Allison writes, "I began to use food and overeat it as a young child. Food was my "go to" comfort when the pains of childhood and family dysfunction were too much to deal with, and there were many of those. Food filled a role of comfort, friend and truly an idol even though at the time I didn't know what that meant.
As a young adult, I still held on to food as comfort, but the need to lose the weight it caused began a long journey of dieting and regaining what I had just lost. I was a yo yo dieter for 40+ years. Many types of diets were tried unsuccessfully, and I began to feel trapped in an endless cycle that I could not get free from.
At this young adult time in my life, I accepted Jesus as my Savior, and began to learn of Him through His Word. I even excitedly did several Bible studies related to dieting, but once again the weight returned. I was not able yet to relate to Jesus and what He did for me on the cross at that time. Discouraged and down, I might as well not have been saved (I felt) as other sins joined the sin of gluttony in my life, and I put aside my Christian walk for a time.
I always knew, though, that I truly wanted a relationship with God and my Savior that would honor and glorify Him so I repented of my ways and returned to my Savior. But still, I felt like a prisoner where eating was concerned, and still searched for the "right" key to let me out and be free.
I heard a friend mention Setting Captives Free, and I thought that sounds like what I had been waiting for. I learned that my flesh desired the things that were not of God, and that was sin; my sin of choice being gluttony. I began to learn that we are like captives to our sin and the only freedom comes from Jesus and His death on the cross and resurrection. He came to set me free (as a believer in Him) and begin the work of transforming my life to be like Him. He is that key to my prison that I mentioned above. He is the comfort I sought as a child. I now know what it truly feels like to not be a slave to gluttony because of my daily interaction in meeting Christ at the foot of the cross. I am so thankful that I can be free because He set me free, and washed me clean.
There is always temptation, but God is good and provides a way out so that we don't have to sin and get back into that prison.
I have lost weight, and that is still a work in progress. I want more than anything else to please my Savior and give Him glory, and walk with Him in freedom and love each day. I also want to be a blessing to others, and share how Jesus has set me free and given me new hope!"
