I am grateful for my journey, I am awed at the perfection of the events that have brought me to today, for all I have learned and that I have learned to share honestly. I hadn’t seen much of my friend for a few months. The holidays got in the way and her workout routine changed so that we were no longer at the gym’s mirror at the same time. We finally met for supper and I learned that she had started binging again and then been stricken with an immobilizing depression that had her crying for hours and in bed many days. I was able to share my own eating disorder with honesty and my experience and hope felt useful as we both felt less alone in the battle against compulsive eating and the cycle of self-loathing and self-punishment that overeating represents. Recognizing the fear at the bottom of the behaviors helps to begin the healing. Admitting we need help from outside, that we’ve been continuously unsuccessful with everything we’ve tried is the start of making true progress. Spiritual growth doesn’t happen without the thorn to make us work. God’s plan for me is perfect.
Growth begins as a thorn
