Resource Friday: Redeemed from the Pit
This week in our “Resource Friday” series, we would like to talk about a great book we use for many of our ladies who are struggling with eating disorders, Redeemed from the Pit by Marie Notcheva. This book has truly been instrumental to our ladies here at VOH and offers great, biblical help to those who are struggling with destructive eating habits.
Marie writes in a way that is compassionate, yet challenging; speaking the truth in love. In her book, Marie helps the reader think through what is actually going on in the heart, what true repentance looks like, and how to live in freedom from enslaving habits through Christ. Marie does an amazing job of getting to the heart idols that drive destructive eating habits, and leaves no room for excuses.
As she writes about changing behavior, Marie addresses the issue of having a “works righteousness” perspective. While striving to change destructive habits, it can be easy to fall into the error of focusing solely on changing the behavior, missing the heart that is driving that behavior. Marie assures this does not happen in her book, as she wisely teaches her readers what it looks like to change the heart along with the behaviors. She writes:
Trying to change behavior without dealing with the underlying motivations is doomed to failure. Superficial change does not acknowledge the lordship of Christ – a deep heart change is not necessary simply to break a habit. True transformation requires us to hate out sin passionately; not just seek to avoid the consequences of it (2 Corinthians 7:10). Simply trying to change our actions means we are still trying to be our own god – thinking we can change ourselves apart from the Holy Spirit. Rather, Jesus reverses the order: “…first, clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”(Matthew 23:26)
We are so thankful for this amazing resource that has helped so many of our ladies find freedom in Christ! If you would like to purchase this resource, get it here.
Bethany SpenceBethany heard about Vision of Hope while attending Word of Life Bible Institute in Florida. When she began praying about what God wanted her to do after graduating, He kept bringing Vision of Hope to her mind. Knowing that there was an internship available, Bethany applied, was accepted, and began her internship with VOH in July, 2012. Since then she has been amazed at the opportunities God has given her to learn more about His Word and how it applies to everyday life. Bethany now serves on staff at Vision of Hope.
