"The Light of Jesus Christ is transforming!
And my life is living proof!"
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"The Light of Jesus Christ is transforming! And my life is living proof!"
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Practically ever since I can remember, I struggled with food. I went on my first diet when I was in third grade. My clothes were always from the “Chubby’s” rack at Sears. In college, I used to wonder what it would be like not to fear weight gain every day. I wondered what it would be like to fit into jeans comfortably, without starving myself. I was always either going up on the scale or going down, and this vicious cycle would continue for me for years to come, until I began to discover Jesus and the love He had in His Heart for me. I am from Irish-Catholic ancestry, but I was raised in a totally secular home. We celebrated all the holidays, but there was never any mention of God. The only way I ever heard the name of Jesus was in the form of a curse. Because of this, for years I was uncomfortable whenever the name of Jesus was used; it made me feel nervous. I thought that God was for other people, or that they needed to believe in Him to give purpose to their lives. I lived my life at that time with a sadness in my heart, an emptiness that I was so used to feeling, that I became almost unaware of it. I had a huge heart hole, but I didn’t even know it although I was always searching for something or someone to make me happy. Years and years went by and I tried virtually every weight loss program out there.
Nothing freed me, I was still trapped in the vicious cycle, but I was becoming more and more aware of the sadness in my heart. By this time I had converted to the Catholic Faith, but it too had been a disappointment to me. I was expecting the Church I had seen in movies; beautiful, solid, glowing and faith filled. Instead I found, modern, lukewarm and ambiguous. I was beginning to think the song “Is That All There Is?” was going to become my personal anthem.
But God had other plans. Mother Teresa is right when she said “Suffering is like a caress from God.” God allowed the sadness in my heart to begin to engulf me, and it was a time of great suffering for me. My eating grew worse. Food was my first thought in the morning and the thing that pulled me out of bed. I snacked all day. I was exhausted, so I ate. I was sad, so I ate. I was bored, so I ate. I was anxious, so I ate. I was stressed, so I ate. I felt lonely, so I ate. I was always searching for the solution to my problem; what new diet could I find? I used to watch talk shows in the hope that someone with an emptiness inside them like mine, would have found the answer and I could buy their book. In this searching around, I discovered “this nun” named Mother Angelica and the television network she founded, the Eternal World Television Network. TV just seemed to have so much trash on it that I always found myself watching the shows on EWTN.
I began to notice one day that my constant snacking was gone. How strange I thought, could it be connected to my faith development? Because the other thing that I discovered was the Catholic Church that I had been looking for all those years!
The traditional Catholic Church, you know, the one everyone complains about and criticizes; yes, that one. Because you see, I had been so starved spiritually all my life, I could spot the banquet when it was laid in front of me. I had not grown up at the “table” and all the stuff so many people pick apart and complain about; well it looked great to me. The other thing was, I wanted THE BANQUET; not some spin off restaurant chain, where you only get a partial menu. The traditional Church I discovered through Mother Angelica was like a rock on the beach of the ever shifting sands that I had grown up on. I could not wait to leave the sand and get my feet firmly planted on that rock. The Jesus I met this time, was the Jesus I had missed before in my searches. He was the God who loved me even before He and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit knit me in my mother’s womb. I was precious to Him, just because I was made in His image. I did not have to earn the love of Jesus. He gave it to me as an unconditional gift and the best part for me; was discovering that Jesus would never take this gift away from me. He promised never to abandon me in John 14:18, and for me, that was huge. Here was the answer for me. Now unlike a new diet, (which I had reached the point I could not even face any more) I just had to grow in my love and knowledge of Him and the Catholic Church He died to found. Why the Church? Why not just grow in Him? Because Jesus gave us the Catholic Church to bring us into the fullness with Him.
So now while my eating had improved, I still was constantly 47 pounds heavier than I am today. I was never one of those people who thought “Oh my problem is that I don’t eat healthy.” I already knew that dieting was a false balance, and that for me, I enjoyed good food and cooking too much to ever join the fat-free, water-packed tuna crowd. How was it that some people ate normal food but had the control to stop before eating too much? How did they know what too much was for them? Food tasted good to me and I could eat quite a bit at one meal without getting “full.” Based on my increasing knowledge about Jesus and the Catholic Church, I knew that the Church had to have the answer to my problem which was really not a problem of weight, but a problem of temptation. My excess weight was just a sign that I did not understand temptation and how to overcome it; but the great, grand and Godly news is that Jesus did understand temptation and defeated it. The Saints of the Catholic Church (faithful followers and students of God the Son) actually developed methods to overcome temptation. The Catholic Church has everything we need by the power of Jesus Christ to help us triumph over temptation!
Our Catholic Faith has the answers and is a spiritual goldmine filled with treasure to help us in our daily lives. The thing about a lot of the treasure, is that much of it was stuffed in the attic because it was so old.
I went into that big old attic, and I hauled out that treasure and when I dusted it off IT GLOWED. It was filled with so much LIGHT from JESUS CHRIST that it changed my life forever. Now this mother of seven wears size 6 jeans everyday. Now I am like the people I always wondered about who do not struggle with food, but it has only been by the power of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit lead me to everything in this program that has freed me. He gets all the credit for anything good in The Light Weigh. For me, to be free of the struggle with weight and food is a miracle. I finally have the peace with food I have sought virtually all my life. I finally found the missing piece to my heart and life, and his name is Jesus. The Name that used to make me nervous is now my best friend. It is only because of Jesus and my participation with Him, that I learned how to overcome temptation. I am so thankful to God for not giving up on me. I am so thankful to God for the love that He shows forth in The Light Weigh. I would encourage you to pray about doing The Light Weigh; it truly is a call from the heart, which is the call of the Holy Spirit.
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