Updates and recent developments...

Dear Readers,

Apologies for my online absence of late. I returned from Albania two weeks ago, yet am still easing back into the flow of studying, NANC writing and counseling preparation. I am in the final course ("Casebook Studies") with the Institute for Nouthetic Studies, after which I will submit my completed NANC exam and begin supervised counseling. Yay!

Speaking of NANC, the annual conference is fast approaching. My friend Martha Peace is teaching a workshop on counseling anorexia, and I am very much hoping my book will be out by then....the publisher received the galleys just over a week ago, so we shall soon see.

Next Thursday, Sept. 15, The 700 Club is coming to my home to interview me and film my testimony. I am excited, but nervous at the same time! Hopefully by the time the show airs, my book will be out and viewers struggling with bulimia, binge-eating or anorexia will have that as a resource to turn to. God uses the weak and foolish things of this world...myself included.

Interestingly, while I was in Albania (as a camp counselor at a Christian youth camp), the subject of my counseling and writing came up. One of my British counterparts was interested in counseling, and mentioned to me that a young relative of hers struggled with an eating disorder. While I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, I WAS shocked when the girls told me that many of their peers in Albania struggle with weight and body-image issues. I suppose the struggles teenaged girls face are somewhat similar throughout the world; and, in Europe, young women tend to be exceptionally thin...which provides additional pressure to those who are not so naturally. One of the girls asked me, "Is is possible for your book to be translated into Albanian? This would be very helpful to the girls here..." Hmm...guess there's nothing truly new under the sun.

Trip to Greenville, South Carolina



Joseph Bianchi of Calvary Press, left; and Donn Arms of INS and

NANC, right

 Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jay Adams, the founder of the modern biblical counseling movement, in his home church of Redeemer Presbyterian in Moore, South Carolina. Our family celebrated Palm Sunday there, on our way to Florida for vacation. It was also a pleasure meeting his son-in-law, Bill Slattery, who is the senior pastor and also a NANC Fellow; and Donn Arms, the Executive Director of the Institute for Nouthetic Studies (the program under which I am working towards a certificate in biblical counseling). I had met Pastors Bill and Donn at last year's NANC conference - their faces were very familiar to me, as they are instructors of the distance courses I am taking.

Donn's advice and lectures, in particular, have been very helpful to me in my writing. He questioned my (over)use of the term "idolatry" in discussing bulimia very early on, and so I was able to clarify (and qualify) what, exactly, I meant by that in my book. Donn's committment to biblical accuracy and precision of wording has served me well in defining helpful counseling constructs. In simple language, he's helped me overcome any hesitancy to call sin "sin" - and to boldly address repentance in a practical way.

I was also very excited to meet the man who signed me on as a writer - Joseph M. Bianchi, the President and CEO of Calvary Press Publishing! Although he has moved "Redeemed from the Pit" up in the publishing queue, feeling its message was important and relevent enough to warrant expediation, we still do not have an exact release date as there are several projects ahead of mine at Calvary Press. When I know more, I'll share.

Meeting the publisher! :)

It was a fun and interesting morning, chatting about the publishing process and current happenings in evangelicalism and the biblical counseling world with these two gentlemen. Their wives, who I also met, are lovely and also great fun to talk with. I am hoping my book will be out in time for the NANC annual conference in California this October, but it's all in God's timing.....I am far too Calvinistic to worry about stuff I can't control. The word, I believe, is "sovereignity". His timing is always perfect.

Disappointment in Course (or, At Least there's a Market for My Book!)

Nothing. In over 600 pages,
there's NOTHING HERE!

It was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the arrival of my current course in the biblical counseling tract I'm taking, "Medical Issues in Counseling 1 and 2". The course syllabus promised a 12-lecture course dealing with "specific medical issues i.e. anorexia, bulimia..."(sic) among other things.

Even though I have spent the last several years researching, writing and informally counseling women with eating disorders, according to biblical principles - to the best of my knowledge -naturally I was quite eager to see what the "experts" had written about this pervasive subject afflicting millions of Christian women. I was greatly looking forward to learning how top biblical counselors approach the whole subject of food addiction, bulimia in particular.

The 12 DVD set just arrived in the mail, along with the required text: "The Christian Counselor's Medical Desk Reference" (a $40 book, by the way). Including appendices, this tome is nearly 500 pages. IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ONE SINGLE WORD ABOUT ANOREXIA, BULIMIA, OR EATING DISORDERS. Neither do the more than 100-pages of lecture notes provided with the video lectures. (There is, however, an entire lecture devoted to "sleep disorders"). If anorexia and/or bulimia are even touched on at all in the lectures, the subject must have been so parenthetical as to not even warrant mention in the lecture outlines.

I am deeply disappointed, to say the least. My only explanation for this is that these books/lectures are written by men, and eating disorders tend to be a female-problem. (In biblical counseling, men counsel men and women counsel women, unlike in the psych fields). Broadly speaking, biblical counseling tends to be a very male-dominated field (and I say that as a complementarian...I strongly uphold male leadership in the Church); but more than half of Christian counselees are women. How could such a huge issue as eating disorders be so completely overlooked in a course like this? Especially when it is listed, on the course syllabus, as being included? If, after I have viewed all of the lectures it turns out that anorexia or bulimia was discussed, I'll write a retraction. But based on this (very expensive) material, there's nothing there.

I suppose there's one positive way of looking at this oversight: there's a definite market for my book! There is virtually nothing, written from a purely biblical perspective, on the subject of eating disorders.

Well...that's about to change. As soon as the publisher gives me an approximate publication date, I'll share and let you know how you can pre-order "Redeemed from the Pit".

Just Did a Radio Interview about my Book...

Lucy Ann Moll, host of "Sisterhood of Beautiful Warriors" radio show, just interviewed me today and we talked about my book...the biblical solution to eating disorders....what repentance is....and why you need to learn to hate your sin to walk in true victory:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cwa-radio/2010/12/07/sisterhood-of-beautiful-warriors

I was pretty nervous...hopefully it didn't seem too obvious! I really hope I spoke the truth only, and that God was somehow glorified in what I said.

A 13-Year-Old's Synopsis

Last week, I had a lengthy discussion with the author editing my book on the content and format of one of its chapters, "What About Counseling?" I had originally devoted three chapters in the manuscript to discussion of the hollow, deceptive philosophy of behavioral psychology; the atheist roots of psychoanalysis; and the influence of Freud, Skinner and Maslow in contemporary addiction therapy.

"Whoa!" said she. ("Whoa!" is, according to Jay Adams, the most important word in biblical counseling). "Let the Bible speak for itself," she counseled. "You need to spend more time showing the reader what the answer is from Scripture; how GOD is going to help them, than on all these other things." She was right, of course. I condensed my warning about contemporary psych-based treatment down into one chapter, and augmented it by a thorough expanation of why counseling from the Bible alone is more helpful in bringing about true transformation. No rabbit trails (no matter how fascinating) allowed.

It was still too "heavy". She told me to use more Scripture, quote Reformers and other writers less than I quote Christ, and above all "stop writing like a PhD - you're going to lose your audience." Good point. She instructed me to strive for a seventh grade reading level, which was excellent advice, as not every Christian lady struggling with an eating disorder has been to Bible college (or graduate school). My assignment? To re-write, and have several ladies read it and comment on clarity and "flow".

I enlisted my 8th-grade daughter's help. Valentina is a bright kid, but she's never been to seminary - nor has she studied psychology (although I suspect that is coming, as she is a public school student. Sigh). I do feel that my mission has been accomplished....having never yet looked at my book, or really knowing my thesis, she not only appeared to "get the point", but was able to articulate it well, too:

I think the author’s main point was to talk about Biblical counseling vs. the therapy or psycology that the world today uses in order to get rid of peoples’ problems. She was saying that you can’t deal with the addiction yourself, and the Biblical counselor can’t either, because he/she isn’t God. Only God can help you, and you have to repent from your sin in order to change. It’s not like God is just going to change you in one day. You have to work too, although only God can heal you from your addiction. However, the counselor is there to guide you and help you understand the Bible.

3. What do you remember BEST about the chapter? In other words, when you finished reading, what stood out in your mind the most?

When I finished reading the chapter, I remembered when you talked about how addictioons ARE NOT diseases, but they are sins, and we are sinners. People today try to blame everthing and anything on somebody else, because they are to prideful to admit that the addiction is their fault. So, they blame it on their childhood or genes in their body which obviously aren’t the reasons to an addiction.

Well put. Maybe I should just have her write this book.

Please forgive me...an apology to readers

Dear readers,

Please forgive my lack of activity here lately. Unfortuantely, I have not found the time to post much new material lately, and I realize that some of you check in daily. To those of you who have e-mailed me and waited longer than usual for a reply, I sincerely apologize and am grateful for your patience. You are important to me, and the reason for this ministry. For most of you, e-mail is the only way in which I am able to minister to you and I do try to keep up.

As a few of you know, in May I signed a contract with a top publisher of theological books and biblical counseling literature. This is extremely exciting news, as I had been seeking an appropriate publisher for my book, "Redeemed from the Pit: Biblical Repentance and Restoration from the Bondage of Eating Disorders" for some time! In the meantime, a bestselling author and biblical counselor was kind enough to critique my manuscript, and had some specific suggestions for improvement. As I go through and make the revisions, I am finding parts of the book need to be re-structured and more emphasis needs to be placed on the biblical categories of sins which drive anorexia and bulimia.

This is an important step, as the end result will be better and more useful to the people my book is designed to help. However, it's hard work. I am going through nearly 95,000 words, many of which were written before I began studying with the Institute for Nouthetic Studies, and revising, re-writing, re-structuring. (Speaking of INS, I am also behind in my coursework...everything has been put on hold until I meet deadline for going to press).

I work best under pressure. I once re-wrote a 3,000 word article for Christianity Today in three days. However, there's a knowledge that drives my efforts and motivates me: this is not about me. It never was. Every word I write, every woman I counsel, every blog entry I post - it's all for the purpose of bringing glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's entrusted me with this ministry, and I do not take that lightly. As I strive to meet these specific goals that are part of the big picture, may I always keep the Cross front and center before my eyes.

Currently, my goal is to have the entire book revised and ready by July 12, after which our family will take a week's well-earned vacation. The manuscript will then (Lord willing) be ready to send out for a few folks to read for endorsement. If all goes as planned, it will go into production this fall, and be out on the shelves by late fall. I am excited and humbled by this opportunity, and covet your prayers in representing God's grace and mercy well in my book.

Solo Deo Gloria,

Marie