Today I am so thankful I can have the "second thought" when a dangerous food thought comes to mind. God, through abstinence and the tools of recovery, grants me that moment of clarity to recall the horror of active addiction and the peace and serenity of recovery.

Psalm 18:18-19 offers comforting words:

YOU LORD are my support. YOU bring me out into a broad place(spacious, free); YOU deliver me because YOU delight in me.

This reminds me that recovery is a spacious, free place to flourish and thrive! A place where God is my support and my deliverer. What a wonder to read that He delights in me, just like I am today:)

Thanks, Cathy! I am so grateful for the second thought! I just attended a lovely wedding and reception. In the past, I would have been unable to truly be present because my mind would have been hijacked with food thoughts - can I sneak more? Will anyone notice if I take this food plate to the bathroom so I can eat unobserved? Did anyone notice that I flushed the toilet twice after purging? I will go on a diet first thing in the morning - on and on, without the ability to truly converse and listen to the friends and family members. After four years of abstinence, the wedding and reception was just another delightful evening dancing and celebrating. My disease comes with chronic amnesia about the hell that is addictive eating. But every recovery action I take - attending a meeting, sharing at a meeting, listening closely, preparing an abstinent meal, committing my food helps me remember that I am have a dangerous and deadly disease with only one treatment - a combination of an abstinent food plan and the 12 steps. Thank God I found the solution and hear over and over from other recovering food addicts that it absolutely works if I have the capacity to be rigorously honest.