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Emotional and Psychological Healing through the Grace and Mercy of God

By Anita Mathias

 

 
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   All my life, I have longed to have sudden healing, a sudden breaking of addictions through the power of God, a sudden change of the deep structure of my personality.
But sudden and dramatic change has never happened for me. It’s been slow, slow, slow.
* * *
Well, after an ultrasound showed abnormal results I was biopsied for endometrial cancer for which the greatest risk factor was being overweight. Which I am. Should get the results in a couple of weeks.
And of course, I was full of remorse and shock at what I had done to my body.
You know until quite recently, I thought the reason I was overweight was that I ate carelessly, ate the wrong foods, and didn’t exercise enough.
I have now realized that it’s because I eat when I am not hungry—but empty, bored, stressed, frustrated with work or life, thinking of food, sad, depressed, or even happy!!
That’s so silly. It’s like making money when you are hungry; or watching a movie rather than inviting a friend to coffee when you are lonely.
But–of course, changing the response to the stimuli  (being angry, stressed, lonely, bored, anxious, restless, happy) to an appropriate one, rather than cure-all eating is going to involve slowing down.
And that is the only way to do the spiritual life—Slow!!
* * *
Food has been a short-term cure-all for me, and since I have a very sensitive body chemistry, sugary food and carbs swiftly sends my blood sugar and mood rocketing sky-high, with a corresponding plunge into lows, which would be cured by—more eating. All this had nothing to do with hunger but with addiction to sugar highs (chocolate, cookies, fudge, waffles, breads, crisps).
Sugar addiction is as toxic and serious as other addictions.  After you’ve eaten sugar—blood sugar soars, then plummets, and the body craves more sugar. The only way to break it is cold turkey. Or the grace of God.
* * *
 So, I humble myself and go and seek prayer for emotional or comfort eating after church on Sunday, Feb 12th.
And the ladies pray, and one of them say, “Well, dear, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. We can turn to the Holy Spirit instead of food.”
And it’s as if all lights come on in techni-colour brilliance. And so I start–when tempted to eat because I have thought of delicious food and now crave it, or am bored, or empty or sad—to stop work, lie down and pray in tongues for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The interesting thing about this, is that it is one prayer Jesus tells us will always be answered.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks fora fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
* * *
I have always found the experimental nature of Christianity fascinating. Taste and see. I have found that when I stop activity and pray in tongues for the Holy Spirit is takes probably under 5 minutes for me to feel bubbly and happy again. Hey, sure beats chocolate. I will leak, and need a refilling, of course–as with chocolate–but really, the Holy Spirit for my heart and soul hungers—that’s the way for me.
So this happened nearly a month ago now. How am I doing?
I really did well in the beginning. But Jacob, limping, would always have needed a stick for long distances. I will only be cured by continuing to walk with the Holy Spirit. It was a healing, insofar as I was given grace to turn to the Spirit instead of to food, but it’s a healing that will need me to decide to walk in it each day.
I noticed I was slipping yesterday, nibbling on ginger biscuits a friend brought me, eating chocolate macaroons at another friend’s house. Yes, I received the sort of healing  that brought me to the place where I had strength to put on prayer and the Holy Spirit instead of food, but I still have to remember to ask, put off, put on.
·      * *
I am really interested in the psychological dimension of healing. I have a friend who has crippling SPD, symphysis pubis dysfunction. Each time she was prayed for, she became better. And then relapsed. A pattern: prayer at New Wine, after church services, in small groups. Heat, feeling dramatically better. Delighted declarations of this. Then a relapse.
Yesterday, a blogger, Emma, described feeling pain relief from a ulcer on her tongue for one hour after a parishioner prayed for her, and two hours after the leaders prayed for her!!  So what’s going on? Were these women healed for just an hour or two? Or did faith falter after an hour or two, as Peter’s faith faltered when he walked on the waters. And, as you’ll remember, he began to sink.
Does receiving healing involve the present continuous, continuing to believe that you have been healed, continuing to thank God for his healing. For me, I believe I received emotional healing. So my cravings are less strong; I can pray for the Holy Spirit when tempted to eat when I am not hungry rather than grabbing chocolate or crisps. But I will have to continue to do so, to walk in my healing.
I picked up this leaflet on How to Keep Your Healing when I went to Fflad-y-Brenin late last year. We sometimes need to continue walking in the faith through which we have been healed.

 

by Sharon George
From Ffald-y-Brenin

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  1. Anita says

    March 10, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Hi Diane, It wasn't pray for deliverance healing, just regular prayer for help and healing.

    As I said, my emotions generally heal slowly, though I remain enamoured by the idea of sudden deliverances and transformations.

    That's a great plaque. Should make one!!

    Love,
    Anita

  2. Diane Stortz says

    March 10, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    Hi Anita,

    I don't think most emotional healing comes as deliverance healing. I think many times God says, “OK, here's the path, I'll help you walk it” And renewing our minds with what he says about himself, his path, and how to walk it … as we do what he says, we change our thinking, which changes our doing.

    You're wise to have asked for help and to be sharing about this, because a big component of God's path is being connected to others as well as to him.

    Another key piece is figuring out what's in those uncomfortable feelings that drive emotional eating and being willing to sit and feel those feelings instead of running to food to make them go away.

    I used to have a sign up: FOOD WON'T FIX IT. WHAT WILL? I still think that sums it up.

    I should add that I don't do any of this perfectly!

    Blessings to you,

    Diane

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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