the best way

A bolt - a movable bar or rod that when slid into a socket fastens a door, gate, etc.

To bolt - a sudden dash, run, flight, or escape.

The same word, but with two very different meanings depending on the small word in front of it.  And the "to bolt" is what I've been using food to do for a good part of my life.

In Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth, she devotes her third chapter, "Resist the Inclination to Bolt", to this concept.  She aptly describes how we easily use food to escape the moment, get away from reality, and avoid facing what is going on right in front of us (and of course, we can put other words like money, drugs, or work in place of the word "food" above).  The more I re-read this chapter that I had read a year ago, the more I see myself blatantly in those pages, in those words. 

It is much harder to stay in the moment than to placate it with chocolate.  It is much easier to run to the kitchen than to face the emotional heartbreak that keeps coming through the door some days.  It is more difficult to watch your or your loved one's world crumble without eating it away as a temporary salve to the pain.

But the food doesn't fix a thing.  It can't.  That's giving it a power it doesn't have.

The good news is, we are more resilient than we think. If we will choose to do so, we can stand strong during the worst of moments and find ourselves still standing (and our cupboards still full and undisturbed) after the storm has passed.   Our answer is in Joshua 1, where God tells us, "Be strong and courageous!  I will never leave you nor forsake you." 

It stands to reason that if we have nowhere to turn, we will most likely consume something to conquer our feelings.  As believers, we have somewhere to turn.  We have somewhere to run.  We have somewhere to bolt. 

It's to God's everlasting arms.  

Try Him the next time circumstances have you reaching for the cookies.  I guarantee the results will be better than what food could ever give you.

(If you struggle with this food issue as I do, I'd love to hear from you.  Leave me a comment below and you will be read and prayed for.)