God unlocks the door to intimacy with Him. Trust then becomes the foundation for intimacy with Jesus, as well as deep and true intimacy with our husbands and other loved ones..
One-on-One Coaching link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/.
One of my issues growing up was I was the oldest child and my mother had many issues that caused her to be unable to do a lot of household duties. Many of these fell to me because otherwise they wouldn’t get done. So, as the oldest child of three, I stepped into a controlling, bossy mini-Mom.
From an early age I took on a works mentality. I took over Mom’s duties to they would get done. I did housework, laundry, cooked supper, took care of the kids, and did my own homework and school activities. I was always working. It was who I was.
I became an in-charge Martha. Finally came the day, though, when God showed me how wrong I was.
One-on-One Coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching.
Episode 236-Hiding from Fear?
Are you afraid of people, things you failed at, things that want to make you go somewhere and hide and never come out again? Many are. This episode contains a fictional story about a woman who wanted to just live never having to deal with fear.
When she thought about stepping outside the room, she felt naked, exposed, and vulnerable. To go for her dreams felt way too difficult, impossible, and scary.
Fear can keep us stuck. Fear can cause us to disconnect from everyone we love. Fear can cause us to even hide from ourselves and make us stop trying to reach the dreams God has placed inside us. This woman learns how to step into life and go for her dreams. You can as well.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 235-Self-Effort
Are you doing things in your own self-effort? Or are you doing them with God’s help and strength? How do you know? How can you do things with Him instead of for yourself?
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Episode 234-Who Am I?
Who am I? Who are you? Many times in our lives, people knowingly or unknowingly tell us who we are. This happened to me when I was six years old. At the time, I didn’t really know what was said would define me.
I tried to push it out of my mind. It stayed there until another similar statement when I was an adult jogged my memory. And I realized how what was said along with what others said had set the tone for my life.
I finally understood that I should allow no one but God to set the direction for my life. After all, He is the only One who truly knows me and can lead me. He is the only One who knows who I am and what I will become. I will follow Him.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Episode 233-Forgiven
I sat on the back deck of the lodge at the north rim of the Grand Canyon while my family was hiking. I just wanted to sit there forever and take in the glory and the splendor of God’s majestic, vast creation.
The canyon is miles across. It looked huge. I thought of the song, “There is a cross to bridge the great divide.” The width of the chasm visibly reinforced the fact there is a wide gulf between me and God. There is no earthly way I can jump to the other side of the Grand Canyon.
As a human many things look impossible, but with God everything is possible, especially forgiveness.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Episode 232-Am I Greedy?
I never really thought of myself as greedy, but my journey has really been one of greed. What is greed?
The definition of greed is “an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” Did you get that? It’s not just an intense desire for money or position. It’s also a selfish desire for food!
Are you greedy? Listen to this episode to find out if you are and what to do about it.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 231-Deception
A person who deceives is one who misleads by a false appearance or statement. Isn’t it interesting Satan can appear as an angel of light.
One big deception the enemy threw to me was that I needed food to eat so I could eat all I wanted to. The devil is a deceiver who turns something, which looks good, into something which leads to death, even though it may be a while coming.
So what can we do when we have bought into a lie that has become such a habit we think we can never get free? That’s what this episode is all about.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 230-Prayer Answers
For many years I was frustrated because I would pray and it felt like God wasn’t answering my prayers. I knew the Bible said He would, but I didn’t believe it because I wasn’t experiencing the answers I wanted, which was to have my mother healed of her bipolar disorder. They weren’t selfish prayers so why wasn’t He answering?
This episode examines two huge instances of how God answered prayer but it wasn’t because of me. It was because it was because it was in God’s will and His time.
If you have unanswered prayers, this is the episode to listen to.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 229-This is My Surrender
The other day I was listening to a church service and they were singing, “I will Make Room”. As I sang along with them the words arrested me. “Here is where I lay it down. Every burden and every crown. This is my surrender. This is my surrender.” God stopped me and asked, “How are burdens and crowns alike so that when we lay them down they define surrender?”
Burdens are negative. Crowns are positive. We want to get rid of burdens. Crowns are what God gives us in return for the good we’ve done here on earth. How are both of these related to surrender?
We explore that in this episode.
Overcomers link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers.
Episode 228-Backdoor Grace
"Crisco, Crisco fat in the can" churned around and around in my head for decades after a three-year-old said that to me when I was 11. He said it so he could distract me.
Thoughts of I am fat went through my conscious mind and were archived in my subconscious right then. Our childhood emotions can lie dormant for years ready and waiting to be retrieved and then expressed in our actions.
Through the years I did gain weight. God told me what to do, but I didn’t listen to His straight-forward approach. He had to come in through the backdoor. You’ll want to listen to this episode. It’s one of my favorites.
Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy link:
https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 227-Lies or Truth?
It’s hard for children to separate truth from lies. When we grow up lies from childhood still chase us and take us down treacherous roads.
Then my lies sounded like this: “I can eat whatever I want whenever I want it. If I want sugar or dessert I can eat as much as I want. It doesn’t hurt me. If I’m upset foods with carbohydrates will make me feel better.”
Losing physical weight is wonderful. Many things change just because of being thinner, such as having more energy and stamina. However, true freedom for me came at handing each piece of emotional baggage to Him and receiving a gift of renewal in exchange.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV).
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 226-I Can't Lose Weight
I CAN’T lose weight, I just can’t. I carried this feeling of defeat with me for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I was always outgrowing my clothes. Hey, it’s what kids do. They grow.
It was true, as a child I couldn’t lose weight. I was designed to grow, not lose weight. The difficult part, especially for a child, is separating out what is true and what is a lie. A child is not meant to understand all of this. They are to be loved and supported by the adults in their lives. They are not supposed to overhear conversations which make them feel like they are hopeless.
I can’t lose weight was a lie the enemy fed me because he didn’t want me to know the truth. He wanted me to think eating desserts and candy was the best thing in the world. And yet, God loved me too much to leave me wallowing in that lie. His truth would completely set me free!
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Episode 225-Listen to Gdd
All the time there are at least three voices vying for our attention: my voice, the tempter’s voice, and God’s voice. For years, though, I listened to the tempter’s voice constantly. It always has an element of truth to it. What he tells me is half-truth, half-lie. In the past he hadn’t needed to be too subtle. He just put the bait out there and like a hungry, naïve fish, I’d bite, and gobble it up plus more.
I listened because my rational mind agreed with him. My flesh wanted something sweet and carbohydrate-laden with tons of unhealthy fats.
This time though I had made a firm decision. I was going to listen to the voice of God. I had invited God to tell me when I was making a wrong decision.
Listen to episode 225 and I’ll share with you 10 things that help you know it is God’s voice instead of the enemy’s.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 224-Fighting the Battle
Eleven years ago I weighed 430 pounds. Now let’s be honest that’s really, really large, especially for a woman who isn’t that tall. I’ve lost 250 pounds and I feel a whole lot better. However, to me the more important thing is I’ve undergone a total lifestyle change of a slow, steady weight loss. No matter what the quick fix, it doesn’t work to keep the weight loss off. We must change our habits. It’s not easy, but it is worth it.
The only way to change our habits is to realize that overeating is sin. If we want to do what God wants us to do we must listen to Him and do what He says. Romans 12:2 MSG states it as plainly as possible. “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.”
In order to lose weight, the inside of us needs to be transformed, changed and renewed first. We help you do that in Overcomers Academy. Join us
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 223- God's Great Adventure
Most of us love a good adventure story. I love Sunday nights when we’d hear foreign missionaries tell us about their adventures. They seemed so different from my life, which was very boring in comparison. I longed for a bit of adventure, and a great adventure with God would be even better. Back then I didn't have the concept that following God completely would always be a great adventure all on its own.
I’ve learned since then that there is nothing more fulfilling and satisfying as surrendering to God and doing what He wants me to do even though I don’t think I can do it. That’s OK, though. All God wants is a willing vessel to do what He asks.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 222-Confessions of a Sugar Addict
I am a sugar addict, set free by God Almighty. Most people greatly dislike the concept of surrender. It feels too hard, too difficult, too unnerving to actually give in to God. To me it is just the opposite. Surrender is beautiful because we finally discard everything we’ve been holding on to that is keeping us from being all-in with God. Surrender is a key concept on the journey out of sugar and food addiction.
It took me a long time to surrender to Him, but my God-sized intervention was coming. I went to a meeting with a friend. I was listening to another friend of mine share his story of being a sober alcoholic for about 25 years at that point.
All of a sudden, though, he had my total attention when he said, “Alcohol is one molecule away from sugar. Alcohol is liquid sugar.” Everything in my world came to a stop. All the pieces of my life seem to snap together like a magnetic puzzle.
If you don’t listen to any other episodes, please listen to this one. All I know is once I surrendered everything to God, and began to walk out my journey, my life has been a series of one beautiful adventure after another.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/.
Episode 221-Eating Myself to Death
Most of us want to blame someone else for any problem we have. I knew good and well no one was to blame for my extreme weight gain, but me, myself, and I.
My desire to do my own thing regarding what I ate and how I didn’t exercise or listen to God about my health was not working well for me. As a matter of fact, I was eating myself into an early grave. The cardiac surgeon told me that and stamped an expiration date on me if I didn’t lose 100 pounds and keep it off.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers to join.
Episode 220-Move My Mountain
In order to lose weight and keep it off we have to begin and continue. We have to be committed to transformation. I was a reluctant loser, but God helped me lose 250 of the 430 pounds I once had on my body. I say I was a reluctant loser because God told me to give up sugar and I didn’t want to.
Today, I'm a Christian weight loss author, coach, speaker and podcaster. I pray my story impacts and moves you to do what God wants you to do, whatever that is.
If you desire to lose weight and keep it off, check out my new Overcomers Academy. Doors are open now.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Episode 219-Overcomers Academy New
God called me to coach others with weight issues after I lost 250 pounds. With His help I’ve been coaching now for 10 years. I was hesitant, but I have learned if God calls me I don’t have to worry about my qualifications. When God asks us to do a specific task, He and He alone will qualify us.
He goes before us to pave the way. He is all we need to complete whatever He calls us to do. “It is not your strength, but it is God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work, that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 AMP).
In Overcomers Academy, diet is a four-letter word and not a very nice one. Instead we talk about commitment, habit change, surrender, along with accountability to God and ourselves and many helpful tools. These were huge keys for me and should be for you too. They are difficult concepts for many to grab hold of and implement. I know, for me, everything changed when I tapped into these.
In Overcomers I also help members identify root issues that have them stuck in the cycle of overeating and lead them to get set free and reconnected to Father God, Holy Spirit, and Jesus.
We have four lines of defense in our group. First: Join Overcomers. Second: Join the weekly call. Third: Listen to and apply our courses each week. Fourth: Pray for each other.
Overcomers webpage: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Overcomers Academy circle community link: https://overcomers-academy.circle.so/checkout/join-overcomers-academy
Episode 218-God's New Thing
I read this somewhere and it resonated with me. I don’t know the author. “God is telling me today, rest in Me. I am already ahead of you, working in your life. I will turn around every bad situation you are in. I will bless you and your family with all that you need. I will heal all that needs healing. I will wipe away of your tears. You will be blessed.”
Rest became my word for 2024, but it’s not the ordinary sleeping kind of rest. God showed me some new reasons to embrace this word. Check out the podcast to learn more.
Doors to the New Overcomers Academy are open now. To join go to:
TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/.
Episode 217-Here's My Heart, Lord
You’ve likely gotten all kinds of gifts for Christmas already, but I want to give you another one. When I take the love language test, mine comes back words of affirmation, imagine that. It’s what I love to receive, but it’s also what I love to give.
Words can build us up or tear us down. I hope these words, which one day may become a picture book or illustrated book, will make you think and cause you to draw closer to our loving Heavenly Father.
So here is the Gift of Purpose.
Overcomers’ Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 216-Season for Temptation
It’s the season for temptations especially for a sugar and comfort food addict like I used to be or like you may be right now. How can we resist falling into temptation?
If we are surrendered to God it can help us resist temptation.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 215-Make Time for God
With so many time-stealers in our lives, how do we make room for God? First, we have to first above everything else. If we don’t have time set aside specifically to spend time listening to God, How will we know what He’s saying to us. How will we know what He wants us to do?
James 4:8 NLT tells us, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” It is really up to us to find time to meet with God. It boils down to making time, space, and room for Him.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 214-Stubborn Surrender
My mother used to say to me, “You’re so stubborn you’d argue with a fencepost if it would talk back.” Stubbornness is not a good trait when you are not wanting to do what you know God wants you to do. It just reveals a whole lot of the very worst of our humanness.
Stubbornness is a huge part of being human and we think we don’t really need any help from God. However, if we stay stubborn and never surrender to God, we will just sink deeper into sin. We will never experience the life He wants us to have. God gives us the option of life and death. He wants us to choose life.
Will we?
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Episode 213- Grace and Surrender
Without the grace of God, I would never have surrendered to Him. I’d still be trying to work my way to heaven by trying to earn God’s favor
God understands us though. He is not a distant far away God. He is the God of grace. We don’t have to earn anything. Failure is part of the learning process.
God gives us grace. It’s a gift, but its more than just a box we unwrap on Christmas morning. It has substance to it. It is endless. From grace we take and grace remains.
When I began my weight loss journey God showed me three pivotal steps I keep in mind.
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I am powerless over food and my life has become unmanageable
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I know there are times I am insane especially around certain foods. I need a Power greater than myself to restore me to sanity and set me free.
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In order to stay free I surrender my will and life over to the care of God, the only One who is able to sustain and lead me on this journey.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Episode 212-Efficacy and Surrender
It was during my quiet time recently when kind of like a benediction on our time, God said, “May your day be filled with efficacy.” He does this kind of stuff to me a lot. It is one of the great benefits of a real quiet time. I said, “Efficacy? Why are you giving me this word, God?”
He was quiet and I sensed He wanted me to look-up it’s meaning. It means the ability to produce a desired or intended result. It also means to produce effectiveness. It doesn’t mean just to be effective, but to be able to produce effectiveness on an ongoing basis.
So I asked God, what in my life has efficacy? We’ll explore that on Efficacy and Surrender.
Overcomers Waitlist: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 211- Surrender to His Majesty
Lord, Don’t allow me to make a mess of my life, for I cling to Your commands and follow them as closely as I can. (Psalms 119:31 TPT).
We all need to pray that verse every day, especially in the days we’re living in now. Everywhere I look it seems like everyone is in a world of self-doubt. Today I got a flyer in the mail. Don’t usually read these flyers this one happen to be from evangel University, where my daughter graduated. It’s talking to students so it’s not talking to those over 21 or is it. I’ll let you decide.
Dr. Mike Rakers president of the school said, “Recent events in the Middle East and the ever-changing culture around students causes high levels of insecurity and uncertainty.
Every day, Students walk under the clock tower ringed with scriptures etched around it. Scripture like 1 Samuel 7:12. “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Since 1955 students whether impacted by the Korean war, Vietnam war, Afghanistan war, Iraq war. the war against Isis, or all of the other minor conflicts or pandemics that have come see that God never leaves us or forsakes us.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 210-Surrender Bad Habits
As humans we want to be in charge of what we want. We want others to listen to us. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do.
We don’t want to give up what we think we have to have in order to endure this life and all its temptations, desires, wants, needs and must haves. We want stuff and we don’t want the trials, tests, and troubles. We think we know what we need but if we get what we want, we don’t have what we really need.
Our desires have become our needs. Everybody else has a big house. I need a big house. Everyone else has a new car. I need a new car. Everybody else eats sugar. I need to eat sugar because I like sugar and I want sugar and I have to have it. The same is true with anything that we think we have to have. Those things become addictions. That means we feel like we can do without them.
What we think we have to have will end up controlling us to the point that even if we want to give it up, we can’t. The interesting thing to me is we know we need God, but we think He will give us what we want even though we know it’s not what He wants for us. The bottom line is we don’t really have a strong enough desire for God. We don’t listen to what He is saying to us and even if we do, we refuse to give up our desires. Our wants rank higher than God. Then we wonder why He’s not answering our prayers.
In this episode, we talk about surrendering our bad habits to God.
Overcomer’s Academy is changing! We’re moving off of Facebook to the Circle Community. Everything will be in one place with guided courses, weekly calls, podcast episodes and more. Doors are closed for now, but go and sign up on the waitlist to be notified when doors open! I can’t wait and I want y’all to come and join us!
Link to sign up on the Overcomers Waitlist: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 209-Surrender the Hard Stuff
Why is this topic of surrender so difficult for us? As soon as I said that I answered my own question. “We can’t surrender to God, because the only one we have ever fully surrendered to and trusted in is ourselves.” It’s hard to trust in Someone you can’t see.
While this is true, there have been many times when I have surrendered things to God that looking back now seem like small things. After we surrender them, they become easy because we’ve already surrendered them. We’ve already gotten through those issues. At the time, though, they were huge obstacles looming in front of me, daring me to go past them.
If we don’t surrender the hard stuff to God and let Him lead us, the thing God really wants us to do will not get done. Our life’s mission will not get done.
Surrendering to God and asking for His help makes the Hard stuff easy. You’ll look back and say like I do about losing 250 lbs, that’s the easiest hard thing I’ve ever done.
Link to sign up on the Overcomers Waitlist: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 208-Why Surrender to God?
Why should we surrender to God? The unstated question here is, what’s in it for me. I mean I’m doing pretty good here on my own. Besides I know a lot of people who say they are Christians and they are just as bad off as me. I don’t really see a reason to give over control of my life to anyone. How do I know what God’s going to do when I give things over to Him? Things might get worse than they are now.
Here are six reasons to surrender to God. And just to make sure you understand. Surrendering to God is always for your good and not your disaster. Always. That’s the number 1 reason to surrender to Him.
For the other five, listen to the podcast. You’ll be glad you did.
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Episode 207-Surrender Control
Surrendering what little control we have feels impossible. The truth is when we are trying to be in control, we many times wind up out of control while trying to be in control. That became the story of my life. I had been trying to be in control of everything and everyone in my sphere of influence. I finally had to admit the truth. That wasn’t working. I was exhausted and in control of nothing.
The truth I didn’t want to face was: I will never be IN control until I let God have FULL control of everything in my life including what I eat. This is a good definition of what Surrendering to God looks like. It includes laying down my desires in order to take up His desires for me.
The beautiful result of surrendering to God is that there is no need to hang on to stress and worry. We just leave all that junk with Him. He’s big enough to handle it. “Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7 TPT).
Overcomers Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 206- Intentional Surrender
Surrendering to God is a choice we make, but it’s much more than just choosing whether we will eat a huge piece of cake or not. It’s an intentional, purposeful choice to lay everything at the feet of Jesus and then follow Him completely.
That means we will be intentional about listening for His voice. We will be intentional about making sure we know what He wants us to do. We will have intentional focus on God. We will be committed, purposeful and deliberate about following God. When we are surrendered to Him every single day we intentionally set our minds to follow His will and not our own.
This episode will help you understand more about how surrendering to God helps us live in tune with Him.
Overcomers link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 205-Surrender Takes Trust
I know, above and beyond everything else, God is my source and the source for my family. I trust Him as the ultimate Puzzle Master, the only One who really knows what my final picture or story will look like.
I didn’t always trust Him as my total source. My future used to be rather disconcerting. I said God was my source, but I relied on things I felt were more tangible, like foods made with sugar and flour or my job. I still don’t know exactly where all the pieces fit in my life, and yet I’ve learned that living trusting the God of the universe is so much more secure.
It takes sold-out trust in God to surrender to Him. It takes surrendering to God to live in tune with Him completely. How do we do that? This episode gives some insight.
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Episode 204-Surrender and Destiny
Why do we think it’s OK to ignore what God is telling us and yet get mad at Him when He doesn’t magically make the money appear to pay our bills, or stop one of our kids from doing drugs or getting in with the wrong crowd.
Why do we refuse to surrender to God, but we still want Him to answer our every prayer exactly how we want it? There is something missing from this equation. God is not our genie in a bottle so all we have to do is just speak and all our wishes will be granted.
God tells us He will bless us, but His version of blessings and ours are vastly different. Our might involve money, but His will more than likely involve our calling and our destiny.
Until we surrender to Him, He will not trust us with the calling He has for us. Until we are willing to follow Him instead of what we want, we won’t be do what God wants us to do. Surrendering to God is the key to our mission and our destiny.
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Episode 203-Fear and Surrender
Through the last nine years, I have coached many women who tell me they want to surrender to God, but are afraid of giving up the foods they love. Surrendering to God reminds them of giving up. It reminds them of being forced to do something. When we feel forced, many of us rebel. That’s because it reminds them of a fear from their past.
If that fear involved a father or father figure, we may transfer those fears to Father God. Then unknowingly, this fear will hold us back from surrendering totally to God. The evil one likes to imbed fears into us in a way where we don’t recognize the source. He knows if we discover the source, we can allow God to help us get rid of the fear. The evil one hates this because he uses our fears to stop us from doing what God wants us to do.
In this episode we will discuss how can we discover the source of the fear that is holding us back from trusting God in order to surrender everything about us to Him.
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 201-7 Steps to Surrender
God wants to be first without a second in our lives. He wants us to be totally surrendered to Him. He told us this in the first commandment. “You may worship no other god than Me.” (Exodus 20:3 TLB).
Here are seven steps to surrender.
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Have a relationship with God.
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Get to know God better.
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Understand what God wants from us.
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Confess when we mess up.
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Pivotal moment of surrender
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Surrender requires God’s strength
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Surrender daily
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Contact Teresa: info@teresashieldsparker.com
Episode 200-This Thing Called Surrender
God’s desire is for each of us is to totally surrender to Him so He can lead us to be victorious in Christ! Our surrender delights God, but most of us don’t really know what surrendering to God means, how to do it, or why we should do it.
We think surrender means the same as being a prisoner. It's what happens when one side defeats the other. They get taken captive. Surrendering to God is not like that at all. We don’t surrender to God because He has defeated us. We surrender to Him because He knows the way our lives should go better than anyone else.
He loves us and has a beautiful plan for our lives. First, though, we must allow Him to lead us. We must give up all the baggage we don’t need and follow the only One who knows the way.
We’ll answer some questions like: What is surrender? Why should we surrender? How can we surrender?
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 199-Resisting Temptation
What should I do if I’m tempted? Well, first it’s great that you know when you are tempted. Many don’t recognize that they are being tempted.
However there is not an “if” about it. If you are a Christian trying to follow Jesus, you will be tempted. And the tempter will offer you exactly what you want because he’s been watching and knows your habits, behaviors, and weaknesses. He will tempt you with them. It’s a given. He knows your weaknesses better than you do. So how do you resist?
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0986159263
Episode 198-What is Self-Control?
We all know that self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit. You know the list from Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
I could always see that I had some portion of the other eight qualities, but that last one always tripped me up. I wanted to be in control of my wants, desires and cravings but I wasn’t. This was frustrating because being in control was something I valued. However, I realized I valued that if I wanted something and I was in control or in charge I could make it happen.
When I discovered that self-control had nothing to do with my self-effort and everything to do with me surrendering to God, it jump-started my transformation journey. What is self-control? It’s the part of the fruit of the Spirit that makes it all work together.
Overcomers link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/.
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle-Book-ebook/dp/B0CBW8F57V/
Episode 197-Seven Lessons in 70 Years
I turned 70 last week. I’m not any wiser, but God challenged me to come up with the seven most important lessons I’ve learned. These principles really do guide my life today but in order to learn them I went through a lot of trials and turmoil.
I go into depth with each of these on the podcast along with scripture references.
- Listen to God.
- Don’t bite off more than you can or should chew.
- Surrender everything to God.
- The devil is real.
- Sin leads us away from God.
- Grace is strength.
- God loves you and has a great plan for your life.
Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle-Book-ebook/dp/B0CBW8F57V
Episode 196-Victory is Here!
Victory can be defined as overcoming or winning in a competition or struggle over an opponent, or difficult problems. The Bible tells us we already have the victory if we have Jesus. “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4, NIV).
The problem is when difficulties, troubles and hard seasons come, we tend to forget God’s glorious promise. His promise is if we stay true to Him we win in the end, even though our current circumstances may not look like it right now.
My 10th book in 10 years, Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle, was released August 1 in kindle and paperback on Amazon. It takes a while with Audible, but it will be coming soon.
Get it by going to Amazon and searching for Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle by Teresa Shields Parker. Read it and write a review on Amazon, then share it on Facebook, Instagram, Good Reads or any place else. It really helps people find the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Winning-Battle/dp/0986159263/
Episode 195- How Can I Hear God?
How do we hear from God? We listen for His voice. We have a conversation with Him. He most often speaks to us and we hear Him as the still, small voice. He speaks to us from the depths of our souls, which we hear in our minds. Then we make a decision as to whether we will do what He says or not.
Many times we tell God what we want Him to do and then it doesn’t happen so we wonder is He really listening or not? We go to Him with our to-do list and then say, “Ok, talk to You when You’ve done all that.” We had a monologue. Not a dialogue. God is the boss of the universe. We don’t tell Him what to do.
God is waiting for us to stop giving Him our wish list so He can get a word in edgewise. It is important to converse with Him as we go through our days, but that does not mean we chastise Him for not doing what we want Him to do.
This episode includes 10 things we should know about God’s voice.
Sweet Victory link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Victory-Teresa-Shields-Parker-ebook/dp/B0CBW8F57V/
Episode 194-Do I Trust Jesus?
Do I trust Jesus? How do we know if we really trust Jesus completely or not? He’s the member of the Trinity who is most like us because He knows what it’s like to live as a human. If we have a trust issue with Jesus it will affect our relationship with those we think we love.
One day God dropped these words into my heart. “Any disconnect with the one we are closest to here on earth will affect our intimacy with Jesus.”
When I asked Jesus if I trusted Him there was silence. I knew there was a trust issue and I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything He asked me to do if I didn’t resolve it.
There is a way through this issue and others like it. Why do we argue with Jesus when He asks us to do something? Why do we run in the other direction when He tries to guide us? Want to know more. This episode will help. For help check out Teresa’s one-on-one coaching.
One-on-one coaching link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/.
Episode 193-Work With God
For most of my life, I’ve been working for God in some shape or form. It’s good to do things for God, but it’s better to do things with Him. After all, He is our commander-in-chief. He’s in charge.
The other day I was busy trying to get everything done, which seemed impossible. During my time with God He told me, “Never focus on the work you do for Me. Focus on being in My presence. Never mistake work for Me. Always make Me first place. Then, the work will get done. Let Me lead you. I want to be involved in every piece of what you are doing.”
We are so easily sidetracked. It might be that we are focused on working for God, but we have forgotten to consult Him on the very thing we are trying to do for Him. Instead of working for God, we need to work with Him. Things will go so much better when we do that.
Sweet Victory Book Launch With Teresa Shields Parker link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1478262903001114
Episode 192- Fears, Tears and Freedom
Fear is a huge obstacle to overcome. Fear comes in many different shapes and forms. It can be the fear of I’m not enough. I’m a failure. There’s nothing good in me. I never do anything right. I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to be abused. I’m not good enough and so much more.
When we finally get to the point where we can identify our fears and their roots, it can be a difficult process. The fears we have many times cause us to self-protect with food. Then food becomes what we run to instead of God.
When we finally see that God is the only one who can protect us and take away our fears, we will cry. The tears, though, will wash away our fears and the wrong things we did to try to get fear to go away. It will take some tears to wash our souls from the overwhelming fears we have finally decided to hand to God. But, oh the freedom that comes when we do that!
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Victory Book Launch with Teresa Shields Parker: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1478262903001114/
Episode 191-Pay Attention
What are you paying attention to? Is it how great, mighty and strong God is? Or is it how stressed you are trying to get everything done that you think you, and you alone, have to do? You are stressed. You want the stressors, whatever they are, to go away. However, the things that stress us are not going away unless we make God more important than what we are stressing about.
We need to pay attention to God. We need to give Him the power instead of stress, which is always instigated by the evil one. We have to “be strong in the Lord, draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him and in the power of His boundless might” (Ephesians 6:10 AMP).
We must learn how to take back power from the enemy and live our lives in Christ’s freedom.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 190-Called and Anointed
What I’ve learned through my weight loss journey of losing over 250 pounds is growing closer to God is not an add-on in any area of my life. Growing closer to God is God’s main objective for us. Weight loss is the add-on.
He has a calling and anointing for each of us, but He won’t unveil it until we are all-in with Him. We have to shift our total dependance back to Him. We were there one time for sure. That was when we accepted Jesus into our hearts. We vowed to follow Him. Then the evil one whispered lies in our ears and we went back to indulging in what we thought we needed in order to fix us.
On this episode we’re going to talk about how to jump all-in with God to do the things He is waiting patiently to reveal to us.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 189-From Shame to Faith
For every single thing that brings us down, God has provided a portion of the fruit of the Spirit to combat it. This is more than true when we are dealing with fear of shame and condemnation. It feels like there is no way to break free from addictions we have given into.
When we are Christians and are indulging in sins that have become addictions we will feel shame. When we realize what we are doing, if our next step isn’t desiring to discover how to get free, we will slip over into fear of what will happen to us because we aren’t following God. Then, our faith, the very thing that can rescue us, will be under attack because we aren’t trusting the one we believe in.
This week we are talking about how to step out of the shame of what we are doing and into a strong, vigorous faith in God.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 188-What Destiny?
God loves to talk about plans and destiny. You may be thinking, what does that have to do with me? Let me assure you that you are here on earth because God has a plan for your life. You may have no clue what it is or you may have an inkling. In either case, He’s working out your plan even right now. He’s even given you gifts to help you reach your destiny.
Part of the plan is for your very bones to vibrate with life. We talk about that and more on this episode. Time to discover how to step into your God-given destiny.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 187-Overwhelmed
I used to live in the land called Overwhelmed. Now, I live in the land called Surrendered. I certainly prefer Surrendered. It’s such a peaceful town. When I am overwhelmed, it is because I am doing too much and trying to figure everything out myself. When am surrendered, I have put everything in God’s capable hands. I let Him be in charge. I do what He tells me to do.
When we are overwhelmed, we feel defeated by everything we have to do. It feels too challenging for us to manage, but we keep trying and keep getting more and more overwhelmed. Then we can’t think, act, or function normally.
God will help us, but we have to call on Him.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 186-Don't Give Up!
When we have a need we want God to fix it right now. Not a week from now. Not a month from now. Certainly not a year from now and for real, not 10 years from now. We are impatient people and we want what we want done right now.
David said, “Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting for He will never disappoint you!” (Psalms 27:14 TPT),
We must focus on what God has done for us in the past and know He will do the same for us today. This episode will teach you more about how to continue to trust God for answered prayers, even if it takes some time. Don’t give up!
Overcomers Link: http://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 185-Don't Stress, Trust God
When everything is falling apart, what is the first thing we do? We try to fix it and if we can’t fix it, we worry about it. Then, worry leads to stress. When I am stressed, I am not trusting in God. I am trusting myself to fix what I am stressing about.
Jesus said, “Which one of you by worrying could add anything to your life?” (Matthew 6:27 TPT). We know worry doesn’t help. It leads to stress, which will harm us if we don’t get it under control.
In this episode, I give you five steps from stress to trusting God. We’ll also talk about what stress does to the body and how we can change our lives by getting rid of it.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 184-Noisy to Quiet
Do you feel like you have so much noise in your head you can’t even think? Or are you at the point where spending time being quiet and in God’s presence is the highlight of your day? The latter is definitely preferable. Still, why do we continually find ourselves caught up in the noise of this life?
Our incessant thoughts govern us and drive us crazy telling us to do this, this, and oh, that and on and on. Our minds was crammed full of to do lists, agendas, and solutions we don’t have. Then, add to those the growing world noise like gun violence, political views, climate change, job shortage, work force shortage, fuel shortages, and so much more. These issues just bring up more unresolved issues to fill our minds with things we can do nothing about.
How can we quiet the noise in our minds and focus on Jesus, the one we should be focusing on?
Private coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Overcomers link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 183-From Defeat to Victory
There are so many things that feel defeating in this life. We just get through one overwhelming issue when another pops up. The battles seem endless. We defeat one and feel victorious. Then another rears its head. It’s like an endless whack-a-mole game. The only good thing about this game is that it ends.
In life, the problems never stop. We want them to end. We want to feel victorious at something. In order to win at the game of life, though, we have to reset our minds. We must learn to view all the problems life brings not things that defeat us, but as a reminder to put our hand in the hand of the Master.
If you are going through a hard season, if you are facing trials and temptations, this episode is for you.
Books Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/books
Episode 182-Don't Lose Your Soul
We have to be careful that our desire for things of this world don’t become our main motivation for living. Can we be a Christian and have insatiable desires for things of this world?
The answer is yes we can. Will we be a peace with God? No, we will not. Will we still want more of the things of this world? Yes we will unless we tap into the real reason why we are on earth in the first place.
We want to save our souls, not lose them. On this episode we talk about how to do that.
Overcomers link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 181-Am I Greedy?
According to the dictionary greed is an “intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” Did you get that? It includes food and money. Both of these aspects are in my story. One of the synonyms for greed is gluttony. The dictionary definition of gluttony is “habitual greed or excess in eating.”
Looking back over my life, I saw how connected the issues of finances and food were in my life. I violated the perimeters of what I could and couldn’t have by buying groceries and fast food and whatever I wanted to eat on credit. I wanted these things, even though we didn’t have money for them. This is the essence of greed.
For every negative emotion or aspect of our lives, God has a solution or positive response. When we understand that one truth, we can work with God to defeat the thing that is overwhelming us. We just have to tap into God’s truth.
In this episode we will tap into that truth.
One-on-one Coaching Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 180-Anger, Good or Bad?
Is anger good or bad? Growing up I was sure anyone who was angry was evil. Anyone who was gentle, patient and peaceful was Godly all the time.
I didn’t like angry people because I had grown up with angry people. But I also grew up with one of the most gentle, patient and peaceful fathers in the world. What I was about to learn rocked my world.
This episode will help you understand the role anger should play in our lives and the role it shouldn’t play.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 179-Life and Death
Life and death are really not choices we get to make for ourselves. God decides when we are born and when we die. No matter what we think, He is in charge. On March 26 a good friend of mine passed from this life. Death is hard for us, because this life is all we know. So we cling to it tightly.
We are each unique, a one-of-a-kind masterpieces. No one else is like us. Everything about us was created by God on purpose for a purpose. When we discover that purpose, our lives will change exponentially. Knowing our purpose will make living here on earth enjoyable, even when we are dragging around our broken clay pots. Our bodies are not meant to be eternal. They are temporary.
Listen for more about how to really live.
Why God Hates Excuses-Free download link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/why-god-hates-excuses/
Sweet Excuses: Stop Lying to Yourself and Start Losing Weight link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Excuses-Yourself-Losing-Weight-ebook/dp/B0BNWVGPPK/
Episode 178-God's Love Covers Us
We all know that God has an intense love for the human race. After all, He created us and breathed life into us. We are the pinnacle of His creation. We are His children.
Early on, though, humanity rebelled. Eve just had to eat what she was forbidden to eat.
God told both Adam and Eve not to eat of that one tree, but they did it anyway. Of course there was quite a bit of encouragement from that old snake.
Because of their rebellion, a landslide of sin entered the world. God is Holy and hates evil and wickedness. However He still loved His creation. He wanted to provide a way back to Him when they disobeyed.
This shows the depth of God’s magnanimous love for those who have accepted His Son and His hatred for those who are wicked. Learn more about these huge emotions of hate and love.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 177-More than Enough
Do you feel like you aren’t enough? Is your dream to feel like you are enough? What would it take for you to become more than enough? Is that even possible. Well, Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 NLT, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
If your choices are that you feel you are not enough, just enough or more than enough, where are you today? Where do you want to be and how do you get there? We answer those an other question on this week’s episode.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-On-One Coaching Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 176-Doubt and Faith
Are doubt and faith incompatible? Is it OK for a Christian to doubt? Is there a good kind of doubt? Is there something we have to do in order for even a small amount of faith to work.
I used to think that if a person had doubts that meant they didn’t have faith. Now I know our doubts are what God can use to solidify our faith. Not convinced? Neither was I until I realized God invites us to ask Him the hard questions.
If we never have doubts and don’t ask the difficult questions, we will never be totally convinced that God is who He says He is. We learn by asking questions.
On this episode, I’m answering your questions about how to activate your faith.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 175- From Old to New
We all know this foundational scripture found in 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
I’ve always read this scripture in regard to salvation and it is about that, but it is about so much more than the moment of salvation. Accepting Jesus as our Savior, does make us new. Then, the Holy Spirit continues that work teaching us how to live as a new creation.
When we accept Christ, we have another choice. We can choose to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit or we can continue to live in our old ways. This episode will explain more about this process.
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 174-Don't Give Up!
God gave me a simple message to share. Don’t. Give. Up! I don’t know what you are about to give up, but God sent me to tell you this very simple, but incredibly difficult message.
Don’t give up when everything in your life looks like it is falling apart. Many of us give up on God when we can’t see how everything in our lives are going to work out. We have to have faith. We don’t know how, but God is great at Plot M. Just when our stories are looking like they are going to end badly, He comes to our rescue.
We have to walk by faith, not by sight as 2 Cor. 5:7 tells us. Everything we see may tell us no there’s no way this has any kind of grand ending … but God!
This episode will help you understand how faith can help you hold on to God when all you want to do is give up.
Teresa Shields Parker book links: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/books/.
Episode 173-Move from Victim to Victor
Every person has a story. Every person has been through difficulties. But many have been victimized and don’t even want to become a victor. However, that is the only way to free.
I’m living proof that a victim story can become a victor story when we learn to fall completely in love the Holy Spirit and allow Him to help you become a victor.
This episode will help you understand how those caught in the victim mentality act and how you can know when you’ve become a victor. Becoming a victor is the aim and God will get us there if we want it!
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Sweet Excuses Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/books/
Episode 172- How Much Are You Worth?
How much are you worth? What is your life worth? Some economists say an individual’s life is worth $10 Million. I read the article but I still don’t understand how they came up with that number. Scientists say that chemicals in the body are only worth about $5. I don’t understand that figure either because there’s a lot to the body and how God put it together. My accountant would say something somewhere in between those two. Closer to $5 than $10 Million for sure.
Of course, I’m not talking about how much are you worth monetarily. I’m talking about what the essence of who you are is worth. What is your soul and spirit worth? The body will one day fade away, but the essence of who we are lives on forever.
God, though, sees us valuable, worthy, and priceless. We talk about that and how to live worthy of the calling God has for us on this episode.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 171-It's Frustrating!
It’s frustrating! I don’t know how many times I have heard those words in the last few days. We are frustrated about so many things, but we are all accomplices in our own sea of frustration. We want more from ourselves and then have no plan to accomplish what we want or if we have a plan it doesn’t work for some reason.
There’s this viral ticktok video and IG reel that has woman saying, “Holy Spirit, Activate! Holy Spirit, Activate! Activate! Activate!” Then, she calmly says, “Ok I’m ready now.” That’s exactly what we need. When we are frustrated we need some specific pieces of the Holy Spirit’s truth.
This episode will help you understand what you need to do when you’re frustrated. Hint: It’s not eat cookies!
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 170-Managing Disappointment
What disappoints you? Is it yourself? Is it circumstances you think you shouldn’t have to go through? Is what you think God should have done for you think He didn’t? Is it other people giving up on fulfilling their potential? How do you manage disappointments? How do you hang on to God in the midst of some of life’s worst times?
We answer these questions and more by looking at how David, Joseph and Job handled theirs. We also talk about the spiritual truth to help you manage disappointments on this episode.
Sweet Excuses Book Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Episode 169-Why Am I Discouraged?
In Psalms 42, King David asked God a question I’ve asked myself many times. “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again— my Savior and my God!” (Psalms 42:11 NLT). That’s what we should do, but many times we don’t.
On this episode we will talk about five truths that keep us out of discouragement and allow us to once again SOAR with God.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Coaching Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 168-Bitter or Better?
What is bitterness anyway? It’s a word we all know, but one that is very hard to define. When we add fuel to our negative feelings, it only exasperates us. We have officially passed anger and have fallen into bitterness. Harbor that feeling long enough and it will become a root of bitterness which can morph into a stronghold.
This issue is a step beyond anger. We feel stuck because we can’t convince the person who wronged us that what they did is wrong and we don’t want to admit we did anything wrong. We are stuck in bitterness.
All along, God is telling us that He wants the best for us. However, bitterness will keep us from experiencing all the great things God has for us. It keeps us stuck in a recording that plays over and over in our minds.
On this episode you will learn more about what bitterness is, steps to get rid of it, and how to step into your best life that God has waiting for you.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One coaching link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-coaching/
Episode 167-From Stuck to Unstuck
Where are you stuck and what’s causing you to be stuck? I frequently ask my coaching clients that question. Many don’t know, so we have to drill down to figure it out. The big question is why don’t we know where we are stuck or what the cause is?
The simple answer to that is that the enemy of our souls is sneaky. His goal is to put us in a place where we are not living up to the purpose for which God put us here. He’s always watching to find ways to take us down. He knows everything about us because he’s got demons assigned to us that report back to him. So he gets us stuck before we know it.He knows exactly what will put us in situations where we can’t make a move forward. We can’t do anything positive for God because we feel rejected, afraid, discouraged, ashamed, weak, worried, guilty, stressed, frustrated, angry, and alone. He wants us stuck in a pit of despair or a revolving door we can’t escape from.
On this episode we talk about how God takes us the process of becoming free from whatever we have allowed to be our master instead of God. At the end, don’t miss Teresa reading The Place That Grace Built.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
The Place that Grace Built link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/the-place-that-grace-built/
Episode 166-2023 Strong
Every year God gives me a word to define my year. This year that word for 2023 is strong. Weak is the opposite of strong. When we feel weak and ineffective it is because we have given in to the enemy of our souls. We are looking for a quick fix to make us feel better. We are weak and growing weaker.
God’s spiritual truth to combat our weakness is for us to trust Him to give us His dynamic, passionate, persistent strength to stand up to the evil one’s temptations. We are weak, but thank God, He is strong.
When we submit our weakness to Him and trust Him to work through us, only then are we strong, truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength as 2 Corinthians 12:10 AMP says. With, in, and through Christ and by His strength, we can do all things. We become His conduit of power when we surrender everything, even the foods we eat, to Him.
Sweet Excuses: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Why God Hates Excuses: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/why-God-hates-excuses/
Overcomers Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 165-Coming Out of Shame
This is my coming out party! I’ve come out of the shame I lived in for 30 years, but I realize I never celebrated it. So I’m celebrating by remembering how God brought me out of shame and into the fullness of Christ, how He brought me from death to life.
With Jan 1, 2023 closing in, I’m reminded that it was 10 years ago on January 1, 2013 when God tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to write my weight loss memoir. I’d been on a transformation journey, being thrilled about losing the next pound, and getting down to the next size. I hadn’t calculated how much I’d lost from my highest weight of 430 pounds. That’s when I figured out I had lost 250 pounds!
God reminded me that one of the biggest issues I faced back then was shame. Shame followed me everywhere. Others didn’t have to shame me, I did a really good job of that myself. Shame constantly sat on my shoulder berating me, but in the same voice it also told me to eat whatever I wanted because I deserved it.
I was sure God was also ashamed of me. But, He wasn’t ashamed of me and did not condemn me. He was right there with me in my deep times of despair because I was His. I was in Christ. “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power[ of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (Romans 12:1-2 NLT).
FREE Gift Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/why-god-hates-excuses/
Sweet Excuses Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/books/
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 164-Loneliness
When we have certain emotions that are negative and bring us down, God has a spiritual truth to combat that. For loneliness that truth is if we are God’s, we belong to Him. We also belong to each other as His family. God designed us to be in relationship with each other.
Christmas is a very special time of the year when we are usually around lots of family and friends. For many, though, it can be lonely especially if we can’t be with family or friends. Loneliness is something we all face at one time or another. We can be lonely because we remember someone who is no longer in our lives. We can be lonely because we feel like we have no friends because no one likes us. We can be lonely because we are hiding from people because of our size.
We can even be lonely in a crowd because we feel like we don’t fit in, no one talks to us, or no one likes us. Those who are self-conscious about their weight are the ones I’ve heard share about this the most.
There are many reasons why people might be lonely and feel like we have a huge empty spot in our lives. God doesn’t want us to feel lonely. He wants us to feel like we belong to Him and to others who worship Him. He wants us to know that if we are His, we are never alone. He is with us always. We only need to call on Him and He will answer. “I call on You, my God, for You will answer me; turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer” (Psalms 17:6 NIV).
Sweet Excuses Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Excuses-Yourself-Losing-Weight-ebook/dp/B0BNWVGPPK/
Episode 163-From Rejected to Accepted
Do you ever feel rejected? Do you long to feel accepted for who you are?
Feeling rejected is a real emotional disturber. It can make you feel like quitting. Why go on when everything you do seems to be criticized and pointed out as wrong? Rejection, like all the negative emotions we feel, is instigated and encouraged by the enemy of our souls.
Many times, rejection comes from a person who feels the need to be in control. They feel inadequate themselves. So, when they put you down, it makes them feel like they are better than you are. It comes from this need for many to constantly compare themselves to others.
Rejection really means we aren’t approved or accepted. And guess what accepted means? It means that we are seen favorably and are approved. One is the opposite of the other. The spiritual truth that will help us overcome rejection is all based around feeling accepted. As long as we are His, God will never reject us even if we’ve sinned. His acceptance of us is based on whether or not we have put our faith in His Son, and not in what we have or haven’t done.
Sweet Excuses Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986159255/
Why God Hates Excuses Free Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/why-god-hates-excuses/
Episode 162-Why Are You Afraid?
We’ve all met people who seem fearless. They don’t seem afraid of anything. Then there are those of us who are afraid of certain things more than others and those who are afraid of everything. God doesn’t want you to be afraid. He didn’t create you to be afraid because fear keeps us from God’s best. He has a cure for fear.
There are many common fears such as: fear of spiders, snakes, mice, dogs, germs, dirt, contaminants, injections, flying in an airplane, elevators, heights, enclosed rooms or spaces, caves, crowded public places, social interaction, embarrassment, death, disasters, abuse, and many others. We call these phobias, like claustrophobia and agoraphobia. There are also fears like fear of not having enough which causes us to hoard items like toilet paper! Fear of uncertainty and fear of the future.
The things we are afraid is usually because we have had an encounter of some kind with the various things we are afraid of. In other words, they are learned behaviors, but we think they are just a part of our personalities so we don’t really try to get rid of them. God, though, can help us get rid of our fears even though they don’t come from Him.
II Timothy 1:7 AMP tells us, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline, abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control.”
We need every part of this verse to overcome what is holding us back. FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. It’s one of the devil’s most powerful tools. If he can get us to be afraid of even trying to lose weight, he has us stuck. We will stay stuck until we understand what God wants for us.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 161- Driven by Anxiety
It all begins with a problem for which we can’t find a solution. Instead of handing that problem to God and trusting Him to deal with it, we worry about it. That steals our peace and feeds the anxiety we can literally feel building within us.
We think about the problem, mistake we made, situation or relationship over and over examining it from every possible angle. We become compulsive about the issue, but we still have no solution. So, we do it over and over again getting absolutely nowhere. Instead of stopping there, we do it again and again and again and again.
Unless we trust God with the issue, our anxiousness results in nothing being solved or fixed. This repetitive action results in us being driven by anxiety. It makes us feel stuck or caged in to the point that we see things we want to do, but our anxiety keeps us from even trying.
What is God’s cure for those who are driven by anxiety? We must trust God.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 160-Why Worry?
What problem has you up at night fretting about how to fix it? What thoughts keep tumbling around and around in your head? What do you worry about? To me, the most debilitating thing about worry is it keeps me stuck in an endless cycle of rehashing and rehashing whatever problem I am thinking about. I hate being stuck so that makes me worry all the more.
If we had no problems, we’d never worry. So, worry starts with problems we are trying to solve but don’t have the solution to. However worrying about our problems, doesn’t get us anywhere. It only makes us feel worse and doesn’t change anything. It is the precursor to stress and other negative emotions.
Worry can harm us mentally and physically. Mentally it can lead to anxiety, fear and depression. Physically it can elevate stress levels, lead to exhaustion and weakened immune systems. Maybe the biggest thing worry does to us is to keep us from living our lives as whole, healthy and happy people. When we are worrying, we are missing all the great things happening in our lives all around us.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-on-one coaching link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 159-Pretentious Much?
Some emotions lead us places we don’t want to go. If a person has even a little bit of pride, likely it won’t stay small. If pride is not dealt with, it will introduce a bolder and more arrogant emotion called pretension into our lives.
Pretension is what leads us into strongholds and then to addictions. In this episode I tell you what pretension is, why it is dangerous and how God wants us to counteract it.
You’ll also learn in eight steps how strongholds are created and how they are broken.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 158-Ditch the Pride
Being prideful is not just an attitude. It’s also an emotion God hates. It’s the emotion that He wants us to ditch. The great thing about this is, He tells us exactly how to do that in His Word.
Pride is said to be the foundational emotion on which all other emotions which lead to sin are built. Pride says, “I’m number one, the best. No one can do things like I can.” It is this worship of self that God doesn’t like. It can lead to greater sins and is a huge emotion we must deal with on our journeys.
To acquiesce to another, whether God or another person, means we must accept their point of view or suggestion. This is something many have a hard time doing. Saying, “You’re right” and “I’m wrong,” just doesn’t seem to be in our vocabularies as humans or we think if we say that we will seem like wimps.
Learn the tools God gives us to counteract pride on this episode.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 157-Emotion and Spiritual Truths
Growing up I saw the adults in my family exhibiting emotions I never wanted to have. As a child I thought eating candy and cookies and other desserts helped keep my emotions in check. I didn’t realize that what it did was anesthetize all emotions, both good and bad.
What I finally came to realize is that God gave us emotions to enable us to understand our lives a little better. He gave them to us to warn us when things are falling apart. I had to learn to embrace my emotions instead of eating them away.
It’s vital that we realize that God has the spiritual truths we need to manage and understand our emotions. We should have the same heart-cry that David did in Psalms 139:14 TPT, “Give me an understanding heartso that I can passionately know and obey your truth.” God’s truth is what we should crave and long for, not the foods we think are helping us avoid emotions we don’t like. We must learn to see our emotions as helpers given to us by God.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 156-Invited to Life
I’ve been scared to death, but thankfully I have also been invited to life. I much prefer the latter.
Halloween scared me to death when I was a kid. There were things I both loved about the holiday when I was a kid and things I hated. Of course, I loved the candy. But I hated the scary houses with spooky music and adults dressed in devil costumes. I braved it because I knew they gave out the big-size candy bars.
The origins of Halloween may have been Christian at one time, but to me the overemphasis today on evil costumes, scary stories and haunted houses has taken the day out of the realm of being Christian.
Most of the time, though, even alternative Christian events still have what I consider the biggest reason we should be afraid of Halloween. They still give away lots and lots of candy.
In 2021 Americans were said to spend over $10.14 billion dollars on candy for Halloween. This year that’s expected to rise to $10.6 billion. That’s over 600 million pounds of candy given to the most vulnerable of us all—our children.
Sugar Addiction Quiz link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-quiz/.
Episode 155-Hungry for the Right Thing
In 2017 I wrote a Bible study called Sweet Hunger, Developing an Appetite for God. It includes stories from the Bible that have to do with food and how they apply to helping us develop an appetite for God.
This topic is important to all of us because we must be spiritually hungry to grow in God. Proverbs 18:15 TPT says it this way, “The spiritually hungry are always ready to learn more, for their hearts are eager to discover new truths.”
Recently I came upon several Biblical stories I left out of Sweet Hunger.
As you listen to this episode, I’d like you to think about this question. What are you hungry for? No, not physically but spiritually.
Books Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 154-Wonderfully, Fearfully Made
Did you know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the God of the universe? He tells us that in Psalm 139:14 AMP. “I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.”
In Psalm 139:14 I see six reasons why we were created in the first place and those reasons spell out the word, HIGHER: heart-felt, intentional, gifted, healthy, exceptional and respectful.
God created each of us with a HIGHER purpose than we even have knowledge of. It’s like His secret that He’s revealing to us a little at a time until we are able to wrap our brains around the whole enchilada. We’re talking about that today on the podcast.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
For free resources, check out the free tab at: https://TeresaShieldsparker.com
Episode 153-Why God Hates Excuses
Why does God hate excuses? It's a real basic reason. It’s because He wants the best for us and many are going to be surprised when they expect to arrive at heaven only to not be allowed entrance.
I am not saying this to scare you. I am saying it to make sure we are following what He wants us to do. I dearly love to read the tiny epistles of first, second and third John because they were penned when John was older and wiser.
1 John 2:28 MSG tells us, “And now, Children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for Him when He appears, ready to receive Him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when He arrives.”
I don’t want to feel ashamed and guilty in Jesus’ presence. I want to run into His arms and bury my face in Him for all eternity. If we have accepted Christ as our Savior, are continually repenting of any sins we have done, are turning from them and wanting to follow God with every pore of our beings, we should be looking forward to the great eternity that awaits us.
If we are scared about His return then we should have a conversation with Him sooner rather than later. He wants the best for you always.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.
Episode 152-God Doesn't Care if I'm Fat
God doesn’t care if I am fat. He wants me to enjoy my life. He wants me to live, love and be happy. Food makes me happy so I’m just doing what He wants me to do. There are things in this excuse that are true and things that are false. This is true of every excuse and it’s why we make excuses to begin with. They are pretty little lies filled with stuff that makes us think we are doing the right things when we aren’t.
While it is true that God really doesn’t look on our outward appearance, He does care about our health. When I weighed over 430 pounds God still loved me but He was very concerned about me. He knew I was unhealthy and going downhill fast.
Many I know, in my family and among friends, have died of heart issues. A heart issue was the thing that caused the cardiac surgeon to stamp an expiration date on my body and that hurt really badly. He gave me five years to live if I didn’t lose weight and keep it off.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that was 22 years ago. By changing what I ate and still eat, I extended my life by 17 years and counting.
When God sees us, He sees our potential. He also sees the real probability for us to ruin our potential. I was doing a really good job of that. When we follow God He promises to help us with whatever is giving us a run for our money. For me that was the fact that my weight was causing me to be unhealthy.
I share how God turned that around for me and how He can do the same for you.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Coaching link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Books link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Episode 151- Don't Rock the Love Boat
Don’t rock the love boat is what a lot of wives are thinking when their husband brings them home candy like he always does. She’s afraid of telling him she is not eating sugar anymore because it might hurt his feelings.
How can she guard herself against indulging without hurting her husbands feelings. I give six steps towards that goal on this episode.
- Have a Conversation and a Plan
- Have Healthy Food You Can Eat
- Change Your Mindset
- Engage in Constant Renewal
- Have Pleasure Without Sugar
- Make a Choice
Under #5 I list 20 things you can do to get pleasure or calm your emotions without eating sugar. I promised to have the list here and in a post on my page, https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker.
- Orgasm with your loving and committed spouse
- Consistent exercise of all types
- Healthy meditation on the Word of God
- Balance between moving and being still
- Listening to Christian music
- Prayer, silent and vocal
- Listening to Christian podcasts on subjects you are interested in
- Eating food so you can taste the real food
- Cooking healthy foods
- Dancing
- Walking in the garden or being outside
- Listening to inspirational talks (and spiritual messages)
- Enjoying a hobby you can get lost in
- Reading a good book
- Gardening
- Arranging flowers
- Being with people, puppies, kitties that you love
- Journaling
- Writing poetry, short stories and books
- Arts and crafts, drawing, painting
Marigold Bars Link: https://www.marigoldbars.com/?ref=12. Choose one of the primal bars for the lowest sugar.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 150-My Family Won't Eat Healthy
My family won’t eat healthy. This is an excuse that I understand and yet I think it is one of the poorest excuses. When we are blaming our bad eating habits on our families we place all the responsibility for what we’ve done to ourselves on our families. I really don’t believe that is fair to them.
Most of the time us women are the ones who are both the cooks in the family and the ones who want to lose weight. Blaming our weight gain on our family’s eating habits is just crazy. If we are the cooks, we have the control over what we serve. We can change how we feed our families. If our families won’t eat healthy, it is our fault. Not theirs.
The same thing is true if our husbands are the cooks in our families. Many times, though, I find the husbands are cooking what they know their wives want. So that’s actually the wife’s fault. Or the wife is scared of hurting the husband’s feelings and won’t tell him what she needs to be eating. Communication is really the key here.
Maybe our families don’t need to lose weight but if they’ve been eating what we have been cooking and we’ve been gaining weight, then they need the same kind of changes we do. This is because when they grow up and they begin feeding their families the way we’ve programmed them to eat, they will gain weight.
So how do we fix healthy foods for both us and our families? Check out episode 150 of Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast, My Family Won’t Eat Healthy.
Overcomers Academy— https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Freedom Coaching— https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 149-No Diet Works for Me
Many times an excuse we have for not losing weight leads us to the correct way to lose weight. This is true of the excuse I had and many have voiced as well. No diet works for me.
This was more than an excuse for me. It was the truth. No diet worked for me because I always treated it as a short-term fix for what I knew in my heart was a long-term problem. I wanted to think my obsession with overeating certain foods was something I could overcome with a simple diet, special kind of weight loss pill or some new pre-packaged diet foods.
I tried everything and nothing worked for me to lose the weight and keep it off. I felt doomed to a life of super morbid obesity. Which, according to a cardiac surgeon, was going to be a short life if I couldn’t figure out how to lose weight and keep it off but how was I going to do that?
Diet programs don’t work to keep the weight off, but they are still popular. They make their money from return customers. I’m raising my hand here because I returned to the diet program I was most successful on many times. Each time I spent thousands of dollars taking weight off only to put it back on again and add more to it.
I learned is that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is with habit change. Though it sounds difficult, it isn’t. It actually saved my life.
Overcomers Academy—https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Freedom Coaching— https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 148-Too Old to Eat Healthy
Are you too old to eat healthy? When I asked people what their excuses were for losing weight and getting healthy one excuse that came up often was I am too old to lose weight.
One woman said, “I don’t have long at my age, so why not enjoy what’s left?” That made feel sad for her because if the only enjoyment we are getting out of life is eating, then we need to re-examine our lives.
As I look back over my life, though, there was at least 50 years where food was my main enjoyment. The problem was overeating was a very destructive type of entertainment for me. I began to not enjoy it because I couldn’t seem to say no to. Even breads and hot rolls were things I couldn’t stop eating. They were controlling me.
I got to the point where eating excessive amounts of my favorites garnered me a death sentence. When I was 46 the doctor told me I would be dead in five years if I didn’t lose at least 100 pounds and keep it off.
I wasn’t ready for such a pronouncement. It was the first time I realized that I played a role in my own life expectancy. Of course, anything can happen to us at any time, but that day I realized I needed to do something about my weight. I recently turned 69 and I’m so glad that between the ages of 46 and 60, I surrendered the foods I love to God and lost over 250 pounds. After age 60 I began really living the life God wanted me to live.
Want to know more, listen to podcast 148: Too Old to Eat Healthy.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers.
Episode 147-Do I Have a Voice?
To say we have no voice or say in what happens in our lives is an excuse for not surrendering to the Holy Spirit. We do have a voice but it means we are just living by every whim we have and not by God.
Galatians 5:16 TPT: “As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.” This is telling us that our voices will be dynamically powerful or marked by continuous productive activity and change in an energetic way when we make sure we have left behind our desires and cravings which seem to lead us down the wrong paths.
However, with so many other voices competing for our attention, it can be difficult to hear our own voice. That makes us feel we don’t have any input into our own lives. In this episode we are exploring what our voice is and how it is connected to our souls, which is the essence of us.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Freedom Coaching Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 146-God Doesn't Speak to Me
One of the biggest excuses we have is that we somehow feel God doesn’t speak to us. This excuse shuts down our ability to hear from Him, trust Him and surrender to Him. All three things are integral when we are trying change our habits, lose weight, get healthy, transform and follow God’s plan for our lives.
When we don’t think we have any clear direction from God, we are relying on our own intellect. When we know what we should eat in order to maintain our health but instead violate our own boundaries, we are abdicating to our fleshly desires, which are driven by our emotions.
Romans 8:5-6 TPT tells us more about this. “Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities. For the sense and reason of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace.”
Only the leadership of the Holy Spirit can override our emotionally-driven will and give us the strength to say no and mean it. But if we believe God can’t or won’t speak to us, our ears will be closed to His voice. When that happens we are on our own. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He won’t speak to us unless we ask Him to and want His guidance.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Freedom Coaching link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 145-Stop All the Noise
Voices, voices everywhere. We hear them from friends, family especially if we have small children, mother, father, extended family, best friends, worst enemies, television, social media, music, podcasts, speakers, preachers, teachers, mentors, casual acquaintances, total strangers we hear in the line at Wal-Mart.
It makes us think we are going crazy with the noise in our minds. It becomes so overwhelming that we can’t even focus on what our thoughts are. The noise that seems to be inspired by the evil one is so loud it overtakes us and we can’t think so we just do whatever voice that is hollering at us is the loudest.
Our excuse for not doing what we know God wants us to do is that there is too much noise in our heads. Our thoughts seem to compete and fight with each other. We have no good way to figure out what we really are thinking because there are just too many thoughts to choose from.
So how can we sort through the voices and listen to God? This episode focuses on that. In addition, you’ll learn 10 things about God’s voice and 10 things about the evil one’s voice.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Coaching Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/
Episode 144-Food is My Friend
I’ve learned a lot on my journey that I love sharing with you so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve had cake for my birthday. Strawberries with nuts are my favorite treats today. That was definitely not my choice.
It went deeper than just my birthday. I would have eaten desserts made with sugar and flour every day of my life if possible and many days I did. For years I counted on desserts like I would a best friend. I was like the woman who told me straight up, “Food is my friend.” To her the kinds of foods she loved to eat were always there and helped her fill a void.
When I finally realized I was addicted to sugar, it helped me understand that sugar was not my friend. It was actually evil in disguise. It didn’t care about me. It was a real tool of the devil, just like drugs or alcohol. It gave me a feeling of peace for a moment and then when the high wore off I had to have more to get the same feeling. I was like an alcoholic, only with sugar.
Finally, I began to see that food was not my friend. It was only acting like my friend to drag me into bondage in another of Satan’s schemes. My mindset was crazy and so is yours if you think any type of food is your friend. We aren’t supposed to have a relationship with sugar or any food.
I promise if you listen to this episode, which also includes a short story, you’ll realize what you need to do in order to say good-bye to sugar for good.
Overcomers link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.
One-on-One Private Freedom Coaching: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/one-on-one-freedom-coaching/.
Episode 143-Food Protects Me
Protection is one of our core needs when we come into this world as helpless babies. The member of our biological or adopted family whose role it is to protect us is our father or father figure.
Many who have grown up mainly with single moms or an absentee father feel that their mother is fulfilling that need. But in reality, if this need is filled, it will be by a father figure. Otherwise we learn how to self-protect, probably by watching how our mother does it.
One of the main ways we self-protect is by making ourselves physically larger. Many who have food issues will self-protect by overeating. Even though the adult part of them wants to lose weight, they can’t figure out why they keep eating. Part of it is an emotional need for protection.
However, the majority of women I deal with who have food issues and know they are self-protecting with food have a root issue that began in childhood somewhere. And many of them who were abused at very young ages, feel like it was their fault, rather than the abuser’s fault.
Overcomers Academy link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-on-One Private Freedom Coaching with Teresa Shields Parker: https://Teresashieldsparker.as.me/
Episode 142- Food Keeps Me Sane
Food keeps me sane was my excuse for continuing to indulge in the foods I loved the most, which was mostly desserts or anything made with sugar. This was because most of my life I tried to avoid one thing—being insane or becoming like my mother.
When I was growing up Mom had emotional issues and saw a psychiatrist regularly. She was on medication which only seemed to make her mood swings worse. She had high highs and low lows.
When I asked my dad what was wrong with her, he would only say, ‘She’s sick.” I knew she wasn’t sick like with a stomach ache. So I didn’t quite understand until she had to go into the hospital and was on the psychiatric floor. I knew that was where the people who were considered crazy or insane went.
Contrast this when the times I’d get to go to Grandma’s house and spend the weekend or longer in the summer. There everything seemed perfect, completely idyllic. I’d help her with all her chores. We’d bake cookies and cakes and pies.
So it made a whole lot of sense to me that I equated food with sanity. My grandma was sane. She wasn’t the least bit crazy. And she cooked delicious foods all the time. It became ingrained in me that Grandma’s way of doing life was sane and Mom’s was insane.
I thought food was my secret weapon to keep me sane until I gained up to 430 pounds and realized what I was doing to myself was totally insane.
Learn more about how I lost the weight and finally embraced my emotions.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 141-Fear of Success
The fears we have keep us stuck and one of the biggest is the fear of success. We are afraid of moving forward because we might succeed and then have to continue the hard work that we think success will take. We are afraid of what success might do to us and how it will change us.
I have been coaching since 2014 and in that time literally thousands have come through my coaching groups, courses and free programs. Many have lost weight and kept it off. Others, though, have left because they finally understand the level of commitment they need to lose weight and keep it off.
They leave without getting what they need because they say, “That’s great for you. You must just be special because I could never do that. I could never give up sugar.” I thought the same thing and it was fear of being without my crutch that kept me stuck.
Most want a quick fix. They don’t want to put in the time and effort it takes to change our ingrown habits. Friends, so far no one that I know of has successfully invented something that makes you lose weight and keep it off without any work on your part. It didn’t take you a day to gain your weight and it will not come off in a day or even in a few months and stay off.
It’s true that any kind of success is going to take hard work to maintain. However, it will be made easier by surrendering completely to God. Then, that’s where I hear a lot of other excuses.
Many people also have control issues. They don’t want to turn over the control of their food to God. They see it as the last thing they have control of.
Surrendering control of what I eat to God was the best thing I ever did. Listening to His advice on every aspect of my life has made me realize how out of control I was.
This podcast episode includes a very pertinent short story about the Fear of Success. Don’t miss it and be sure to share this one with others.
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
One-On-One Coaching: Send request for more information to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com.
Episode 140-I Can't
Many are at the point that they feel they just can’t lose weight. On this podcast episode I give seven steps to walk out of the I can’t lifestyle.
- Know that God loves us just as we are. He sees us as beautiful. After all, He created us. Psalm 139:13, 15-16 NLT and 1 Peter 3:3-5 TLB.
- God wants us to honor Him with our bodies. That means not doing anything that harms the body. Overeating is a way we dishonor the body. God calls it gluttony. I’m sorry but that is just the truth. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 NLT and Galatians 5:22-24 NLT.
- God doesn’t condemn us for what we have done to ourselves. Romans 8:1 NLT and Romans 8:1-2 MSG.
- In order to allow God to work in our lives we must confess what we have done, repent and ask Him to give us strength and direction for how to go forward on our journeys. 1 John 1:8-9 NLT and Psalm 51:1 TPT.
- Surrender completely to God in order to be transformed into the person God wants you to be. Surrender is not a one-time event. It is a daily process to stay in tune with what God desires for you. Romans 12:1-2 NIV and Psalm 27:14 TPT.
- Experience breakthrough as you follow God and allow Him to hold you close. Psalm 51:12 TPT and Psalm 130:4-5 TPT.
- Don’t try to do everything on your own. Allow God to give you strength. Proverbs 3:5-7 MSG and Psalm 55:22 TPT.
There’s a lot more on this podcast. If you’re looking up the scriptures, please look them up in the translations mentioned.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 139-I Love A Party
An excuse many have is I can’t lose weight because I want to eat at family gatherings, parties and holidays. Hey we have one of those coming up in a few days. It’s called the Fourth of July.
Here’s what happens. When a party, holiday or family get-together happens we look forward to it. Then we begin thinking about seeing everyone so our next thought is, “I need to lose weight.” Then we think, “But this isn’t the right time. I don’t want to be limited in what I eat at the party. I want to have fun like everyone else.” So, we use the thing that might have been a reason to begin losing weight to become an excuse for not losing weight.
When one woman realized she was using every event or gathering that came up as an excuse for not getting healthy, she finally drew a line in the sand. She said, “I’m going to get healthy anyway no matter what comes along. But I can’t do it without your help God.” And she did. Why? Because she made a firm decision not to let her excuses rule her and she asked for God’s guidance and direction.
We talk about how to get through this excuse in this episode.
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 138-I'll Fail, So Why Try?
“It’s going to be too hard.”
“I might fail so I don’t even want to start trying.”
“No diet works for me.”
“I have to be strong for too long. My strength gives out.”
“I’ve tried many times in the past and failed.”
“I’ve always been fat. I’ll always be fat. Nothing ever worked in the past so why try?”
Those are comments from real-live brave souls who shared their excuses for not even trying to lose weight.
Failure is the topic that seems to be on every person’s mind who has ever tried to lose weight. I blame the diet mentality and false advertising for a lot of this.
Diets promise quick weight loss because that’s what we want. We want to fix the outside and do it now. But God is all about fixing us first on the inside in our hearts, minds, souls and spirits. This is where the desire to eat resides.
Until we get to the root of why we eat, we will always gain the weight back and add more on. In other words we will be stuck in the gain-lose-gain cycle. Yes, people lose weight on diets. Some, like me, lose lots of weight on diets. That’s because we eat next to nothing in order to lose weight. For me it was always 100 pounds. Then we reach the goal and gain it all back plus more when we start eating what we want or think we have to have.
Finally I just threw up my hands and said, “I give up! I can’t lose weight. I am just a failure. But if I don’t try, I won’t fail. So I just won’t try because failing is too much for me to take. I will just be fat and happy.” That didn’t work either because I found out I wasn’t happy being fat. So I ate to assuage the unhappiness. That made me gain more weight which made me feel like more of a failure.
If you can relate, don’t miss this episode of Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 137-I Want What I Want
My excuse for eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it was, “I want what I want so I need to eat it.’ What I wanted was sugary desserts. It felt like I was a bottomless pit where those kinds of foods were concerned.
Both the withholding of desserts and candies and the unlimited supply of those things can set this up in kids. Both certainly had a huge impact on me.
God always has an answer for all of our issues, though. Galatians 5:16-18 TPT sums it up best. “As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it!”
This is telling us that when do what we want, we are not following the Holy Spirit. We are allowing our cravings to lead us. The solution is to surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 136-Procrastination by Excuse
When we are procrastinating we are just making excuses for why we aren’t doing what we know we should be doing but are avoiding. To procrastinate is to delay or put off doing something. An excuse is coming up with a reason to delay or put off doing something. Basically procrastination and excuses give you the same results
I have heard many different reasons (or excuses) for why someone would procrastinate about losing weight. One big one is I need to take care of my family or others. We feel others are more important than we are. We put off taking care of ourselves because we haven’t been successful with that so we take care of others or do things for others.
Mark 12:31 is a verse we might use to justify how important it is to prioritize doing things for others, but let’s look at it closer. It says to “love others AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.”
If we aren’t taking care of ourselves, we aren’t loving ourselves. That means if we are trying to love others like we love ourselves, we aren’t doing a very good job of taking care of others either. It’s another excuse for not doing what we know God wants us to do which is before we help others we need to put on our oxygen mask first!
But how do we do that?
Links:
Overcomers Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/teresashieldsparker1
Episode 135-Excuses, Excuses
We’re starting a new subject for the next who knows how many weeks: Excuses, Excuses. We’ll talk about why we have them, why we use them, how they keep us from God’s best and how to put them in our past and move forward with what we know God has in mind for us.
What is an excuse and how does it relate to strongholds? An excuse is very similar to a stronghold because it has an element of truth to it and yet, we all know deep down inside that it’s basically a lie designed to keep us from doing what we don’t want to do but know we should do.
Excuses are dangerous to us because they keep us from doing what is best for us. So, why do we have excuses in the first place? An excuse helps us not have to put forth the effort to change. We want to continue to do what we are doing instead of what is best for us and will take more time and effort than just coming up with an excuse that we tell ourselves and others.
This is dangerous, especially for a Christian, because we are making excuses for why we can’t follow God in some particular area. It feels too difficult or overwhelming but that isn’t a good enough excuse because it makes us sound like a wimp. So we make up other more elaborate excuses that we can live with. Many times these excuses are so that we can continue to do what we’ve always done before. Other times it’s because we just want to go along with what our friends are doing.
As we go talk about excuses I’d love to hear from you. What are your excuses? You can email me at info@teresashieldsparker.com, or comment on this podcast at https://Teresashieldsparker.com/podcast/.
Also feel free to comment on
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Episode 134-I Trust You, Jesus
Trusting Jesus is at the core of our faith. If we don’t trust Him completely in everything, we aren’t going to get very far because the strongholds will move in. One definition of a stronghold is something we trust instead of trusting in God.
God doesn’t want to be at the top of my list, He wants to be my list period. I shouldn’t be the director and orchestrator of my life. I have surrendered those positions to Jesus.
It’s more than just walking down, shaking the preacher’s hand and saying a prayer. It’s a faith issue. It’s a trust issue. It’s a total surrender issue.
How do we get there? This episode is all about that process. Don’t miss it. It’s a life-changer.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 133-God Sets My Destiny
For years I didn’t believe that God had a purpose or destiny for me. The lie I believed was that God can’t use me because I’m too fat and I can’t lose weight. Turns out my destiny and my weight were very intertwined.
It wasn’t just what I was eating and how I was moving which had to change. The biggest thing was surrendering my wants for His and giving over control of my life completely to Him. I thought I had surrendered to God, but as long as I was making my desires my priority I had not completely surrendered to Him.
I learned the hard way that God won’t move us towards our purpose until we have surrendered everything to Him. Let me tell you more about how to do that.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 132-I Have A Voice
Ever since I was 12 years old I felt I had no voice. It wasn’t a natural lie I happened upon. It was much deeper than that. It was a stronghold the evil one set up in me from an early age to keep me from fulfilling my destiny.
Writing was different, though. Writing came easy. God knows me, though. He knew the day would come when my voice would be more than words on paper. I am more than mystified at how He got me to the place where I now dearly love to speak.
Now, I know I have a voice because God broke the stronghold that kept it silent for many years. Now, nothing and no one but God can shut me up!
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247
Episode 131-What is Comfort?
Comfort foods when served by those we love and admire can become the substitute for real comfort. They can absolutely obscure what real comfort which only comes from the Holy Spirit looks like.
The comfort certain foods give us that remind us of loving parents, grandparents, great aunts, etc., can also become a stronghold when we think we have to continue making and serving them so our children and grandchildren will be comforted.
What is comfort? Is it food or is there something deeper that we need to understand in order to break the stronghold it has in our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 130-Heal Me, Jesus
The one thing that was at the top of my prayer list every year until I was 18 was healing for my mother’s emotional illness. I kept praying for her, but it seemed her behaviors got worse instead of better.
Still Dad said to pray because only God could heal her. It just seemed like maybe her issue was so hard even God couldn’t heal her. I thought the same thing about myself when I weighed 430 pounds. I had gotten myself in such a mess even God couldn’t help me.
The truth is nothing is too hard for God, but sometimes we just need a little push from Him in the right direction. What we want to be a miraculous instantaneous deliverance may be God getting us to the point that we are finally read to walk out our journeys holding tight to Jesus.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 129--God Will Help Me
There’s one thing I truly hated growing up and it stayed with me for a long time into my adult years. I hated exercise. I was clumsy. I always seemed to somehow get hurt exercising. Plus I just didn’t like to run and sweat.
I’d rather be inside reading a book or doing homework or even helping with household chores. Anything except exercise. And the few types of exercise that one time were fun always seemed to end in disaster. I truly hated exercise.
Then when I went on my weight loss journey and forever lifestyle change journey God brought up that dreaded word of exercise again. Somehow now it is one of my favorite things to do. I didn’t understand I had a stronghold where exercise was concerned. But I did. I was adamantly against it and felt I didn’t need it to lose weight. God had different plans.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 128-God Values Me
One issue plagued me for a lot of my life. What is my purpose? Why did God make me? What contribution am I supposed to make in my lifetime.
I saw this as what am I supposed to do or achieve. Achievement became my goal in life. When my big dream of publishing a regional Christian newspaper was realized I thought I was finally on the right track.
When the internet came into existence and we had to fold the newspaper due to lack of revenue, I hit rock bottom and felt like my purpose for living was gone. I wallowed in despair. However the despair led me to finally throw myself into the weight loss journey I knew God had for me. That led me to writing my first book which catapulted me into coaching, speaking and writing more books.
However, God still had more work for me to do. I still had the stronghold of believing my value was in what I could do instead of who I am. That stronghold had to be broken.
This stronghold carried over into me continuing to try to solve my issues by overeating. If you need help understanding that you are valuable to God, join us in Overcomers Academy. Go here: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.
Episode 127-I Matter to God
Have you ever thought you didn’t matter to the people who mattered the most to you? I felt that way about my mother for a long time. When I felt I didn’t matter to her it affected how I felt about accepting the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
This happens to us when we don’t feel the love of a mother or we feel distant from our mothers because one of their jobs is to comfort us. Since that is also the job of the Holy Spirit we don’t how how to accept comfort from Him either.
The truth is found throughout scripture though. I matter to God. You matter to God. Every single person in this world, no matter who they are, matters to God. We all do.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 126-My Protector
Fear is a stronghold the devil loves to set up in us. All he has to do is move all the players in place to set up circumstances that cause us to feel we are all alone. This leads us to believe no one, not even God is there to protect us.
When this happens, we either go crazy or we try to protect ourselves. I couldn’t go crazy because I had already determined I never wanted to have an emotional illness like my mother. This left me believing I had to protect myself.
I share information about when I was sexually molested as a child. It is PG rated, but if you have children listening it might foster discussion on this topic. I hope it does. It’s a discussion you should have with them so they feel free to come to you if they are uncomfortable around any adults or other children who might overpower or outwit them. It’s rampant in this day and age. When I was 11, it wasn’t anything that I had ever been exposed to until one day.
All that I went through led me to a stronghold that said I Must Self-Protect. I believed that until I understood that only God is my protector and yours.
If you need help working through some tough issues like this, I can help you either in my Overcomers Academy or if you prefer a more private conversation, I can help you in VIP Freedom Coaching.
Overcomers Academy: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
VIP Freedom Coaching: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Episode 125-Follow Jesus
As a kid I got the idea that I had to follow a bunch of rules in order to be a good Christian. Things like no makeup, no short hair, no shorts, no slacks, no jewelry, no dancing, no movie theaters, no mixed swimming with boys and so forth.
These weren’t necessarily rules direct from the Bible, they were church interpretations of rules and since my dad was a pastor I had to follow them to be a good Christian girl.
As an adult, I knew I was not saved by following rules or doing good works, but the concept of grace seemed so unnatural. Grace, of course, is not natural. It’s supernatural. God’s grace is undefinable. Jesus isn’t concerned about us following the rules.
We have to recognize the lies we believe about grace and embrace the truth Jesus really does love us and wants us to love Him in return. We show our love when we follow Jesus. So simple, but so hard at the same time.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 124-I am Not a Failure
Several incidents have made me feel like a failure. These triggered thoughts like, “I am fat. I am nothing.” I’ve had several of these and focusing on them kept me living in shame and condemnation for years.
The first thing many of us do when we feel we have failed is to invite condemnation and shame to flood us. When the poor, poor pitiful me syndrome happens, instead of using it to propel us to do something about our plight, we bury our sorrows in ice cream, cake or whatever addiction pops into our minds. The enemy perpetuates this.
God, though, will never stop trying to get our attention. He knows for change to happen we must invite Him to do the work within us. It’s the only way to be transformed and transformation is definitely what we want.
This is a pivotal truth we must understand to walk in God’s abundance.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 123-God of the Impossible
What do you do when God asks you to do the impossible? Especially if it’s something you’ve tried and tried to do but just couldn’t no matter how hard you tried? Do you throw in the towel and run screaming the other way? God showed me that He really is the God of the impossible. Let me tell you how it happened.
And what does God do? Does He just give up on trying to get you to do what He knows you must do to live in His abundance? This was the issue I faced with losing weight. First, I had to get through the lie that I believed which was I can’t lose weight.
God showed me that He really is the God of the impossible. Let me tell you how it happened.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 122-God's Got This
Have you ever done anything that you felt like you had thought through completely and made the only decision available, but you still weren’t sure? Still you went ahead and did it anyway? Well that happened to me and maybe it’s happened to you too.
I don’t talk much about this leg of my journey because every time I do, people think they should make the same terribly bad decision I made. This is one of those times I feel I should put a warning on this podcast: DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. But it is important on my journey because of what it revealed to me.
It’s also great because it’s the time I surrendered completely to God which is what really began my journey to losing 250 pounds.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 121 Real Strength
When God reveals something He wants you to do that you know you don’t have the strength to do, what do you do? At first I rejected what He told me. I told Him it was a great plan but I couldn’t do it.
I didn’t ask Him to show me how to do it or to help me, I just said, “Nope God. I can’t do that.”
Then one day I was reading the Bible and a verse I had never paid attention to jumped out at me. That verse changed me. It made all the sense in the world to me. See, I had allowed the evil one to construct a prison inside me which I continued to build every time I said I couldn’t follow God’s plan.
I explain more about how God gave me the strength to follow His plan on this episode of Sweet Grace for Your Journey. I even might sing you a song!
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 120-Finding Truth
What is truth? Where can we find it? In college in the early 70s, I majored in journalism and Bible. Both needed to be based on truth. These days, though, both are being questioned.
The dictionary gives about six definitions of truth, but I propose two answers are right. Truth is what God says is truth. Truth is what God says is a fundamental spiritual reality. What we as Christians believe is that Jesus is the truth
So if I believe that Jesus is the truth, why for years did I base my life on a lie? It’s hard when we have to face the cold, hard facts of what we have done. I looked back over my life and saw that my entire life up to about 2009 had been based on a foundational lie that foods made with processed sugar and flour were necessary for my survival.
Living in the midst of this lie is what kept me stuck in super morbid obesity for years. God was about to reveal His truth to me.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 119-Goodness of God
God’s plans are always for our good and not our disaster. God is the author and finisher of our stories. He has a plot twist for every time we throw ourselves into disaster. He will then use that disaster to teach us something that we will never learn any other way.
God still has a way of taking our messes and using them to forge new pathways that will still get us to His designed purpose for our lives.
It’s vital that we don’t buy into lies that say God doesn’t care about us because something didn’t go the way we wanted it to. This morphs into a lie and then a full-blown stronghold.
We need to understand what we really believe about God and work with Him to break our strongholds and bring about His purposes in the world.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 118-God's Lifeboat
Do you feel stuck on your healthy living journey? Maybe you’re just getting started or you have lost weight and have gotten to a place where you just feel stuck and you want to give up. Maybe it seems impossible for you to go forward. And you just want to find out what is holding you back.
As you probably know in 2020 I spent a lot of time writing my sixth book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds. That resulted in me also putting together a course called Breaking Strongholds which is available in Overcomers Academy. Now it’s 2022 and I want to share some of that information on this podcast. It will be still be helpful for you to read my book that includes action steps and the course that goes even deeper.
We know that the devil has us bound up in strongholds and that’s why we don’t think we can go forward on our healthy living journey. These episodes will help us understand more of how to defeat the lies the enemy throws our way which develop into strongholds. God wants those broken. We need to work with Him to accomplish that.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Episode 117-Total Transformation
Our goal in all that we do should be total transformation—Body, Soul and Spirit. The vehicle to get us there is habit change, but the enemy loves to try to throw obstacles in our way.
We can’t control everything that happens to us and has happened, but we can change how we respond to it. We can change our habits. It’s a huge key.
Proverbs 5:21 TPT tells us that “God sees everything you do and His eyes are wide open as He observes every single habit you have.” Out of all of habit changes, the things that put your focus on God instead of food are the most important.
Overcomers Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Teresa’s Books: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Episode 116-How Habits Work
We will never be perfect. But as Matthew 5:48 AMP says “We can be growing towards spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into our daily lives.” That’s how God defines perfect.
In order to do that, we have to change the habits that got us into our mess in the first place. A habit is simply a routine or a shortcut our minds use to conserve energy. We are creatures of habits, but our minds don’t know a good habit from a bad one. They only know there are certain things we do every day the same way at about the same time.
To change our habits, we stop an old habit that is bad for us and start a new better habit in its place. The key to developing a new habit is choosing the new habit over the old consistently for a long enough time that our minds recognize that as tour preferred habit. Then our minds will work with us instead of fighting against what we are trying to change.
This episode gives more specificity as to how to do this. What bad habit do you want to stop? What good habit do you want to start? I’d love to hear what you are doing. Comment anywhere you can find me.
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Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 115-Comfortable Ruts
To be comfortable is at the top of most every person’s list. I want a comfortable home, comfortable chair, comfortable clothes, comfortable meals, comfortable people to live with, comfortable climate and comfortable shoes.
What happens, then, is we fall into comfortable ruts. Ruts can be good or bad. They can simplify our lives or they can cause us to stay stuck in difficult situations. When we find what we think works for us we do it over and over again and before you know it, it has become a comfortable rut we don’t even have to think about.
On the flip side, ruts can become very uncomfortable and can begin before I comprehend I’m in one. One big one I fell into was eating comfort foods in order to stave off emotions I didn’t know how to handle.
To change, I had to see the rut for what it was—debilitating, controlling and deadly. I had to define what I wanted and what course of action would take me where I wanted to go. I had to ask for God’s help and be intentional about changing what had become a really bad habit.
This episode includes challenges to get headed in the right direction.
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 114--Thrive in 2022
From as far back as I can remember, God has given me a word to ponder throughout the year. But it wasn’t until 2013 that I started keeping track of those words. Each year the word He has given me has defined that year in some way.
Some years He drops the word into my heart and I know right away that that’s the word for the year. But for 2022, it wasn’t that easy. I shied away from the word when He first highlighted it to me. It didn’t seem like a biblical word to me and I wasn’t sure exactly how to apply it to what 2022 might bring. But see, I don’t need to know. I just need to grab hold of the word He gives me and hold it close.
What sealed it for me was when I came across a prophecy for 2022 from Joyce D. McGuire that said: “2022 will be what My people make it. The remnant shall hear My voice and THRIVE,” saith the Lord. That was the confirmation I needed. God pointed it out clearly. Your word for 2022 is Thrive.
This is a word that leads us to our destiny and legacy in God. This is a word for both the young and the old, but it really speaks to me as I get older. Don’t miss how to apply this word in your life.
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers
Episode 113-Embrace Hope
I’m looking towards 2022 with the desire to embrace hope! Last week we talked about some emotions that may have become core issues. These are holding us back from being all in with God. Some of these are hatred, overwhelm, procrastination and exhaustion.
Altogether the first letters of these words spell HOPE. And oddly enough so do the first letters of the core truths that we need in order to put these issues to rest and embrace hope.
Hope is not wishful thinking, like I hope I win the lottery! Hope is the secure belief that all God has promised us in this life and beyond will be fulfilled. There is only one place that is secure enough to place our hope and that is in our Heavenly Father.
This is the last podcast of 2021 and my special offer for Overcomers Academy ends on Dec. 31.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 112--Why Can't I Stop Eating?
As a Christian weight loss coach, there are several questions I’m asked that all kind of fall into the category of emotional eating. Like, why do I eat when I know I shouldn’t? Why do I keep eating when I’m full? Why does it seem food is in control of me rather than the other way around? Why can’t I stop eating?
We can’t stop eating because we are eating to quiet our negative emotions. We don’t know how to deal with them so we try to stuff them down with unhealthy amounts of food.
For most of my adult life I gave into temptation because of four emotional issues I had no clue how to manage: Fear, Anger, Insecurity and Loneliness. These were my core issues and likely are some of yours as well.
This episode will help you recognize your core issues and provide core truths to help overcome them.
Eating Stress Course Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/stress/
Sugar Addiction Quiz Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-quiz/
Episode 111-Perfect Failures
The issue of perfectionism keeps us spinning in circles. We try to be perfect, but as humans it is just not perfect. So if you have a goal of being perfect, you will fail. And then that will stop you dead in your tracks every time.
Our goal should be to live as God wants us to live. So if you want to be perfect, be the perfect failure. Confess your failure, hand it to God and then, continue on your journey learning all you can from your failures.
Without God’s grace flowing through me, I am weak in our human strength. When I stop trying to get everything perfect and allow God to work through me, life begins to start working out. That’s because finally I realize I need God. “Then, I am strong, truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength,” (2 Cor. 12:10 AMP).
In this episode I talk about how to overcome perfectionistic tendencies, set good boundaries for your life and allow the fruit of the Spirit called self-control to be evident in your life.
Free Sugar Addiction Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-quiz/
Episode 110-The Beauty of Surrender
The holiday season which should be all about Jesus. His birth, life, death, resurrection was all about surrendering to His Father’s will. Without His surrender we would still be caught in following rules and laws, which was an impossible situation for a human to follow. So then blood sacrifices of animals, which were their livelihood at the time, had to be made.
Because of what Jesus did for us, all we have to do is surrender our lives to follow Him. And yet, when we think of surrender we imagine that to be hard, difficult and nearly impossible. Actually the ability to surrender to God is one of the most beautiful gifts He ever gave us. For a long time that was hard for me to understand.
As a child, I don’t know how many times during church services I sang the old song, “I Surrender All.” I’m not sure what I thought it had something to do with accepting Jesus when I was seven and gave up my life of crime as a candy thief.
Yep I stole some penny candy from the grocery store and my dad marched me back there to confess to the store manager. That was when I realized I was a sinner. I was like all the bad people the preacher yelled about every Sunday night. I needed Jesus.
I accepted Jesus and gave up my life of crime, but I didn’t give up candy or desserts. As I got older I thought anything made with sugar helped me get through my day, kept my negative emotions at bay, gave me energy, comforted me and became a friend who was always there when I needed them. But it also caused me to gain up to 430 pounds and have a death sentence pronounced over my life.
My battle with sugar addiction was long and involved and I share more about how surrendering to God was intricately related to that. I also discuss the fact that Jesus modeled surrender for us.
Just as Father God gave Jesus free will, He did the same for us. We are in charge of our own lives. He won’t make us surrender to Him, but He wants us to so He can guide our lives because He knows how much better our lives will be when we do.
He tells us that in Proverbs 22:4 TPT: “Laying your life down in tender surrender before the Lord will bring life, prosperity, and honor as your reward.”
What is holding you back from surrendering completely to God?
Sugar Addiction Quiz Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/sugar-quiz/
Episode 109-Unmasking Sugar
As Americans, we spend over $35 billion a year on candy and consume about 7 billion pounds of the white stuff. Friend, that’s a lot of sugar that we are guzzling.
Sugar has been related to many diseases and issues from depression to memory loss, Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. We need to understand that sugar is not some sweet and innocent product. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It needs to be unmasked as the killer it is.
Yet we still choose not to listen to the Center for Disease Control that recommends we consume no more than six teaspoons of sugar a day or 25 grams.
In rebellion, the average American consumes over 18 teaspoons of sugar a day or 77 grams per day. Since some of us eat very few grams, then someone out there is eating a whole lot of sugar.
Friends, God doesn’t care what you look like or what you weigh. But He does care about your health and that you follow Him. He cares about your habits.
Proverbs 5:21 TPT warns us about our habits. “For God sees everything you do and His eyes are wide open as He observes every single habit you have.”
We can be our own worst enemies and continue habits that are literally killing us. What we need to learn is how to change our habits. Giving up sugar is not a quick 10-day program and you’re done. It takes. Time and intentionality.
I am a sugar addict who has surrendered to God. He led me to others who taught me how to give up sugar. In the process I’ve lost over 250 pounds.
If you want to know if you are a sugar addict, I have a free sugar addiction quiz on my website. If you are a sugar addict, have an issue with sugar or just want to give it up for good, take the quiz and then I’ll send you several emails that are like a mini-course in habit change.
Sugar Addiction Quiz Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-quiz/
Episode 108--Am I a Sugar Addict?
One of the questions I am asked the most is how can I stop eating sugar like you did? That question is one I personally never asked myself because I didn’t want to give up eating foods with processed sugar. I never thought I would have to do that. I foolishly thought I could just eat less. Friends, if you are a sugar addict, eating less just never works.
I didn’t know I was a sugar addict. You may not think you are either. But if you are there are definite steps you need to take that are different from just going on a temporary diet to fix your problem.
For the next few podcast episodes we are going to face this subject head-on. I have designed a free sugar addiction quiz to help you understand if you are a sugar addict or not. Link is here in the show notes. In the next few podcast episodes we’re going to explore this topic and how to manage your sugar intake or stop completely.
You may be like I was and you don’t really want to know if you are a sugar addict or not. I knew that would mean I would have to give up a lot of foods I grew up with. Those foods came with all sorts of great and endearing memories attached, memories that are highly connected to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Does Food Control You?
If you’ve been listening to my podcast for any length of time, you know that at one time I weighed 430 pounds and stayed there for quite a few years.
So even though I eating sweets were attached to many fond childhood memories, in reality overindulging in sugar was heading me towards an early grave. A cardiac surgeon had given me five years to live if I didn’t lose weight and keep it off. And that was when I was still in my 40s.
I coach women who deal with lots of various food issues such as sugar addiction, carb addiction, binging, bulimia, overeating and others. Some don’t look large because they hide their issues well, but they long to get free of the stronghold that food has on their lives. If you are resonating with any of what I have said so far, you are likely stuck in bondage and don’t know how to get out. I get it. I was there for way too long.
Here to Help You
If you want help, really want help, I’m here to help you. Doors are open now for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. I’m only taking members who really want to work with God to be the best person they can be. If that’s you, I can’t wait to see you in the group.
If you want to know if you are a sugar addict, check out the free sugar addiction quiz as well.
Overcomers Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sugar Addiction Quiz Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-quiz/
Episode 107--Through It All
How can we be thankful in the midst of everything that is going on in the world today? We’ve been through a lot in the last few years and I just want to stop a minute and thank God even for the difficulties many of us have gone through.
One of my favorite songs is Through It All, written by Andre Crouch in 1971 after having purchased an engagement ring for a young woman. He was heartbroken when she announced that she was getting married, but not to him.
He wrote these words: “I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through; for if I’d never had a problem I wouldn’t know that He could solve them…I’d never know what faith in God could do.
“Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God;
“Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”
Even though it was written 50 years ago, this song seems perfect for today.
We weren’t designed to do life on our own. We need God. So I challenge you this Thanksgiving to think about how going through difficulties has made you stronger and thank God for them.
1 Thess. 5:18 TPT: “And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.”
For more about giving thanks in the midst of both the good and the bad, listen to episode 107—Through It All.
Like and Follow Teresa’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker/
Episode 106-Build Each Other Up
In Romans 15 and 16, Paul covers a lot of ground to make sure he’s telling those in the church at Rome everything they need to go forward until he comes to them again in person. He’s teaching them and us how to build each other up. This is critical to any forward motion. We don’t do our journeys alone. We do them in a community of faith.
He encourages mature Christians, while at the same time warning them. Romans 15:1 AMP: “We who are strong in our convictions and faith ought to patiently put up with the weaknesses of those who are not strong and not please ourselves.”
In order to follow Jesus we need to deny ourselves or not just please ourselves. In John 5:30 AMP Jesus defines that as setting aside our selfish interests. If we are mature followers of Christ one of the first things we must let go of is our reliance on anything other than Jesus.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
Free Eating Stress Course Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/stress/
Episode 105--Focus on God, Not Sugar
I’ve been reading and studying Romans 14 for several weeks. I thought when I first read it that it would be an easy passage to talk about. I knew it related to my journey but in what way?
So I asked Jesus, “What is the message of Romans 14 for my listeners?” And He said, “Focus on Me, not on anything else. Not on sugar, not on food, not on diet laws, not on what to celebrate or not celebrate. Just focus on Me and everything will fall into place.”
Then it finally made sense. As a kid, I learned Romans 14:17 in the KJV, but I didn’t know the context of the verse. “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
The Amplified Version says it this way: “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking what one likes, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Did you hear that? It’s not about eating and drinking what we like. It’s all about the Kingdom of God. It’s about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters but allowing Him to lead us.
The MSG adds, “God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as He sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.”
That makes a lot of sense because verse 18 in every version talks about serving God. We have to get our focus right before we can serve Jesus. I know that was certainly true in my case. For most of my life, my focus was definitely on sugar and not on Jesus.
Romans 14:18 AMP says, “For the one who serves Christ in this way, recognizing that food choice is secondary, is acceptable to God and is approved by men.”
This entire chapter is about the freedom Christ brought. This was especially important to the Jewish believers. When Jesus brought us His freedom, it canceled the rules about what foods are clean and OK to eat and which were unclean and shouldn’t be eaten.
I get it. I really do. All their lives they had lived by what their “church” told them was proper. They knew that Christ’s liberty had set them free from all of the rules, but they weren’t ready to make the switch just yet. This was causing arguments in the church. In this chapter, Paul is trying to tell the new Christians that what we eat or don’t eat is not something that matters regarding our heavenly destiny.
I talk about this as well as my own journey with sugar addiction in this episode.
Overcomers Academy Link with special offer of free copy of Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds book: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 104--Time to Wake Up
It’s time for Christians to wake up to what’s going on in the world around us. The time is growing short. We are closer to meeting Jesus now than we were first saved.
In Romans 13:11-14 Paul gives a dire warning about the future and describes how we as Christians are still always one day closer to meeting Him.
He tells us how we should live by describing a normal day. First we have to wake up to the spiritual issues around us. Romans 13:11 tells us to wake up from our slumber. Second, we have to take off the old clothes we were wearing in the darkness. Romans 13:12 tells us to “strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes.
Next we must dress for battle by “putting on the armor of light,” as it says in Romans 13:12. We also must know our enemy and how to defeat strongholds.
Finally, we have to know where we are going. We have to be dressed to run with Jesus. Romans 13:14 MSG tells us we can’t loiter or linger. We have to be up and about what God is calling us to do.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
What is A Stronghold Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/what-is-a-stronghold/
Episode 103-Holy Spirit Glow
Do you want to glow with the power of the Holy Spirit? It’s certainly something I desire. This is lesson 20 in our study of the book of Romans. We’ve learned that Romans is all about the foundations of the Christian life, how to follow Jesus, how to renounce our fleshly desires, how to renew our minds and how to transform our lives.
Now in the latter part of Romans 12 we learn about serving God. After we learn to lay down our selfish desires, we begin focusing on what God wants us to do with our lives. It’s then that He starts showering us with His grace gifts so we can do the tasks He has called us to do.
These aren’t gifts to hoard. They are gifts to be used to serve Him. This where Romans 12:11 TPT says, “Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward Him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve Him.” The Message says, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 102-From the Inside Out
We can be changed from the inside out. We can renew our minds which will then transform us.
Romans 12:2 AMP and in the MSG gives us several keys to consider which we visit in more depth on the podcast.
First, to renew our minds we can no longer just go with the flow. We have to ask ourselves, is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants?
Second, we let God mess with our priorities, our habits and our comforts in order to transform us from the inside out.
Third, we don’t allow our old programmed minds to talk us into doing things that are not best for us.
Fourth, it’s not enough to just recognize and know what God wants for us we must quickly do what He wants us to do.
Fifth, our goals should always follow God’s plans and purposes for our lives.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/
Overcomers Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Episode 101-Surrender Delights God
Why should we surrender to God? Because our surrender delights God. If there is anything we should want to do it is to please God. Surrender also has great value for us on our journeys which also delights God.
Romans 12:1 AMP: “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves, set apart, as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.”
What does it means to be living sacrifices? It means to be alive to what Christ wants for us and dead to evil things. It means to surrender to God and that means everything on our journeys.
When God talks about living sacrifices, He is talking about the fact that we have died to living for what we desire and have decided to live for what Jesus wants. Gal. 2:20 NLT:
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to God is intelligent, rational, logical because we are obeying God. We are following the God of the Universe who is bigger than we can imagine, but small enough to fit inside us at the same time.
Who He is and who we are makes surrendering every single part of our lives to Him a rational, and at the same time a very emotional, course of action. Doing this now and every single day is more than a starting place. It will define how we live in tandem with Him for the rest of our lives.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers
Episode 100--Listen to God
Why don’t we listen to God? The other day I was jogging in the water and pondering what I would share on this podcast. I had been reading Romans 11 for several days but I had decided I was going to go on to do the next podcast on Romans 12 because I understood how it fit into my journey. Still, the last four verses of Romans 11 kept calling me back.
It’s a great section of scripture but I knew there was something I wasn’t getting. I have to grab hold of it first before I can share it with y’all. So I asked God to show me.
That’s when He asked me the question, “Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you to stop eating sugar the first time back in 1977?”
Then I saw clearly three reasons I didn’t and they all come from Romans 11:33-36 TPT, the passage I was going to skip over and not include in this series. But now I understand that it may be one of the most important lessons yet.
First, I want to read the passage.
“Who could ever wrap their minds around the riches of God, the depth of His wisdom, and the marvel of His perfect knowledge? Who could ever explain the wonder of His decisions or search out the mysterious way He carries out His plans?
“For who has discovered how the Lord thinks or is wise enough to be the one to advise Him in His plans? Or who has ever first given something to God that obligates God to owe him something in return?”
“For out of Him, the sustainer of everything, came everything, and now everything finds fulfillment in Him. May all praise and honor be given to Him forever! Amen!”
Here are the three things He dropped into my heart. All of them hit me hard because I remember believing them and feeling them at the time. They hit me hard because I knew each of these things aren’t true theologically, but at the time they felt very real to me personally.
- You didn’t listen to Me because you felt I was too difficult to understand.
- You didn’t listen to Me because you didn’t think I cared about you, really knew you or really wanted the best for you.
- You didn’t listen to Me because you felt like you knew better than Me.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Episode 099--Grace is Amazing
I know a whole lot more about God’s amazing grace today than when I accepted Jesus at age seven. I knew I had been saved by grace, but that’s all I knew. I also knew it was amazing because we sang about that all the time in church.
I love how grace is explained to believers in 1 Peter 4:10 AMPC: “Each of you has received a gift, a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment. Employ it for one another as good trustees of God’s many-sided grace, faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor.
God’s grace is many-faceted because it is as vast as God. Grace is the DNA of God. It’s what He is made of. The grace of God cannot be explained or contained in a few words, but I see at least seven words that help us understand how grace operates in our lives. Each one seems to build on the other.
Grace saves us, sustains us, surrounds us, searches us, stretches us, strengthens us and stands us each in the place of our assignment or mission.
On this episode we are going to look at each of these aspects of grace.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers
Episode 098--How Beautiful
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” It’s right there in Romans 10:15 NIV. It’s also elsewhere in the Bible but it is quoted here to emphasize the fact that no one can become a Christian unless someone first shares with them the good news of who Jesus is.
In Mark 16:15-16 ESV, Jesus tells His us what He wants us to do. “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
We can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit descended, the result was that Peter shared boldly and powerfully and more than 3,000 people became believers that day.
This is what our Savior wants us to be doing. He wants us to be boldly proclaiming and courageously publishing the good news of what God wants to do in the lives of people today.
How could anyone be saved today if Paul had not written half the New Testament? If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had not written down their conversations, experiences and journeys with Master Jesus?
How can we share the good news with others? We talk about this and more on this podcast.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/
Episode 097--The Master Potter
We are all lumps of clay in the Master Potter’s hands. God is God. He created us for a purpose. When we find that purpose it makes all the difference in the world.
Instead, a lot of us rebel against how God made us. Romans 9:20-21 TPT: “Who do you think you are to second-guess God? How could a human being molded out of clay say to the one who molded Him, ‘Why in the world did you make me this way?’Or are you denying the right of the Potter to make out of clay whatever He wants? Doesn’t the Potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay an elegant vase or an ordinary pot?”
God is telling us that no matter what we look like, what our gifts or talents are or what family we were born into, whether we are rich or poor we all have to make a decision about whether or not we are going to follow God’s will for our lives.
The problems come when we want to be something God never intended us to be or we refuse to step into the destiny God has for us or we desire the same destiny someone else has.
God sees us for what we will become. He also sees the ways we have failed Him, but tells us time and time again that if we repent and turn to Him, we will be saved because He is alone is God.
Our bodies are like dust and to dust they will one day return. This is why God uses the analogy of clay and the potter. Our bodies are like the everyday common clay pots and dishes those in Biblical times used to eat their meals on.
The difference between us and those common utensils is God’s presence lives inside of us. “We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.” 2 Cor. 4:7 TPT.
The problem is that dishes get broken and so do we. Our dreams get dashed. People fail us. We fail ourselves. We do bad things that we can’t undo and feel, just like the broken dish we threw in the trash that there is nothing good left in us. If a broken dish needs to be thrown away, then what should be done with a broken person?
God, though, sees value in everything. He will use our brokenness to make something truly beautiful from our lives.
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Episode 096--Jesus Loves Me
Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 NKJV
For eight chapters in Romans, Paul has been laying out the plan of salvation and sharing who Jesus is and why trusting Him is important. In this conclusion to the first part of Romans, Paul is telling these new believers that Jesus’ love for them is a trustworthy foundation for their faith. It will stand any test they might throw at it. His conclusion is a convincing and persuasive argument that NOTHING, can separate those of us who are in Christ from Jesus love for us which gives us access to Father God.
The depths of God’s love is seen in what Jesus did. It should be a big deal for someone to say, “I love you.” As awesome as that is, it’s quite another thing entirely for them to tell us that nothing will stop them from loving us. Nothing.
I love my husband. We’ve been married for 44 years. Not every year was perfect, but the imperfect years were mostly my fault. I say mostly because it does take two, right? See, God gave me a gem when he gave me Roy. He is calm, patience, loving. He has a servant nature that I could never outdo.
He loves me and I love him, but are there things that could separate me from his love? I’m sure there are. But he has already put up with a lot from me, think 250 more pounds on my body. That still didn’t stop him from loving me.
However, if I yelled and screamed at him every day, that would do a lot of damage to our relationship. Are there things that could come between even the most committed couple? Yes, I’ve witnessed it happen to those who thought they’d be married forever and then out of the blue, something happened to separate them.
My question then is how can God say that there would be nothing at all that could ever stop Him from loving me? We are humans and we aren’t perfect. We learned that back in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All means all, everyone, yes, me and you, too.
But here’s where Romans 6:23 ESV comes in. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse solidifies our fate as sinners, but it also gives us the way out. Jesus is God’s pure gift of love to us. It is only because of what Jesus did that God can love us.
Without Jesus willfully agreeing to leave His heavenly throne and come to earth as a human, die on the cross, be buried, rise again from the grave, and ascend to heaven, God couldn’t love us. We are sinners by nature. It took God with skin on to rescue us when we accept His gift of salvation.
If we have accepted Christ, God now sees us through Christ’s righteousness and as such we are welcomed into God’s presence.
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Episode 095--More Than Conquerors
One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way.
Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then he goes on to list a bunch of things that are real fears people have. These are things we are afraid might cut us off from God and everything we love.
As I share this list that I compiled from various versions of the Bible, think of your own life. Have you encountered any of these things: trouble, hard times, tribulation, calamity, anguish, hatred, distress, hardship, persecution, harassment, famine, hunger, homelessness, deprivation, bullying threats, backstabbing, destitute, naked, danger, peril, sword, threatened with death, or the worst sins listed in Scripture.
To be victorious, to overcome, to be a conqueror, I can’t focus on difficulties that are happening or may happen. I really have to follow 2 Cor. 10:5 which tells me to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words I have to intentionally take authority over my thought life.
In this episode we talk more about how to do this and how to be victorious in our lifestyle change journeys.
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Episode 094--God is for Us!
Do you believe God is for you? Are you living that our in your everyday life? Are there times you think you are all alone and have to protect yourself because you feel vulnerable?
Romans 8:31 NIV asks a really poignant question. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The issue for us is believing completely that God is for us. As this passage continues it uses words that remind us of a courtroom scene.
Romans 8:32-34 NIV: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.“
In this scene, God Himself is our judge and Jesus is our defense attorney. The question asked is really a no brainer. If the Judge, is for us then who can ever be against us? Really believing this, though may take some introspection on our part.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/.
Episode 093--What is My Destiny?
You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”
We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if everything is going to work out anyway? Why do we need to try to do what He wants for our lives, if it’s going to turn out great whatever we do? Still we realize that bad things have happened to us, so what does this verse really mean anyway?
Romans 8:28 is talking about our belief in the promise of what will happen if we are in Christ. It might be said this way: We have God’s sure promise that everything will work out for good because we are called by God. Our confidence is based around our belief in God and His calling on our lives.
This verse is here to comfort us and let us know that even the bad things which happen to us are things God can weave into our lives and use them for good. I have seen this in my own life. I have made so many blunders and mistakes on my journey. Eating myself towards an early grave was one of those that took up a huge part of my adult life.
For more listen to the podcast.
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Episode 092--Towards Glory
As we’re running this race called life it’s good to remember that we are headed towards glory.
Suffering is part of living in our very mortal bodies. But suffering for Christ, either physically or in any other way, is not losing. It is winning. Romans 8:18 tell us that “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.”
2 Cor. 4:17 NLT echoes that. “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
I’ve know some great moments here on earth, sweet, intimate moments with my husband, loving moments with my children, beautiful moments exploring God’s creation, awesome times celebrating with family and friends. Multiply those by 1,000 and it still doesn’t come close to the glory that will be revealed to us one day.
1 Cor. 2:9 NLT says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
It’s almost as if God is pulling back the curtain just a little to give us a taste of what is coming. In the great scheme of things, the suffering, the disappointments and pain that we encounter today are not such a big deal because we are in a race to the finish line. We are headed towards glory!
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Episode 091--Run the Race
We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize.
One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing.
God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1 NIV says. Or as TPT puts it, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”
As a Christian weight loss coach, I talk to a lot of women who feel condemned and like there is no hope for them because they just love to eat or feel like they are addicted to certain foods like desserts. They try to stop. They know God wants them to get healthy, but they just can’t.
When I was in this position and weighed 430 pounds, I felt condemned, ashamed and guilty. I worked through that but it took some time.
If you are feeling condemned, remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 NLT,
“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
We don’t live in the past so let’s step out of shame, guilt, worry and fear, forgive ourselves and then start running the race. That’s what Jesus is calling us to. His goal is for us to gain the victory prize He has waiting for us.
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Episode 090--The Conundrum
A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too.
Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no idea how to solve this issue that kept turning over and over in my mind.
Paul is really bold about his issue. He doesn’t tell us what the exact thing is he is referring to, but in Romans 7:19 he tells us straight out: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
Why can’t I do anything right? Why can’t I do the things that are pleasing to God? I want to do them, but many times I end up doing the opposite. Why is that? These are the questions Paul, is grappling in this chapter. And they are the questions we all struggle with.
None of us are perfect, even Christians, and we shouldn’t purport to be. In this chapter Paul makes that clear. He also tells us how the law shows us our sin, why we struggle with sin and what we can do about it.
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Episode 089--What War?
We are in a war. We may not realize it as we walk through our daily lives but we are. Romans 5:17-6:23 talks about this as a war between the power of sin and the greater power of God’s wonderful grace.
If we belong to Jesus, sin has no legal control over us. We are free to follow God. However, we are just as free to be entangled again in the pull of sin.
Romans 6:6 TPT: “Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with Him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.”
The whole purpose of Romans 6 is to remind us that we can choose to disentangle ourselves from the power of sin walk freely following God.
Romans 6:23 MSG: “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”
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Episode 088-Patient Endurance
If you’re like me, somewhere along the line in Sunday School you learned the nine fruit of the Spirit which include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all great virtues we should be incorporating on our Spirit-Led Transformation journey.
As I was reading Romans 5 this week, I realized that as Christians there is one of these virtues we rarely talk about. That might be because along the way someone somewhere told us to never pray for patience because if we do something difficult will happen that will teach us the hard way how to be patient. How to endure.
After the list of virtues, Galatians 5:23 TPT says: Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. In other words, all nine virtues are things we should desire to have in our lives in limitless quantity, especially patience.
We may not like learning to be patient, but apparently God feels it something we need. In Romans 5:3 we read a bit about why this is. “With joy let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship, distress, pressure and trouble produces patient endurance.”
All the bad stuff we have to go through in this life helps to produce a virtue God wants us to possess. We need patient endurance to get through whatever is going to be thrown our way in this life.
Hebrews 10:36 TPT really sums up what this entire episode is all about “You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.”
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.
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Episode 087--This Thing Called Faith
Faith is foundational on our Spirit-Led Transformation journeys. Without it, we have no transformation. Without it we cannot be Spirit-led. So what just what is faith and how do we know if we are really living our lives based on faith?
I’m a words person, so let’s see what the dictionary says faith is. First definition is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Second definition says it is a strong belief in God.
Hebrews 11:1-2 has long been the go-to verse to explain faith. In NIV is says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” But we read that and say what does that mean?
To help us understand better, let’s read this scripture the Amplified Bible, which has a way of explaining things better.
It says, “Faith is the assurance, title deed, confirmation, of things hoped for or divinely guaranteed, and the evidence of things not seen or the conviction of their reality. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses. For by this kind of faith the men (and women) of old gained divine approval.”
Remember the dictionary definition of faith we see that faith in God, or complete confidence in Him, comes from our foundational knowledge that we can trust Him to lead us.
In other words, we must have complete assurance that God is leading us and the eventual outcome of where He is leading us is for our good and His glory (as it says in Romans 8:28). We have the title deed to whatever the outcome is that God wants to happen. We have the title deed to whatever God has already put in our hands!
Several years ago we reached a milestone on our financial journey and paid off our house. We now have the title deed to our home. It is ours. Whatever God is telling you and me, if we have faith then we have the title deed to that. It is ours. It’s not just guaranteed by a financial institution, it is divinely guaranteed by the God of the Universe, who just happens to be our Daddy.
The next part is harder to understand because it is in the future. “Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” God already sees it. He has called what we can’t see as if it has already happened because He stands outside of time and can see the whole picture of our lives.
Our faith in God has to help us comprehend as a fact what we cannot actually see, touch or feel right now. We cannot experience it by our physical senses right this moment but we trust God and have faith that what He has said will come true. This goes back to 2 Cor. 5:7 where Paul tells us, “We walk by faith not by what we see.” Friends, it wouldn’t be faith if we could see it!
In the Bible, especially Hebrews 11, it lists men and women of faith who have gone before us and gained God’s approval because of how they lived lives of faith. They are examples for us of how to walk in faith even when we cannot see the future. We, like they did, have a divine promise, which is our guarantee of what will happen when we put feet or action to our faith.
In Romans 4, Paul seems to go off on a tangent about Abraham, whom he calls our forefather according to the flesh or humanly speaking. For this series, I was originally going to skip over this passage, but God kept calling me back it because faith is a foundational pillar on any Spirit-Led Transformation journey.
However, my big question with Abraham’s story was why does God call Abraham a man of faith when he failed so many times? As I read his story, I saw that every time Abraham failed, he recognized his failure. Whoever he had wronged forgave him and so did God. He is not our forefather of faith because he was perfect. He is the forefather of faith because at critical junctures in his life, he listened to God and followed Him.
To understand why Paul is talking about Abraham we need to begin in Romans 3:22 NIV. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.“
In continues in Romans 3:27-28 NIV:, “Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”
In these verses Paul is trying to get those who are still following Jewish laws and sacrifices for their salvation to understand that faith is the foundation for salvation, not the law. Although the law is good, it is no longer how God counts salvation. We are not saved by what we do, but if we have faith, it will move us to appropriate actions without following a set of elongated rules.
Paul explains in Romans 4:14, 16-17 NIV: “If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
“So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’ This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.”
How did Abraham’s life show He believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing? I see three times his life revealed this belief.
First, Abraham left his homeland to go to a place God would show him. In doing that God promised to give the land to his descendants. This was when Abraham had no children at all.
Hebrews 11:8-9 NIV says, “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents.”
His actions revealed that he believed God could create new things out of nothing. My friends, that’s faith!
The second time God brought the dead back to life for Abraham was when He opened Sarah’s womb at age 90, way past child-bearing age. Abraham was 100 years old!
In Romans 3:18-20 NIV Paul explains, ”Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, ‘That’s how many descendants you will have!’ And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.”
Now we understand why they both laughed when God told them Sarah would have a baby. (See Genesis 17:17, 18:11-15). I would have too!
When the baby was born, Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age,” (Gen. 21:6-7 NIV). They named the baby Isaac which means “he laughs.”
The third time was when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his son of promise from God. Yet, Abraham trusted what God had said and by faith believed that somehow even if he had to go through with sacrificing his own son, God would bring him back to life.
We see this clearly in Hebrews 11: 17-19 NLT: “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.’Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”
Ok I have to say it again, Friends, that’s faith. I really don’t think I have that level of faith to even begin the process to sacrifice either one of my children.
Lest we think Abraham was godlike, we need to remember the two times he passed his wife off as his sister and in trying to protect himself stepped right into a few messes. He lied about her partly out of fear because she was so beautiful and was afraid someone would kill him for her. In truth it was a part lie because she was his half-sister to whom he was married, which is the part he failed to mention. At the time it was a legal union and wasn’t forbidden in scripture until much later.
God got him out of both situations by sending plagues on Pharoh who had taken her to be his wife (Gen. 12:14-20) and revealing the truth in a dream to Abimelech, who also wanted to marry her (Gen. 20:3). In the first instance, he was lucky to be escorted out of the country with his wife and possessions. In the second, we see clearly that he was sorry and paid restitution to Abimelech.
Another decision that wasn’t Abraham’s finest moment was listening to Sarah who told him to sleep with her maid Hagar in order to have a child because Sarah felt she couldn’t get pregnant. It’s clear from scripture that Abraham did this willingly. It likely made sense to him because God had promised to make his descendants as numerous as the stars, (Gen. 15:5).
God used both Ishmael, the son of the servant, and Isaac, Sarah’s son to accomplish that promise. But God made it clear that Isaac was the son of promise. When Isaac was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a celebration. During the party, Sarah saw 13-year-old Ishmael making fun of Isaac and demanded that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away.
Scripture tells us that this upset Abraham because Ishmael was also his son. Then in Gen. 21:12 God tells Abraham to do what Sarah says because “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” He added that he would also make a nation out of Ishmael’s descendants. So Abraham sent them away.
The promise Abraham was given was a promise only Isaac inherited. In Gen. 26:4 NIV, after Abraham’s death, God tells Isaac, “I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to Me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees and instructions.”
Did you get that last part? It’s really why God called Abraham the forefather of faith. It’s because “because Abraham listened to Me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees and instructions.” It’s not because of the times he messed up. It’s because his actions revealed that at critical times in his life, when God showed him what to do, he trusted God and did what He said.
The first part of the book of Romans is really about the struggle between those who still wanted a law book to follow and those who understood that Jesus was teaching a deeper truth—the spiritual truth of living by faith, living in God’s grace.
As people we tend to want a rule book, but then we don’t follow it! We say, “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” This seems easier than trusting God to lead us. I remember when I was in my 20s I would say to God, just tell me what to do like you did Noah in giving him the exact dimensions of the arc. I think I failed to understand the extreme ridicule he went through spending years building a huge boat. He was the laughing stock of the neighborhood, until the floods came!
Faith is not a difficult concept to grasp. We have faith that when we go to work that we will get a paycheck, right? There have been a few times when we were newly married that my husband was working at small businesses and his paychecks started bouncing.
That will cause you to lose faith in your boss really quick. We think when we do xyz, we are promised a certain result. For instance, if I follow the latest, greatest diet to a tee, I will lose x amount of weight. This might work, but nine times out of 10 it doesn’t work like promised because we are all different.
When I was into diets, I would always blame myself because I never could follow the diet perfectly. When I did I might lose some weight. The issue was when I stopped following the diet and went back to normal eating, I gained it all back plus more.
Why? I hadn’t learned anything. I was following someone else’s rules. I had no intention of making those any part of my ongoing lifestyle.
This is the same thing with the law. God doesn’t want us to just follow a set of rules. He wants us to follow Him. And that’s so much more difficult than following the rules. At least then we think we know why we failed. When we are following God it seems more difficult to discern what to do. Maybe that’s because our faith is in the rules, rather than in God.
Faith in God has to be the main ingredient in any Spirit-Led Transformation. What that means is we trust God no matter what He says. Our faith, then, will always result in Spirit-Led action. Any other action is useless.
James 2:21-24, 26 NIV adds, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone … As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
Fear many times keeps us from stepping out in faith. What if I didn’t hear from God right? What if that wasn’t even God? But Abraham gives me hope. He definitely didn’t get it right all the time. Maybe Ishmael wasn’t in God’s plan, but somehow that act did not get counted against Abraham.
What God saw were all the times Abraham’s faith moved him forward on his own Spirit-Led Transformation journey.
Romans 4:20-24 NLT says it this way: “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
“And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in Him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”
The important thing about Abraham’s life is that he showed God he had faith when he did something God told him to do. Like when he left home headed to who knows where or when he trusted God to give him a heir of promise or when he raised the knife to sacrifice that same beloved gift from God.
His faith led to action. Now any of these actions without direction from God would not have the same result. We can’t go out and copy Abraham’s actions and be counted as faithful. That was Abraham’s journey.
Ours may seem even more difficult than his. How can we see a way to pay the insurmountable amount of debt we have? How can we restore the broken relationship in our marriage, with our children, with our friends? How can we lose the mountain of weight that has attached itself to our bodies?
FAITH in what God asks you to do is always the answer. But that FAITH must be backed by whatever action God is telling you to take. It might be to wait for the promise, like it was with Abraham. I hope you don’t have to wait until you are 100, but hey he lived to be 175 so there’s that, too. It’s all relative, my friend.
I feel like I really started living by faith around 2009, when I was 56. It took me lots of years to lose 250 pounds. First I had to totally surrender to God and trust Him for the next step on my journey. I had to get His lifestyle change plan for me and do what He said to implement it. I made a lot of mistakes on my journey and as such I am well-equipped to steer others away from my same mistakes.
One of the most beautiful and spiritual part of any transformation journey is learning how to have faith Jesus Christ, and to be led by the Holy Spirit in each step we take. Then the grace, mercy, favor and glory of God will surround us as we walk in tandem with Him.
Is it easy? I mean some of the things Abraham did look easy. Who knows, maybe he was glad to get away from his mother and father and go somewhere that he had inkling of. However it definitely wasn’t easy waiting for the promised son. And I don’t think for a minute it was easy preparing to sacrifice his promised son.
Yet, through it all, He trusted God. I like to think it all started with that first step out the door of his homeland, going to a place God said He’d show him. That’s faith.
Let me ask you, what would it look like for you to have that kind of faith on your Spirit-Led Transformation journey? What would it take to do whatever God is whispering in your heart to do?
It’s time. He’s calling you. Will you have the faith to take the next step?
Father God, I lift your children to You today. Give them clear directions. Remind them of Your promises and help them take that next step on their journey whatever that may be. Make it clear to them. Give them faith to take action.
As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy. Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.
Episode 086--Why Forgive Others?
An important step on our Spirit-Led Transformation is forgiving others. It’s actually a command from God. He demonstrates exactly what He wants us to do for others when He forgives us. He is teaching us by example.
Most of the time, this feels like a really hard thing to do so we sort of just put it in the back of our minds and leave it there. We have a problem with forgiving someone who has done us wrong because we want them to be brought to justice.
However, you aren’t bringing them to justice or hurting them by not forgiving them. You are only hurting yourself. It does you no good to hang on to the wrongs someone did to you. It’s only keeping you further away from God because God clearly says we must forgive others or He won’t forgive us.
Forgiving Others Is A Process
Forgiving others is a process we go through to disentangle or release ourselves from others who have hurt us and let God take care of us and them.
It’s the reason Jesus tells us in Luke 6:37 to “forgive others and you will be forgiven.” It’s the reason Paul reiterates that in Colossians 3:13, “Forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”
God wants us to demonstrate His principles of forgiveness in our personal lives and interactions with others. We want retribution, but He asks that we show them mercy and leave everything else up to Him.
Why Should We Forgive Others?
-Because God forgave us.
-Because God asks us to forgive others.
-So we demonstrate God’s forgiveness to the world.
-Because we understand God is the only one who can judge.
-Because it releases us from that person’s control over us.
-Because it is the only way for us to be at peace.
God wants to use His not-so-secret weapon of forgiving others to set you free to live in peace and demonstrate His forgiveness to the world at the same time.
Action steps and challenges for this lesson and others in the Spirit-Led Transformation series can be found in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 085--Forgiven
Forgiven. It’s such a great word. This is the second in our series of Spirit-Led Transformation because understanding the depths of being forgiven can set us free to follow God with all that we are and all that He made us to be. However, when we feel like we are not forgiven and feel deep shame and regret, we are stuck and cannot move forward.
Forward motion on our transformation journey is what we want. The devil will continually remind us of our sin if we let him. He knows that will keep us from any forward motion.
Before we are ready to begin our Spirit-Led Transformation, we have to accept Jesus as our Savior. Then we can begin to walk in tandem with God. Some of us, and I have lots of fingers pointing back at me, have had to learn that the hard way.
On this episode I share how I came to know Jesus as my Savior. Crazy enough, it happened because I stole candy from the grocery store. At seven years old, it made me realize I was a thief, which made me a sinner.
After accepting Jesus because of God’s grace, I was forgiven for everything I have ever done. All my flaws, mistakes, debts and sins have been wiped away by an Almighty God, who could rightly hold me guilty for everything I’ve done wrong. Instead in His grace, He forgave me. And let me tell you, that’s a really good thing because I’ve had to confess a lot of stuff since then as well.
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Episode 084--Flesh Versus Spirit
This episode is going to be the first in a series I’m doing based around the book of Romans. It’s really a book that talks to us about Spirit-led Transformation so that will be a topic we’ll be exploring for the next several months.
Because these episodes are so foundational I am putting them into a course that will include the transcript, action steps and challenges. Those last three will only be available to those in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. So if you want the deeper dive you will need to join us there to get this course and all the other things we provide in that group.
In talking about the flesh we need to define what it is, what sin is, why if we allow our flesh to lead us it will lead us astray and why following the Holy Spirit is the right way but we many times resist it until we have no other choice.
Two favorite scriptures from this episode are Romans 2:2 TPT, “God is always right, because He has all the facts.” And Galatians 5:16 TPT, “As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life.”
Then there are two of my favorite quotes, “Your flesh doesn’t care about your eternity because it’s not going with you.” And “Flesh cannot fix flesh.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 083--From Faith to Frustration
Life can be frustrating. Just when things are going good, something always happens to throw a wrench in our plans which then casts a dark veil over our futures. It leaves us feeling like life has thrown us a curve ball and we have no recourse, no avenue to go forward, no way to the future we thought we could have. We are just … frustrated.
Frustrations come from rehearsing and going over and over again the possibilities scenarios that may happen in the future when something happens in our present. Then we become fixated on the negative prospects that brings. Instead of focusing on our frustrations, we need to step into faith and realize God is still leading us despite what we can see with our eyes.
It can either be frustrating or it can be a great adventure. It all depends on our point of view. It all depends on how much we trust God. It all depends on whether we want what God has next for us or we want only what we can gather in our human strength.
Frustration is overcome by believing that God has plans for our good and not our disaster, plans for our future. It’s that hope that we must cling to. It’s knowing He has a bigger dream for us than we ever have thought about.
If you are frustrated and feel out of control about your present and afraid of what may happen in the future if you don’t figure out how to live healthier, please join us in Overcomers Academy.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 082--Fear God Not Fear
Fearing God will help us surrender to Him which will then in turn, allow us to work with Him in order to remove the things that make us afraid in this life. First, we need to understand that fearing God means to have a reverential fear of displeasing the God who loves us and whom we love in return.
Proverbs 15:33 TPT says, “The source of revelation-knowledge is found as you fall down in surrender before the Lord. Don’t expect to see Shekinah glory until the Lord sees your sincere humility.”
I love this wording because it tells us what we need to do each day to receive revelation-knowledge or wisdom. We must revere God and not challenge Him. We fall down before Him in surrender.
This won’t happen until we recognize who we are and who God is. We honor Him, by humbling ourselves before Him and recognizing His power and ability to set us on the right path.
Internal Fears
There is a category of fear we have as humans that I will call core fears. These are internal fears that are harder to recognize than things like fear of spiders or mice.
One huge fear in this category is the fear of feeling abandoned and rejected. Another big one is the fear of being controlled, stepped on or manipulated by others. Both of these can result in a feeling a loss of meaning, purpose and identity.
We are struggling through life without really knowing why we are here in the first place. Identifying our core fear may explain a lot of things to us and help us begin to move past any childhood moments which might have been the start of that fear.
It was also my core fear that had been driving me to self-protect by allowing myself to keep eating. Identifying the place where this fear started, forgiving the person involved, renouncing the lie that God will treat me the same way and hearing God whisper His truth to me set me free from my core fear in a profound way and has allowed me to lose over 250 pounds and keep it off since 2013.
All-In With God
When we go all in with God, we start in motion an unstoppable season of blessings that He just keeps on pouring out on us. Without total submission to God, without trusting Him with everything, without releasing everything we think we have to have to the One who has the abundance of the universe, His blessings won’t flow into our lives.
Being all in with God means to fear and reverence Him instead of being afraid of the fears of this life that seek to control us. Surrender that thing you’ve been holding back just for yourself and watch fears begin to crumble and blessings begin to flow.
VIP FREEDOM COACHING LINK: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
OVERCOMERS ACADEMY LINK: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 081-Straitjacket of Fear
God designed the acute stress response to help us overcome fear. This fight or flight response to happens whether we are actually in danger or we just think we are in danger.
The definition of fear is “an unpleasant emotion caused by being aware of danger.” This definition doesn’t take into account that the evil one loves to make false evidence appear real. These are irrational fears. That’s why God gives us things to help guide us through this and result in us becoming more rational.
2 Timothy 1:7 AMP says, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline, abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control.”
In this podcast episode we are talking about how to get rid of irrational fears that the enemy loves to perpetuate. These fears can become strongholds that keep us stuck in the straitjacket of fear.
God gives us some tools to combat the enemy’s barrage of fears. Here are steps to get rid of fear:
-Recognize the lies and irrational fears the enemy tells you.
-Call him out on them by replacing the lies with the truth of what God’s Word says about you.
-Ask God to activate the spirit of power, love, sound judgment and personal discipline.
-Begin to accept that you have a calm, well-balanced mind.
-Make daily surrender to God a top priority.
-Understand the value of having Spirit-led self-control.
-Remember to rest in God. It’s in resting in Him that fear loses and love wins.
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Free Eating Stress Course link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/stress/
Episode 080--Daily Surrender with Kim Dolan Leto
My guest today is Kim Dolan Leto is the author of two books. She is a speaker, podcaster and coach. She is the founder of the FIT, Faith Inspired Transformation which is also the title of her first book. Her second book is a devotional entitled Strong. Confident. His, which is also the title of her podcast.
She is an ESPN Fitness America Champion and proudly represented America as the only American in the top five for Fox Sports Ms. Fitness World. She’s also been on the cover of numerous fitness magazines and featured on numerous shows including The 700 Club.
Undergoing her own body and life transformation, Kim knows first-hand the importance of doing food, fitness and confidence through Christ.
With 20 years in the fitness industry and a lifetime of Jesus working in her, she’s dedicated her life to teaching women how to get fit and find confidence His way.
I titled this episode Daily Surrender because Kim shares the truth of this in numerous ways from not relying on diets to overcoming body shame to falling in love with exercise to the freedom that comes when we surrender each and every day to God.
This is a little bit longer podcast but every minute is worth it.
You can find Kim at: https://www.kimdolanleto.com. She is also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube at Kim Dolan Leto.
You can join Overcomers Academy here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Episode 079-Stepping Into Destiny
Stepping into destiny isn’t a one-time event. It comes when we begin to learn how to fully depend on God. Everything which comes into our lives are meant to teach us how to do that. Everything. When we get to the point where we think we can handle everything ourselves, we’ve just stepped out of our destiny.
The Holy Spirit gives us gifts we can use on this journey, however we need Him to activate them. He will when we submit our plans to Him. We have to do what Proverbs 3:5-8 in the Message Bible says. “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!”
It’s not healthy to live in a state of chronic stress. It’s not only related to our overall health, but to our purpose and the destiny God has for us. These verses in Proverbs give us a good outline for stepping into our destinies. They will also help us achieve overall health. That’s logical because if we aren’t healthy we cannot fulfill the destiny God has for us.
In this episode, we talk about the steps to health and relief from stress outlined in this passage:
-Trust God From the Bottom of Your Heart
-Stop Trying To Figure It All Out
-Listen for God’s Voice In Everything You Do and Everywhere You Go
-Don’t Assume You Know It All
-Run to God
-Run from Evil
God has a greater-than-you-can-think-imagine-or-dream goal for each of us. His destiny for you is something you won’t know until you get there, but when you do, it will blow your socks off. You only reach your destiny by surrendering to God and totally trusting Him.
Stepping into our destinies means we are living totally sold out to Jesus. It means we are listening to God and watching for how He is moving and directing us. His goal for us was planned before we were born. He will get us there even though we may feel like we’ve blown it.
At the end of this passage is a great promise from God that tells us when we follow the steps outlined, the results will be that our bodies will glow with health and our very bones will vibrate with life. I’m looking forward to that promise!
Eating Stress link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/stress/
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
Episode 078-Stand Firm in the Faith
What I want you to understand is food, or other addictions like alcohol, drugs, pornography, gossip, infidelity, is not your stronghold. The stronghold is your mindset that is driving you to stress and worry over every little thing. It’s the noise you are allowing to take up residence in your head.
Because of all the voices that are taunting you and pointing fingers at you, you are eating to try to make them stop. When we go to food or other addictions, we mask the voices for a while and then they start again in earnest and tell you why you should be more ashamed because you didn’t follow your diet.
I wish I could tell you just to scream at the voices and tell them to stop, but I know from personal experience that doesn’t work because my voice has no power over the enemy unless I am surrendered to God. Then I can use the name of Jesus with the authority He has given me.
Attached to The World
Basically, we are too attached to this world and its cares, woes, victories and struggles. We are living in the drama because on some level we like it. On another level we wish we weren’t in the middle of it. God, however, warns us about being too attached to this world.
In John 12:25 TPT Jesus says, “The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from this world and abandons himself to Me, will find true life and enjoy it forever!”
Attachment to this world really means that we are unwilling to submit completely to God. In our pride and stubbornness, we are holding on to something we think we need to make it through. But we have to see that whatever we are holding on to is keeping us from centering our lives totally in God. He’s calling all of us to a deeper journey with Him, but first we have to detach from everything we have become attached to in this world. What that means is if God requires it from us, we give it willingly.
In this podcast episode, we talk about:
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Casting your worries on Jesus
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Humbling yourselves
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Taking negative thoughts captive
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Submitting thoughts to God
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Learning how to be well-balanced and alert
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Resisting the devil
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What God promises us
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Prayer for restoration
Eating Stress Course: https://TeresashieldsParker.com/stress/
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 077--Replacing Toxic Thoughts
Stress is rooted in worry. Worry occurs in our minds or thoughts. Negative thoughts are toxic thoughts. A toxic thought is one that is very harmful or unpleasant in a pervasive or insidious way. These are thoughts we can’t get away from. They are constantly on replay in our minds.
Toxic thoughts are harmful, detrimental, destructive, injurious or damaging. They cause us to feel sick, weak, frail, run-down, overwhelmed, afraid and fearful. They begin from the half-truths Satan loves to throw at us. These are lies he tries to carefully conceal.
The evil one especially likes throw toxic thoughts our way when we are getting some momentum towards working with God to manage the stressors in our lives and get a handle on our healthy eating journey.
The devil is smart. He knows we have conquered one area and we’re doing really well there so now he throws something at us to sidetrack us—an issue, an injury, a busy season, an illness of a loved one, financial woes, time constraints, obligations or assignments we feel we just can’t say no to.
We had started thinking healthy thoughts that are new, transformed, redeemed, fit, sound, well, whole, hearty, robust, tough, active, lively, vigorous, thriving, prosperous and good.
Prescription for Healthy Thoughts
The Apostle Paul gave Timothy a great prescription for healthy thoughts in 2 Timothy 1:7 AMP—"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline, abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control.”
When we overload ourselves with to do lists and agendas and oughts and shoulds and musts we are not trusting an all-powerful God to intervene on our behalf. Why should He? We are fulfilling our own prayers and if we do that then we have zero trust in God. We have begun to live from toxic thoughts which are designed to overwhelm us and steal our power from us.
We must allow God to renew our minds by taking the unhealthy thoughts captive and putting the healthy thoughts in their place. This is really the meaning of 2 Cor. 10:5 when it talks about taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
We corral the negative thoughts. When they enter our minds we immediately identify them. I like to think of it as putting an electric fence around those thoughts. If I go there, if I start trying to accept them into my life they can be deadly.
If we have negative toxic or poisonous thoughts, we need to capture them and convert them to positive, life-giving thoughts that will bring about Godly changes in our outlook sand our goals for each and every moment of every day.
This particular episode has action steps which are on the transcript download available when you sign up for the free eating stress course. Go here: teresashieldsparker.com/stress/ to get immediate access.
Episode 076--Putting Stress to Rest
We’ve been talking about stress and by now our goal should be to put stress to rest not just with whatever current issue is stressing us out, but to learn how to hand these issues to God and trust Him enough to take care of them in His time and His way.
However many times we don’t even realize what we are stressing over or perseverating about. We just automatically turn to food to try to make us feel better whenever the feeling of overwhelm hits us. We use food to try to mask our stress. It numbs it for a while but then we need more to numb it again. We have a learned behavior and we’ve taught it to ourselves way too well.
For many years when I weighed 430 pounds, I thought my weight was causing me the most stress. However, my weight was simply a by-product of my stress! I would stress over some problem and then eat to try to make the stress go away. The eating caused weight gain. But the real issue wasn’t the eating, the issue was what was causing my stress!
This is a cycle that makes us feel like we are going crazy! That’s because we weren’t created to handle every single problem that we see in the world, in our friends' lives, in our family’s lives and even our own. We have to stop the insanity of trying to control everything.
If we can just stop and clear our minds, we can see everything that is happening to us right now is attributing to our stress because we are living in a state of chronic stress. So everything looks and feels stressful, even good things. I know I’ve been there. Living in chronic stress is no fun.
God’s Prescription
In Matthew 11:28-30 MSG, Jesus said, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
I think I am finally living in His unforced rhythms of grace. In the past, I felt like I was carrying a heavy burden of a calling I had to complete perfectly, but in these verses Jesus tells me those things which feel like heavy burdens are not from Him. The things from Him will help me live freely and lightly. I was in desperate need of just that.
Christian Fatigue Syndrome is something I had read about but didn’t think it was a thing until my doctor explained that I was pushing too hard on life. It happens to those of us who think we are the only ones who can save the world in our specific sphere of influence or calling. Of course that isn’t true and I cognitively knew that, but deep down inside the achiever in me pushed me to do more.
God’s prescription for me was to set aside time in the mornings to just be silent, still and present with Him. In those times I was made aware of the cacophony of noise in my head and the time it takes my body to relax, clear my mind and focus on the Lover of my soul.
During those times the One I had worked myself into exhaustion for just held me and told me to stop and let Him take over, really take over. In doing that, I began to learn how to stop overthinking every issue and problem and simply hand them to Him.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds and in this episode I explain more about how to do this.
Eating Stress Course: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/stress/
Episode 075--Managing Stressors
To curtail stress, we have to learn how to manage our stressors. When we are in the midst of overwhelming stress that just feels like one more job we can’t or don’t want to face. We just want the stressors, whatever they are, to go away. The sad truth is the things that stress us out are not likely to just go away. We have to put forth some effort to make that happen in a healthy manner.
So what can we do about them? We can manage how we respond to them. Before long instead of stress managing us we can manage our stress. We can take back our power. We have freely given into stressors of all kinds and when we do this, we give them the power over our lives.
When I look back over my own life, I see how I allowed any problem I had to consume me and when we do that, we immediately give the problem the power over us. In order to stop obsessing over the problem, then I’d try to forget about it by indulging in comfort foods. If I could forget about my problems then they couldn’t overwhelm me and stress me out. And of course the problem doesn’t go away. It’s still there and the additional pounds being added to my body adds physical stress along with the emotional and mental stress I already have.
Combine this with the fact that that for most of my life I would overthink any problem. As a matter of I think I just think too much. Some people are verbal processors, but I am an internal processor. It becomes exhausting because many times this means I am constantly dwelling on the negative aspects or the problem points of any issue. I physically wore my brain out thinking of all the possible scenarios to solve a problem or make an issue go away.
I call this living from our minds. I used to think this was what God expected of me. I mean He gave me a brain so He must want me to use it to figure out the solutions to everyone’s problems. But the longer I live the more I understand that He gave me a mind so that I can submit it to Him because He actually does have the solution to every problem. Instead I want to jump in and fix it.
Here’s what happens when I overthink an issue. I keep repeating the scenario over and over in my head. I picture a thousand different ways the problem could be solved. If I said this and then they said that, then maybe it would go this way.
Then I talk myself out of that and do something totally stupid to get myself in an even more stressful situation. I exhaust my brain when I use it this way. It is worry, plain and simple. Worry is like praying to yourself when we should be handing the issue to God and leaving it in His capable hands.
To manage stress we must:
-Pay Attention to positive thoughts and godly attitudes rather than negative, repetitive thoughts.
-Face the real issue at the core of what we are stressed
-Understand the major life stressors and how they affect us
-Understand the Holy Spirit provides the gift of peace of heart and mind
-Take our thoughts captive according to 2 Cor. 10:5
-Trust God to lead us and take care of us
Action Steps to help you will be in the transcripts download available by signing up for the free Eating Stress course.
Eating Stress Course: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/stress/
Episode 074--Living in Chronic Stress
For most of my adult life I lived in a state of chronic stress and I overate whatever I wanted to try to get rid of the level of stress I felt. Since understanding that stress is a major reason I was eating all the time, I’ve lost 250 pounds and kept it off since 2013. The weight loss, of course, is great, but even greater is now I can more readily recognize when I am in a state of stress or headed towards a state of chronic stress and deal with it in ways that actually reduce the stress rather than add to it.
At 430 pounds, I lived in a state of chronic stress. Anyone who is in the super morbidly obese category has put their bodies in this situation. Living in chronic stress is no fun. Many of us are there, we just don’t realize it. So today I want to talk about chronic stress, what it is and some ways to begin to manage it.
One of the reasons I lived in chronic stress is because I put myself there with my constant striving to be better and do more. There are many reasons for this but one of the biggest ones is that is how I God made me. And if He made me this way, then He can certainly help me understand how to use my strengths and not make them into my weakness.
All of my pushing and striving do better and do more added additional stress which I tried to mitigate by overeating. This only served to pile on the pounds to the point that I weighed 430 lbs. and landed in the hospital which a cardiac surgeon telling me I needed to lose weight and keep it off or I would be dead in five years.
This wasn’t the first time a doctor had told me I needed to lose weight. But this was the first time a doctor said it in such a way that it made me mad, but also got my full attention because he had added an expiration date!
For the first time I faced my own mortality. It was the moment that Duet 30:19-20 NLT talks about. “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land.”
For the first time I saw that my way of dealing with the stress of everyday life was killing me. I wanted to choose life.
This was just the start of my turn-around point. It should have motivated me to do what God told me in 1977, but I still had many more years to wallow through my difficulties. I did go on a diet and lost 100 lbs. This time I kept it off longer. But because I still didn’t see what I was doing as a sin against God, I did not commit to it fully.
My problem was that I did not see what I was doing as a sin. I didn’t see overeating as a sin. I had no problem many other things as sin, but overeating was not in that category for me.
When a sin becomes common place, meaning everyone is doing it without thinking, it becomes a normal lifestyle. We don’t even think about it because everywhere we look we are being enticed towards our one main vice—for me that was eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it.
On the podcast I share more about how this helped me understand how to deal with stress in other ways and what some of the signs of chronic stress are. Don’t miss the Action Steps for dealing with Stress which are available with my free Eating Stress Course.
Eating Stress Course: https://TeresashieldsParker.com/stress/. Each week you will receive an email when the new lesson has been uploaded.
Episode 073--Eating Stress
Stress is a big deal these days. We may not realize it, but totally changing the way we do things is stressful. Staying home is stressful. Not being with extended family and friends is stressful. Not going on vacation is stressful. Just thinking about going to the grocery store or even to church is stressful.
We’ve all been through a lot in 2020 and it shows. And now it seems to be carrying over into 2021. But as we venture forward into the world, poke our heads up out of the holes we’ve lived in for over a year, we’re realizing some things about 2020 that we didn’t factor in.
Those of us who are getting older, though, are realizing that diets aren’t working like they used to. And if we’d be honest with ourselves diets never worked to change our habits for life. If they had worked, we wouldn’t be continually running back to them to solve our issues.
The other issue is one I know all too well. If you already weigh say 250 pounds or more, 30 additional pounds can be dangerous as it will lead to diseases of all types. But the biggest danger may be the reality that what you are eating is basically stress. That bag of chips? It’s actually Stress. That box of cookies—stress. That tub of ice cream? Stress. All those brownies you baked? Stress. All those yummy new desserts you tried out on your family when you just wanted something different and yummy to eat? Mark it S-T-R-E-S-S.
What you are eating is STRESS plain and simple and it will add more pounds than just the food alone. Eating stress is really no fun at all. Chronic stress is a big factor in behaviors such as alcohol or drug abuse and the one I am talking the most about today—overeating.
When we are in the midst of stress and turn to food we pretty much do it mindlessly. Most of the time we are not even aware of what we are eating. We think we are eating it because it will make us feel better. Instead we sit in front of the tv watching reruns of old movies and before we know it we’ve eaten a whole bag of chips but we haven’t even tasted a single one.
The culprit here is not the food. The culprit is our inability to deal with the emotions we are feeling. Using food to try to solve our problems only gives us more problems to deal with. Soon the doctor is warning us that our blood pressure is too high. When we don’t pay attention to that we find our blood sugar is too high as well. We begin to have mobility issues and fatigue and brain fog.
We know we have a problem with overeating but we keep telling ourselves that as soon as everything gets back to normal, we’ll be able to lose the weight. The problem is we have already begun to rely on our old friend, sugar and foods with high carbohydrate content.
They just make us feel better … for a moment. Then we need more of the same kind of food to get that same feeling. It’s a cycle that never stops. As a matter of fact it can easily last through an entire movie marathon.
It helped us forget about all our problems, but if you wait a minute, you’ll find the problem is still there and therefore so is the stress. It hasn’t gone anywhere. You have just temporarily drowned it under a mountain of food you didn’t need to consume.
This is the first of a series I’m calling Eating Stress. This podcast and the three that come after it will be compiled into a training along with the video to each podcast. It will also contain a downloadable transcript which will include action steps which aren’t on the podcast or the video.
To sign up to get notified each week when the new video is added to the training, go here: https://teresashieldsparker.com/stress/. Videos and transcripts will likely be added each Friday.
Overcomers Academy link— https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Episode 072--Weighty Marriage Issues
If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this lifelong journey of weight gain and weight loss it is that I cannot lose weight for someone else. I can only do it for me. We can’t lose weight for our husbands. It has to be for us. We have to want it for ourselves.
Recently I listened to a sermon by a Missouri pastor who essentially said if husbands stray it’s because their wives have gained weight or as he said, “have let themselves go.”
His premise was that men are visual and they want to desire their wives but they can’t if they aren’t slim and trim like our former first lady. He even put a picture of her on the screen during his sermon. I was livid and it took me a while to come down off my soap box.
When I weighed 430 pounds, I used to think if I lost weight my husband would love me more. The problem really wasn’t that He wanted me to lose weight, it was that I felt so bad about myself that I was sure he didn’t want me or one day wouldn’t want me. I also thought I wasn’t a good wife because I was so overweight. I was unhappy with myself.
But even with all those thoughts and even though I loved my husband, Every time I tried to lose weight for him I failed. When it was for him if he didn’t applaud my weight loss I would quit and throw in the towel.
There’s a lot to said about motivations to lose weight. We have to care enough about ourselves to want to become healthy in every area—spiritually, emotionally, mentally and last of all physically.
Proverbs 31:30 TPT says, “Charm can be misleading, and beauty is vain and so quickly fades but this virtuous woman lives in the wonder, awe, and fear of the Lord. She will be praised throughout eternity.”
Thankfully the pastor that preached this dreadful sermon has been put on leave by His denomination and is in forced professional counseling. The denomination also said his views were not the views of that denomination.
His sermon really triggered me to go back to that book I wrote in 1995, 199 Ideas and Suggestions to Love and Respect Your Husband. It also made me start thinking anew about writing a marriage memoir.
When we were chatting about the sermon, I asked my husband if he thought a man was mainly visual. He said that the visual is important to men, but more than that he pointed to a man’s deep desire for valor. Although the dictionary says the definition of valor is “strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness,” to Roy valor is mainly keeping his promises, protecting his family, being the one who provides.
In talking about this particular sermon he pointed out that for a man valor means staying with his wife no matter what she or he is going through. This is the reason, I dedicated my first book to “my husband, who has loved me through thick and thin, more of the former than the latter.”
This is really where commitment comes into play in a marriage when a man will stay with you and care about you no matter what you weigh or what you are struggling with. Sure we’ve had our ups and downs but we have learned how to harmonize with each other, which is a form of submission that has worked for us.
In my podcast episode called Weighty Marriage Issues, I talk about this and give 10 tips for ways wives can love and respect their husbands.
If you want to listen to the sermon I mentioned, find it on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker.
Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers/
One-On-One Coaching link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Email: info@teresashieldsparker.com
Episode 071--God Calling
Have you ever prayed and asked God one thing and He seemed to answer with something that was totally off topic? For most of my adult life I felt this way when I prayed about my life’s calling or direction.
My prayer would always start out something like this. “God, this is me again. Can you tell me, what is my calling? What do you want me to be doing for You? I know you’ve called me to write, but it feels like there is something specific I should be writing. Would you show me, please God? Call and I will do whatever you want me to do.”
Eventually God would answer, but it seemed His answers to my plea for direction were totally incongruous with what I thought I was asking. His answers always seemed to come back to telling me how to lose weight and get healthy. This was the one thing I didn’t think I could do. Plus I didn’t think it was in the category of a life calling like say being a missionary, preacher, teacher or anything that seemed Godly like that.
What I didn’t see all of those years, though, was how very persistent He was this answer. Recently I was cleaning out my office and found all my old prayer journals. It was a rainy afternoon, perfect for revisiting my life. Reading through them helped me see my life in a new and different way.
I saw how what I had been praying about and how He had answered me directly related to my calling. I was just too stubborn to understand it. Thankfully, He finally got through to me. He’s very patient and as long as we keep asking, He will keep answering until we finally get it.
God is more concerned about us fulfilling our callings than we are. He knows how we will mess up His plans, but He still helps us get back on the right path and headed towards our calling with purpose and determination to follow Him every step of the way.
On this podcast, I share how I finally got on board with what He had been trying to tell me all of my life.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Episode 070--The Big Question
I was listening to a training where a coach was telling her client to ask God a question. The minute I heard the question, I felt like someone and hit me in the stomach because I felt no way in a million year would I ask God that question. It scared me to death to think of His answer to what felt like the BIG question.
I had already lost 250 pounds by this time, but I had just hit that mark and I not had time to accept the fact that I was living in an entirely different body and actually doing what God had wanted me to do for years.
For all of my adult life I had been trying to compensate for my weaknesses of overeating and gaining a tremendous amount of weight. I thought I could make up for my utter failures by working harder, doing more tasks which I dubbed “kingdom work,” but really it was that I was working to be noticed by the Almighty. Yeah, I admit it. I thought I could earn brownie points with God.
I knew this wasn’t how God operated, but I still felt like I had to do something, I just didn’t think I could do the one thing God wanted from me which was to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle. So because I didn’t think I could do that, I’d try to approach things from a different angle.
Cognitively, the adult me knew I couldn’t earn God’s favor. I knew that His grace saved me and that it is always freely given no matter what I’ve done or not done. However, there was still a part of me that said, “Have I done enough to be called your daughter, God?”
So when I heard the question I panicked because the question was, “What do You think of me, God?”
Even though I knew my sins had been removed as far as the east is from the west as Psalm 103:12 NLT says, I still believed they were a part of me. It was really hard to understand that to God they are gone.
The message I was listening to was designed to help me understand who I really am to God. I got to the place where I had to just stop the recording and finally ask God the question or I would die. I wanted to know, but I didn’t. You know that feeling where you feel like you are standing on the edge of the rest of your life and this one step will define everything?
I share more about how God answered me when I got the courage to ask.
Free Seminar link: Your Blueprint for Losing Weight and Living Healthy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/blueprint/
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
VIP Freedom Coaching link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Episode 069-Living in Truth
Here are some highlights from Living In Truth.
- Despite what many might think, Christians can be bound for heaven and stuck in strongholds at the same time.
- God is always fighting for us, but we are not always fighting for ourselves.
- The evil one’s tactics were and are subtle, manipulative and before I knew it, he was controlling me.
- When I stopped listening to the still, small voice, that’s when I had allowed myself to be controlled by something other than God. I had opened the door to believe the lies Satan had thrown at me.
- Lies can only be defeated by the truth and not just truth that we have memorized and can recite, but truth that God illuminates to us and becomes part of the very fabric of our being.
- Breaking free of lies is impossible on our own.
- No half-truth is pretty. It’s an out and out lie that will start a string of events the devil has planned in order to destroy us.
- Half-truths and lies we believe must be exposed. If not, they become footholds for the devil and then strongholds.
- “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are My disciples for sure. Then you will you are My disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” (John 8:32 MSG).
- Experiencing Jesus’ truth is when it moves from our heads to our hearts and then out to our hands and feet as we live it out by following Him obediently, every day.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Free Ebook—What Is A Stronghold link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/
Episode 068--Beautiful One
Pain, heartache, mistreatment, rude comments, being treated like a doormat, being pushed around, being taken advantage of, pointed at, whispered about and made fun of. This is what it is like to be super morbidly obese.
I know. I was there once. After losing more than 250 pounds, by the grace of God I am no longer there, but I coach those who are. When I hear the depths of abuse they go through and have gone through, I am angry that so-called “family” and “friends” who would treat them less than human.
No Boundaries
However, what happens is the obese woman feels like she must do everything everyone wants so she won’t be alone. However, doing everything for everyone without any boundaries around her time and energy is one thing that is making her continue to go to the high carbohydrate foods she loves. She thinks those foods give her energy. They do for a short time, but then her blood sugar plummets and she needs more to get the same feeling and thus begins the roller coaster ride she calls her life.
Inside she is silently angry at all the people she is helping because all she wants is to feel loved and accepted. She’s there for everyone else whenever they need her, but they aren’t there at midnight when she’s eating a whole pan of brownies by herself and crying because she feels … Alone. Abandoned. Worthless.
She eats to shut up the angry child within her, the one who wants to scream at somebody. The pesky voice in her head tells her, “Good girls don’t get angry. Good girls are nice. Good girls do what others want them to do. Good girls are people pleasers. And fat girls have to do everything everyone else wants them to do or they will be …. alone.”
God has a message for every person who has ever felt this way. He wants you to know that you are valued and loved. On more than one occasion I’ve heard Him speaking directly to my heart something like this.
“Hey, Beautiful One. I see you, the real you, the wonderful woman you are, a woman with thoughts and feelings, knowledge and wisdom. I see the gold inside of you, the person who was buried a long time ago through all the pain and hurts of your life. The one you tried to bury with more and more and more foods that are only making you sicker.
“Still, I love you, Beautiful One. I love who you are. I love who you are becoming. I love every piece of you. I don’t want you used or abused by yourself or anyone else. I want you to love yourself like I love you. And I love you more than you can ever comprehend.”
Overcomers Academy Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Free Ebook—What Is A Stronghold link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/
067--Loved Into Existence
I woke up at 2:15 a.m. with God saying to me. “I loved you into existence.” My first thought was of course you did. You created me. Without your desire for me to exist, I wouldn’t exist, I wouldn’t have life. God literally loved me into existence, into living the life He created me to live.
God created each of us on purpose for a purpose. As God’s creation you and I are priceless to Him. I was a valuable person to Him even when I weigh 430 pounds and I was eating myself to death. God still loved me and if I had survived and was still breathing today and eating everything in sight today, He would still love me.
What I did by losing 250 pounds does not make Him love me anymore. But it does help me love Him more because I know the depths of His love and grace that called me back to Him again and again. He didn’t condemn me for my behavior and rebellion against doing what I knew He wanted me to do.
What He did was set up circumstances to call me out of that miserable pit I found myself in. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God called me out of my bondage to food addiction and into a closer walk with Him. If you’ve heard my story you know that too.
Looking back on my life, what I see clearly is that the effort Jesus went to in order to show me that I needed to give up sugar and gluten was so I could live free, “have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance to the full, till it overflows,” John 10:10 AMP. What greater gift could He give us than a life full of abundance and meaning?
His love is so ridiculously amazing and all He asks in return is that we love Him. But how can we, in our very human condition, love God? It’s simple and yet extremely difficult. We don’t have to love Him. We are free to love Him and if we choose to do that, He gives us instructions about how we can go about that.
Mark 12:30-31 TPT gives us more insight into how we can do this. But so do the following verses: Matthew 6:24 AMP, Matthew 16:26 AMP, 2 Cor. 10:3-5 NIV, 1 Cor 6:19-20 NLT, Galatians 5:1 TPT, Matthew 11:30 MSG, 1 Cor. 3:18 NKJV and Ephesians 2:10 TPT.
Overcomers Academy: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Latest book—Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Free ebook—What Is A Stronghold?: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/
066--Where Are You Stuck?
Where are you stuck? It was a question that begged an answer. Any seasoned coach, teacher or mentor will just sit there and let it sink in. My way of dealing with any question is to answer it even if I don’t know the answer. This is obviously not the best way to deal with this question.
But I’m learning that some questions are meant to make us think. Thinking requires marinating in time. A good question isn’t one you answer right away. A good question is one that you go to bed thinking about and then wake up still pondering.
There are several possible answers. We may think we aren’t stuck but everyone else around us is so whatever issue we are having is their fault. We may know we are stuck but blame it on our past. We may be stuck because of something that has been done to us that we are trying to change, like a rule at a job that we don’t agree with and want to change.
It doesn’t matter what the problem is, we still feel stuck without a way forward. Stuck is not a comfortable place to be.
As a Christian weight loss coach, I encounter many beautiful women who feel like they are stuck. If I ask them where they are stuck many say, I just can’t figure out how to lose weight or a common one I hear is I’ve lost weight before, but I gained it all back plus more and I am afraid if I try that again I’ll just do the same thing again.
They feel they are stuck because of what they did in their past. When we really get down to the core of the issue, many times it is because they were trying hard in their own strength to lose weight and then something happened that threw them for a loop.
These are problems they can’t fix and so they go back to what they’ve always relied on to help them through any circumstance. They eat whatever they want whenever they want it. It is what they have always relied on for comfort.
They know they are stuck and they recognize it has something to do with their weight. but blaming their stuckness on their weight isn’t all of the answer either. This is where many people come into a weight loss program or coaching group. They think if they can just get on the right diet, their problem will magically be solved.
Even why we started eating everything in sight again isn’t the root of the issue. The real issue is much deeper. Overeating is a way many of us deal with the problems we don’t want to face. We have to deal with those problems first.
For more, listen to this podcast and ponder this question. Where are you stuck?
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
065--Breakthrough
Here are the main points:
- Breakthrough happens as we are on a specific quest.
- Breakthrough doesn’t happen in a void.
- Direction for the Breakthrough comes from God.
- To get the breakthrough, we have to do what God directs us or agrees with us that we should do.
- Breakthroughs help us accomplish what God wants us to accomplish on this earth.
- God wants us to have a breakthrough more than we do
- Ask God to show you how to get your breakthrough
Overcomers Academy link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/
Check out all my other resources at: https://Teresashieldsparker.com
Episode 064--Knowledge Versus Action
We live in the age of information and knowledge. Whatever we want to know we can google and find the answer or ask Alexa or Siri. Knowledge is easy to obtain. But it’s the implementation of that knowledge that our quandary lies.
Trying to amass all the knowledge to make a decision about how to attack my weight gain is part of what kept me stuck in super morbid obesity for way too many years. The truth was I knew what to do to lose weight. I knew what my problem was. I was just trying to find a different way to lose weight, one that would let me eat what I wanted and lose weight at the same time.
In Overcomers Academy, we give you the tools you need to begin to implement what you already know you need to do. A lot of that is about following what God desires for you. He wants you to be healthy in order to fulfill the destiny He has designed for you.
Doors are open from now until January 26. Join by midnight on Jan. 20 and get our early bird bonus—a copy of my newest book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds and a copy of Sweet Journey to Transformation: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Live Healthy.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers
Episode 063--Adulting is Hard
It always proves to be enlightening when I wake with a thought in my mind I know came from God. I always know it because it’s not something I’ve ever thought about and it is always thought-provoking. Recently He said to me 2021 is the year to grow up and become an adult. Then I saw clearly how 21 is that year we tend to believe individuals are adults. 18 gives them certain privileges, but really they are still teens.
2021 is the year we all need to pull up our big girl panties and step boldly into adulthood. I see childish behavior everywhere no matter what the age or season of life. We are very impatient. We want our own ways. We are totally convinced we are right and everyone else is wrong. Sound like any kids, adolescents, or teens you know?
Obviously, there have been many bad decisions on my journey. One doesn’t gain up to 430 pounds making good ones. Each bad decision has taught me something. This is a part of growing up and moving into adulthood. Along the way, I lost over 250 pounds. It wasn’t easy. Adulting is hard, but the rewards are so worth it.
How do we grow up in God? We fasten, bolt, secure, and fix our minds on God and what He wants for us. This takes a submission of our earthly desires, thoughts, and feelings to Him.
Check out Romans 7:19-25 TPT to hear how Paul tells us to do this. Submitting completely to God is not easy, but then when is adulting ever easy?
2021 just might be your year to take the next step towards defeating the giants in your life and growing up in God.
Overcomers Academy link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Sweet Surrender link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Episode 062--What is a Stronghold?
This is the first week of 2021, but today I’m really excited about something that happened in 2020. My new book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds went live on Amazon on Dec. 30, 2020.
Even though I’m a Christian weight loss coach, I am a writer first. Writing and eating comfort foods were my two passions. But it was my love of overindulging in my favorite foods that eventually got me to the place that I could barely walk and weighed 430 pounds. I’ve lost 250 pounds with God’s help. What I share in Sweet Surrender are the strongholds I had allowed to creep into my life that kept me captive for way too long.
I used to think sugar was a stronghold in my life. It wasn’t sugar that was the stronghold, it was the thoughts, desires and feelings I had that made me think I needed sugar or I would die. Crazy thing is it was my overeating of sugar and other comfort foods that landed me in the hospital with a death sentence hanging over my head if I didn’t lose weight and keep it off.
Lying there in that hospital bed, I began to realize that feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to help. That was the day I decided I would do everything possible to live. It was a turning point, but not a drastic one. I didn’t all of a sudden lose 250 pounds. I had to first face why I was eating when I didn’t need to eat. I had to understand what strongholds I had allowed to be constructed in my life.
A stronghold is a tool of the enemy designed to enslave us. The meaning of the word means a fortification, like a walled fortress on a hill. In many places in scriptures, God is called our strength, our strong towner the place we run when we need help. God should be our stronghold.
There is another meaning of stronghold, though. It can be something that takes root in our lives as an argument against God. It’s something we begin to believe because of circumstances or situations in our lives but it is a lie.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV talks about this. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
A stronghold is a false mindset which imprisons a part of us. It begins as a lie. It gains a foothold as we begin to feel it is helping us in some way. It develops into a mental stronghold we think we need to survive. We see it as protection, but it is becoming a prison that keeps us further from God.
Strongholds are mindsets that God says must be broken. If we can get to the core issue or the lie on which any stronghold has been built, the stronghold has to fall. I talk about this and so much more in the free ebook, What Is A Stronghold?
In my new book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds, I share the strongholds I faced and how God helped me break them. I encourage you to get both of these and enjoy walking in freedom!
Link for the free ebook, What Is A Stronghold: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/
Episode 061--The Challenge of More
Every year since 2013 God has given me a word for the year. The word He gives me is one I don’t want really want to focus on. Now He’s given me another word that is both exciting and scary for me at the same time. It’s a small simple word that packs a lot of punch. It is the word “More.”
It’s not about what we want from God, though. It is about what our role is that He has for us to play in this great galactic saga He has planned. When we focus on the MORE that we want, such as more food, more money, more cars, more furniture, more electronics, more things to comfort us, we lose focus of what God wants for us.
Prov 25:16 TPT tells us when we overindulge to excess in anything the world offers, it can make us sick. Excess in anything can make us sick of even things that appear to be good. Money is good. It can do good things. Food is good. We need it to fuel our bodies. We just need to view these things through God’s eyes and this is the great challenge of more.
Let me give you three mores that will work for you and not against you.
- More Than Enough Grace. 2 Cor 12:9 TPT and James 4:6 tell us we need more grace because it is the power of God at work in our lives. Money cannot buy the power of God. The challenge of the operational grace of God, which is the power to do what we thought we couldn’t do just a minute before, is that it only comes when we admit our weakness and operate out of our humility. That means we must submit completely to God. This includes letting go of the bad habits and wrong thinking that has gotten us stuck in the past or may even have us stuck now.
- More Of Jesus. We all want more of Jesus. We want to be like Him and operate in the power He operated in. There is a huge challenge with living like Jesus did and that means we must die to ourselves, Gal 2:20 NIV. In order to have more of Jesus, I have to step aside. My wants and wishes are no longer important. It is all what His desires are for me, John 10:10 TPT.
- More Dreams Fulfilled. God promises us when we focus on the right things, which are allowing Him to strengthen us with power by the Holy Spirit, being rooted and grounded in love, and being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, He will achieve infinitely more than our greatest request, our most unbelievable dream and exceed our wildest imagination. He will outdo them all, for His miraculous power constantly energizes us, Eph 3:20 TPT, Eph 3:16-19 NIV.
God loves to make our dreams come true. He fulfilled the dreams I didn’t even know I had. Let Him do that for you.
Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender.../dp/0986159247/
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy
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Episode 060--Unexpected Temptation
Christmas or any holiday, birthday or celebration used to be a time I looked forward to for the food that would be served. Just thinking about eating all that food made me merry. I looked forward to giving into all the temptations that would be there. But actually, eating all those foods made me miserable.
Still, I continued down this treacherous path gaining up to 430 pounds until I finally listened to what God had been telling me all along. I am the only one who can change what I put into my mouth. I am the only one who can reverse the path I was on, but I can’t do it alone. On my own, in my human strength, I am weak. But that is really good news.
It is only when I am “weak in human strength, then I am strong, truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength.” 2 Cor 12:10 AMP tells us that and it was a powerful truth on my weight loss journey. I didn’t realize that I had the power to overcome my food temptations from the moment I accepted Jesus when I was seven years old. The power of the Holy Spirit was with me all the time, I just chose instead to comfort myself with food which seems much more tangible than the Holy Spirit.
How did I change? The simple answer is I knew God wanted me to be healthy so I could be of use in His kingdom. I had been living my life for what I wanted. I had to start over and begin living it totally for what God wanted for my life. That meant when He told me to stop eating sugar and bread, I had to understand how to do that. In the process He helped me lose 250 pounds and keep it off.
God has given us gifts to accomplish His work and they are all so that we can fulfill His chosen destiny for us. Not the destiny we choose for ourselves, but the One He chose for us and implanted in us.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy
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Episode 059--Unexpected Temptation
Many times we can make a plan to keep ourselves from temptation, but what happens when that plan goes awry? On the podcast I share a time that happened to me and seven things I learned from that because we need to understand how the tempter can easily manipulate us without us even knowing it is him, how he uses others to trap us, how our own desires can take over our commitment to live right and how when our plans fall through we usually fall as well.
James 4:3-10 TPT helps us understand more about temptation. When we are willfully giving in to temptation God won’t stop us, but He will give us a simple reminder to listen to Him and follow Him. In my case, He simply asks me a question.
“What are you doing?” It is a question that always begs for an answer. In the case of the scenario I shared in this episode, my answer was,” I’m throwing these cookies in the trash can.”
What do you need to throw in the trash? What plans have you made that will end up backfiring and bringing you into temptation rather than away from it? What recommitments does God want you to make today?
Overcomers Academy waitlist: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 058--Comforting Temptation?
We love comfort and temptation. The two seem entirely contradictory. When we are tempted, it is not a comfortable feeling. And yet, what happens when we feel temptation is comforting? Temptation is NOT supposed to be comforting.
To be comfortable means to be in a state of physical ease and relaxation. It is freedom from pain or constraint. It is a place where we feel that everything is right with our world. If something is tempting it is enticing us to do something that we really want to do but we know it’s not beneficial for us. So that is an intrusion in our comfortable little world and yet, I didn’t see it as an intrusion. I saw any scrumptious foods or desserts as designed for me to consume so I could remain in my comfort bubble.
I didn’t realize I was living in a constant state of giving in to temptation. I didn’t even realize I was being tempted because I gave in so easily. If I were to define my comfort zone back then, it would be working hard and eating everything and anything I wanted.
James 1:14-15 NLT says it plainly, “Temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”
I allowed my desires to entice me and drag me away to be in a continual state of temptation. My desires required me to give into Satan’s temptations, which is sin. To say I allowed this particular sin of overindulging in food to be a lifestyle is an understatement. I couldn’t tell when I was tempted because giving in to my every whim and desire where food was concerned was how I lived every single day.
Then my mentor introduced me to the concept of habit change, I knew this was the key I’d been looking for. There was no doubt in my mind. What I had to do was change what I ate. That meant I couldn’t go cold turkey with sugar without learning what I could eat that would fuel my body.
I went step by step listening to God the entire way to learn how to change my habits by stopping bad habits and starting better habits in their place.
I learned that what I wanted or desired in the moment I couldn’t trust. But I would do what I had written down in my journal, committed to God and told my mentor and the group I was in that this is what I would do.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 TPT: ”All praises belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the Father of tender mercy and the God of endless comfort. He always comes alongside us to comfort us in every suffering so that we can come alongside those who are in any painful trial. We can bring them this same comfort that God has poured out upon us. And just as we experience the abundance of Christ’s own sufferings, even more of God’s comfort will cascade upon us through our union with Christ.”
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 057--Are You Tempted?
We are all tempted and God tells us He will give us a way of escape. Here are seven things to do before you are tempted to help you when temptation comes. Listen to the podcast for more information.
How to Avoid Giving In:
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Know your boundaries and limits and be living them out on a daily basis.
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Have a healthy alternative available.
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Plan for temptation.
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Train others, especially those you live with, in how to help you.
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Don’t eat beyond your boundaries just to make someone else feel better.
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Realize your body is the temple of God.
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Join a group of people committed to living a healthy lifestyle journey with God’s help.
1 Cor. 10:13 TPT says it this way: “We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously.”
Overcomers Academy link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/.
Episode 055--Surviving Temptation
We can survive temptation during the holidays and any time. Here is a quick synopsis of this podcast. Listen to get all the information,
- Define what things or quantities of things are wrong for us to eat.
- Know your limits, commit to allowing God to help you follow them.
- Admit you are weak when it comes to certain foods.
- Submit to God.
- Ask God, “What are my limits and boundaries?”
- Follow what God told you to do.
- God will help us when we admit we are weak and we need His strength.
Free #KickSugar link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/KickSugar/
Overcomers Academy link https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 055--Stop the Food Madness
Before I lost an extreme amount of weight and made some drastic changes in my life, I had a love-hate relationship with Thanksgiving and any other big holiday. I loved the food, but I hated the fact that it seemed like I had no ability to control what and how much I ate.
Every year I’d lose and then gain back more than I’d lost. It was a never-ending roller coaster ride. I wanted off but I couldn’t find the stop button. I’d scream to myself, “Can’t anyone help me stop this madness?” I was talking to the right person because only I could prevent the forest fire I had started once I began eating the things I had no control over. Only I had the power to stop myself from sinking once again into the abyss of food addiction. But to do that I had to allow God to be in charge of what I ate.
I wanted to shout to myself, “STOP the FOOD MADNESS.” But it felt like an exercise in futility. I was the size of two people, but I still couldn’t lose the weight and keep it off.
Many of those I know who want to lose weight have that same love-hate relationship with the upcoming holidays and don’t want to pack on the pounds through the holidays. Even if you pigged out at Halloween already, you can begin again. Remember we are only a failure, when we don’t learn from our mistakes.
So I want to give you seven tips to help stop the food madness during the holidays.
- Figure out what you want to commit to doing regarding eating during the holidays. Sit down and write out your agreement with yourself and God. Read it aloud to yourself so your brain knows exactly what you are committing to. Then, keep the agreement you have made with yourself and God. Plan ahead. Bring an alternative with you to a holiday meal.
- Know your limits. For me and many others I know, that is not eating any sugar-laden desserts. Even one bite can be too much. Many times during the holidays we falsely use the phrase, “Just this little bit won’t hurt. I’ll just have one piece of pie and then I’ll be done.“ While this may work for some people, it does not work for those of us who know we are in the category of being a sugar and carbohydrate addict. As my mentor likes to say, “One is too many and 10,000 is not enough.” This is true for addictions of all sorts.
- When filling your plate, choose a smaller plate if available. When I buy plastic plates for any meals I serve, I choose the smaller sized plates. It’s funny because no one even sees the difference unless the other size plate in nearby. The smaller plate is about an inch smaller all around but it actually helps us not overfill our plates.
- Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners CAN be healthy meals because many will have turkey as the main meat. This is a great low-calorie protein source. If you are hungry, eat more turkey. Snack on the turkey. Turkey is good. Show the turkey some love.
- If you have a lot of weight to lose, understand that one holiday meal can mean disaster for you. Viewing your eating plan as a forever lifestyle instead of a diet will keep you on track. It’s not worth throwing away a year of work on one meal. It can happen if you don’t get back on track quickly. We must understand that just like an alcoholic gets better by not drinking alcohol, we will get better by not eating the foods which are addictive to us.
- A lot of tips out there will tell you to eat a little of your favorite dessert, to eat sugar in moderation, to save room for your favorite foods and eat less of others. This is dangerous advice for us if we are obese, morbidly obese, a sugar and carb addict or an overeater. There is no stopping us once we get started. Many dietitians, nurse, trainers and doctors don’t understand this. However, we know our bodies better than they do. Yes I said that. You DO know your body better than the doctors, dietians and nurse. That means you are the only one who can begin to take charge of your lives by listening to what God’s still small voice is telling you. Make your choice ahead of time. You can’t eat that and you won’t let anyone else talk you into it.
- Change your mindset. I no longer look at holidays and worry that I will feel deprived of my formerly favorite treats. I need only look at my before and after pictures to understand sugar and high carbohydrate-laden foods are my enemies. What I started to tell myself when I first began my lifestyle journey is: “I get to eat healthy.” I also tell myself that these other people are stuck in having to eat junk that clogs their system and makes them continue to gain weight, feeling miserable and leading them towards an early death, which they could prevent if they just made the right decision. I feel sorry for them. And I truly do.
At this point in my life, I am also aware that people are watching me to see what I eat and don’t eat. My life is silent witness to others trapped in food addiction. Your life is a witness as well. Who knows you are embarking on a forever lifestyle journey? What would they think if they see you eat things they know are unhealthy? What does that say to them?
Here’s my definition of freedom: “Freedom is being free from the stronghold that tells me I have to eat that brownie, cake or dessert. Freedom is not feeling bound to the foods that call my name in the middle of the night and draw me to them.
“Today, I am free. 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.”
“Now may God, the inspiration and fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in Him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with His super-abundance until you radiate with hope!” Romans 15:13 TPT.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-acdemy/
Episode 054--Searching for Freedom
This episode talks about how we can be in the grip of something or caught in bondage which then becomes a stronghold and not even realize it.
I lived in shame and condemnation for nearly 30 years. I knew I had an issue with food. I knew foods made with processed sugar and flour were like drugs to me. I knew I was guilty of something God had clearly showed me I needed to stop. I just couldn’t give it up. And thus, shame and self- condemnation ruled my life.
The shame and condemnation I felt did not come from God. He was not condemning me. He just pointed the way out of the extreme mountain of weight that I had allowed to amass on my body and entomb me.
Keys to Freedom
He had given me the key to freedom. It was right in the door of the cell I had built for myself. You know, the place I told myself was comfortable and just what I wanted. In reality, it wasn’t what I wanted and it was anything but comfortable. I was dying in that dark and dreary place, but I was too entrenched to find my way out.
Oh, I put on a good front. I smiled. I did my jobs. I took care of my home and family. I did everything but take care of the most important person. I was put here on earth to take care of—myself.
God was trying to be my teacher and guide, but I had built walls to protect my tomb. They were walls made up of excuses and arguments against what God wanted for me. I knew what He wanted me to do, but I didn’t like what He told me. If I did what I knew God wanted for me I would have to give up foods made with processed sugar and flour. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted a different way out of my extreme weight gain. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too.
Grace
What I didn’t understand was that God was not trying to enslave me, He was pointing the way to my freedom. He did this by giving me the ultimate gift—grace. I didn’t understand that when I repent of what I’ve done wrong that I have forgiveness for my failures based on God’s overflowing grace, which He will pour over me with wisdom and understanding as Ephesians 1:7-8 in the Common English Bible says.
This episode shares how I got free and how we can all get free from the bondages and strongholds which have become habits that we don’t know how to break. Take a minute to listen and then feel free to check out my Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy.
It’s time to prepare even now before the holiday parties start. Wouldn’t it be awesome to face 2021 without some of that extra weight? Let’s do this! Come join us.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 053--Restoration
What does restoration really mean? It means to “bring back something to a former or original state.” It is many times used in the Bible to mean being brought back to life either physically or spiritually.
I would not have known the real meaning of restore at the beginning of this year. To be restored, I had to face my own mortality. I’ve faced it many times. Now that I’m through my recent abdominal surgery, I can talk about it more. There is just something that happens inside you when a surgeon says, “This is what we want to do, but to tell you the truth, we’ve never seen this before and we don’t know what we’ll find when we get in there.”
My restoration will take a while. Healing from the inside out can’t be rushed and is a necessary part of recovery. One big part of restoration for me has been rest. If you know me, you know I don’t like to rest. It feels very unproductive.
Yet when I go in every other day to get my dressing changed and the nurse tells me how much I’ve healed, I realize it has all been due to me being able to rest enough to give my body time to do that.
That’s the physical restoration, but there is also a spiritual restoration that takes place when we rest in God and trust Him to take care of us and He always does. The other day God brought a line from a Keith Green song to my mind. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” The words are from Psalm 51:12 KJV and the song I was remembering was “Create In Me A Clean Heart. “ I wondered just what David, the writer of the Psalm meant when he penned those words?
David wrote this Psalm after the prophet Nathan pointed out his sins of adultery and murder. David, the man after God’s own heart, had been trying to “fix” the wrong he had done. He hadn’t faced his sin. If you think about it this was at least nine months after his sins. The baby he had illegitimately conceived with Bathsheba had been born and then, died. During all this time, David wrote no Psalms.
Writing the Psalms was David’s way of talking with God. He was running from God, not physically, but spiritually. He felt far away from God. I’m not sure if he felt like he was above God’s rules and laws and because he was king he could do what he wanted or if he really felt that God’s salvation had been taken from him.
But after Nathan helped him see his sin, He confessed, repented and asked God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him. He cries out to God and entreats Him to not throw him away from God’s presence and not to remove the Holy Spirit’s anointing and presence from him. Then he asks God to restore to him the joy of God’s salvation.
He is recognizing that God and God alone is the giver of salvation. He realizes he is far away from God, but God had been there all the time. He was simply waiting for David to come back to Him. David recognized the distance and with the distance went His joy. He longed to be close to God again, to feel the joy that comes from listening to the Lord and following Him. He needed that again. He realized He couldn’t remain being a king without that close relationship with God.
As I began to understand what restoration meant to David, I saw a parallel in my own life. David at least spent a year not repenting of his sin. However, I spent a whole lot more time than that before I really repented before God. I had fallen into a trap I think a lot of us fall into where we don’t think of eating that extra piece of cake or that little bite of this dessert or an extra helping of mashed potatoes as a sin.
We’ve been doing it for so long we don’t see it as a big deal. We aren’t a dirty, rotten sinner like David who was an adulterer and murderer. Or are we? Do we really believe that no sin is greater than any other sin? Or are these little sins that morph into much bigger strongholds the longer we do them ok?
We have to understand that the devil is smart! He knows all he has to do is grab us in one area and wheedle his way in until he has made a comfortable cozy nest in our lives, which he then expands to take over everything about us. When he has successfully set up his stronghold in us, he sits back and watches us squirm.
We don’t like what we’ve done to ourselves, but we can’t seem to get out of the pit we have dug for ourselves.
God has good plans for us. He wants us to be healthy in order to fulfill those plans. He is ready to restore the joy of our salvation to us. He wants us to understand that we are His sons and daughters, whom He loves. That means He wants the best for us. Not all the goodies we can eat, but all the spiritual blessings He wants to reign down on us.
Remember when you first accepted Jesus as savior? Remember the joy you had? Where has that joy gone? What would it be like to have the joy of your salvation restored? What has covered up that joy? What might you have to do to uncover and rediscover that joy?
Are there areas where you are disregarding God’s voice because you think that little areas of disobedience like what we put in our mouths doesn’t matter?
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 052--Taking Care of You
Most of us are dedicated to taking care of others before taking care of ourselves. This flows out of a well-meaning, but jaded way of looking at how we are to live the Christian life.
JOY?
I learned in my teens that JOY means Jesus first, Others second, then Yourself. The message I heard from every pulpit was that focusing on myself would be selfish and only get me in trouble.
I understand clearly where this message comes from and it is true. We are humans and such we are self-centered and want what we want. The JOY acronym, though, is misleading.
Focusing on Jesus first is always right. However I like what my pastor said recently. God doesn’t want to be first on your list. He wants to be the list.
Great Commandment
Jesus answering a Jewish leader about what commandment is greatest told us the answer: “Jesus answered him, ‘The most important of all the commandments is this: ‘The Lord Yahweh, our God, is one!’ You are to love the Lord Yahweh, your God, with every passion of your heart, with all the energy of your being, with every thought that is within you, and with all your strength. This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is this: You must love your neighbor] in the same way you love yourself.’ You will never find a greater commandment than these,” (Mark 12: 29-31 TPT).
What Jesus is saying is God has to be everything to us. If we don’t take care of every part of us, we have nothing left with which to love Him. We have to take care of and guard every part of our life to make sure we can follow Him completely.
Jesus also clearly tells us that we cannot love others if we have no love for ourselves.
What God Says About Me
To love ourselves we must understand what God says about me, I searched the Scriptures and wrote down 77 positive affirmations with references. These are things I repeat over myself when I need encouragement.
The big truth is for us to love ourselves unselfishly by seeing ourselves as God sees us. Then, we can really love Him with every part of us and love others in that same way.
77 Affirmations Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/teresas-77-affirmations/.
Episode 051--Sugar Shame
I was guilty of continuing to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted even though I was an adult and I knew the ramifications. Most of what I ate was candy, sweet treats and desserts. I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly what I was doing to my body. I was guilty of not doing what God wanted me too and I was ashamed. I lived in my little town of one called sugar shame.
Cognitively, rationally I wanted to change. Emotionally I was carrying so much baggage I was ashamed to admit what I had done. Spiritually I knew I was guilty of not doing what God would tell me every time I prayed about my weight issue. “Stop eating sugar. Stop eating so much bread. Eat more meats, fruits and vegetables.”
I felt this was not possible for me to do. I craved anything made with sugar and/or flour. To not eat those two staple ingredients I was taught always must be in your cabinet, was not even on the doable list.
I would do anything else to lose weight. I’d diet, drink weight loss shakes and pills, eat chicken breast and salad for months and I could lose weight that way. But I felt no one could do that forever and I did not want to give up the foods I grew up with forever. Hence I felt guilty and ashamed.
Guilt and shame are not motivational. They only drag me down. They make me want to stop living instead of encouraging me to live.
1 Cor. 6:12 NASB tells us, “All things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable (or beneficial). All things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything.”
When I am enslaved to anything contrary to God’s best for my life, I am controlled or mastered by it. It becomes an “evil” in my life, a stronghold which I have allowed entrance.
Praying for God to deliver us from this evil only works if we are willing to surrender whatever our temptation is and no longer allow it entrance into our lives. When we close the door and say, “No,” that is the start of our turn around moment. In other words, it only works if we are willing to humble ourselves to God and resist the devil.
James 4:7-10 NLT says it this way, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”
I come close to God. When I wash my hands of the old lifestyle and begin to purify my heart by the washing of the water of the word of God, pouring in His words into my life, my loyalty to God becomes stronger and the pull of what I want becomes less. This is a process, though it must start with an honest surrender time.
In repentance I must cry out to God. I physically felt the impact of what I had done to my body. It almost made me sick to think about it. I grieved for what I had done. I felt like David who said in Psalm 51:10-12 TPT
“Start over with me, and create a new, clean heart within me. Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires ready to please You. May there never be even a shadow of darkness between us. May You never deprive me of Your Scared Spirit. Let the passion of my life be restored tasting joy in every breakthrough You bring me. Give me more of Your Holy Spirit-wind so that I may stand strong and true to You.”
16-17: “The source of Your pleasure is not in my performance or the sacrifices I might offer to You. The fountain of Your pleasure is found in the sacrifice of my shattered heart before You. You will not despise my tenderness as I humbly bow down at Your feet.”
“Jesus, I come to you once again broken and needing to be mended. I hand You all the things I have willfully kept for myself and have refused to surrender to You. I am sorry for not listening to You and trusting You to guide me. Take my shattered heart and make it new and clean. We trust You now and always.”
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 050--It's Not All About Comfort
The Holy Spirit is our comforter, but He isn’t just all about comfort. He doesn’t have just one facet. He is multi-faceted.
John 14:26 AMP says, “But the Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.”
He is what we need most in the moment we are in. This is why going to Him works so much better to help us than indulging in something that only harms us. When we go to food for comfort it works in the moment, but later it is very discomforting. It doesn’t bring us the peace we need.
Comfort is an interesting word. When we dissect it, what we mean is really selfish. It’s all about what I want and nothing about what God wants for me.
He is calling me and you to go much, much deeper with Him. He is calling us to a new level. He is calling us to transformation and He is using our issues with food to do it. He’s redefining what comfort looks like and feels like for us.
It’s about the comfort and peace of mind that comes when we know we’re doing exactly what God’s heart’s desire is for us in order to take us to that next level in Him.
What I’m learning is that comfort may not be the right word. The Holy Spirit was much more of a counselor to me than a comforter on my journey. It wasn’t very comforting to give up the one thing my puny little mind had convinced itself was the thing I needed. I had to learn how to cope with myself without running to my drug of choice, which was food made with sugar and flour.
His goal, His mission, His desire is to show me the way to the next level in God. Many of us see this Christian thing like joining a club. It’s much more than joining anything here on earth. It’s having your name written in the Lamb’s book of life. It’s knowing that every step you take and every decision you make is integral to your life’s mission. It’s about progressively changing and growing up in God.
Matthew 5:48 AMP says, “You, therefore, will be perfect, growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
He’s telling that what He wants is for us to be growing, changing, transforming, not stuck in lies that grow into strongholds. He wants us to get to the place where going deeper with Him or rising to new levels in Him becomes our only goal.
When we are forced to face some of life’s most difficult questions, it will take us deep. Maybe the deepest question you are facing right now is how to stop yourself from what you know to be a slow death by comfort food. Maybe there are other difficult questions thrown in there along with it.
Don’t be concerned. Most people are never invited to grapple with life’s difficult questions and so they never grow. It’s when we are forced to face these issues that we will grow and get to deeper meanings of who God is and who we are in Him.
Whatever issues you are going through, God wants to bring newness out of it. Having to lose 250 pounds was not a fun journey. It wasn’t the way I would choose to become new. But God has changed me in ways I never dreamed possible. Some of those ways involve just looking at my life differently
2 Cor 5:17 AMP says: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior, he is a new creature, reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit; the old things, the previous moral and spiritual condition, have passed away. Behold, new things have come because spiritual awakening brings a new life.”
I’ve had this conversation with my husband about when I really became a Christian. Was it when I was 7 and stole candy from the grocery store and invited Jesus into my heart so I wouldn’t go to hell? There wasn’t much difference between me at 7 and at 8. Not much was made new. I had the assurance of going to heaven and I never again stole from the grocery store. That was about it.
But when I was 55 and surrendered sugar to God that was a totally different experience. That’s when I laid my life on God’s altar. That’s when I gave every part of myself to Him. That when I handed Him my previous moral and spiritual condition and said, I don’t want to do life like this anymore, stuck in bondage to food and sugar addiction. I need to understand Your way of doing things. I need to be awakened spiritually so I can allow You to take charge of my physical wellbeing and show me how to live reborn and renewed by Your Holy Spirit.
It’s about so much more than comfort. It’s about growing up in God. Even at 55, I was still a baby in Christ. I needed to trade my selfish desires for the comfort of certain foods and accept the comfort of the Holy Spirit first. Then I had to learn to crawl, stand, walk and run with Him towards the destiny He had planned for me from the beginning of time.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 049--Jesus Versus Strongholds
We all know when it comes to a battle of Jesus versus our own personal strongholds, Jesus is going to win. Right? Well, it’s only right if we are putting our trust in Jesus instead of the stronghold we are hiding behind.
From the beginning of time, when God created Adam and Eve, we were meant to be co-creators with Him. We had a high calling. Then Adam and Eve listened to evil rather than to God and they fell taking all of us with them. They believed the evil one’s lie. This opened the door to the formation of strongholds which are actually just lies we believe that have taken root in us.
Lies come from mindsets. Mindsets affect us emotionally. Dr. Caroline Leaf says there are two categories of emotions — Faith and Fear.
Faith is all the good emotions — love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, grace, mercy, hope.
Fear is all the negative emotions — anger, anxiety, worry, frustration, overwhelm, jealousy, bitterness, pride, manipulation. These hold us back from the good emotions which holds us back from fulfilling our destiny.
These negative emotions are like chains that bind us and tie us up, so we are ineffective. These turn into lies we believe such as even Jesus can’t help us. This then becomes a stronghold we hide behind. Then we use sugar and other substances or distractions to anesthetize our pain and try not to think about how Jesus can’t help us because we too far gone.
This becomes a stronghold that keeps us captive unable to do what we were designed to do and put here on earth to do.
To get rid of a stronghold, you must take a stand against it.
We are His hands and feet here on this earth, but we are allowing something as ridiculous as oatmeal cake, sugar cookies, brownies and whatever else strikes our fancy to overcome us.
We are not trusting in God. We are trusting in something else. That has become like a stronghold. It is a mindset that says I have to have this food or this substance to live. That means you are trusting in what you believe is a stronghold instead of trusting in God.
So how do you put God back on the throne of your life?
- Submit completely to Him. Become honest and transparent before Him. Let Him into the secret places you think you’ve hidden from everyone including Him. Hand that secret stash of food to Him.
- Admit that you have made your stomach your god.
- Own your issue. I am a sugar addict. I am a binger. I am an overeater.
- Act against your addiction. Throw out the sugar. Turn away from the treats at work. Take a stand and know you are living for more than sugar and flour. You have a king named Jesus and He is a jealous God.
We must take a stand against the stronghold we have set up in our lives. Satan would want nothing better to whisper in your ear that you are defeated. But I’m telling you that you are only defeated if you want to be.
One destiny God has for all of us is Freedom. It is for freedom Christ has set us free, don’t be entangled again in the yoke of bondage as Galatians 5:1 tells us. Only Free people can move. Those who are bound must stay right where they are. Take a step towards freedom today. Allow God to work in your life to break the strongholds you have allowed to be set up in you.
Overcomers Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 048--Change Culture
I hear the words cancel culture thrown around a lot, but I’d like to recommend instead of canceling culture, let’s do what Jesus said. Let’s change the culture around us.
When used as a slang word to cancel someone or something means basically to turn your back on them, to disown them, to boycott them, to pretend they don’t exist. Even writing those words saddens me. And yet if truth be told, there are things, people, situations I’d just as soon not have to deal with.
Does that mean I want to cancel them? Not really. Jesus taught us to not conform to culture, but he didn’t teach us to cancel culture. Instead He taught us to change or transform culture. We are to be light in a dark world. We are to be salt that changes the taste of everything around us. We are to be a city set on a hill. We are sent to change the world around us.
Canceling culture is not the right way to go. Neither is going along with everything culture or society throws at us. So what is the right course for a person, who really wants to do the right thing? We must change culture, but more importantly, we first have to change ourselves. I can’t help anyone change until I have first begun to change myself.
When I was contemplating talking about this subject one scripture kept popping into my mind, Romans 12:1-2. In the Amplified Bible it explains why we should not conform. “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies dedicating all of yourselves, set apart as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.
“And do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and customs, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.”
Each phrase in this passage could be a message in and of itself, but first, let’s also read it in the Message paraphrase. It says it more directly and to the point. “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
These verses have been pivotal on my weight loss, as well as my spiritual journey. They go hand-in-hand. I could have lost weight without God’s help. I done it many times before. But keeping the weight off, staying true to what God has shown me to do and not to do would never have been possible without submitting to His leading. It’s commitment to Him that keeps me going.
1 Corinthians 6:20 TPT tells us that we were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, we are to use our bodies to bring glory to God!
There is a direct correlation between us being in a physical body and our walk with God. We are in a body for several reasons. One of those is that it is in this way that we are tested and tried. Our body has fleshly desires. If those are pursued in earnest to the exclusion of anyone or anything else, it will imprison us. So Jesus came to offer us a way out of the bondage of sin and selfish desires.
We first have to be completely honest with God and choose to follow Him in everything. We must choose to turn over every rock where we’ve tried to hide things from Him. Then and only then can true transformation begin.
The truth is, God already knows what’s under those rocks. You aren’t hiding anything from Him, not even that stash of treats you have hidden in your closet. You are only trying to hide them from Him. Handing them to God is the first step to transformation.
Then as 2 Cor 3:18 TPT, says “We can all draw close to Him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured (or transformed) into His very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transformation comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
We start the process by submitting to Him, but He continues the process as we move with Him from one brighter level of glory to another. In the Amplified version it says, “we are progressively being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory.”
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 047--Plot Twist
The last several days I’ve been working on developing my new Breaking Strongholds course. It’s interesting going back through my journey and seeing the crazy things I believed and did. It’s sort of like my life is a movie and I’m watching it play out and rooting for myself to make the right choices knowing time and time again I didn’t.
Then, I watch how God throws in a plot twist which takes my story in an entirely different direction. I’m grateful for His plot twists. Without them I know I’d be dead today. I made so many bad decisions in my life I’m surprised God ever got through to me.
Romans 8:28 TPT says, “We are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose.”
My lifeline verse is 2 Cor. 12:9-10 AMP. It’s God talking to Paul. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation; for My power is being perfected and is completed and shows itself most effectively in your weakness.”
Then this is Paul’s response back to God. “Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may completely enfold me and may dwell in me. So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak in human strength, then I am strong truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength.”
God clearly showed me that admitting my weakness and allowing Him to take over is when I can get things done. It’s when I rely totally on His strength. The more I do that, the more my own strength and trust builds in Him.
God has been weaving together my story for a long time now. I felt there were way too many dark times when I made such idiotically dumb decisions that I didn’t even see how He could turn it around. But if there’s one thing I learned on my journey, it’s that He and He alone is God. He knows how to take my failures and redeem them to help me continue to go forward towards the destiny He has always had planned for me.
He knows how to throw in a good plot twist.
The first lesson in my Breaking Strongholds course releases in Overcomers Academy Sept. 24. If you feel like your story needs a plot twist to get you to where God wants you to go, this course is exactly what you need.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/.
Episode 046--What is Comfort?
“Where did you learn your relationship with food?” The question invaded my mind. Not for a second did I wonder whether or not I had a relationship with food. I knew I did, and I knew I learned it from my loving Grandma, who fed us with every kind of food we wanted including every type of dessert. We could eat as much as we wanted whenever we wanted it.
We all need comfort, but true comfort should not come from the foods we eat. When that happens, comfort foods can become a stronghold that keeps us from true comfort which can only be found in the Holy Spirit.
The Psalmist declared, “When I screamed out, ‘Lord, I’m doomed’ Your fiery love was stirred, and You raced to my rescue. Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of Your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight. (Psalm 94:18-19 TPT).
There is nothing like God’s presence to comfort us. It is better than the finest dessert Grandma ever made.
Real comfort is knowing God is on our side. He will never leave us. He is planning our future. He has everything all worked out. We don’t have to stress or worry. We can leave it in His hands, and it will be alright. There is nothing more comforting to me than knowing this truth.
There were many other strongholds I had to confront as I went forward on my journey. Some of them threatened to ruin all the efforts I had put in so far. We must allow God to help us identify and break the strongholds that wreak havoc in our bodies even though we have allowed them to be set up in our lives.
If you feel stuck on your journey and can’t figure out what’s going on, it’s like you have a stronghold you need to identify and break with God’s help. I’d love to have you join us in Overcomers Academy for my brand new breaking strongholds course. This 17-week course starts, Sept. 24, 2020.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 045--Transformation Island
All I ever wanted was to lose weight and do it simply and easily. What I learned over and over again, though, is that gaining weight is so much easier than losing it. I have a Ph.D. in how to gain weight. So, here are 21 Ways to Gain Weight. Of course there are a whole lot more than this and I’m sure you could add your own specifics to the list.
- Eat anything you want.
- Do not think about what you are eating.
- Go with what your gut is telling you to eat.
- If everyone else is eating it, you should too.
- Don’t be concerned about getting nutrition or good fuel for your body.
- Believe it’s more important to eat what makes you feel better in the moment.
- See food as protection and comfort.
- Never move. Sit all day.
- Make sure to park as close to the door as you can so you don’t have to walk.
- Rebel against anything a doctor tells you about how you’re going to die if you don’t lose weight.
- When someone makes a suggestion about how to lose weight, don’t listen.
- Be angry because everyone else seems to be able to eat and not gain weight except you.
- Just tell yourself, one day a magic pill will be invented to fix your crazy cravings.
- Tell yourself to go ahead and eat it. You can always lose weight tomorrow.
- Make eating your only source of fun and recreation.
- Believe that God doesn’t care if you gain weight and die early.
- Think that your weight is not really affecting you that much.
- Buy every diet book and try them all. Or better yet, just set them on a shelf in a prominent place so at least people will think you are trying to do something about your weight.
- Call yourself a failure and believe you can never lose weight. Accept your fate.
- Tell yourself. “It’s impossible to lose weight during the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries or special occasions.”
- Don’t ask God how you can become healthy and if you do, don’t listen to what He says
On this episode I talk about false mindsets, false protections and strongholds, so be sure to listen to it. On the podcast I give an action step which seems simple but may be really difficult for those caught in the cycle of eat-gain-eat. Rewrite the 21 ways to gain weight into 21 ways to lose weight. Listen to the podcast for a few of my answers to the first 10.
My Breaking Strongholds Course debuts in Overcomers Academy on September 24. Doors may close after that. Get in now. Here’s the link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 044--Transformation Island
Take a trip to Transformation Island. It’s totally different from Renovation Island. Renovation is a one-time thing. You buy an old house, renovate it and sell it for a profit. It’s out of your hands. The renovation is complete.
Transformation is an ongoing process. It takes commitment from the beginning through progressive changes we know won’t be quick but will be lasting.
On Transformation Island, the first thing we must do is work on the inside. We have to begin to identify the core issues we have which are holding us back from wanting to change. Transformation will not happen without some major changes in our lives.
Those changes are not just in what we eat and how we move. They are in why we eat what we eat, especially if it is unhealthy for us or is in a quantity we know is not healthy for us. The changes are also in why we refuse to move when we know it will help our health to do that.
Paul tells us how to transform in Romans 12:2 MSG. “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”
When we are going on another diet, we are focusing on the wrong thing. We are focusing on changing the outside of us thinking we are just fine on the inside. I want to tell you from experience that is not true.
We have to know what God thinks in order to be transformed to His image. The only way to do that is to focus on Him and not on us. We must allow Him to renew our minds.
Romans 12:1-2 AMP tells us how to do that. It’s not easy, but it is a necessary part of transformation. “Present your bodies, dedicating all of yourselves, set apart as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational, logical, intelligent act of worship.
“And do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and customs, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind, focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes, so that you may prove for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.”
I see five points about transformation in these scriptures.
- Submit your body, mind and soul to God. If there is any part you are holding back just for yourself transformation won’t happen until you give that to Him.
- Understand that submitting to God is a different kind of worship. It’s rational, intelligent and logical. You don’t tell Him what to do. He speaks, you listen and follow.
- When you submit to God, you stop following what the world and people around you tell you to do. You start following God.
- You make it a priority to allow God to bring you into spiritual maturity by renewing your mind. Spend time with God to help you understand what He wants. Then you can be progressively changed which results in transformation.
- The end result of transformation is that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what God’s will, plan and purpose is for you.
The journey on transformation Island will be difficult, but oh so rewarding. It’s messy. In the chrysalis everything caterpillar melts and provides the energy for the butterfly to be developed. The caterpillar held the original design for the butterfly in its cells all this time. But in order for the butterfly to emerge, the caterpillar had to surrender to the process of extreme transformation.
That’s exactly what it was like for me to lose 250 pounds. It was extreme transformation. I had a lot of lies I believed. Those were formed when I was young and impressionable. As I submitted to the transformation process, God began revealing those to me one by one. I had allowed them to build into strongholds that were keeping me from going forward on my journey.
On some level I felt these lies helped me because they gave me excuses as to why I couldn’t go forward. Lies like I can’t lose weight, I have no value, even God can’t help me and so many more. God wanted to break these strongholds so I could move forward into the destiny He had for me, but I had to want them broken. I had to allow Him to do the deep work in me to utterly destroy the lies I believed and replace them with His truth.
My new course Breaking Strongholds will address this and more. It will debut in Overcomers Academy starting Sept. 24, 2020. The course will be based out of my new book, Sweet Surrender, which won’t be ready until later in 2020. In the group, I will be able to personally answer your questions as I walk you through identifying and breaking the strongholds holding you back.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 043--Do Overs
Out of our biggest mess comes our greatest message. I know this is true for me. For years I felt like a mess. I tried to fix it myself but every time I tried to diet, it would just result in me losing weight and gaining it back again plus more. Dieting made me fatter.
I made a big mess but I worked with God to help me clean it up. When I finally got through that God started revealing the message He had for me to share. It came out of my experiences.
God will use our experiences as trophies of His grace. Ephesians 2:7 TPT says,
“Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of His grace and kindness which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ."
That’s where we are headed. He wants to show people that if we can do it with God’s help, anyone can.
When I came to the lowest part of my journey, I prayed for a restart button. Can I just have a do-over God? Can we just start over? I promise this time I’ll listen. This time I’ll let you lead because I’ve made a big mess trying this on my own.
I was actually encouraged by a message I heard several years ago where a preacher said 15 books of Bible written by murderers. I found there were possibly 20 books that were written by the three men he was referring to. Moses, David and Paul.
Moses’ biggest mess was killing the Egyptian. Exodus 2:11-15 tells the story.
Acts 7:30-36 Paul recounts the story of Moses’ do-over when God spoke to Him in the burning bush and called Him to deliver the Children of Israel from the Egyptians.
David’s biggest mess was his affair with Bathsheba and then masterminding the death of her husband, Uriah. 2 Sam. 11:14-18 recounts that.
His do-over came when he repented of what he had done in Psalm 51:10-12. He had to realize his sin was against God.
Paul’s biggest mess was persecuting, arresting and killing Christians. Acts 7:57-8:1 tells the story of the stoning of Stephen. Paul was the mastermind behind his death. One translation even says Paul took “pleasure at Stephen’s death.”
His do-over came on his phenomenal Damascus Road experience recounted in Acts. 22:6-11.
Moses do-over came after a long time. He was 40 years when he killed the Egyptian. Then he spent 40 years in the wilderness learning what God had to teach him.
David’s do-over came during a time of abject poverty of soul, crying out to God for mercy and compassion. It was a time of total repentance.
Paul’s do-over was an instant moment of change. He couldn’t fight it. There was no denying that Jesus had appeared to him in order to change his life completely.
My biggest mess was gaining up to 430 pounds. My do-over took many years of working through my issues until I had an aha moment like Paul did, understood I was a sugar addict and began to turn around. After that I really felt like David. I was mourning what I had done and repenting.
Moses didn’t want to go back to Egypt. He was scared. David was on his face in repentance. Paul needed help from the very ones he had been persecuting to make sure the Romans didn’t kill him once they found out he had switched sides.
I felt a little like all of them on my journey. I needed help from mentors. I definitely spent a lot of time I my face in repentance for rebelling against God and not listening to what He wanted for my life. Mostly though, when God called me to do more than just lose weight and write a book, I was like Moses. I was scared.
Writing a book was OK, but then came having to speak and I didn’t want to do that. Tv and radio, workshops, video courses. I didn’t want to speak. So I’d prepare and have everything written out for a speech but I found I rarely look at my notes because in his graciousness, God has broken the stronghold I had that said I can write but I don’t have a voice for speaking.
God led me through this whole thing of speaking to the point that October 2019 I answered his call to begin this podcast. That was never on the list of things I wanted to do, but God in His wisdom knew.
Then after writing Sweet Grace, I led a Sweet Grace book study at my church. Towards the end three of the women stayed afterwards and told me they had been following what I had been teaching, but were concerned because the class would be ending soon. God used that session with them to call me into coaching. I was reluctant at first because I know all the excuses for not losing weight. I wallowed in them for way too many years. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back through what I’d just come out of. But God assured me He would give me all I needed to coach. I opened my first coaching group on July 1, 2014.
Since then my coaching group, courses, books, podcasts and social media posts have reached thousands of people. It’s beyond amazing to me what God did when He gave me a do-over. I thought I was just losing weight to feel better, but God had so much more in store for me.
Even when I wrote my first book, I never imagined what He had in store. God can take our biggest mess and create our greatest message. Only He can do that. We can’t orchestrate it. I had no idea what God was up to when I finally surrendered my sugar addiction to Him and allowed Him to remove the strongholds which were keeping me stuck in super morbid obesity.
I really began this journey out of selfish reasons. I wanted to feel better and look better. However, God wanted me to live a better, more fulfilling life. I didn’t have a clue what that looked like, but He did.
I don’t know what God has waiting in your future, but I do know what He wants for you right now. He wants you to be healthy—body, soul and spirit. If you need help with that, I’d love to have you join Overcomers Academy. Doors are open now. Get in now and take advantage of all the resources we have before our new Breaking Strongholds course premiers in September.
Are you ready for a do-over?
Overcomers Academy: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 042--God's Good Plans
God does have good plans for us. What He says in Jeremiah 29:11 is not just a cliché, it’s a solid truth. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
God said this and we say we believe it but do we really. Do we really think God has good plans for us? Because right now everywhere we look there seems to be disaster. Let’s unpack this verse a little and try to understand the context and what God was saying.
When God told them this the children of Israel were in captivity in Babylon, which is present day Iraq. In the verse before this one, God tells those who had been exiled to Babylon to build homes and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Find spouses for the children so that they would have many grandchildren. He said, “Multiply. Do not dwindle away. And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for the city, for its welfare will determine your welfare. “
Then, God promised them that after 70 years He would come for them, bring them home again and do all that He had promised for them. That’s when He tells them He knows the plans He has for them. God knew exactly what the exiled children of Israel were thinking. Why has God done this to us? Why isn’t He taking care of us? It surely doesn’t feel like we are God’s chosen people. This is not fun. I want to go back home. I want to go back to what’s familiar. I want to go back to what I know.
In Jeremiah 29:12-14 God tells them what He wants them to be doing: “In those days (the days they are in captivity not knowing what else to do) when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Then in Jeremiah 30:10-11 God tells His people: “Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them.For I am with you and will save you,” says the Lord.
There’s a lot going on here in the history of Israel, but the important thing is God has a plan for His people. Christians are included in this plan because when we accepted Christ as Savior we were grafted into the kingdom. (See Romans 11:17-24).
There have been so many times in my life when I have thought I was headed towards disaster. One of the biggest times was when I gained up to 430 pounds. At that point in my life, it wasn’t that I was headed for disaster, I was a disaster.
I totally own the fact that I enabled myself to gain such an enormous amount of weight that I was beyond the highest category on the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. Overweight is those whose BMI is 25-29.9, obese 30-39.9, morbidly obese, over 40, super morbidly obese over 50. My BMI was 71.5!
It so felt like I had woken up in a very bad, no good, horribly disastrous nightmare of my own making. To top it off, I had no future and I had no hope. I was in captivity to my own appetite. It felt like I was in a prison, but I knew it was a prison I had created.
It’s a stronghold, like is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Strongholds are mental mindsets, lies that we buy into. The word stronghold can actually be translated as a prison, a strong place where someone is held captive and they cannot get out.
What happens though when you have exiled yourself into captivity? How does this whole thing work then? Where is the good in this? Well, first of all, strongholds are not what God wants for us. He came to give us freedom, freedom to follow Him.
God gave the children of Israel the way through their captivity in Jeremiah 29:11-14. Did you catch it? I see three steps to getting out captivity and three things God will do when we complete those three steps.
The three steps to getting out of captivity are:
- Pray
- Seek God wholeheartedly
- Find God
Then He promise to do these three things.
- End your imprisonment
- Restore you
- Bring you home
Jeremiah 29:11 is what God wants for us: good and not disaster, a future and a hope. That’s His plan. However, if we don’t do our part, it’s going to be really hard for God to do His part.
First step is prayer. This is not just a short prayer in the morning and a quick thanks for the food God. This is continual prayer, prayer without ceasing where we talk to God like He is our BFF. We tell Him everything and we listen when He talks to us.
We seek Him wholeheartedly. This looks different for everyone. For some it’s on your face in His presence. For others its joyous praise dancing. For others its fervent prayer for extended times. For others its intercessory prayer on your own in your prayer place and for still others it’s staying in constant touch with God throughout their day. However, we pray it must be with sincerity and commitment.
We pray and seek God wholeheartedly in order to find God. What does God mean here when he says,” If you look for me wholeheartedly you will find me. I will be found by you?”
The Message says it so we can understand it a little better. “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.”
If we want to get out of captivity, especially if we are in a prison of our own making, we need to be diligently looking for God. He’s the One who can help us. Many times, though, God may be the last one we want to find us. If we have put ourselves in a prison of our own making that means we think we have to set ourselves free. But stop and think for a minute. If you put yourselves in prison, it’s going to be difficult for you to get free without help. God is the first one we should be looking for. Instead we try to figure it out on our own.
The prison I put myself in was eating foods made with sugar in order to placate my negative emotions. I had allowed the thought that I couldn’t survive without these kinds of foods to become a stronghold in my life. It was a lie felt exactly like a solid truth. The only One who could show me the way out was the very One I was avoiding.
I didn’t want to find God because I knew He had already told me my freedom would be found in giving up those foods. I wasn’t praying about this. I wasn’t seeking God wholeheartedly. I knew if I sought Him, I find Him. And when I found Him, He’d tell me the same thing.
The Message says, “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you. I’ll bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”
Where is home? It’s the place you were at before you went into captivity. Before you stepped into the prison of your own making. For me it was in the security of following God with all my heart. I longed to return there, but I felt I couldn’t because I had strayed so far away.
What God was asking me to do was to follow Him wholeheartedly. But I was doing it in a halfhearted flippant kind of way where I’m following Him one day and off somewhere else the next. That won’t work. He wants all of me. The part of me that was eating myself into oblivion because I thought that was making me feel better had to stop, turn around and get back on board with what God wanted for me.
When I finally put all my eggs in God’s basket, He will bring me home. Until I’m off on my own doing my own thing following after my own desires, He can’t bring me home. When I finally saw what I’d done to myself and how far I’d strayed from what He wanted for me, I prayed. I sought Him with tears of repentance and I found Him. Why? Because He wanted to be found by me.
It can feel like God’s hiding from us when we aren’t following Him, but the opposite is true. We’ve walked away from Him. He’s there waiting for us to surrender whatever we’ve put between us and Him. For me it was foods made with processed sugar and flour.
For others it can be fried foods, fast foods, processed foods, chips and snack foods. For others it’s binging or overeating. For some it might be anger, shame, rejection, people pleasing, over achieving, over working, overspending, gambling, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, pornography or any number of things.
Whatever it is, it is keeping you from your future and has dashed your hopes. You feel like you are living in disaster and you long to taste of the good plans God has for you. God hasn’t torn up His plans for you. God is the author and finisher of your story. He’s got a plot twist just waiting for you.
He had one waiting for me and I’m so glad He did. My life changed dramatically when I got on board with His good plans for me. I lost the equivalent of two people or 250 pounds, but that’s not the biggest change. I got rid of tons of emotional baggage and came running home to God. I found Him again. You can too.
Overcomers Academy link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 041--Dealing With the Root of Anger (Dan & Susan Young)
If you or someone you love have issues you haven’t seemed to be able to get a handle on, even with traditional counseling, this podcast will help. If you have unresolved anger issues, this is a must listen. Dealing with the root of any issue will get us there faster than anything else. God loves to reveal the source of our anger and help us deal with it. The root has likely blocked the truth of who God is and how much He loves us and is available to guide us.
Dan Young was a client who did a remarkable job of following my lead as a coach. When Susan, Dan’s wife, first told me that he wanted to do a freedom coaching session, I wasn’t sure. I had never coached a man before and had been taught that women coaching men wasn’t a good idea. However I had coached Susan and she would sit in on the coaching sessions with him, so I agreed. I knew Dan had some issues with anger he was trying to work through and I wanted to help him. So I told Susan we’d see how it worked out.
I was amazed by several things about Dan. 1. His eagerness to get rid of his issues. 2. His ability to not try to figure out everything God was showing him, but just to speak out what he heard God say or what he saw or felt. From that point we could go forward asking God to help us understand more of what the words or images Dan saw or heard meant.
Dan and Susan Young have been married for15 years. They are retired and live in Jacksonville, Fl. Family Life Weekends to Remember are a passion for both of them. They have been volunteer prayer warriors for that organization’s local events for 14 years.
At this time I have limited Freedom Coaching spots but I also use the process we discuss on this podcast to coach members of my Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy during our live monthly calls. The process is also outlined in my book Sweet Freedom and Sweet Freedom Study Guides. I have a couple of courses on this available in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy.
For Family Life to Remember events, go here: https://www.familylife.com/weekend-to-remember/
For Freedom Coaching, go here: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/
For Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy, go here: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 040--67 and Counting
It’s my 67th birthday. It scares, frustrates and excites me all at the same time.
Every year on my birthday I like to think about what the past year has been like and what I’ve accomplished. That’s why my birthday is always a deadline of sorts for me. It’s usually the time I shoot for getting a book finished.
This year is no exception. I’ve just finished my sixth book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds that Lead to Sugar Addiction. I talk more about that on this podcast. But I also share some highlights of what I’ve been through.
It really helps me to see how through the years I kept wanting God to show me what my purpose or destiny was. Instead it felt like He would change the subject and tell me what I should be doing regarding weight loss. I wanted to know about my purpose. Why was He telling me about what I needed to be doing regarding my weight.
For me, my weight and my destiny were totally intertwined. Now I’m asking a question T.D. Jakes asked back at the start of the year when we could still go to church.
What do you want your life to look like in five years? What will you be doing in five years? What goals will you have accomplished in five years?
I share those on this podcast. Now share yours with me.
Episode 039--The Cost of Unhealthy Eating
I’ve been asked about the cost of eating healthy versus unhealthy a lot. I know we really think healthy food is more expensive, but I’ve found eating unhealthy is even more expensive because when we are eating everything in sight we are eating more and that cost continues to skyrocket. If you are eating a bag of chips a day and drinking two to three two-liter sodas or diet sodas a day plus a bag of cookies and whatever “meals” you eat, buying frozen chicken breasts to grill and the fixings for salad is a lot less expensive.
If you eat the same quantity you are eating when you don’t have a stop button, yes even eating unhealthy can be expensive. Still I know my food bills are a lot less these days than when I was eating whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. Eating healthy is not just about eating the same quantity of food only making it more healthy food. That might help in the beginning. But it is really about changing our entire lifestyle.
When food is what we crave, we don’t really realize the cost of what we are doing. Take the cost of a dozen large cinnamon rolls. They used to be my favorites. I could get them for less if I bought them by the baker’s dozen, which I did just to get the free one.
You Can Afford To Eat Healthy
I know I save money when I go to the grocery store today even eating gluten-free items, which are usually more expensive than the regular processed foods. That’s because for at least the last 10 years I have not been using food as a panacea for every emotional turmoil I feel. That was pretty much a constant thing because I had programmed myself to eat whenever I felt an emotion rise up that I didn’t want to deal with.
After learning how to deal with my emotions in a much more positive way, I found that I was eating a whole lot less than I ever did before. In the past I would cook pasta or potatoes every meal. I don’t do that anymore because salad or fruit is just as filling.
I eat a lot less of everything than I did when I was super morbidly obese. The operative word here is “less.” Part of the issue with baking with processed sugar and flours is we eat more. The same thing is true of junk food, pre-packaged frozen foods and fast foods.
They are all geared towards making us want to eat more, so we buy more. However, we aren’t really eating more because we have stomach hunger. We are eating more because it is filling a different kind of void.
Emotional Eating
We have feelings associated with foods we remember as comfort foods like mashed potatoes and gravy, country fried steak, fried chicken, green beans slaughtered in bacon fat and ham, cherry cobbler with ice cream, homemade cinnamon rolls and anything else Grandma used to make. We remember the look of those foods, the smells, the tastes, the feelings of warmth and comfort associated with those foods. Our mouths start watering just thinking about them.
The costly nature of cinnamon rolls and other such tasty treats is not just in what we spend purchasing grocery carts full of empty calories, it’s also in the cost to our bodies.
We gain weight. We contract diseases because of the weight gain. You know what they are—heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and many others.
Thomas Edison said it this way, “The doctor of the future will give no medication, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
By diet he didn’t mean going on another diet. He meant what we eat. We are all on a diet right now. It might be all we can eat whenever we want it and whatever we want diet, but we are on a diet.
The biggest cause of most of our ailments stems from what we eat. Change what we eat and we can fix a lot of our health problems. Sometimes, though, we don’t know what we are eating. Even the fresh fruits and vegetables we eat, we aren’t sure whether or not they have pesticides unless we know exactly who grew them. And our meat is subject to what the animals ate.
One thing we know for sure, though, processed, pre-packaged, even canned foods have additional additives. If we read the label we’ll see things we can’t even pronounced. These are added to give enhanced flavors and prolonged shelf life.
They are added for the producers convenience, though they tell us it’s for our convenience. They do make it so we don’t have to do anything except take that frozen family meal and stick it in the oven for an hour and dinner is served.
The Cost of Convenience
Yet, what cost is that convenience? Many of these foods are high in sodium and sugar. Why sugar has to be added to chicken broth, I’m not sure.
These costs we absorb into our bodies. When our bodies break down, we wonder why. We go to a doctor who treats the symptoms but does not tell us the core of the issue. That issue is the supposedly cheap food we put into our mouths. But is it really that cheap?
Which costs more? One item for $10 or 10 items for $1 each? We can eat the one and be full and healthy or we can cram the 10 down and be overstuffed and have the beginning of a big problem.
Not only that, we now have an illness the doctor is treating with expensive prescriptions, but not really solving the core issue
Fix Me
Finally, the biggest issue is we want someone to fix our problem. It’s obvious the doctor isn’t going to do it unless you have an awesome doctor like I did who believed wellness therapy included educating his patients on the right things to eat and the right vitamin and mineral supplements to take to enhance health.
However, the most help I found when I was stuck in this endless weight gain loop was a group to help me untangle myself from the snare of addiction to the unhealthy foods I was eating. I had a mentor and an accountability group that led me on this journey.
And yes, I paid for the group. Through the years I had paid thousands of dollars for weight loss supplements, pills, plans, and programs. I had a closet full of such stuff and tons of diet books. None of these worked for me because I didn’t stick with them and didn’t plan to change my lifestyle to become more health-oriented.
I knew what I needed was a mentor to challenge me and hold my feet to the fire. I needed someone to ask me the tough questions. I had to begin to think about what I had done to myself and my body. I needed someone to help me begin a total lifestyle change. This is nothing like a diet, though along the way I had to understand what things I needed to stay away from because they were highly addictive to me and what things I could eat in moderation.
Understanding that I am a sugar and comfort food addict was huge for me. God had already told me to stop eating sugar and breads and to eat more meats, fruits, and vegetables. That finally made sense to me when I looked back over my life and saw all the times I tried to go on diets and lost some weight, but then gained it back when I went back to eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it.
Not everyone is a food addict like I was and still would be if I were eating things made with sugar and flour today, but I know God has a lifestyle change plan tailor-made for each of us. Surrendering to His plan for us is where it all begins. Part of surrender is doing away with all the excuses we have as to why we can’t follow what God has laid out for us.
My mentor was instrumental in helping me make some monumental changes. I could only to that, though, by knowing that God was leading me all the way. Having a group that was on the same journey I was, also helped. We encouraged and supported each other. In the final analysis, what really made the difference for me was knowing I was following what God wanted for me.
Committed to Change
That’s why I began weight loss coaching. In Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy, I desire to work with those who are really ready to commit to change. Food is definitely not the only thing we work on in the group. I lead the members to understand how to develop their own lifestyle eating plan with God’s help. To some, this sounds frightening at first, but God really wants to be involved in every area of our lives—body, soul, and spirit.
Romans 12:2 MSG says: “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” That’s what Overcomers Academy is all about. It’s about putting God first. It’s about surrendering our food issues to Him. It’s about learning how to change and what’s so important about that.
Let’s figure out how to eat to fuel our bodies with the right kind of fuel. Do yourself a favor. Invest in you. That might be in changing the way you eat or getting some help on your journey. Whatever God is leading you to do, you, my friend, are worth it.
Overcomers Academy: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Teresa’s Books: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/books/
Marigold bars: https://www.marigoldbars.com/?ref=12
Episode 038--Grace Changed My World
Grace is this multifaceted aspect of God that defines His nature and underlies everything He is and does. It is the engine that drives His purpose here on earth to help us move at Grace Speed.
For at least 50 years I thought grace was just something that happened at salvation. If it is only that, it would be enough in and of itself. However, it’s even more awesome than that.
Grace for salvation
As a child, I stole candy from the grocery store which made me realize I was a thief or the “wretch” the evangelist hollered about during revival services.
I knew God was perfect and that no sin can enter heaven. I had knowingly committed sin. Therefore, I would not go to heaven unless I accepted Christ’s sacrifice for my failure.
When I repented of my sin, which right then was stealing candy from the grocery store, asked God to forgive me and then asked Jesus to save me, the power of grace did something truly amazing. It transferred me from the column labeled “Eternal Separation from God” to “Forever with God.”
I moved from destined towards a sure death to bound for an eternity in Heaven. Just thinking about that now is more than astounding; it is life-changing, but I was just a kid. I’d never known life without going to church every Sunday. So in reality nothing dramatic changed for me. I was just happy I wasn’t going to hell for taking the penny candy when my Dad wouldn’t give me a dime.
Grace the foundation
Still that day God’s free gift of grace opened the door for me to have a close relationship with Him, one where I could walk right into the throne room and share my deepest thoughts, fears and concerns with Him.
Out of His great love for me, He covered all my failures, past, present and future. He did this so I would be free to follow Him.
It was a foundational relationship of love. He loved me and He desired that I love Him in return. However, it was not an obligation. I still had to make the choice to follow Him, but now I had His Spirit living in me and I was free to make that choice. His grace compelled me to follow Him, make right choices and do His will.
Grace for failures
God knew my tendencies. He knew even before I stole candy from the grocery store, that sugar would be a barrier to following Him completely. Yet, when I came to Him He didn’t hesitate. With open arms, He gave me grace that covered all my failures past, present and future, (Ephesians 1:7-8 CEB).
If I were God, though, I wouldn’t do it that way. I’d legislate that if a person says they want to follow me, they would have to show by their actions that they fully commit to following me. I’d have a period where they’d be closely watched and if they didn’t toe the mark and do what I said, they’d be out.
God, though, doesn’t operate that way. When I made the initial response to Him, He wanted my continued relationship to be my own choice. So He covered me with His grace in the midst of all my struggles to figure out how to follow Him correctly, how to honor God with my body, how to take care of the very temple of His Holy Spirit which is my body.
For many years, I felt like I was in a tug-of-war with God. I was still wanting to do my own thing and I thought He was pulling against me trying to pull me along and make me do His bidding. That is far from the truth
Many times I was wanting His stamp of approval on what I wanted to do, how I wanted to eat, how I felt I needed comfort foods and sugar to get me through the day. I wanted Him to help me lose weight and eat all the things I wanted at the same time.
He had already told me how to lose weight. He had shown me my issue was eating things made with processed sugar and flour and I needed to focus on eating meats, fruits and vegetables. He wasn’t pulling me. However, I was pulling against Him.
His end of the rope was slack. He was not trying to drag me over to His side kicking and screaming. He let me play my own game until I finally became utterly exhausted, spent, at the end of my rope.
He was always there. Never judging. Never condemning. Always waiting for me to come home to Him.
Grace for reunion
Like the prodigal son, I looked around at the pigpen of my life and realized how much I needed the Father to set me right no matter what it took. It couldn’t be any worse than me living tired, overwhelmed and exhausted from carrying around 430 pounds plus tons of emotional baggage I didn’t know what to do with.
I dropped the end of that rope I’d been tugging against and He welcomed me back with open arms. Just like it says in Luke 15:20 NLT. As I stepped closer to Him, He ran to meet me. I was never really alone. He was just waiting for me to come home.
He knew I was going to comfort foods, desserts and fast food for comfort and sustenance. He also knew those things were never designed to comfort me and will never sustain me.
He knew my eyes were so blinded by my life-long struggle that I didn’t remember what it felt like to be comforted by Him, to fall into His arms and just be held.
Grace for the journey
So He embraced me and I remembered. I remembered what it felt like to be close to Him. I remembered what it felt like to be held close. I remembered what it felt like wrapped in His arms of comfort and love. Why did I ever search for that anywhere else but in Him?
Close to the Father, wrapped in the Spirit, led by Jesus —It’s from this foundation that my real journey began.
He pulled gifts from His huge storehouse. He lavished them on me. Gifts like prophesy, faith, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, kindness, love, hospitality and so many, many more. And just like Romans 12: 6-8 NLT says He gave me those gifts to do the things He wants me to do and do it well.
The particular, individualized gifts He chooses for me are not a reward, but a way to help me on the journey He knows I am now able to take. It’s a journey toward my destiny.
Grace for destiny
God has big plans for me and for you. We know from Jeremiah 29:11 that they are plans for good and not disaster. They are plans for our future and our hope. Grace is an integral part of that.
Without grace, as a believer, my destiny would not be mine. If God legislated how I should act and what I should do in order to earn my future, I would be a robot to some kind of cosmic dictator.
A crucial part of God’s plan is also choice. He wants a people who choose to love Him, not who are legislated to love, 1 John 4:19 NLT.
Grace allows that choice to be mine. I am free to choose. Even though I belong to Him, I am not obligated to choose God’s ways and thereby, try to earn my right to enter into heaven. It doesn’t work that way.
Grace for propulsion
I am thankful that there was a time when I chose to follow God’s ways. I finally realized that I didn’t have the strength to do what He wanted me to do. When I admitted my weakness and willingly surrendered it to Him, I found God not only met me there, but walked with me. He actually propelled me forward into greater abundance than I’ve ever known before.
He tells us like He told Paul. “My grace is sufficient for you. My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation; for My power is being perfected and is completed and shows itself most effectively in your weakness,” (2 Cor. 12:9 AMP).
Paul finally understands what God is telling Him and says, “Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may completely enfold me and may dwell in me. So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak in human strength, then I am strong truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength,” (2 Cor. 12:10 AMP)
God is strong all the time, but when I stop trying to fix my own problems and agree to do things His way, His strength shows up big time. I am weak because I’m human. It’s in admitting that and understanding I have no strength, that I realize that what I do have is the supernatural strength of God, a power no human can match.
This still doesn’t mean all my problems disappear and everything magically goes my way, what it does mean is I understand how to me more connected to God. In that connection, I find my purpose spelled out in ways that continually blow my mind.
Paul explains God’s love even more when speaking to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 3:15-21 MSG, “I ask Him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!
“Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
I so love Kris Vallotton definition of grace. He says, “Grace is the operational power of God to do what you couldn’t do one second before.”
We are the hands and feet of God here on earth. We carry out His ultimate purpose, which is to bring all people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we choose to follow Him, to surrender all our selfish thoughts, feelings and desires to Him, it simply shows Him that we love Him with everything that is in us. There is no greater purpose than that.
Grace is the foundational principle of the Kingdom. Grace is undeserved favor and at the same time it’s explosive power to change the world.
These days I’m more aware of that than ever before. It seems we are looking to solve the world’s problems with our own intellect, knowledge and reasoning. Once again Paul spoke out strongly about this same thing.
“ We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments,” (2 Cor. 10:3-4 NLT)
We can’t fix what’s broken in our own lives or the world fighting with human weapons. We need to use God’s spiritual power to change the world.
That power is grace. It’s an expensive mix of God’s Love that sent Christ to die for us and the explosive power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts.
All the ammunition we need is grace. It can change us. It can change the world. It definitely changed mine. Let me know how it’s changed yours.
Overcomers Academy: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Youtube video channel: https://www.youtube.com/teresashieldsparker1
Episode 037--What God Sees
Weight loss is the reason people come into Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. However, I’ve really pondered changing the name to Overcomers Healthy Living Community. That is really more what I teach. However, the words healthy living really don’t trip the felt need trigger. It wouldn’t have for me when I weighed 430 pounds. All I wanted was to lose weight.
Truth is, I’ve not met many women who don’t want to lose weight even if it’s just a few pounds.
Believe it or not, those who weigh 120 may hate what they’ve done to themselves as much as those who weigh a 420. When I look back over my life, I see this as more than true. I remember weighing 120 in high school. That’s when all the cheerleaders weighed 100 to 110 pounds. I thought I was fat then.
I also thought I was fat in third grade when I first got glasses because a classmate, who didn’t wear glasses called me a four-eyed fatso. I look back on my third-grade pictures and see that I was not a chubby kid. The glasses could have been more stylish, but I wasn’t fat. I might have been a size larger than the other girls in my class, but I wasn’t round as a beach ball. Those words, though, defined how I thought of myself for years after that. I hated my size because I was not a petite little thing like the popular girls in my class.
When folks come into any coaching program I lead the first thing I want to try to get them to understand is that God sees them as beautiful no matter what size they are. The woman who weighs 120 needs to understand this as badly as the largest woman I’ve ever had in my group. Yes, God wants us to be healthy, but He doesn’t condemn us for what we have done to ourselves. He doesn’t have to. We do that all by ourselves.
Remember Romans 7:18-19 TPT? Paul sets up the scenario we all feel from time to time.
“The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it. My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid.”
He goes on to say in verses 24-25, “What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man (or woman) from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death? I give all my thanks to God, for His mighty power has finally provided a way out through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! So if left to myself, the flesh is aligned with the law of sin, but now my renewed mind is fixed on and submitted to God’s righteous principles.”
This is really good news for us. He tells us there is a way out of our predicament. It’s not more willpower. It’s not hard exercise. It’s not eating all the right foods, it is simply submitting to God completely. When we do that everything else will fall into line.
The problem is we try to follow all the rules without totally submitting to God. This never works because we are once again following a law or a rule rather than submitting to Christ.
The next verses in Romans 8:1-2 TPT really gives us a better understanding of all of this. “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. For the law of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the law of
We are FREE from the tempter’s pull when we are joined to Jesus. Why? Because within us we have the Spirit of life flowing through us. This is a really big deal, one we just take for granted.
Those who have not accepted Christ have to rely on their human reasoning to do right or wrong. When we accept Christ we immediately receive the Holy Spirit. That means we have a dunamis power. Dunamis is a Greek word from which we get the word dynamite. The Holy Spirit is dynamite!
If you are a Christian you have dynamite inside you. However, dynamite is useless unless we light the fuse. Until then, it’s just another stick lying there. It has no power until we light the fuse. That’s the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit. It lies dormant until we activate it. The fuse is lit simply by us admitting our weakness and asking for His strength because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.
So how to put this power to work for us? First, we have to recognize the lies we are believing. One of the biggest ones for me was that I am a four-eyed fatso. I believed that even when I was a grown adult. The lies we believe about ourselves become self-fulfilling prophecies.
The evil one is the Father of Liars. His currency consists of lies, which are half-truths that turn into full-blown lies. In my life, he set those lies in motion when I was in grade school and I believed the lie that I was a four-eyed fatso.
Many people will tell you that it is of utmost importance what voice you listen to the most. However, there is one voice you will always listen to and that is your own voice. Want to change how you see yourself? Change what you tell yourself. You have more power over your mind than you think you do.
I remember the first time I realized I was living this self-fulfilling prophecy. I was an adult and had dropped the four-eyed term, but I regularly told myself I was a fat blob. That morphed into me believing there was no hope for me. Then, it would drive me to eat something to relieve my pain which usually was something decadently sweet.
Then I’d reiterate, “You are a fat blob. You’ll never lose weight.”
I had told myself this for so long that I didn’t even know it was me doing it. It was just part of my everyday life. Then, I went to a seminar and heard that I didn’t have to listen to the voices in my head. I had the power of the Holy Spirit to change the narrative. I just had to activate it.
I needed to activate the power of the Holy Spirit. All I had to do was ask the Holy Spirit to remind me when I was repeating something that wasn’t helpful for me. There was one problem I had to overcome, though. The truth was I weighed 430 pounds so I was a fat blob. It didn’t feel like I was telling myself a lie. I was being pragmatic. I was being truthful. Wasn’t I?
How God Sees Me
However, truth is how God sees me. I knew my loving heavenly Father would never call me a big fat blob. I knew His Word says “man or humans, are the ones who look at the outside of me. God is different though. He looks at my heart. He looks at what I believe about me.” I needed to change what I believed about myself.
I decided to be brave and find out what God believed about me. So, I simply said to Him, “God, all my life I have believed I am a fat blob. I know I’m super morbidly obese. I don’t deny that. But God how do you see me?”
He answered me immediately with just a few words. “You, my Daughter, are beautiful.”
It really caught me off guard. The God of the universe thinks I am beautiful? If He thinks I am beautiful then I need to be telling myself that instead of I am a Fat Blob. It took some time, but every time I started muttering to myself or even thinking that I was a fat blob, I would say, “No, I am a beautiful daughter of the king.”
The first and foremost thing we must believe is that we are worth working on. God loves us like we are, but He also knows how we take care of our physical bodies, which are the temples of His Holy Spirit, will be a big determining factor in how long we are here on earth and how much kingdom work we can do while we are here.
He doesn’t want us to lose weight so we look better. We are already beautiful to Him. He wants us to eat healthy, exercise, get good rest and have a good mix of work and recreation so that we can fulfill the purpose for which He placed us in our bodies in the first place.
Seeing ourselves as God sees us takes tapping into the heart of God. It takes believing that He does indeed love us. It is not thinking of ourselves in a prideful way, it is simply seeing our lives through God’s eyes.
What we should be asking Him is: “What is Your vision for me God? How can I do the things You have laid out for me to do? What is the first step?” For me that was simple. I knew God wanted me to write books. I also knew I had no energy, clarity or stamina like I was. I knew if He truly wanted me to be an author, I had to lose weight. That was my why which was totally connected to God’s why.
There were other steps along the way to losing the weight, but it had to begin there. It had to begin with I am worth it to God. No matter what it takes, no matter what it costs, I need to listen to God.
Ask yourself right now, What am I telling myself that is contrary to what God believes about me? Then, ask God, What do you believe about me?
Make it your goal to catch yourself when you repeat the negative thing you believe and replace it with God’s positive truth about you. Ask God to remind you to do this. Take a few minutes and write out the positive affirmation about yourself at least 20 times. Then say it aloud that many times.
There is something powerful about writing the words and then reading them out loud. Your brain needs to hear you say: I am beautiful. God believes it and so do I.
To get the free download of 77 Affirmations, go here: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/teresas-77-affirmations/
Episode 036--Discovery 2020
Discovery is the word God gave me for the year 2020. When He gave me that word, I knew it was going to be an interesting year. I just had no idea how interesting! Now, I realize how important the word discovery is for 2020 God is doing something really, really big for all of us to discover.
The dictionary definition of discover is an enlightening or astonishing disclosure or a revelation. Notice that word revelation! To see it in more exact words, a discovery is an act of communicating divine truth or something that is revealed by God to humans.
All of that is in this little ordinary word, discovery.
What the Scriptures Say
Two Scripture passages really stood out to me in regard to the word discovery. The Psalmist tells us that there is no end to the discovery of the greatness that surrounds the Lord, (Psalm 145:3 TPT).
There is always something more we can discover about God. He is limitless. He is constantly creating. New people are born every day, new situations, new experiences, everything about God is all about creating something new for us to discover, especially about ourselves. Great doesn’t even scratch the surface to define God.
As awesome as that verse is, it was Luke 9:23-24 TPT that screamed at me the loudest. “Jesus said to all of His followers, ‘If you truly desire to be My disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace My ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to My ways.
“’If you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for My glory, you will embark on a discovery of more and more of true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.’”
Discovery of Surrender
To go forward in our or weight loss and healthy living journey or just our journey to spiritual maturity learning to surrender what we want in order to receive His best for us is paramount.
What Jesus is telling us here is that if we choose to surrender our wants, desires and even the things we think we need to survive in this world, God will reveal to us what true life is all about.
In other words, when we fully submit to God we automatically begin a journey of discovery of more and more about true life. When we walk with God, He begins to reveal things we didn’t know before.
We may think we know all about the Christian life, but Jesus is saying that we haven’t even gotten started until we choose to give up what has been holding us captive to earthly things and keeping us from being all-in with God.
Surrender Brings Destiny
For me surrender had a great deal to do with learning how to give up certain foods I couldn’t seem to say no to. I was addicted foods made with sugar and flour. This also included any foods with high carbohydrate content. The higher the carbs, the more they captured me. To get free I had to give these foods up.
A cardiac surgeon had given me five years to live if I didn’t lose the weight and keep it off. It should have been a no-brainer, right? But when you have mental and emotional strongholds, which haven’t been broken, it’s really hard to surrender the things you are physically addicted to.
When I finally got through some of the big hurdles and decided to allow God to walk me through this journey to transformation, my life began to morph into one of purpose and destiny.
When I weighed 430 pounds I kept trying to shoe-horn my life into a destiny I wanted for me. I told God how it would be great if I could do this or that, but nothing seemed to work out like I thought it should.
When I’d ask destiny-oriented questions, the only answers I would get from Him were what He’d been telling me for years. It was always about surrendering sugar and things made with flour to Him. I thought He was ignoring my question. What did losing weight have to do with my life’s purpose? I have discovered since that my destiny has everything to do with losing weight. There would have been no future for me if I didn’t lose weight.
Follow Jesus
God used my biggest failure to teach me my greatest lesson. It’s a simple one really. I am just really stubborn so it took me quite a while to learn.
The lesson is just this: Follow Jesus. Do what He says. You’ll discover your destiny when you do that one thing.
I needed to do what I already knew He wanted me to do. I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to give up sugar and flour. I wanted to eat all the delicious foods I had grown up with and lose weight too. I rebelled against what He wanted for me for years. I even thought it was impossible.
It didn’t seem to me like it was very destiny-oriented to have to give up things others could eat, but when I began walking through that process God began to teach me more and more about Himself. He was helping me discover more and more about how He and He alone has the keys to abundant living here and in the great Beyond. He was teaching me more and more about how to trust and obey Him.
What We Need to Discover
Remember, discovery is connected with revelation. In the year 2020, God is revealing Himself to us as the only One who has the power to fix what we have broken. We have broken His world and we can’t fix it. Only He can. We have to discover that one truth again.
It’s all wrapped up in this verse: “Lord, You are great and worthy of the highest praise! For there is no end to the discovery of the greatness that surrounds You,” (Psalm 145:3 TPT).
This is the quest we should all be on. This year He is highlighting that only He is great. Our jobs, money, churches, businesses, institutions and politicians are not what’s great. It’s God and God alone.
In 2020 God wants to refine and deepen our faith. I pray we get the lesson before it’s too late.
I know it’s difficult for us to see our world any other way than the land of the free and the brave where folks can accomplish the Great American Dream. Even though we may get back to something even better than that, we have to begin looking at our lives through God’s eyes. What things are the most important to Him?
**He cares about us, of course, but our ease is not His main concern. Loving all people is. Introducing all people to salvation through Jesus Christ is. We have to look at our world through His eyes of Love. How do we know we are doing this? When we share Jesus with as many people as we can. When we reach out in love to our brothers and sisters despite what it might cost us.
2020 is the year we discover what things we need to change in our personal lives. It’s the year of discovery of the deeper things of God. It’s the year we really, truly discover how to love one another. It’s the year we begin to discover who we are and why we are here.
I’m not asking anything of you right now except to pray. Pray for our country, for our leadership, for those who have been oppressed, for those rioting, for lives to be saved instead of lost, for our hearts to be turned towards God.**
Episode 035--Freedom and Destiny
Six years ago today, July 1, 2014, I began my first Christian weight loss coaching group. It wasn’t my idea to do Christian weight loss coaching. It was actually the last thing on my mind. I had written my memoir, “Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor.”
It became popular and people who had read the book wanted me to tell them how to lose weight. Then, God called me to begin an online coaching group. I didn’t want to do it, but when I told God I didn’t have the compassion I needed to do the job and He gave it to me, I said yes. I started coaching that next month.
When people come into a Christian weight loss coaching program they do it because they want to lose weight. Little do they know what they really want and need is freedom from sugar addiction, carb addiction, overeating, binging or other food issues.
They don’t yet recognize that these issues are holding them captive. However if they can’t say no to donuts, candy, cookies, brownies, chocolate, french fries, triple cheeseburgers or that fourth helping of lasagna, something is wrong. Likely this started from a lie of some kind that they began to believe in childhood which morphed into a stronghold and then an addiction.
It might be something like desserts comfort me. Then it moves to I need more desserts to feel better about what I’m going through. After that it morphs into desserts are necessary for me to be civil to others. Then, desserts are all I want to eat. Finally. it becomes even if God Himself asked me to there is no way I could give up desserts and things made with sugar.
We have been taken prisoner and we don’t even realize it. There is one sure way to know if you are captured or not. Have you been convicted by God that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you should lose weight? Have you tried to give up certain foods or tried to lose weight and may have done that for a while, but always find yourself going back to it? Have you wanted to change, but no matter how many times you say you are going to, you find yourself right back in the same ruts?
You, my friend, have been taken in by one of Satan’s destructive schemes. It happens so slowly we don’t even recognize it until we are so deep into it, we feel we can never get out. God, though, is the one who can lead us out of anything and everything even things that feel impossible to get out of.
What I have learned from my own journey and now from coaching many women, and a few men, on their journeys is most all of our food issues aren’t really issues with food, they are lies we began to believe that resulted in us eating to try to deal with the angst those lies brought us.
That leads to food addiction, plain and simple. But we deny that it is even an issue, just like Sally said. If we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. So we just keep eating and pretend it’s not a problem. We are FREE in Christ, so we can eat whatever we want.
And while that is true, it is also true that we are not living the overflowing abundant life that Jesus has in store for us. Satan has set in motion a scheme designed to kill us, destroy us and steal our destinies in God. Jesus has a different plan for us and it starts with not putting ourselves in an early grave just because we can’t stop eating ice cream!
If you aren’t honest with God, He will NOT help you change. Remember, He gave us FREE WILL. We have the freedom to choose. But let me ask you this, why would you willfully choose to be in bondage to a substance rather than being led by an almighty God who has your destiny already figured out?
When we are captive to a substance, we are not free to follow God. We are double-minded and unstable in all our ways as James 1:6 says. That’s because we are listening to the foods we love more than God. It’s a subtle thing that the enemy does. We all know we have to eat to live. But overeating certain foods is the first desire the evil one will try to use to get us to stop listening to God.
He did that exact same thing to Eve and then to Adam. They took the bait and look what happened as a result. But when he tried that same thing by tempting a very hungry Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus showed us the way out. He answered him with Scripture saying “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Deut. 8:3, Matt 4:4) Then when Jesus had had enough of Satan’s temptations He ordered Him, “Get out of here, Satan!” (Matt 4:10).
If God has been talking to you about any area related to food or weight, please listen. When He does this, He’s not mad at you. He’s madly in love with you. He wants you to live the sweet life, but that doesn’t mean eating all the sweets you want. It means living in communion with Him, getting so close to Him you can’t even stand it, walking with Him and following Him every day for the rest of your life.
Psalm 119:45 TPT says it plainly, “I will walk with You in complete freedom, for I seek to follow Your every command.”
We can only do that when we have enthroned Jesus as Lord of our lives. When we finally make the decision to put Jesus in His rightful place in our lives, in order to stay free we must follow what He shows us to do. That means we must be walking and talking with Him every day to guard against being taken prisoner again.
In Galatians 5:1 TPT, Paul says it this way, “Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”
The same is true for us. If we’ve given allegiance to certain foods or certain ways of overeating or binging in order to just survive this world, we can’t continue to do that and follow Jesus completely, too. It just doesn’t work that way.
I used to stubbornly refuse to give up the foods I thought I couldn’t live without. Now I stubbornly refuse to go back to eating those foods. I live a fasted lifestyle in that I give up foods made with sugar and flour.
Giving up sugar and flour, though, is not a once and done thing. It’s a process that involves many layers. Giving anything up all at once when we’ve been eating it constantly for years will only make us crave it all the more. It’s really a process of habit change.
Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss -Academy/
Teresa’s Facebook Business page: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker
Episode 034--Boredom Eating
What is the biggest issue you have regarding emotional eating? I asked my coaching that question the other day. One woman answered: boredom. Then she asked, “Is boredom a feeling.” This was a very intriguing question to me. I’d never considered boredom a feeling. I have always considered it a reaction to circumstances. But then, maybe every emotion is at its core a reaction to circumstances.
Is boredom a personality type? Are there those who have a tendency towards being bored? Could all of these be just who we are or is it something we can change? And if we can stop being bored, do we want to do that?
I used to not manage boredom well at all. As a matter of fact boredom eating was one of the main causes of me gaining up to 430 pounds. Then after a certain point, a person’s weight fatigues them so much they can’t physically do much at all. However since we all have to eat, food becomes the only way we can think of to stave off boredom. Boredom then becomes a major issue in our lives.
When we eat out of boredom we are trying get rid of the monotony of whatever state we are in. If we eat to get rid of boredom, we’re going to find ourselves using food as entertainment instead of fuel. Food is not entertainment. Maybe what we are craving is not the food, but the interaction with others. If you can’t go see them, call them. Send them a text. Write them a letter. Do something creative for them.
On this podcast I talk about ways we can use to help us handle boredom without eating everything in sight. I also talk about how boredom can be a call to action or an impetus to do something with our lives.
To find out more about Overcomers Academy, go here: https://teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
To send us a question or suggestion for a future podcast, email us at info@teresashieldsparker.com. Please place the word podcast in the subject line.
Episode 033--Hang On Tight To Jesus
On this episode I share transparently about some pivotal things that happened to me in my childhood. I know when I am led to share certain aspects of what I went through and how God used it teach me, it is because someone, maybe even you, needs to hear this. And if this isn’t for you, it’s probably for a friend or family member so feel free to share this with them.
I talk about my mother’s emotional illness and her subsequent recovery that included a very dynamic change point for her. Before that, though, we all walked through some difficult issues with her. We had all been continually praying for her and watched as God began to lead her to recovery.
Her journey included her understanding that Jesus is her only answer and hanging on tight to Him was her only way of her issues to a better life with more stable emotions.
Years after her death, God began to reveal to me my issue that was causing my extreme weight gain. I was a sugar addict. I owned that and surrendered it to God. But then I knew I was going to have to walk out my journey, which felt like an impossible task.
Then I began searching my mind for someone who had walked out their journey and remembered my mom. She had done it by hanging on as tight as she could to Jesus. I knew that was also my answer. After that God brought a mentor into my life to help guide me in how to do that.
After losing 250 pounds, Gal 5:1 TPT became a really important verse to me. “Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”
I used to stubbornly refuse to give up the foods I loved. But those foods had become a stronghold that held me in bondage. Now I am indeed stubborn about approaching anything that even looks or smells like it is going to put me back in bondage.
The best thing is, now I am completely free to follow wherever Jesus leads me. The devil may come knocking at my door, he may try to capture me in his sly schemes but nothing tastes as good as the freedom that Christ brings. Nothing!
To join Overcomers Academy, go HERE: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
To send a question or a subject you’d like for me to discuss on the podcast, send me an email to info@teresaShieldsParker.com. Please Put podcast in the subject line
Episode 032—What is the Color of Love?
There are some huge issues in the world today. To address some of those I sat down with my long-time friend, Sheila Ruffin. Sheila is a world-wide missionary and prayer warrior who has been instrumental in teaching me deeper things of the Spirit of God.
She’s also a mom, grandma and pastor’s wife. Sheila is the type of woman that oozes the presence of God. When she walks in the room, people pay attention. It’s almost like she’s escorting God into the room or He’s escorting her!
This is a special podcast in that it is longer than usual. We actually cut some to fit it into a podcast. It’s not on my usual topic of weight loss, but friends, racial issues and tensions in the world today are going to affect us in different ways.
Understanding what’s going on in the world is so important right now. Loving our brothers and sisters is also important as is following what God wants us to do during this time to be peacemakers is of primary importance.
When I weighed 430 pounds, when I walked into a room full of people, especially a church, I would look around to see if I was the biggest one in the room. If I was, I would sit in the back where I hoped, despite my size, no one would see me, or I could blend into the wallpaper. There was a shame element to it.
Sheila is not overweight, but she has the same experience only it was happening because her skin was darker than the majority of people where she lives in our town of around 100,000. She added that she also felt an element of shame for being different from others, for growing up knowing she couldn’t go to certain bathrooms, eat a certain restaurants or stay in certain hotels when they traveled to see relatives in Illinois.
She added, “When we walk into a room, we are looking to see who else of color is in the room or to see if I’m the only one and if so, there could be something going on here I’m not aware of. For us that is just normal. I’m either the only one or one of a few. I’m used to that, but some don’t like the discomfort of being the only one. Black people feel safe among our people. I can be myself. When I go where I am the only one, I don’t know if I can be myself.”
Over time God has encouraged her to be herself, but before that she said it felt like she was almost dying because she wasn’t being herself because, “I tend to be loud when I worship. But I was tamping that down.” Then she read 2 Samuel 6.
In that chapter David comes into Jerusalem with those carrying the ark of the Lord. He is “dancing before the Lord with all His might” (verse 14). His wife, Michal berates him for what he did and calls him a “vulgar fellow.” David’s response in verses 21-22 is, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this.”
After that, something happened in me. The presence of God said, “Sheila get over it.” I got up and ran all over that place. Then, during a time of prayer, a friend of hers, who happened to be white, told her, “The Lord says, ‘He made you that way and He likes it.’”
At one point when she was headed into some countries of the world where fear reigns rampant for Christians, Sheila knew she had a spirit of fear within her that needed to be dealt with. What she thought might just be things in her immediate biological family, she began to realize went back generations.
“It’s a spirit of fear I have dealt with all my life,” she explained. “It’s the spirit of fear that has been put on the black community. It goes back to times when they’d lynch people across the street from the black community and leave ten men hanging there for all to see. It’s things like that that bring terror and fear. We’ve lived in fear for hundreds of years. We’ve heard these stories from our grandmothers or experienced them all our lives.”
She added that she had to forgive the court system and others all down through the generations. “The fear had roots in the hangings, in the terror at night when you didn’t know if they would come for you for no reason at all.”
She added, “I know as a Christian I need to forgive, even if you never say you are sorry. Even if the government never changes, I have to forgive. I have to be willing to give up that rage, no matter how scary it is. There has to be repentance on both sides. There has to be a recognition that there might be a problem here.”
The issues our nation is facing today won’t be solved by humanistic or political endeavors. They will only be solved by loving people, getting to know people who are different from us. “We need relationship,” Sheila emphasized. “If you don’t know any black people, if you haven’t talked to any, then you believe anything you hear and anything you see.”
In the final analysis only one thing will turn this country around and that is reliance of God. “We need to pray and fast and we need to do it together until heaven answers,” she added.
This podcast ends with powerful prayers spoken to God between two women who want to see and understand the color of love.
To follow Sheila on Facebook go to: Sheila A. Kitchen Ruffin (https://www.facebook.com/sheilaakitchen.ruffin)
To follow Teresa on Facebook go to: Teresa Shields Parker (https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker)
To find Christian weight loss resources, go to: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/
Episode 031—What's Eating You?
“What’s Eating you?” What is the thing that is bugging the daylights out of you? What makes you angry every time you encounter it? What throws you off course and causes you to cuss like a sailor in your head, whether you actually say it or not?
It’s the thing that, as my dad would say, “you about lost your religion over.”
When he said that he was basically saying that situation almost made a person cuss. Dad thought cussing was the worst thing a Christian could do. So if someone was cussing they were getting angry. That helped me buy into the lie that getting angry is not godly.
Most of us think yelling, screaming, waving our hands around,
running amuck through a public place, throwing things or acting in any threatening way is not godly at all. As a matter of fact we see that as the furtherest thing from being godly.
What’s Eating Jesus?
That was definitely something Jesus would ever do or was it?
Let’s read and see: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ John 2:13-16 NKJV
His disciples were probably whispering among themselves, “What’s eating Jesus today?”
Then they remembered a Scripture that put everything into
perspective. It said, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up,” (John
14:17 NKJV). So, that’s what was eating Jesus!
It was the fact that those who were supposed to be God-fearing were actually far away from loving and worshiping God. They were making a mockery of His house. It makes most of the things that upset us seem miniscule in comparison. Anger has it place when it fuels a passion to do something about an injustice in the world.
How Do You Deal With Anger?
Unfortunately our anger usually comes out in one of two ways: anger at ourselves or anger at those we love.
The anger at ourselves looks like any number of self-injurious
behaviors. My self-injurious behavior of choice was overeating. Yours may be too. However, we are also good at overspending,
overindulging in alcohol, prescription drugs or other kinds of drugs, gambling, or really anything that has become a way of escaping from reality.
We have discovered a myriad of ways to harm ourselves because some of just don’t like who we are or who we’ve become. Whatever is churning inside us is eating at us and so we do try to do something to silence it.
When it comes out as anger against those we love most, it tends to look like some or all of these things: yelling, screaming, hitting,
controlling, bullying, manipulating, giving the silent treatment or cold shoulder or as the younger crowd says “ghosting” someone and any other number of things we would classify as demeaning if we saw someone else doing it to someone we care about.
When we try so hard not to be angry, we actually make ourselves
more angry and that anger will come out in some shape or form. So how do we deal with it appropriately?
Tell the Truth
Paul had some great advice on this topic in Ephesians 4:25-27 MSG. “What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry.
“You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for
revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the devil that kind of foothold in your life.”
There are several great pieces of advice here:
First, Be honest. Speak the truth in love.
Second, Don’t lie to others. It just fuels anger.
Third, don’t let the anger seethe within you, boil over and create a big mess. Do something with it quickly.
Fourth, know that it is alright be angry just direct it constructively.
Here’s What’s Eating Me
I could say nothing eats at me anymore, but that is really not true.
There are so many injustices in the world. There’s even the current
arguments about to mask or not mask, to have meetings in groups or stay isolated at home.
As important as these are what eats at me the most these days is
seeing people who are struggling with issues that are literally eating them alive. Instead of knowing how to deal with them, they run to comfort foods. When they come out of the food coma, this
overwhelms them even more when they realize what they’ve done to their bodies.
I have a feeling that I may be talking to someone right now who is in that situation. If so, it hurts my heart to see you feel like you are
trapped and have no way out of your anger, your impossible situation or your overwhelming difficulties.
It eats at me to see you not connect to the only One who can help you through whatever you are going through. Instead of being consumed with anger, I’m letting it fuel me to talk about this problem. In my small way I hope that is helping you if you are at the place I was at years ago.
There is hope. There is peace. There is joy. There is love. It is found only in one place. It is found in our God who is ready to receive you, along with all your anger, frustration and screaming fury. He’s not asking you to set that aside. He’s asking you to give it to Him.
Let Him take it and fashion into passion for the things that stir His
heart. Let Him equip you to channel the exceptionally strong feelings you have into an outlet for good in His kingdom.
If you need help with any part of your healthy living journey, join us in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. Here’s the link:
https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
*Episode 030—The* Spiritual Hospital
Several years ago, a woman I was coaching said to me, “When you are hemorrhaging, comfort food is a tourniquet and eating healthy seems like a long ride to the hospital when you might die.” Ever feel this way? I know I have.
I understand what she means because when I weighed 430 pounds it seemed like I would never lose weight. Back then for me to even imagine myself losing what I’ve lost today, which is over 250 pounds, seemed impossible. What I needed was a spiritual hospital, but I thought I had God all figured out and it must be something else, like something physical that needed to be fixed in me.
I was in pain and I didn’t even know why. I was in physical pain carrying around that much weight, sure, but I was also in emotional, mental and even spiritual pain that I didn’t even recognize. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t do what my head wanted to do.
I felt there was only one quick fix that would work to solve my immediate pain and despair. That was doing what I’d always done—eat comfort food and plenty of it.
It was the quickest fix that I had that could make me stop feeling whatever negative emotion I was feeling at the time. When we don’t know how to feel our emotions or we want to stop feeling anger, frustration, despair, sadness, regret, shame, overwhelm, guilt and emptiness we will do anything to make the emotional pain stop, even if it only stops for a little while.
This is why we go to addictions. It’s why I went to my drug of choice—sugar and other foods with high carbohydrate content that turn to sugar quickly in the bloodstream. I call it the Christian addiction because very few Christians will admit that sugar is an addiction. Admitting that would mean they should give it up.
The other quick fix of diets never worked for me either. I’d just lose weight and then gain it back again when I go off the diet. The thing that works always seems like the hardest because it is outside of our comfort zone. What works is if I make a choice to follow everything God is showing me to do to restore my physical health.
To do that I have to surrender to a total transformation. It has to involve my mind, my will, my emotions, my spirit, my body and my physical cravings. All of those things have to change during this process. The only thing that works is a total lifestyle change.
The beauty of going on this kind of journey is that this is what God wants for us. He wants to teach us where our disconnects are with Him and how we can transform spirit, soul and body.
If you are hemorrhaging from emotions, physical pain and all that life has thrown you and you feel like eating healthy is like a long road to the hospital when you might die, understand this. That is a lie from the father of lies. None of it is true.
Eating healthy and letting God begin changing us mentally, emotionally and spiritually is the only way to begin a permanent change physically. Total change begins when we fix our attention on God. Then we’ll be changed from the inside out. (See Romans 12:2 MSG).
The safest place to be is following exactly what God wants for our lives. That’s why in my coaching program, there is more of an emphasis on understanding that what God really does want is for us to surrender everything to Him.
It’s not easy and that’s why God six years ago God called me to offer an ongoing coaching opportunity. A coaching group has to be led by someone who doesn’t just have knowledge about what to do, but has personal experience of living that out each and every day.
Coaching itself isn’t easy. I feel all the pain each member of my group feels. I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. This is what God called me to do, though, and I’m giving my life to this cause.
It’s the reason I get up each morning. It’s why I pour my heart out in podcasts, blog posts, live videos and books. I believe this is the number one killer among Christians, and possibly, all Americans. Our diet is not just killing us, it is in control of us. It is our master.
In 1 Cor. 6:12 Paul tells us, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” For way too many years I allowed comfort foods to be in control of my life. Walking out that journey was not a quick walk in the park, it felt like my coaching client said, “a long ride to the hospital when you might die.”
However, finally arriving at that hospital, feeling the healing touch of those who had been where I was and knew how to help me, drinking in their wisdom and following in their footsteps, saved my life. God knew exactly what I needed to rescue, deliver and transform me. All I had to do was climb into the ambulance and let God be the driver.
I’ve mentioned what one woman said to me. Here it is again: “When you are hemorrhaging, comfort food is a tourniquet and eating healthy seems like a long ride to the hospital when you might die.”
What she found after coming into our group is that God’s spiritual hospital is the very, very best place to be when you need more than a tourniquet or a bandaid.
Here’s the link for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Here’s the links for some of the Free gifts on my website: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/blueprint, https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/kicksugar/
Episode 029—Hope for the Hopeless
I am afraid there is an epidemic of hopelessness that has been sweeping over the world in the last few months. Even as we begin to open our doors and peek out at the world, we are unsure of the future. We are unsure of what will happen next. It’s almost like we are just waiting for the other shoe to fall.
Our nation and the world is reeling from the fact that we cannot seem to save people from this invisible enemy and so we stand with arms limp not knowing what to do, which direction to turn or where to go.
We are hopeless.
All the while, the evil one sits back and laughs at us. Remember He has one objective because at his core he is a thief. He wants to steal, kill and/or destroy us and our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God. He wants to steal our impact on the world around us. He was to destroy our credibility. But more than anything he wants to kill us because that will take us out for good or so he thinks.
Hope
Yet in that same verse, God embeds a whole universe of hope. Because God sent Jesus to the world with a different agenda. When He came He brought with Him the ability to give us everything in abundance, more than we expect—life in its fullness until we overflow! John 10:10 TPT.
Our Hope lies in Him and yet we run to so many other things looking for that elusive thing called hope. We hope our money will get us through. We hope our government will figure something out to protect us. We hope our doctors and scientists will find a cure. We hope we can hide long enough so this plague can’t find us. We hope that eating all this food will make us feel better.
Although many of those things may help us temporarily, our real hope is found in the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He has a plan and His plan will be carried out. Nothing will stop it! The evil one will try, like a villain in some world-wide video game. The problem is he has never been able to understand that there is a Maker of this game called life and in the final analysis, God wins.
The Marathon Called Life
We follow God because He already knows the plan of our lives. He not only knows it, He tells us that the plans He has for us are plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope. Jer. 29:11 NLT.
In Hebrews 11, the writer goes through a list of great men and women of faith. Then Hebrews 12 starts out “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We are in a marathon race and there are things that hold us back from running the race. I always saw the word “weight” as related to me physically. I can’t run a race if I am carrying 50, 100, or 200 extra pounds.
When I weighed 250 pounds more than I do now I could barely walk, much less run any kind of race. I could still be wallowing in that issue and difficulty, but I know and I even knew and believed then that is the Jesus the Author and Finisher of my life and had a different kind of story He wanted me to live. I just needed to get on board with the script He had already for me. I needed hope.
The word “hope” today has come to mean wishful thinking. I hope this virus won’t come to my family. I hope we have enough money to make it through this crisis. I hope we can get groceries.
However, the biblical definition is something entirely different. It is the confident expectation of what God has promised. The strength of that isn’t in what I believe. It is in God’s ability to be faithful.
The Lie I Believed
When I was a kid I heard my mother and grandmother talking about how much weight I had gained and how they kept just having to buy me bigger and bigger clothes.
“It’s like she can’t stop gaining weight,” my mother said. She was frustrated at having to buy me new clothes with a small budget. “I can’t lose weight” began to take root in me as a truth.
I had allowed this emotion of hopelessness to become one of my core life values. When the feeling of hopelessness came, there was only one recourse for me. I would eat, preferably something made with sugar and flour, something like my grandmother would have made.
I Am Weak
The reality of how to stop eating sugar was the challenge, though. I was, and still am, like Paul. I have a weakness. Scripture doesn’t tell us what Paul’s weakness was. It does tell us he asked God three times to remove it.
Paul says, “Then He told me, ‘My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.’” 2 Cor. 12:9 MSG
Paul learned humanity has limitations. Those limitations, though, are not reasons to quit. They should lead us to understand, the weaker we get, the stronger we become, when we rely totally on God’s strength instead of our own.
As I surrender to God each day, I find renewed hope in the grace and strength that He pours into my life. Whatever He calls me to do, I can do it because it is not my strength I’m drawing from. It is His.
Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 028—Worrier or Warrior
It goes without saying that we all would rather be a warrior for God than a person who is a worrier. A worrier is trying to use their own resources to solve problems. A warrior knows she has to use God’s divine weapons. There is nothing else that will work. And yet, we still try to solve our own problems.
Overthinking
When we worry we are actually praying to ourselves. We aren’t asking anyone else to help us. We are going over and over and over the problem we have and examining it from every angle.
We’re definitely going to the wrong source to fix our problems. We know the right source, but for some reason we feel like we have to fix whatever issue we are overthinking.
When we worry we are dwelling on troubles that we can’t solve, but we still try to solve them by continuing to rehearse the situation over and over and over in our minds.
We are trying to change what either is happening or has happened or what we think might happen, but of course we can’t because most of the time it would involve someone other than ourselves doing something different. No matter how much we worry about that situation, if it’s already happened then it will not change. If it hasn’t happened yet, then why are we taking up valuable brain space worrying about it in the first place?
What Is Worry?
Before delving into how to do that, we need to understand a few basics about worrying. Worrying is not in and of itself an emotion. Worry will cause us to have emotions like fear, frustration, anger, guilt, shame, regret, hate, sadness, loneliness, disgust, even rage. Any one of these emotions can also cause us to worry.
We can also worry about things that are usually considered positive, like planning a huge anniversary party or the wedding of one of our kids, especially the first one to get married, or even how to help our senior graduate. All of these are especially worrisome in the midst of a massive shut down such we are experiencing now. But even in regular times, We worry about all the details. This can be true of any new thing we are stepping into like a move to a new house even if it’s just across town, making a huge investment in a new business, starting a new career.
If you are a worrier you may stress about everything that could go wrong with what might well be the best thing that ever happened to you or your family. This kind of worry heightens our emotions. It may cause physical reactions such as a racing heart, increased sweating, rapid breathing, fatigue and headaches.
As a result, we resort to alternative solutions such as overindulging in our favorite foods or sweets to comfort us in our despair over what should be a perfectly happy situation. It doesn’t really matter if our worry began with something positive or negative, it still is not really worth our time to indulge it and yet, we still worry.
Five Steps To Stop Worrying
So how do we stop worrying and step more into the reality of the present. God gives us His plan for getting away from worry. I see it as a five-step process. Most of this process is in Philippians 4:6-8, however one step is in 2 Cor. 10:4.
Step One—Don’t worry. Don’t be anxious about anything. Don’t let worrisome thoughts even have a foothold in your mind. Thoughts aren’t you. You don’t have to continue to think about them.
Step Two—Pray about everything. Tell God every detail. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done. If we are doing this we shouldn’t need to worry.
Step Three—If you do steps one and two then Phil 4:7 kicks in. “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Remember peace is integral to being a warrior for God.
Step Four—Guard your hearts and minds by taking thoughts captive and demolishing arguments you might have against God or in opposition to God as 2 Cor. 10:5 NIV tells us.
Step Five— Instead of thinking of everything that can go wrong (which is one definition of worry), we need to think on the awesomeness we see all around us.
I go into depths about each of these plus I share an excellent example of someone I know well who implemented all of these steps.
Worry can really damage our lives and keep us from the best that God wants for us. The evil one uses worry in our lives to accomplish what he has set out to do which is to kill, steal and destroy us. If we let our thoughts take us over, he has won.
But Jesus has a whole different agenda. He has come to give us everything in abundance, more than we expect—life in its fullness until we overflow! As it says in John 10:10 TPT.
I don’t know about you but I’m ready for the overflow! It’s out of His overflow that I can be a warrior for Him instead of a worrier.
I know worry is a big reason why many find themselves overeating and not knowing why. So let me help you with that. Doors are open now for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy. Go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/.
Episode 027—Susan Keays: Giving Up Sugar
Susan Keays, a school bus driver, wife, mother and grandmother is my guest on this week’s podcast. She is a member of Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy who has lost 80 pounds by owning the fact that she is a sugar addict, surrendering sugar to God and learning how to walk out her journey.
Giving up sugar for good isn’t an easy process for anyone. It was 20 years ago when God showed Susan that she needed to do just that. At the time she told some people in her Bible study that she felt like that was what she was supposed to do. They said, ‘That’s crazy! How would you do that?’” Susan said, “I don’t know, but it’s like an addiction to me.”
Susan shares that when they said that to her, she actually thought she might be slightly crazy. “So, when I came into your Overcomers Academy and you shared that sugar is addictive,” Susan said, “this peace came over me and I thought, I’m not trying to manufacture something to excuse my behavior.”
That was the start of owning her sugar addiction, she explains. “I knew that circumstances from my past helped cultivate my seeking food for comfort and even making food my god,” she said. “But I needed to take ownership of my issue. I am a grown woman. Regardless of what went on before, God is calling me to not eat sugar now. I got peace in hearing that you understood and that it was a real thing.”
In the three years Susan has been in the group, she has learned how to rid herself of sugar through a process we teach in the group. It’s the way to stop a bad habit and start a good one. The basic premise is to put firm boundaries around the bad habit a person wants to stop and focus on the good habit they want to start.
Susan said, “When you introduced that tool I was fascinated. Instead of doing what I’d done before and saying to myself over and over, ‘I’m not eating sugar. I’m not eating sugar. I’m not eating sugar.’ Instead my start was fixing three healthy meals each day that did not include sugar. This gave me a doable plan to focus on.
“I prayed as I was planning my menus and asked God what I should do. It kept me from eating sugar. Instead I was finding ways to have a healthier taste of sweetness like putting fruit in every meal. It gave me such encouragement and thankfulness that God was walking me through this and was using you to show me.”
Susan says she hasn’t eaten sugar since she began her journey. She adds, “But I’ve had days when my meals weren’t as healthy. You keep encouraging us to tweak those things. Learn from them and not beat ourselves up about them.”
One of the things that really helped her, Susan says, is seeing what hope looks like. “When I came into this group, I saw women who had victory. God showed me that’s what hope looks like. I didn’t have any hope. Coming into this group and seeing women who had victory, were fully engaged and going forward helped me see your hope wasn’t in you, but in God taking you on your journey.”
There is hope for anyone wanting to step out of a bad habit and into a lifestyle change. Join me and Susan as we learn together. Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy doors are open now. Go to https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/.
Episode 026—Peace Amidst Confusion
I think the state I am currently living in is the state of confusion. If you are like me, I don’t do well in confusion. I like to be decisive, to make a decision and stick to it. But these days no one wants to make a decision that goes past tomorrow at the most. We feel like we can’t plan for the future so we are living in this never-never land of being perpetually on hold with most everything. That really goes against my nature so there is turmoil and confusion rolling around inside me.
Confusion means having a lack of understanding, uncertainty, a breakdown of order, doubt, skepticism, indecision, perplexity, upheaval and a general feeling that everything is a giant disorderly jumbled up mess.
Paul tells us in 1 Cor 14:33 that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. I’ve known this to be true in my life. When confusion hits, that means God is not in that decision or choice. So, how do we even know that we are in confusion instead of peace and how can we find peace in the midst of these topsy-turvy times?
For 20 years we took care of mentally challenged foster teens and young adults. To say they lived in confusion is an understatement. Each one we took care of had different diagnoses and issues. But one of the biggest things each of them had was a tendency to misuse food.
One of our foster sons tried to eat everything in sight even if it made him sick. Several foster daughters would carry off bags of chips or cookies or anything they could find to their room and eat them in the middle of the night. However trying to eat away their confusion and turmoil never worked for them and it won’t work for us either
I have a feeling there are many who are trying to do some of these same things. Like my foster son you are trying to hoard food and other items that for some odd reason you think you can’t do without. If this crisis had happened when I was super morbidly obese, I’d be freaking out. I couldn’t let there be any vacant space in my pantry, refrigerator or freezer because I didn’t want to chance being without food. To me that would have been the worst thing in the world.
Some of you are like the foster daughters I had and are sneaking food so others can’t see what you’re doing. Not that they would care, but if they did see you then you’d have to be accountable for what you are eating.
It’s interesting to me that we don’t want others to see what we are doing, but what we are doing will eventually show up on the scales anyway. Why do we play this game of if no one sees me eat it then it doesn’t count? The biggest thing we have to learn on the journey to healthy living is personal accountability first to ourselves and then to God. We cannot be accountable to God if we are constantly lying to ourselves.
Lying to ourselves means we aren’t keeping track of what we are eating. It’s like if we don’t know how many calories we are eating in a day then we don’t have to worry about it. And if we don’t step on the scales then our weight will just magically stay the same.
There are many things that we like to bury our heads in the sand about and pretend they will just go away. For many years I would pray that God would just magically remove the weight from my body without any effort on my part.
What I learned is God will do His part, but only when I surrender my right to eat whatever I want whenever I want it. I have to be willing to surrender the foods that are making me unhealthy. When I finally made that commitment, God led me on the wildest journey to transformation ever and all at the courtesy of His matchless, powerful grace. He will do the same for you.
In this podcast I continue to talk about how to discover God’s peace by going through Romans 7:19-Romans 8:4 TPT. I also talk about 3 John 2 AMP and Philippians 4:6-7 TPT. Be prepared for some deep revelations and personal challenges.
If you are interested in joining Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy, doors are open now. Go here to join or for more information: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/.
For those who want immediate access to my Blueprint for Losing Weight and Living Healthy, go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/blueprint/.
Episode 025—Verna Laboy: Healthy Is the New Sexy
Verna Laboy is the health educator for Columbia/Boone County, MO, public health and human services who runs the Live Well by Faith program. She is an advocate for how health needs to be woven into our everyday lives. Through various classes and programs, she helps women learn how to change their lives by incorporating ways to cook, eat, exercise, garden and live healthier.
“I tell women, healthy is the new sexy,” she declared. Since heading up this program, she herself has lost 40 pounds and lowered her A1C to a healthy level simply by diet and exercise.
She continued, “I have to be authentic from inside out. People have to see that what I’m teaching is really working for me. I’m taking the medicine that I’m spoonfeeding others. I don’t want to just put makeup on and feel good. I really want to be good at the cellular level.”
Her goal is for women to begin to take a stand for their own health. “You have to be a little selfish. You have to learn that you are worth fighting for. In this day and age when health insurance isn’t all it used to be, we need to do things differently. We have to give our minds, bodies and souls an opportunity to heal. We don’t have to live our lives traumatized and on a roller coaster. We can say enough is enough.”
The fact that individuals are now living longer is another reason we should be especially concerned about our health, Verna explained. “Who wants to live a long life in a nursing facility or having to pay anyone to do anything for you because you can’t? I want to be able to get out and do yard work, plant flowers and enjoy my garden and go for walks.
“I’m a grandma,” she continued. “That means I need to do stretching, exercising, strength conditioning because I’m not 18 anymore. I don’t want to be limited in mobility because I’m eating a bunch of junk and destroying my organs.”
God cares about our bodies, Verna explained. “Our bodies are His temple. We cannot carry the mantle of the assignment on our lives if we are sick. There are foods we eat in this country that are banned in other countries. Not everything we eat that tastes good to us is good for us. It’s time for us to open up to the information that will save our lives and our legacy that we are leaving our families.”
Verna explained that obstacles to the health journey are everywhere. One obstacle is cultural foods and foods others in our homes want to eat. However, she feels the biggest obstacle to eating healthy is “feeling alone while doing it, especially when you have never really taken a stand for yourself before.
“It is very lonely to be quite honest unless you become a part of a community,” she added. “That’s where Live Well by Faith is strong. We are building a community of like-minded individuals where we are coaching one another. They are using new language and they are talking about their health.”
All too often those with healthy living or weight issues use food as an emotional support. This is another reason to have a community where individuals encourage and support each other.
For those interested in joining an online healthy living teaching and support group, Teresa’s Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy is open now. To join, go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com.
To get in touch with Verna Laboy, go to the “Live Well By Faith” Facebook group or email her at MIZVerna@gmail.com
Episode 024—Follow Me As I Follow Christ
“Teresa inspires me to believe that change is possible with God’s grace and help and the support of others. I hope to follow her as she follows Christ.” That’s a review that Star 1978 wrote regarding Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast.
But when I read the last line, my tongue about caught in my throat. My first thought was what an honor that you would say that about me. My second thought was what a huge responsibility to live up to. And my third was this is what we should all be doing as Christians.
These words appear in 1 Corinthians 11:1 in the Modern English Version of the Bible. When I first read them years ago, my immediate reaction was that Paul was being pretty haughty to say that to the Corinthians.
However, Paul wasn’t being haughty when he said those words. For many of the churches he was writing to, he was the only example they had of someone who was walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
If we go back to 1 Corinthians 11 we can see some of the issues in which Paul was asking the Corinthians to follow him in. One of them happens to be about food.
What Paul was addressing had to do with the way the church was handling the Lord’s supper. 1 Cor 11: 20-22, 33-34 MSG. What was happening in their day was that the Lord’s supper had ceased to become a way to remember Jesus and had become a free-for-all, food extravaganza or gluttonous feast for only those who could afford to bring food.
Today we don’t celebrate the Lord’s supper that way. It’s a sip of juice and a cracker. However, as I read that passage I couldn’t help, but think about how I felt when I was focused on food and nothing else. I was focused on what I was going to eat that would fill my cravings. Going to a church fellowship dinner, potluck supper or carry-in brunch was all about the food. Just provide homemade goodies and I’d be sure and be there.
After losing more than 250 pounds and placing good boundaries around what I eat, these dinners don’t make me act like a starving maniac anymore. At 430 pounds, it was embarrassing, but it seemed I couldn’t help myself. I was like a kid in a free candy store.
One big issue is that I had made eating the comfort foods I loved more important than anything in my life. It’s that old Phil 3:19 issue. I had made my stomach or my appetite my god instead of relying on God almighty. When we get to the point where certain foods have become addictions or strongholds in our lives, we have elevated them to the status of a god in our lives.
God tells us in Matthew 6:24 NLT that “ No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” He’s talking here about being enslaved to money, but this pertains to anything that we allow to master us, such as food.
Later on, in that same chapter, verses 25-34, Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives including what we eat or drink or what clothes we will wear. The birds don’t worry about what they have to eat. The flowers don’t worry about what to wear.
Then, Matthew 6:33 TPT adds, “Constantly chase after the realm of God’s kingdom[ and the righteousness that proceeds from Him. Then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.” The issue for many of us is that we do not see food, shelter and clothing as less important. Our minds haven’t made the shift to what God wants us to understand. He wants us to see that it’s not our bodies we should be concerned about. It is our souls.
Phil 3:18-21 NIV gives us an even closer look at what He’s saying. He tells us our citizenship is in Heaven. It’s a citizenship that is valid right now. Then, in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:10-13 TPT, Jesus tells us each day we should ask that God’s every purpose be fulfilled here on earth just like it has already been fulfilled in Heaven.
Our hunger is not physical. It is spiritual. Until we understand that, take our failures and fall headlong into the arms of His sweet grace, we will always be struggling. Spiritual nourishment is found only in Jesus Christ.
Lifestyle change is a difficult process, but it is 100% possible when we tap into what God wants. And it is a whole lot better if we do it with others. Star 1978’s review reminds me anew to be sure I am leading well. I always do try to point people back to God and His Word. If we are all using that as our main guideline our lives will be aligned correctly.
In the end we just need to know three things:
- We can only serve one master. Let’s make sure that is the God of the universe and not the foods we love to eat or the money we think we need.
- God will provide everything we need in this life if we put Him first. We have no need to worry.
- We are citizens of Heaven right now. We must agree for His will to be done on earth just like it has always been done in Heaven.
I am not as bold as Paul to flat out tell people to follow me in everything as I follow Christ, but I can be a mentor, coach and guide on the path to weight loss, even extreme weight loss, and healthy living because God has already led me down that path. I am thrilled that many hundreds have joined my coaching groups in the last six years and many thousands have taken my free KickSugar video course.
The doors are open now to Overcomers Christian weight loss academy. I followed what God told me and opened them for those of you struggling with food addiction during this time. I will keep them open until He tells me to close them. Those who join now, can take advantage of our current free bonus.
To find out more about Overcomers Academy or to join, go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy.
To take advantage of my Free course, KickSugar, go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/KickSugar/.
Sweet Grace for Your Journey.
Episode 023—Delivered by His Strength
During this crazy time we are in and leading up to Easter, we need more than ever to understand that we need a deliverer!
“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it,” (Isaiah 30:15 NIV). Or as it says in the Holman Christian Standard version, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.”
God gives a great equation here for being delivered by His strength. However the children of Israel weren’t interested in following His simple and direct method. They didn’t want to do things God’s way. They wanted to do it their way.
I totally get how they felt. I lived there for way too long. I wanted to believe that eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it was something I could do. After all, everyone else seemed to be doing it. So I lived in this fairy tale world where I told myself that one day everything would magically fall into place without any effort on my part. Of course that didn’t happen until I listened to God and allowed Him to deliver me.
After a lot of hard work and years of finally following what God wanted me to do, a really good friend of mine was talking with me about the years I wallowed in food addiction. She said that another friend of ours told her she should talk to me about eating so much candy when I said I knew I needed to stop. She knew I was gaining weight and she wanted to help me, but she admitted was scared to say anything lest I get mad at her and stop being her friend. Then with tears in her eyes, she said, “Would it have made a difference if I had said something then?”
I thought about it for a while and replied honestly, “I don’t think it would have. Confronting me would have just made me more determined to continue on my own reckless course.” I know that is true because God Himself had to intervene to fully convict me that what I was doing was wrong. It was sin for me to harm my body. But at the time I didn’t want to believe that. I wanted to believe nothing bad would happen to me and I’d just continue indulging in the foods I felt I couldn’t live without.
I finally did turn around, however, part of the motivation for that can be found in what God told the rebellious children of Israel. I needed God to catapult me out of the path of destruction I was on and turn me around to head me towards health and wellness. I needed to be delivered by relying on His strength.
On this podcast I go more in depth about how we can do that. I also share this equation.
Repentance + Resting in God = Deliverance.
Quietness + Trust in God = Reliance on God’s Strength to carry out what He wants us to do.
What part of this equation do you feel you need the most: repentance, rest, quietness, trust, deliverance or strength? Share that in the comments or in a review. Then share this podcast. Someone who needs it may listen and be changed. That is my prayer for each and every episode.
Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy doors are open now. God really let me know that during this crazy time we’re going through many of you need the resources we have available in Overcomers Academy’s one-of-a-kind video library. We have over 200 video lessons divided into 25 courses and five stages of the weight loss journey.
Overcomers Academy also includes a private Facebook group where we concentrate on one course, with a lesson each week to discuss and implement together. We also have a live monthly Q&A call where I answer questions and lead individuals to breakthroughs. It’s my favorite time of the month.
I’m also offering a limited time bonus for those who join now. For more information or to join go to: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 022—Emotions and Trust
Are you an emotional eater? Back when I weighed 430 pounds and all the way leading up to that time, my first response when I felt any emotion was to eat something whether there was a real crisis or not. I ate something like a dessert, fast food, chips or anything I could stuff in my mouth that tasted good to me. I never wanted salads, carrots or broccoli during these times of heightened emotional feelings. I wanted something to stop making me feel angry, sad, lonely, frustrated or any one of 1,000 other emotions.
However, if you would have asked me if I was an emotional eater, I would have said no. I felt that way because years ago I determined that I was not going to be the type of person my mother was. She had an emotional illness that caused her to be crying or sitting staring at the wall one day and dancing the jitterbug in the kitchen the next day.
That was all too much for me to understand and comprehend as a kid. During my growing up years, nothing worked to get her to express anywhere near normal, somewhat even-keel emotions. I hated the out-of-control feeling that her emotions brought to our entire household.
I was determined though that I would not be that type of emotional mood-swing person. I would manage my emotions. It was really my Grandma who unknowingly taught me how to wrongly manage my emotions. She was a great cook and any time we went to her house we could eat whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, as much as we wanted.
The foods were high in carbohydrates because Papaw was a farmer and needed that energy to get through the day. As a kid I could manage to eat those things and not get too large. However, when I grew up and moved away from home and from Grandma, I remembered how those foods took me away from all the bad stuff happening in my life. It was my way of escape. It was my way of not having to deal with any negative emotions I felt. So I ate and I gained weight. But now the habit was firmly ingrained in me.
On my weight loss journey of more than 250 pounds, I eventually learned that I have a relationship with food. Now, we aren’t really supposed to have a relationship with food. We aren’t supposed to get emotionally involved with food. Food is for fuel. It’s not something to help ease our emotions.
I eventually came to understand, though, that certain foods, especially those made with sugar and flour, had become a companion when I felt lonely, a comforter when I felt sad, depressed or just needed to feel rewarded, a provider when I felt needy, a protector when I felt fearful.
We cannot eat our emotions away. They are never gone completely. They have just been placated for a while. At some point they will be triggered again and we will need to throw more food at them to keep them quiet again. This is what helped me gain up to 430 pounds. Unraveling why I was doing that and turning myself around became a process in and of itself.
This whole shelter in place scenario is scary for many. That means a lot of time on our hands so what do we do? We go back to old habits. We eat! We’ve all seen the memes on FB that show a person blown up like a balloon and says this is what we’ll all look like when the virus scare is over. That’s really not too far from the truth unless we begin to embrace our emotions and let them tell us what we are really feeling.
This may be a really scary concept for us if we have always tried to shove emotions down or not feel emotions. So how do we begin the process of actually feeling our emotions without being a basket case?
In this episode I give tips on how to stop eating our emotions and actually begin to feel them without them overwhelming us. We can’t feel our emotions if we constantly push them away and try to cover them up by eating and eating and eating. This will eventually lead us to trusting God to help us, rather than relying on food.
Emotions are not wrong. Emotions make life enjoyable. So let’s learn how to really embrace those emotions and allow them to help us live that abundant life God promised us.
Overcomers Academy is now OPEN. We also have a special limited time bonus available. For all the details, go to https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy/. I’ll see you in the group.
Episode 021—Towards Peace
With everyone in panic mode, peace seems like a forgotten commodity. We are like Martha, we are worried and upset, we are concerned about many things. We are, as Grandma would say, stuck in the weeds.
It’s not so much that we are worried about contracting the virus, but we are worried about the economic impact on us and our families. We are worried about what it will do to our jobs. We are worried about being isolated from everyone we know. We are worried about how to deal with our kids while they are at home. We are worried about not being able to see our grandkids. We are just anxious, fearful and worried.
I don’t believe God sent this COVID-19 virus, but I know it did not take Him by surprise. The devil unleashed a plan to wipe out a big portion of the world and God unleashed His plan to draw us closer to Him. That will be the only thing that brings us peace.
Yet, we search for peace in so many things other than God. One of the biggest things we turn to is food. We find ourselves eating outside of the boundaries we’ve set for ourselves. We find ourselves stress eating.
In this episode, I talk about four things that will help you get back on track or stay on track with your healthy lifestyle change plan.
More information about this is available in my free course #KickSugar. Go here to get immediate access: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/KickSugar.
We will be opening the doors for my one-of-a-kind coaching group, Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy soon. There will be a few changes I’ll be announcing to help more people join, so get on the waitlist to get that information first. Go here: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 020—Barb Raveling: Separating Truth from Lies
This week on the podcast, I’m chatting with Barb Raveling all the way from Montana. She and her husband have four children. She is a Christian weight loss author, podcaster and coach. Her podcasts are Taste for Truth and Christian Habits. Her books include: Freedom from Emotional Eating, Taste for Truth, I Deserve a Donut, The Renewing of the Mind Project, Rally and her most recent book Freedom from Procrastination.
We visit a lot of topics during our conversation, but the thing Barb is well known for is the concept of truth journaling. She teaches this as well as uses it to help people who want to lose weight renew their mind with truth instead of lies.
She began using truth journaling as a way to help her get rid of anger, frustration and annoyance. It is a way to help us see what lies we believe and replace those lies with the truth. “After I was successful with overcoming annoyance,” she said, “I began to use truth journaling to gain control over my weight.
“I found getting rid of annoyance was much easier than gaining control over my weight and food. It became easier, though, when I committed to truth journal every time I broke my food boundaries.”
She adds that she also realized she needed lifelong boundaries to maintain her weight. Boundaries will be different for different people, but the important thing is to know your boundaries and stay within them.
“Establish lifelong boundaries and renew your mind every time you break your boundaries,” Barb says. “We eat for fun and comfort, but life should be about God. We should be willing to give up all foods for Him. The more we see life and food from His perspective, the better off we will be.
“Food issues are so hard to get over. Don’t get discouraged. Memorize scriptures. Get good coaching.”
To get in touch with Barb go to BarbRaveling.com. Her podcasts are Taste for Truth and Christian Habits. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram under Barb Raveling
For those interested in Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy, go here to sign up on the waitlist: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/. You’ll get free resources while you wait for doors to open in a few months.
Episode 019—Rest Is Necessary
Even God rested on the seventh day, so what makes you think you can get by without doing the same? The minute I heard those words I was convicted down to my toes. Indeed if the almighty God of the universe saw the necessity to rest what makes me think I can work seven days a week.
Of course I was going to church on Sunday and hanging out with my family around Sunday dinner, but I had gotten in a bad habit of working on Sunday. It was a great time to do my weekly video lessons because face it I was all dressed up and had taken some care of my hair and makeup.
Still I knew things had to change. Working nonstop was taking its toll on me even though I loved what I was doing. My schedule that constantly caused me to be “on” caused me to be overwhelmed and stress drives me to want to eat. For someone who’s lost 250 pounds putting myself in a state of temptation is not a good place to be in.
I love Matt. 11:28-30 MSG says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Like God, I don’t want you to feel so overwhelmed. So, here are four don’t and three dos to help keep you from being constantly tired, worn out and burnt out. So in this podcast I give you seven things that include four things not to do and three to do in order to step into the rest God has for you.
I talk about these more on the podcast but in summary, here they are:
- Don’t say Yes to another job, unless God has said Yes to you doing it.
- Don’t feel like you HAVE to burn out in order for God to be pleased with you.
- Don’t assume that God wants you to overwork for Him.
- Don’t assume that doing yet another thing for God will mean you don’t have to do what God really wants you to do.
- Do rest in God.
- Do learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
- Do learn how to live freely and lightly.
By the way, in May we will be opening the doors of my Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy for a few days only. You will need to be on the waitlist to be notified of when we open. To do that go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-weight-loss-academy/
Episode 018—Be Still and Know God
Life is noisy and somehow that noise all converges in our heads and we have no time to be silent and sort out our day or our life. Not only that but it’s really hard to hear that still, small voice of God above the cries of our to do lists and hectic lives!
We can even turn off all the myriad of electronic devices we have and yet there is still noise in our own minds. It never seems to stop. Calgon take me away, right?
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of our lives God wants to tap into who He is. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it isn’t about reading devotionals or Bible studies or giving Him our endless prayer lists. It’s about getting to know Him.
It’s about spending intentional, no agenda time with Him. It’s not about studying Him or knowing the right words to say to Him. It’s about discovering who He is. It’s about listening to His heart. It’s about how 30 minutes drenched in His presence can feel like seconds and make us hunger for more of that simple connection with the God who loves us more than we ever knew.
Then when I get to know more of who He really is I realize when He speaks gently to me about why I shouldn’t eat the thing I’m wanting to eat right that minute, I know it’s because He loves me and wants the best for me.
The Holy Spirit longs to lead us on our journeys, even our weight loss and healthy living journeys, and He will do that. Spending intentional time in His presence will help us understand exactly what He wants us to do because we know Him better. Because we have been with Him.
This episode outlines a whole new way of approaching God and getting to know Him better.
We will be opening Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy in a few months, but you can get on the waitlist now to get free resources while you wait. Here’s the link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 017—Are You a People Pleaser?
People pleasers fall into the trap of thinking that they need to take care of others before taking care of themselves. This flows out of a well-meaning, but jaded way of looking at how we are to live the Christian life.
The Great Commandment actually tells us to love and take care of our mental, emotional and physical self first so that we can love both God and others. We have to take care of our passions, our thoughts, and our energy so we can love God with all that we are. Only then can we love others as we love ourselves.
We need to have good self care. For me that meant I had to go from having no priorities and doing everything for everybody to being willing to set some priorities by discovering what God wanted from me. Then, I needed to resign from things that were time-fillers and pride-builders that were stealing my time in order to work on my health and weight loss which is what God wanted for me.
This helped me establish healthy activities that are still priorities for me today and will be for the rest of my life. Then God began to add destiny priorities which include what God has called me to do in this time and season, which isn’t being a people pleaser, but it is working with people to share His message of health and wellness.
After you listen to the podcast, tell me what helped you most and what questions you still have?
If you’re ready to start your healthy living journey, check out my free 10-video course, #KickSugar. Go here to get immediate access. (https://Teresashieldsparker.com/kicksugar/).
To get on the waitlist for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy go HERE. (https://TeresashieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/)
Episode 016—The Breakup
Do you have a relationship with sugar? If so what kind of relationship do you have? I had a co-dependent relationship. That means I have an excessive emotional and psychological reliance on my partner, which was sugar. It was this relationship that became an addiction.
It’s important to understand several things to understand the level of your indulgence and your own relationship with food or sugar. Answering questions like: Where you learned your relationship with food or sugar? What is that relationship specifically?
Do you have a casual flirtation, an occasional date, one of those once a week dates, a date that goes too far way too often, an every night affair or a co-dependent relationship where you can’t live without it and think you’ll die if you have to give it up.
The level of your indulgence will speak loudly to what you need to do. If it hasn’t already sugar addiction will lead to obesity, which will lead to diseases like cancer, stroke and heart disease. Read more about Sugar Addiction and Cancer HERE. (https://teresashieldsparker.com/sugar-addiction-cancer/).
Tips on how to break the chains of sugar’s hold is available in my free course, KickSugar. Go here to get immediate access. (https://Teresashieldsparker.com/kicksugar/).
To get on the waitlist for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy go HERE. (https://TeresashieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/)
Episode 015—I Was a Rebel
When we don’t follow what God shows us to do, even if it is just in one area, we are a rebel. Of course I didn’t see myself that way. It would take some inner healing work to even find the lies I believed that were holding me back from trusting God completely.
I went so far as to ask God how I could lose weight. He gave me a plan, but it was a plan I didn’t like, so I rejected it. I continued to do everything else I knew to do, the easy things like going to church, reading my Bible, leading groups and even praying, but my relationship with God was dry.
It was dry because I knew I was in rebellion. The only cure for rebellion is surrender and yet, I felt like I had to fix the mess I had made of my life when I gained up to 430 pounds. Hear how I got through that and how you can find that same cure.
My free course #KickSugar is available now on my website. It contains 10 videos that lead you through a process to surrender this issue to God. Go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/KickSugar/. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on Apple Podcasts (itunes).
Episode 014—Rhonda Burrows: Overcoming Food Addiction
Rhonda Burrows, an Overcomers Academy member, a trained addiction counselor and ordained minister, knows addiction well. Still, she was sober from alcoholism for over 30 years when the truth hit her that she is also a food addict.
She has been walking out of food addiction for almost six years after joining my various coaching groups and courses. Today she has lost over 50 pounds off of her small 4-foot, 11-inch frame. She says there are mental, spiritual and physical components at play that she has to navigate to walk in the freedom Christ is bringing her.
Along the way, she learned she had to give up her “golden calf” of comfort. “I thought food was my golden calf, but God showed me it really was what I thought I was getting from food and that was comfort.” Today she’s learning how to live in the real, true comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Right now Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy is open for new members only through Feb. 7 at noon. To join Rhonda, Teresa and the other members go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 013—Kieawnie Clar: Going Forward
Kieawnie Clar is a lifestyle consultant who is finally going forward on her weight loss journey. Understanding the basics was difficult for her. She discovered a rebellious streak that she had to deal with in order to surrender her will to God’s.
She had obstacles to overcome, but working on her mindset, her emotional eating issues and her relationship with God helped her finally begin her journey. She’s lost 30 pounds and says she finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
Overcomers Academy has helped challenge her and redefine her as a bold, courageous woman of God. This is a big change from how she saw herself for years. Her journey is one everyone can relate to.
To connect with Kieawnie, email her at Kieawnie.clar@gmail.com. Or check out her Beauty 4 Ashes page on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kieawn/
To join Overcomers Academy or get on the waitlist, go to https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Academy/
I’ll see you in the group
Episode 012—No More Diets
When SundiJo Graham’s seven-year-old cousin told her his Christmas wish was for her to be able to ride the roller coaster with him, she was devastated when she failed to give him the gift he wanted the next year.
It took time, lots of struggle, dealing with issues in her past and getting real with God before she would finally lose enough weight to give him his gift. She has lost 145 pounds, but she did not diet and still doesn’t. Hear SundiJo’s amazing story on this week’s podcast.
To contact SundiJo, go to SundiJo.com. Get a free download of her book at http://www.sundijo.com/stepaway. Check her out on Facebook.com/SundiJo.
Here’s the link to join or get on the waitlist for Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy where Teresa and SundiJo hang out: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomrs-Christian-Weight-Loss-Academy/
Episode 11—Lasting Weight Loss
Peggy Burgess Loses 79 Pounds
Peggy Burgess, 69, is a single mom of five, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of six, with another one on the way. Since coming into my coaching courses and groups she has lost 79 pounds. She’s doing it the right way, slow and steady and incorporating habit changes as she goes. That is resulting in her lasting weight loss.
She’s gone from constantly using a wheelchair, not driving and being housebound to walking, volunteering, driving wherever she wants and even babysitting her great-grandchildren and other children. Listen to her remarkable story of transformation.
Join Peggy and the other members of Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy when doors open Jan. 30. Get on the waitlist to be notified when doors open and receive free resources while you wait. Go here: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/
There is one major mistake we make when we want to lose weight. We go on a diet. We might lose weight, but 80% or more of us will gain that weight back again. Part of the reason we do that is we want a quick and easy fix. But for lasting change to happen quick and easy won’t work.
In order to keep the weight off we must change our lifestyle. To do we have an intense desire for what we really want. Which means, we have to know why we want to lose weight in the first place. We also have to accept where we are, own our issues and then, surrender them to God.
Walking out our journey will involve every part of us—body, soul and spirit. Don’t miss the exercise I mention in this podcast. It will be very revealing.
Also here’s the link to join the waitlist for Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers-Academy/. Get on the list now to be notified when doors open the end of January. They will only be open for seven days. Those on the waitlist will be notified before the public and be the first to be able to take advantage of our early bird bonus!
Episode 009—One Word from God
Discovery Is A 2020 Word
One word from God can make all the difference in our lives. Just one word! At the beginning of the year, I look forward to God giving me a word to define the year. He’s done this for me for a long time, but I didn’t start keeping track of those words until 2013, which was a pivotal year for me. That was the year He gave me the word grace. That word has made all the difference in my life.
This year He gave me the word discovery. I was a little let down by that word. It just didn’t seem very spiritual. However, when God began pulling back the curtain, I was amazed at what I saw. Come with me on a journey of discovery of how just one word can change us completely.
Share your 2020 word for us by submitting a review to Apple Podcasts or commenting on this episode at https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/podcast/. You can also send us an email to info@teresashieldsparker.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Episode 008—Leaving a Legacy
What legacy are you leaving to your family? Here are a few questions to ponder based on Deuteronomy 30:19. What have I done to my children and to my family? What bad habits am I teaching them? What comfort foods will they become addicted to? Is there any way I can turn this around? Have I already done too much damage?
What things do I want to change now in order to make my life better in the future? What kind of legacy do I want to leave that would honor my life and honor my God?
Here is the url for my gift to you: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/kicksugar/. Enjoy!
Everyone loves comfort food. This time of the year comfort foods abound when family and friends get together to celebrate the holidays. Too much comfort food, though, ends up in us being very uncomfortable because of the weight we’ve gained.
I learned I was really eating comfort foods because of three ways I was broken. Find out what those ways are, how I got through them and how you can too.
Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own!
Temptation will happen to us. That is a given. The issue is how do we see the temptation coming? God doesn’t tempt us, so we know it is the evil one partnering with our own desires. What kind of strategies does he use? How can we guard against falling into his trap? How does God help us? How can we help ourselves? We discuss four types of temptation, how to recognize them and not fall prey to them again.
Have a question you’d like Teresa to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@teresashieldsparker.com.
God Nudges Following God Towards Our Health God is always nudging us. He’s always speaking to us. We just aren’t always listening to what He has to say. I learned this lesson the hard way, by doubting something God told me to do and regretting it. It taught me a lesson I will never forget. Now when I even think it might be God nudging me to do something, I’m all in. I don’t want to be one of His rebellious children, especially if it has to with living a healthier lifestyle.
Episode 004—Great Adventure With God
We all long to take that great adventure with God, maybe go to a foreign country, save an indigenous tribe, put a little excitement in our lives. Instead, we look at our lives and feel like they are dull, ordinary and mundane. God, though, wants us to take us on a great adventure with Him. Learn the secret ingredient necessary to make that trip.
Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own.
Quick Episode Summary:
- Everyone needs a good adventure
- How Teresa used to deal with stress
- Surrendering to the Lord
- How Sweet Grace started
- Walking in compassion
- Faith takes courage
- Why Teresa started a podcast
I’d sung the song I Surrender All many time. I’ve even felt like I surrendered to God. But there was still one thing I held back for myself. There was one thing that I clung
to as if my life depended on that. When I gave up that one thing, everything, and I do mean everything changed in my life.
Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own.
TeresaShieldsParker.com
Quick Episode Summary:
- All things work together for good
- The similarities between sugar and alcohol
- When the weight started coming back
- Breaking the addiction to sugar
- The sugar cycle
- Coming back to sanity
- Setting boundaries
- Setting smart goals
My world seemed to come to end when the cardiac surgeon told me I had five years to live if I didn’t lose weight and keep it off. The ball was squarely in my court. Did I want to live? And if so, why did I want to live? What did I have to live for?
Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to
info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own!
Quick Episode Summary:
- When Teresa was facing open-heart surgery
- When Teresa hit her low point
- The joy of obedience
- Loving food more than your life
- Accspting responsibility
- Teresa's milestones
- A prayer of forgiveness
My story is all about moving the mountain of weight that I had on my body. At one time I weighed 430 pounds. When I asked God how to move my mountain, He gave me clear and precise instructions. I just didn’t want to follow what He said. This is where my story begins.
Have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast? Send it to info@TeresaShieldsParker.com and it might end up as an episode of its own!
Quick Episode Summary:
- Meet Teresa!
- About Teresa's family
- Teresa's love for writing
- A look into Teresa's weight loss journey
- When everything changed for Teresa
- Teresa's first lesson in weight loss
- Overcoming sugar
- God sees you
- Follow the leader