Eat Again

For most of my life I’ve struggled with anxiety. I would always be worried about something. Our family’s dear friends were here one day recording a new series at Amazing Discoveries called Total Transformation. You may have noticed that when you do work for the Lord, that is when the devil works the hardest. During this time I experienced severe anxiety.

My friend noticed that I didn’t eat breakfast ever and he asked why. I told him it was because my stomach was so uneasy especially in the morning, and that I would never be able to keep my food down. He told me that I need to eat breakfast because it would give me strength to manage my nerves. I was desperate so I decided to give it a try.

I ate my first breakfast in a long time and sure enough, I was in the bathroom throwing it all up shortly afterward. I went straight to my friend and told him that it didn’t work. I was just as nervous as before and now I felt sicker because I had just thrown up. He told me, "It doesn’t matter, eat again."

I tried again but got the same result. So I went back to my friend and told him again, "It didn’t work." He repeated the words, "Eat again." By the third day, I was ready to give up. I thought that I couldn’t go on. My only thought was, "When is Jesus going to come?" It was so hard to deal with this problem. I just wanted Him to rescue me from my anxiety.

I ate my breakfast anyway and threw it up just as I’d done the previous two days and again I went to my friend. "Eat again," was the only thing he would tell me. I felt upset. I thought to myself, "You know what? He’s only a professor of zoology. He doesn’t know anything about anxiety, at least not my anxiety." But thanks to my friend’s persuasion, I decided not to give up. I ate again and history repeated itself each day for one whole week.

After that week, I started to keep my breakfast down, although I still felt just as nervous as before. My friend said, "Don’t give up. Keep eating." So I did. Shortly after that, my friends went back home and I had no one to tell me to eat again. I was sad to see them go and to still be in the same predicament with only a little change. As we waved our last goodbye all teary-eyed, I decided that since I wasn’t throwing up my breakfast anymore, I might as well keep eating.

About six weeks later, just as my friend had promised, my anxiety finally left me and I was happy and healthy again.

A few years later I found myself feeling like I was not going anywhere spiritually. I felt alone and as though God had left me. I was even starting to think that reading my Bible wasn’t changing me at all. As I lay in my bed worried and scared, the memory of this whole experience came back to me. The words "eat again" rang in my brain over and over. Tears rolled down my face as I realized that I was just about to give up on the one thing that could give me strength for the day, just like I had done years ago.

The thrill of realizing that God was worried enough about my feelings to remind me of this precious thought just tickled my heart in every way. From then on I ate again and again and again (of the Word of God, of course) with a new faith that God was there and cared enough to remind me of a past lesson. Every new thought I learned from the Bible was making me stronger and stronger. I soon found myself happy again with a powerful lesson learned.

If you find yourself doubting that you will ever change and be transformed out of your old habits and character as I was, or scared that God has left you, my advice for you is, "Eat again, and again and again." And don’t stop because He does care and He is right there ready to remind you to "eat again."

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.