Weighty Issue

Hello All -

I hope your new year is going well. I am writing all of you because I consider you to be both very important to me, and people of prayer and a pursuit for God. I know that I can be extremely wordy in my emails, but I ask you please to put up with it this time. It is important.

I have battled weight issues for my whole life. As I have often said, it was easy to tell which baby pictures were of me. I was the one drawn with circles. I wore husky pants in elementary. I always have pulled at my shirt. Wearing corduroy pants was deemed a fire hazard. This is not news to anyone who knows me. I am overweight.

Over the last few months, I have really tried to have some sort of plan for changing things. I looked into attending Overeaters' Anonymous, but have had a horrible time trying to find a way to actually make it to a meeting. I have thought and thought about options and plans. I have run back through my efforts in the past and tried to identify what caused my inevitable failure. And the root of the matter is that I am a food addict. This also is not a surprise. I have an addictive personality, something that seems to be an inherited family trait. While my addictions have never manifested themselves in alcohol or drugs, they certainly have surfaced in other ways.

For most addicts, you just have to stop "cold turkey." For a food addict, cold turkey just makes you want to make a sub. You can't stop eating. But, I discovered a few years ago, that I can do something close. And I am going to try that again, but this time with more resolve and with something I didn't have last time. I am going to ask you, my dear friends and family, to help me through your prayers and cooperation.

For the next week or so, I am going to start the process with a juice fast of sorts. This is to serve as a jolt to my body and to cleanse some toxins. I did this a few years back, and it was very effective. Then, I am going to follow up by following a very simple and restrictive menu. I mean VERY restrictive. The point of this is to actually battle the foods I have trouble getting out of my life (soda, cheese, fried stuff, dessert). This will go on for a while - a month or so, two if needed. I am going to do this to actually attack it like an addiction - give myself the nutrients I need without feeding the addictive elements. (And, don't worry about me doing something stupid. Remember, I now live with a medical professional in training.)

At the same time, I will be praying a LOT for God to deliver me from this drag on my life. I will be reading and praying Scripture. I want to really deal with this as a sin issue as well (for the first time). It is my sincere hope that by mid-March I will have come to a place where I can begin following a realistic and healthy long-term approach to food. I will be in Orlando March 15-17 for a Defender event, and will spend some time with a counselor there who focuses on nutritional issues. She will help me come up with a diet I can live with from that point.

My request of you is twofold. First, please remember to pray for me. Even if it is at your standard mealtime, just offer up a prayer that I will have strength and deliverance. The second thing is I pray for your cooperation. Please don't offer me chances to fail. Many of you live far away, so that is not really an issue. But if we have a chance to spend time together, please be conscious that food will be a problem for me. And if we come to spend time with you, please allow me to follow my bizarre menu. I know that all of you will do that. I just need to say it. In times past, I have hoped for a friend to help me undermine myself. And they have usually unwittingly provided the chances to fail.

So, that is what I hope to do. I desperately want to get this under control. I want to be healthy. I want to live to see my kids grow up and get married and have kids. I want to be attractive to my wife. But, most importantly, I want to stop being defeated and controlled. I want to be able to stand up and give testimony to the power of God in breaking strongholds. Will you please help me? I love you all and thank you in advance.

for HIS glory,
Rev. David Staples