Lysa TerKeurst
About the Author

Lysa TerKeurst is a New York Times bestselling author and speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has lead thousands over the past 15 years to help make their walk with God an invigorating journey. Not...

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Comments

  1. Lysa,
    Thank you for speaking honestly about a difficult, but prevalent problem. I have had an ongoing battle with putting food in God’s place. My body is God’s temple, but I was treating it more like a shack. I was convicted about making some changes in my life – for my spiritual and physical health. With the help of a weight loss specialist, I didn’t go on a fad diet (they never work long term), but instead made life changes about how I looked at food. Almost 60lbs lighter, I feel so much better. Turning to God and His word and prayer is key when the cravings arise. I still struggle from time to time and give into temptation (none of us are perfect) but then I get back up on the horse and thankfully, His mercies are new every morning!! Praying for all my sisters in Christ that also share this battle.
    Blessings,
    Bev

  2. Lysa, my word for this year is DEEPER. As I read your post my heart flipped at the concept of craving God more than anything and allowing Him to be the one who is my satisfaction. That, for me, is part of DEEPER.
    Have ordered the book! If God touches me through that as powerfully as He has done through this post then I sense change!
    Bless you, Lysa, love Ruth x

    • Ruth, Ditto! and Lysa, thank you for putting into words what I couldn’t. Exactly. Can’t wait for some help through God using Crave!

  3. Lysa, Thank you for this post. It closely reflects my own struggle. A dieter since I was 9 – counting calories, weighing and measuring, counting points, tracking my food, obsessing over detours has become an addiction. I too am trying to focus more on God than on Food. To run to God and ask Him to fill me up. Prayers for you!

  4. Lysa,
    Thanks for this post! I have been reading the Made To Crave daily devotional you created for the YouVersion App. Although I haven’t had a big problem with weight loss through the years, since having children, I have had a harder time dropping weight and of course my body changed and holds onto weight in different places that I would rather it not. I also turn to food when stressed.
    The scripture and picture you used to show how you turned to God was so helpful! thank you!

  5. Lysa, it doesn’t get more timely than this. 5 minutes before reading your post, I was in the bathroom trying to position the scale in EXACTLY the same place I had 2 days before, stepped on it and wanted to cry. Up 3 pounds. Just 7 from my highest weight ever a few years back. At almost 53 it has become harder to make the scale budge. But I know it’s not just a metabolism issue, it’s a heart issue. I make so many excuses – I have lots of food allergies, so what I can eat, shouldn’t be off the list, I love to bake and show others love that way (while testing it all of course), I’m busy working full time and running a ministry, I have to eat whatever’s available on the go – and on, and on. I’m a stubborn girl and surrender comes hard. I trust God for so many things, impossible things, and yet this I’ve always tried to do on my own failing miserably. I want to join the study group – it starts just 3 days before that 53rd birthday of mine and it will be my gift to me as I give the mess I’ve made of this temple back to him.

    • Toni-
      I am praying that you can trust God with this…I was strangled for so many years with an eating disorder and my life changed dramatically when I finally gave it to the Lord! I can’t wait to see what 53 has for you through this study <3
      Much love–Veronica

  6. It is so amazing how God puts exactly the right things in our paths at exactly the right time! Two changes I am making in the new year, spend more time (in my case any would be more) with The Lord, and finally get a handle on a healthy lifestyle which will lead to lower weight! Thank you so much for sharing. I just signed up for the bible study and ordered my book! What a great Saturday already!

  7. Thank you, for this article. I crave sugar! I eat healthy, except when it comes to sugar! I try to ask myself does this food nourish my bottom? But when it comes to sugar, I don’t even ask, I just indulge. It’s the one habit I just haven’t been able to overcome, but I have a new action, a new strategy to take into my New Year, when the craving shows up, I’ll pray. Great idea!

  8. Pat happy blessed new year
    I am still laughing about your bottom lol we all have that problem somebody told me to tell you how wonderful you are! You know who that is.
    The Lord and I are going to start on Tuesday Jan.7th a group for ppl who want to change their weight. That is how it was worded it sounds kinder.please pray for me and whoever comes out for this group. Always love what you print God bless you

  9. Although I am doing much better with my cravings for food, while reading your article, I was challenged by what other things I crave more than God. And I am so encouraged that even though it may take awhile for my heart to change, God will change it and empower me through His Spirit. Thank you!

  10. Needed this more than you will ever know I’m feeling better that I’m not a freak of nature and the only one in this silent and deadly battle with food and other things I’ve placed before God. A new year and a new way to cope with God at the forefront thank you

  11. I picked the Dvd.made to crave book and workbook at a discount store. It looks like it hardly was used. I want to make it work in my life…through Gods grace. But I’m so not into doing it right now. Please pray for me. Thanks

    • Diane,

      Prayers that God can help you get into this study. You got the DVD, book and workbook-He must have laid it on your heart to hear the lessons. May God give you the courage and willpower to dig into this now and stick with it.

      Father,

      Help Diane get into this Bible study. You know she needs to hear these words and be encouraged. Give her the strength and will power she needs to continue and stick with this. It will be a great encouragement to her.

      AMEN!

  12. I can tell God is definitely working in my life! I have always had a weight problem, along with chronic depression, so at the start of the New Year I said my word was going to be “positive”. To think & act “positive”. I’ve tried to lose weight so many ways, to no avail…..now I know why….I really am (or was) putting food ahead of God! Since the first of the new year, I have been more aware of what I’m eating, changing things. Your article came at just the right time for me. I pray for God’s continued guidance and grace as I accept this challenge. Thanks

  13. Thanks for this post, Lysa. This next week is a week of prayer & fasting at our church. It’s how we start each new year. Just today I was talking with friends about the meaning of fasting (and can you even do it meaningfully as a mum to littles?)

    This was a timely reminder of why it’s good to deny ourselves physically from time to time. As much as we tend to divorce the spiritual from the physical, we are made as complete people – those things interrelate.

    That’s why, even if I’m still making meals and running around and not having “extra time” to pray, I’ll be fasting in some way this coming week. I’m hoping to tell my body, “You need God, even more than you need food.” I hope to receive those words, and let it change my posture to this upcoming year.

  14. Lysa,
    Last year I purchased MTC book, started to read it and laid it aside several times. I was so encouraged to see this study so I can be held accountable. I even have a work out buddy but she likes to make excuses and thus so do I. So no more excuses for me. Thank you for your insightful thoughts and your honset thoughts. May God bless you and yours this new year.

  15. This is something I need to really pray about. I have put 30 pounds on in the last 5 years. For being 5’1″, this is huge. I need help in escaping this overwhelming sense of defeat.

  16. I have struggled with weight issues for years….losing and gaining back 75+ pounds, losing 20…gaining 20… and the list goes on and on and on. I have been guilty in the weigh-in game where I remove everything in hopes of seeing the numbers go down instead of up when weighing in on my scale in the morning. I have joined weight loss programs more times than I care to even think about only to succeed…for a short period of time and then to fail when I let my emotions and old habits creep back into my life, turning to food instead of Jesus.
    My weight issues have plagued me for most of my life and I need a “heart” change; it needs to turn to Jesus for comfort rather than food. I have signed up for this Bible study and am looking forward to learning how to let go and let Christ be my source of comfort, joy, my everything!

  17. Lysa, this was so timely. The Lord had been instilling the same thing in my heart. Thank you for sharing!

  18. Lysa,
    Thank you for this post! I just signed up for the OBS of your book, “Made to Crave”. I’m anxiously waiting for the study to start. I just purchased the book yesterday and was browsing through it before doing my morning devotions. The scripture this morning was 1 Corinthians 6:12 “Everything is permissible for me” – but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me” – but I will not be mastered by anything. What an appropriate scripture when contemplating your book and eating healthier.!

  19. I have waited a long time for a group like this. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your life with us.

  20. I am so encouraged by your messages and look forward to the program. Amazingly, before I even started reading any of your messages, on New Years Eve I was praying and asking God once again to help me with this weight struggle I’ve had for years, and the thought came to me “strive to become spiritually fat”. My real struggle is much more clear to me now.

  21. I am so excited to make these changes in my life, and leave behind the constant pain of guilt and defeat.

  22. I changed your word for food to smoking/cigarettes. If you can do it I know I can too….just needed a way to get started!! thank you!!!

  23. Lysa,
    A friend and dear sister just sent me your blog. I totally 100% understand every word you write, as if describing a journey set by God the father for me in 2010. I was at 328lbs, and as you wrote God changed me, and the more I seeked him, not food the more I changed. Now over 3 years later and 150lbs gone, Enjoying The Journey of reflecting the God of hope. May God Bless you and your ministry.
    Sincerely,
    Dee

    • I’m sitting here in tears hoping that I will be able to do as you did. I have gained 40 lbs in one year. I weighed in at the dr’s office a week ago at 309. I am only 5’2″ and am miserable and very unhealthy because of this weight. Thank you for your encouraging post. It gives me hope.

  24. Dear Lysa I have struggled with food all my life.I am going to start reading the book about craving you wrote.My daughter told me about it.I use food to make feel better when I’m stressed.Pray that God will change this part of. me.Thank you, Kathy

  25. Lysa,

    Thank you for your open, honest writing. It is refreshing to know others are going through the same things.

    Within the last year I have gained about 10+ lbs. My job got much busier and I got lazy about my exercising and careless about what I ate. I plan to work out more this year and rid myself of those lbs. More than that I want to be renewed by going deeper into the word of God and craving more and more of Him.

    Thank you for writing this Bible Study. May God bless everyone in 2014 🙂

  26. Lisa,

    Thank you for words of wisdom! I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I have tried to lose weight but honestly it’s only half hearted. I feel like I’ve failed so much in my life that I will be a failure at losing weight too. Please keep me in your prayers as I am going to make it a goal this year to take care of the body God gave me. I want to be around to watch my grandchildren grow up. Love & Blessings, Lorraine

  27. I can surely identify. I got saved 35 yrs ago 2 23 79 by surrendering my life to God at an overeaters anonymous meeting. I have been struggling with this forever.I must go up and down the scale 3x per year. I vow…break it, bargain, ge t victory, get bored. I crave God also…..but sometimes he wins and sometimes I win. Once I was in the middle of serious prayer and stopped and ate some candy that was calling out yo me. Can’t wait to start study. I’ll have to read this post daily until then. Sometimes it helps just to know I’m not alone in this struggle . I’m asking God to bail US all out again. What a loving Father we have. Thanks for your honesty and labor of love with this.:):)♡♥

  28. I have struggled with being over weight almost my entire life. I now weigh two times what is healthy for my height. I struggle with many medical problems due to obesity. I have such a negative self image. One of the hardest things for me is feeling like its ok for me to love myself enough to take care of myself this way. I can do it for the Lord, to glorify him, but I feel like I’m being vain or self centered to do it for me. I feel so unworthy. Please pray for me to stay focused and draw near to Him. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have to be willing to try. I’m truly thankful for seeing your book and bible study on FB. I pray for God’s strength to get me started.

  29. Perfectly written. I am in on the study. I have had the book for about 6 months and only got through 4 chapters. And it didn’t sink in. I am ready to take this journey. Prepare my heart o Lord

  30. My word this year is Discipline. This study is timely for the healthy eating challenges in my life.

  31. Proud of what you guys are doing, and I can’t wait to see what God does with my sisters in Christ! Way to attack that Devil’s lies, and fight as righteous members of this entire body of God’s people. By fighting this battle you guys are standing as active members in this battle against darkness. No other believers would be able to do their part if you guys weren’t doing yours. Great job, sisters.
    Abigail

  32. Today !!!
    As I read comments I thought – this is me. There are always excuses. But, clothes fitting poorly, feeling miserable …
    Doing this through church, starts in 1.5 hrs – now I have to get up and go.

    • Surrender. Surrender, Self-Control, Self-control. These were concepts I could not seem to grasp. I prayed fervently for God to help me surrender and that I would have more self-control to stop bad eating habits and begin healthy ones. I wanted more of God in my life. He knew my heart…..
      I fully wanted to be 100% obedient to Him. I fell far short. I wanted… I wanted… Well He showed me that was the problem. I was focused on what I wanted. My desires. I began a christian diet program called Win Over Weight (WOW). It focused on spending time and prayer with our Father as well as using a lot of self-control. I prayed for self-control. over and over. Why wasn’t it happening? I asked God why and He spoke to my heart loud and clear, ” Do not pray for self-control. Self-control is a misinterpretation of my word. (try to find it in the KGV- it is not there) I was confused because my “Bible” (NIV) said Self-control was part of the Fruit of the Spirit. He spoke to me again, ” Self-control is for an evil heart, my desire for you is to live with the pure heart I gave you.” He made us pure, white as snow, a new heart, free from sin. the problem is we don’t have the faith to believe it. I said self-control is part of the Fruit of the Spirit; He said, that is a misinterpretation. the True interpretation is Temperance, which is a balance in all things. If the Holy Spirit is working in you, You have all the Fruit working, you have Temperance which will balance your eating as well as every other part of your life. Surrender is another word He showed me was wrong in our teaching. We are to submit to His Spirit so He can work in us. Surrender is something to do to an enemy; to be taken prisoner. that is not freedom. We have the freedom to submit to Him to acquire His attributes to live in us, and the freedom to give up our free will so His will can be worked through us. No where in the King James Bible does it tell us to surrender, it does tell us to submit which is way different. No where in the KJV does it tell us to have self-control. Think about it self self self control
      Paul says self control cannot be attained; we don’t do what we want to do and we do what we don’t want to do. So we need to submit our bodies to the Holy Spirit as a living sacrifice so He can accomplish all that is good. He has made us free. Please pray for deceptions of the Church to be revealed. Everyone of us is deceived in some way. We have to pray for discernment, wisdom, eyes open to deception, and hearts wanting only Truth. There is a lot of deception in the Church and the only way for it to be exposed and cleaned up is if each of us pray for Truth. May God’s Grace be poured out abundantly for you.

  33. Lysa,
    I have read your book in the past and it brought me out of such a dark place after years of struggling wit an eating disorder. I actually pulled it back out the other day and debated reading it again. I feel pretty good, but there is always that small voice that tries to creep in. I put it on my shelf…but am headed back upstairs to pick it up again and read along with your book study! It is so much more than food and that was the biggest thing I have learned over the past 3 years. I truIy feel God has a funny way of talking to us…so I am going to listen and help spread the word to others as I go!
    Thank you for your blessings and I hope I can encourage other women to attack this head on!
    <3 Veronica

  34. Like so many others, I know well the place you described, and I’m forever grateful for God’s patient and persistent work to write “redeemed” over my formerly idolatrous heart. He is lavishly good, despite ourselves. Thank you, Lysa, for consistently and humbly proclaiming this message that the answer to our every craving is Jesus alone!

  35. Lisa,
    Thank you so much for this post today! I am just getting back into my “normal” routine. I am trying to shed a few bad habits and gain some new good habits.
    “I Lay my requests before you (Lord) and wait in expectation.” I have been and am still waiting on our home to sell, so that we can move closer to family, especially our grandson, of whom I care for 4 days a week, overnight 3 nights. I am leaning patience, but I need prayer for help waiting on God’s timing!

    Thank you,
    Ellie