A Testimonial: How Biblical Counseling Helped a Woman Struggling with Bulimia (Courtesy of the Biblical Counseling Coalition)

Folks,

From the very beginning, my blog has served as a platform to share hope: specifically, hope that one can be fully and irrevocably free from eating disorders, through the Lord Jesus Christ. It was through His grace and power that I myself was set free from bulimia back in 2003, and my book, "Redeemed from the Pit", lays out the process of repentance. I have shared the testimonies of others before here on this blog, as well as posted articles about biblical counseling (and how it differs from psychology-based counseling). This summer, the BBC blog  published an anonymous testimony from a woman who had been greatly helped by biblical counseling and also overcame her bondage to bulimia. I find her story very inspiring, as well as informative. Women like her are the reason I pursued certification as a biblical counselor, and now have the privilege of opening the Scriptures to them in the counseling office.

If you are struggling with anorexia, bulimia, or any food-related bondage, please read her story prayerfully. Be encouraged that with God, all things are possible.....and Christ's words as recorded in Matthew, "I am willing. Be clean!" are as applicable to you and me as they were to that first century leper.

Here is her story....

An All-Consuming Desire

Sin takes you further than you want to go and keeps you longer than you want to stay. At the age of fourteen, my desire for approval and affirmation manifested itself in the beginning of an eight-and-a-half-year battle with bulimia. The desire to lose weight became the driving force of my life as I was willing to go to any lengths to get it.

My heart’s desires were evident in my behaviors. Binging and purging, counting calories, obsessing about my size and weight were all outward manifestations of a heart that was insecure, fearful of others, and longed for comfort from life’s circumstances. My security, confidence, and surety as a person waivered. When I was fearful of others’ opinions or desired to gain their approval by a “thinner” appearance, I would flee to binging and purging. When the circumstances of life brought pressure, heartache, and pain, binging and purging became my comfort.

Read the rest of her testimony here at the Biblical Counseling Coalition blog. To God be all the glory!