We all know what happens when you hear the following words: All you Can Eat Buffet. Plate after plate of food followed by a few plates of dessert until you feel ill. Since starting my healthy eating plan going to restaurants has been a real test of my self-control not to go for my usual meal and top it off with a glass of coke. I hadn’t yet faced an all you can eat buffet. When I found out that I was going to be having lunch at said establishment, I started praying. I knew my strength and self-control would waver- heck even fly out the window at the sight of all that yummy food.
God did three things to help me cope at the lunch. First he enabled me to attend my sister-in-law’s birthday breakfast, which saw me eat well enough to fill me up so that I wasn’t that hungry by the time lunch rolled around.
Secondly he ensured that same sister-in-law (who also happens to be on her own healthy eating plan as we both have read Made to Crave) would be attending the family lunch at the all you can eat. Moral support is a total must at places such as these.
Thirdly God seemed to have changed my sense of smell for the day. All the chips and other deep fried stuff I usually crave didn’t appeal to me. Instead it smelled yuck to me – yes I’m saying that hot chips smelled yucky! I’m hoping this isn’t a new aversion, just a one time thing!
My sister-in-law and I even split dessert there. We tasted food rather than gobbled it down. I know absolutely that without her there I would have caved and caved some more. So thanks Libby for being an awesome encourager and support buddy!
I guess my thoughts for today is this:
When you know you are going into something tempting and it is something you can’t avoid (anything, not just food) start praying for God to give you the strength not to cave in and ask him to give you people and things to help you get through.
God answered my prayer. Even as I walked in to the buffet I wasn’t sure I could actually follow through with my resolve, but in the end with help from God, Libby and my nose I was able to stick to my resolve!
She is currently writing her first novel, a contemporary women’s fiction/romance set in a small country town.
Jess is a mum of two children and married to the calmest man alive. She loves to bake and go for walks. A writer of contemporary romance, Jess write stories about the heart and where love is worth the journey.
Kudos to you, Jess! Those buffets are from the devil, I tell you! Thanks for being vulnerable with all of us about this journey – you encourage us to try harder, too.
Thanks Becky for your encouraging words – they mean a lot! 😀