Thursday, May 15, 2008

Love to Eat/Hate to Eat Book Discussion: Chapter 1, Question 5

Whether you've read Love to Eat, Hate to Eat or not, you're invited to join in on the discussion. There are no wrong answers! (This book discussion began on my friend Char's blog, Sensible Mom.)

5. Do you think about God as someone you can enjoy? List five characteristics of God that you most enjoy.

[Optional] Write a prayer of praise and commitment. Start with the above list of the five characteristics that you most enjoy about God. Also include in it both your fears and your desires to glorify God through your eating.

8 comments:

Brandi said...

I wanted to get this up now so it would be up for Friday morning, but I am tired and need to go to bed. I will answer later on. :-)

Debbie said...

I'll answer later too! At work now so things are a bit hectic. When are they never, though, right?

Brandi said...

(okay, it's hard to pick just five, but I'll try...)

He...
-is in control
-delights in me
-loves me perfectly
-is always trustworthy
-is patient

Oh, Lord, I thank you that you are everything I could ever hope for and more. Help me to see that your ways are always right and are exactly what I would want at all times if I could only see the whole picture as You do.

It is hard to follow You when I am bombarded with lies from my flesh, friends, the world, and yes...even from fellow believers. But I want to be free. For your glory and for my sake as well. Help me to listen to your voice only and simply to say, "Yes, Lord."

Help me to look past what is permissible and to lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares me and look unto YOU. You are the prize, Lord. I don't want anything to take Your place in my heart.

Thank you for your promise that it is You who is at work in me both to will and to do for your good pleasure. And it is for my pleasure as well! In Your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Give me faith in You, Lord. For without faith it is impossible to please You.

I love you. Amen!

Charlotte Cushman said...

Whoa. Agreed.

1. His Faithfulness; regardless whether I am faithful or not.
2. His Righteousness - He is Holy and He is always good. So everything He does is right and good and I can trust in that.
3. His Omniscience - The ability to look at a situation from every perspective and know exactly how it will all play out. And knowing that, knowing how the puzzel pieces that look so random to us; dovetail for his overall plan.
4. Forgiveness - As far as the east is from the west.
5. Love - The kind that is not based on performance.

Anonymous said...

Hi Brandi, I love the title of your blog. You prob. didn't know this, but "surrendering to Christ" is my all time favorite topic.

I don't know if I will buy the book or not, but if you post a few questions like this one, I may stop by and answer them. ;)

So...

Do I think of God as someone I can enjoy? Yes. And I think of Him as a someone, not a something.

Five characteristics of God that I enjoy most:
1. That He is in control and I am not. (That He is God and I am not.)
2. That I can surrender all to Him and trust/know that He will carry me through.
3. His constant love for me even when I fail. His forgiveness.
4. That He does require the hard things of me. (Even though I hate going through them. And that He waits patiently for me to "get it" and surrender to Him even though I don't understand or see the good in it or understand His plan.)
5. That He is Truth. As Eric's verse says, "In Him there is no darkness." He does what he says He will do.

And one more...maybe this is part of #3...love beyond my understanding. The cross.

Lord, Thank you for loving me. Thank You that You are God and I am not. Thank you for carrying me. Thank you for the moutaintops and the valleys. Thank you for loving me enough to "put" up with me even when I don't get it and am completely unlovable. Thank you Lord for pushing me to my limits and beyond and for helping me to see that it is in the "beyond" that growth occurs. Thank you for claiming me, for changing me, for all and everything. Thank you, Lord that in You there is no darkness only truth. I praise You.

Forgive me Father, I've never thought about my eating as a way to glorify you...I've thought about a lot of other things...but never this. But, I do understand. "All of my life to you." Let it be. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Brandi said...

Wow, ladies, thanks I really was blessed by reading your comments. What an awesome God we serve!!

Heidi Bylsma said...

Hi, Brandi. I don't have the book, but it sounds intriguing. I hope you don't mind if I dive in.

Enjoy God? Oh my yes! LOL!

1. His creativity
2. His sense of Humor
3. His beauty
4. His holiness
5. His sovereignty

Lord, I thank you for your amazing creativity--the way you paint the afternoon with white, gray and blue swirls of clouds, the way the deep forest greens of the trees contrast with the sky. I praise you for the smell you gave a horse! HA! So restorative, Lord...how creative and amazing of you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

(I actually went on for pages and pages and chopped off the last 20 pages...a slight exaggeration...because I didn't figure it was nice for me to come in and go on and on that way! LOL!)

Brandi said...

Glad you dove in, Heidi! And thank you for the reminder to glorify Him for His creation...I so often take that for granted. :-(