Part 1                                    Part 2                               Part 3

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In the midst of my eating disorder, I never thought that I’d be able to heal completely, but I did.  🙂  I am no longer bound by food or by the body image struggles that I faced during that time.   The thought to skip a meal or exercise excessively never – ever – once comes to mind, because I just don’t think that way anymore.

Gosh, it’s SO freeing!

Now I don’t want to make it sound as though I have it all together, or that I never have ‘those days’.  I am human after all.  I will have the occasional ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’ day during which I just feel…

 In case you missed the previous posts:

Part 1

Part 2

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My Recovery

My journey to recovery was a long one.  Food had become my enemy, and I had severe anxiety at the thought of going over – what I considered to be – my daily calorie or fat limit.  That constant need for control had gotten so bad that I’d eat 150 less calories after Sunday morning communion, because I wasn’t sure how many calories were in the grape juice and cracker… and I desperately didn’t want to accidentally ‘eat too much’.

I had gone from wanting to be healthy to fearing weight gain.  I was afraid of food if I wasn’t sure of the calories. And if I had to eat ‘forbidden’ foods, I exercised my body to the point of abuse, hoping that I would burn off what I had eaten. (One time, I ran 2…

Warning:  In this post, I share my eating disorder story.  I am sharing my story during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week in the hopes that it will bring hope to someone going through it, because my story has a happy ending.  But if this will be a trigger for you, please do not read.  This post particularly deals with the dark moments of my journey to find healing. 

–  Nicole

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I couldn’t tell you exactly when it happened; but over months of dietary restrictions and excessive exercise, my entire mindset changed.  What had started as a teen’s innocent excitement over being healthy, mutated into bondage.  Food controlled every part of my life, from the moment I woke up to the time I went to bed.

My parents knew that something was wrong, and my mom says she really started to worry when she noticed that my smile was becoming…

It’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and I really felt that it was time for me to share my personal experience.  I’ve wanted to write about it for a very long time now; mainly because my story has a happy ending, and I want others fighting through it to know that there’s hope.  But still, it’s a difficult topic for me to write about, as it was such an emotional struggle.

Originally I thought that I should try to find photo’s, but I’ve opted to not share photo’s of myself during that time.  I don’t want to – in any way – trigger someone else’s struggles, and this is also not about how I looked.  This is about being in a dark place and finding healing.

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I was sixteen years old, when it all started.  Honestly, my struggle wasn’t based on body image insecurities or pressure from anyone in…

Sheffield University

• Felix Ngole, 38, expelled from Sheffield University after Facebook message
• Postgraduate father of four had been studying to become a social worker
• Set to appeal because of consequences for the ‘freedom of expression’

By ELEANOR HARDING

A Christian student has been ejected from his university course for voicing his opposition to gay marriage on Facebook.

Felix Ngole, 38, was expelled from Sheffield University after faculty staff decided he ‘may have caused offence to some individuals’.

The postgraduate father of four, who was studying to become a social worker, has been told his actions affect his fitness to practice and was ordered to hand back his student ID and library card.

Mr Ngole was reported after using his private Facebook account to express support for Kim Davis, a county clerk from Kentucky, who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences after the introduction of same-sex unions there last…

Gratefully Broken

I consider my worship team my small group. We pray together, worship together, cry together, celebrate together, we create together, and most of all we love and care for each other. One of our worship leaders whom I respect immensely often speaks a word of prophecy in our church gave a word to the church a couple of Sundays ago and it was about the need to forgive ourselves because God has already! The scripture below he gave in his devotion the week that followed was confirmation for me. I just love how God works!

Psalm 51:5-17 NLT

⁵ For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. ⁶ But you desire honesty from the womb,^[b]  teaching me wisdom even there.

⁷ Purify me from my sins,^[c] and I will be clean;  wash me, and I will be whiter than…