Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food

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Food issues aren't uncommon for any group of women, including those in the church. (Maybe especially for those in the church?) Lysa tackles those by making God the primary focus and food a secondary one in Made to Crave. This isn't a book about not craving things we shouldn't; it's about craving the One in whom our desires should rest.

She does it with humor, such as
I am not bouncy perky about giving up two of the greatest delights of my taste buds - Cheez-Its and box-mix brownies. In fact, I've even asked God if it would be such a terribly difficult thing to swap the molecular structure of Cheez-Its for carrot sticks. They're both already orange. And, really, how hard could that be for someone who's turned water into wine?
I love that. But I'm not a huge fan of Cheez-Its so if I prayed that, I might change it to Fruit Loops or Skittles (which would add another element of difficulty because they aren't all orange, but I'm sure God could handle it).

Her writing shines best when she respectfully takes Bible verses most of us know and applies them (properly, I might add) to struggles with food. For example, she quotes Matthew 19:21, the verse in which Jesus tells the young rich man to sell all he has and give it to the poor. She rightly points out that this wasn't meant to be a blanket command for everyone but rather Christ's way of saying, in Lysa's paraphrase, "I want you to give up the one thing you crave more than me. Then come, follow me." And if food is the thing we crave more than God, or if we're more inclined to strive for a number of the scale or a size hanging in the closet than we are for a relationship with Him...well, then something is not as it should be.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the section in the back in which she's listed Bible verses by chapter. Now that I've read the book, I'll most likely return to those lists to meditate on God's word (instead of falling into the trap of elevating Lysa's words to the place where the word of God should shine most).

My only criticism (and it's a small one) is that she mentions in the beginning that her food change needs to be cutting out sugars and starches for a time and then eating them in moderation after that. She then states that her book isn't meant to encourage everyone to make the same change as she did and that the aim is for each of us to make whatever change is needed to crave God more than anything else. However, throughout the rest of the book, she keeps coming back to her own changes in a way that almost seems to say, I said that this might not be the change for everyone, but I think it probably is the right change for you. I don't think she meant to imply that, but it stood out to me as an odd juxtaposition of messages. (I must admit, though, that - for me - the food things I'm apt to crave more than God are sugars and starches, so maybe my hyperattention to any mention of those was God highlighting that for me.) Oh, and I didn't care for some of the cheesy reflection questions at the end of each chapter, so I just skipped those.

I had a sweet friend ask me this past Sunday if I had read this yet. She now has my copy, because I'm always willing to lend out books (so feel free to ask if I write a review on something you'd like to read!). That said, I think this is a book worth owning if the subject is one that strikes a chord for you.

I know I'll read it again, especially the verses in the back, and I'll probably choose one of those as one of my February memory verses (maybe Psalm 73:26 or 2 Corinthians 7:1 or Deuteronomy 8:3 or Ecclesiastes 3:11 or Psalm 106:14 or 2 Corinthians 4:16 or 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 or...well, maybe I have memory verse ideas for the next few months, hmm?)

And, for a little more info, here's the trailer for book:  
(and, as a side note, I'd like to confess that I'm completely comfortable with the idea of video trailers for books...)



This post is part of a Litfuse blog tour. To find more links of reviews from bloggers like me, go here! And while I was provided with a review copy of the book, I was only asked to provide my honest opinions of it and not required to give a positive review.

Christmas morning

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As usual, we were at home Christmas morning. That's a tradition we started our first Christmas as parents to help us reduce the chaos and busy-ness around the holidays. We're protective of not letting the remembrance of Christ's birth become all about traveling and packing and unpacking, because - for our family - all that would be a distraction.

We like to keep Christmas Day calmer than all the hustle and bustle. Other folks can manage that while heading elsewhere; we know ourselves well enough to know that we don't do that well.

And we like Christmas to be comfy. As in coordinating jammies. Because nothing says, "Happy birthday, Jesus," like matching polar bear fleece.


Lee's mom even got into the action because I ordered two pairs for me in different sizes when I bought these on clearance a year ago. The ones that didn't fit me worked perfectly for her!


And nothing says Christmas quite like the assembly of toys, right?


This year, the little guy even understood the concept of unwrapping presents.


There were a couple of princess dresses under the tree, which had to be enjoyed right away!


And books, of course. Lots and lots of books.


See the garland? I wanted something classy. She won out with something colorful and tinsel-y.


Good cuddling on the couch!


She tried hard, but she's not quite ready to blow up her own balloons!


And being at home makes it easy to just fall asleep on the dog's bed when you're worn out. (By the way, the dog never uses his bed. Every other creature under four feet tall - cat or child - does.)


And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? 
 It came without ribbons. It came without tags. 
It came without packages, boxes or bags. 
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. 
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. 
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? 
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?
~Dr. Seuss

Thoughtful nugget: The holiness of people with disabilities

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Does the church really believe in the holiness of people with disabilities? Some people believe the church should do good things for the poor. But do we believe in their holiness? I get upset when people tell me, “You’re doing a good job.” I’m not interested in doing a good job. I am interested in an ecclesial vision for community and in living in a gospel-based community with people with disabilities. We are brothers and sisters together, and Jesus is calling us from a pyramidal society to become a body.
Jean Vanier, Living Gently in a Violent World, p. 34-35

This is not a post I want to write.

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I have heard snippets about this. I think I may have first read it on a blog or two, but I can't recall which ones. Today I decided to do a little fact checking, hoping that the data was manipulated in an unethical way or simply misread.

It wasn't.

Hear this, y'all: According to a report from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene,
  • In 2009, there were 214,454 pregnancies in NYC. Of those, 87,273 ended by "induced termination," according to Table 4.17. That's 40.7% of pregnancies in NYC ending in abortion (and, no, that doesn't include miscarriages, which are medically termed spontaneous abortions).
  • For women classified as black in NYC, there were 40,798 abortions. And only 27,405 live births. I can't say conclusively what percentage that is because I couldn't find data in the report for how many pregnancies to black women ended in miscarriage, but I can say that for every two children born to black mothers in 2009, three were aborted (well, technically 2.96, but I rounded up).
  • For girls ages 15 to 17, there were 2,308 live births in 2009. And 5,185 abortions.
  • This news isn't restricted to 2009. The data available from previous years isn't much different.
  • In the past decade, according to Table 4.19, about 15% of abortions in New York City were to married women, while 81-83.6% were to single women (and the rest to those of unknown marital status). Unmarried women had 72,962 abortions compared to 55,767 live births in 2009.
  • For women under age 25, more babies were aborted than born, according to Figure 4.7.

(Let me pause to confess that I'm having trouble seeing my screen through my tears right now. I've been thinking about this for days now, and my heart just aches. Almost half of preborn babies never see the light of day in NYC, more than half for babies whose mothers are single or black or younger than 25.)

A few pages before the abortion stats, the authors of the report state that the infant mortality rate in 2009 was the lowest it's ever been. Of course, that's if you only count the babies who made it to infancy.

On page 48, a figure showed the estimation of years of life lost by premature deaths to various causes. The highest, malignant neoplasms, was estimated to have claimed between 50,000 and 60,000 years of life prematurely from people under age 65 who died from that cause.

It makes me want to beg, demand, scream for them to calculate how many years of life were lost to abortion. I'm pretty sure it would knock malignant neoplasms out of first place, wouldn't you say?

As I write this, I'm struggling with my tone. I'm not sure if I want this post to sadden you or anger you or inform you or incite you to action or do something else entirely.

All I know is that I saw my babies at 7 weeks and 6 weeks of pregnancy, respectively, on ultrasounds with little hearts beating. Little ones who already, even before that moment, had the unique genetic material that today make our daughter's eyes blue and our son's brown.

All I know is that God creates life and that He was knitting each of those 87,273 babies in their mother's wombs, per Psalm 139.

All I know is that it's MLK day. Yes, we have an African-American man as president. But I don't think Reverend King would call this progress.

So what do we do? Pray. Pray. And then pray some more.

Pray for all of these women.

Pray for women like them in 2011, that someone would love them and support them both before and after the birth so that abortion doesn't seem like the best answer.

Pray specifically for support to grow for single women and black women and young women in NYC, those who are more likely to abort a child than give birth to him or her.

Pray for efforts like this one (registration may be required, but it's free) to continue and grow, that the church (and by that I mean the body of believers in Christ, irrespective of where they worship) would step up with more than just simple slogans to make a meaningful difference in Christ for babies in NYC.

Pray for the women who have had abortions and who may read posts like this one and articles like the one above and feel personally targeted or attacked for a choice they made in less-than-desirable circumstances. (And, if that's you, please know that there is forgiveness at the cross and that I am too covered in my own sin to condemn you for yours.)

Pray for the men involved.

And pray for New York City, which in 2009 alone lost the opportunity to welcome 87,273 babies into the world.

And, as you pray, it's okay to cry too. I'm certain I've never shed more tears over any blog post than this one.


Edited to add: I've been asked a few times if it's okay to link to this. Definitely feel free to do so. While heart-wrenching, this is information that needs to be known and shared and prayed over.