Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose by Candace Bure, Dana Wilkerson

food.
    To some extent, we all have an emotional relationship with food. Many people are able to keep that relationship a healthy one; I was not one of those fortunate souls. At first I only did it when Val was on the road, like it was an illicit affair. I would sit alone in front of the TV in our apartment and simply eat. I would eat and eat and eat until I was disgusted with myself. In order to alleviate the guilt and disgust I felt at my binging, I would purge. I let my emotions dictate what I ate. Can you relate? Do you eat cake when you’re happy? Maybe you scarf down a carton of ice cream when you’re lonely, or you gorge yourself on candy when you’re bored.
    With most things we do in secret, we get bolder and more wrapped up in what we’re doing, and we eventually get caught. My dad was the one who discovered my secret shame, and I was distraught by how much it hurt him to see me in such pain and confusion. I had never intended for my actions to hurt my loved ones, but they had. The discovery—and the embarrassment and shame that went along with it—was one of the turning points in my battle with bulimia, but my emotional struggles with food still cropped up.
    Strong emotions can lead us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. In my loneliness, I recognized that I had a void in my life, I tried to fill it with food, and I became a slave to that food. What I didn’t realize then was that the only thing that could truly satisfy me and break the bonds of my unhealthy habit was a relationship with Jesus Christ. Instead of turning to food for comfort, I should have been turning to God. He is our ultimate source of joy, freedom, strength, calm, healing, and comfort. He will deliver us from the things that hold us captive, as we read in Psalm 18:2: “The L ord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
    I’ve also learned that God has an interest in what or how we eat. We rarely think about this, because everyone has to eat. It’s a necessary part of life that we just take for granted. But God does care about what we eat and He desires to be present in that aspect of our lives. He wants us to be healthy, and He wants us to be self-disciplined not just in our eating habits but in all that we do. I was not disciplined in eating; in fact, I was committing the sin of gluttony. I needed to make better choices in order to be obedient to God and to live a healthier life.
    If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please tell a friend and seek help. It is not healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Eating disorders and the abuse of food will slowly destroy you, and if it goes on too long it can prove fatal. I do not wish that for anyone. There is help, and there is freedom from this food slavery. Do whatever you need to do to move toward a healthier lifestyle.
    The Foundation of Balance
    During those early years of marriage, I had no foundation and no sense of direction or purpose, which is what made identifying what I should be balancing so difficult—and you really need to know what your priorities should be in order to balance them. Though I did seem to have more direction in my life once I had my kids, I didn’t really feel like I had a firm foundation to stand on until I truly began to follow Jesus Christ, the true foundation. First Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Anything we try to use as a foundation—whether it’s work, food, another person, or anything else—will ultimately fail. It might seem to work for a time, but it won’t last. Only Jesus will last, and He will be there not just for this lifetime, but also for eternity.
    If you find yourself in a similar state of an unbalanced life, I encourage you to go to Jesus to find a sense of stability, direction, purpose, and balance. He will