And so today I’m going to give you an examination of conscience that you can. Used to prepare for confession, and I got this idea when I recognized that, depending on your state of life, whether you’re a mother, a lot of examination of consciences are about your state of life.

Whether you are a young adult or a young child, or I guess they don’t do examination of conscience, but like whether you’re a young child, whether you’re single, whether you’re married. And that’s fine, but I think that there’s also some more subcategories of people.

Let’s say for example, you’re  a major league baseball player, you’ll be prone to more temptations and sins than say a nun or Denise Jelinek, who. Is a mom who lives in the suburbs. I will have more temptations and more sins that I am prone to as a mom than my husband would as a dad.

I will have more temptations and sins that I’m prone to. As a woman who is in fitness, then I would as a person who’s in my same job, maybe even in my same company who isn’t into fitness. So I just think we can get super nuanced sometimes, and I don’t do this as a way to be perfectionistic. I just do it as a way. To say you have likely been pursuing weight loss for your whole entire life.

A good part of your life, you can remember not feeling good enough. You can remember believing. Certain things about food and weight, and I just think that what we can do is recognize that although these things are very acceptable in the world and very common and they totally make sense, it could be inhibiting some grace that you could be getting. If we could clean out those sins.

So for example, me as a mom who sends my son to a Catholic high school surrounded by other children will be more prone to gossip than say, a mom who homeschools. And I’m not saying that homeschoolers don’t gossip, but I have more opportunity. Because I’m in that situation. 

And so, being around food and weight and the way that we feel about ourselves, we just have more opportunity to be thinking certain things that we just think are normal and aren’t even on the radar of sin because we’re around other people who are doing the same thing.

And because I love you and because I know how amazing the Lord is. in his ability to clean us up. And when  we remove the things in us that oppose him. He can act even more in our lives. It will just make this whole process even easier for you. 

And so I want to offer this to you. There is a handout. It’ll be. Posted. It will be linked in the description here that describes a little bit about this process, which I will describe. There is a prayer before your examination of conscience, and then there’s two examination of conscience. One is simple, it’s five questions. 

You could even use it at the end of the day if you wanted, or at the end of the week. You don’t have to do it before confession. And then there’s one that’s more detailed. And so if you want to just bookmark this. And use it. I will be leading you through it. And there you go. 

Here’s what I know. Sin isn’t just about actions. It’s about the attitudes of our heart and whether we’re turning toward the Lord or away from him.

And it’s very easy to get caught up in what we do, but the real question is what’s happening inside? Our thoughts, inside our hearts. Are we turning toward God or away from him? Are we acting out of peace or fear? Are we striving for holiness or are we getting pulled into what the world says matters? What it just seems like other people are doing? So it must be okay.

I want you to pay attention to what grabs your focus and sends you into tornado thinking, into worry, into self-doubt, into frustration. Those are the moments that are actually signals. They’re showing you where you need to surrender, where you need to let go of your grip, where you really are turning away from the Lord.

The best news is though this whole process is not about shame. It’s about awareness and growing closer to the Lord. Identifying those times so that we can take them into confession, and his grace can be poured into us. We can be made clean. 

When we recognize these patterns, we can shift and grow and step into the life. God is calling you to the life of freedom, to be unchained, to be fully His, to be restored. So next I wanna give you a prayer that you can use for this process. Then we’ll get into the examination of conscience. 

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, shine the light of your truth in my heart and mind as I come before you. I surrender my thoughts about food, my weight, and my body, every worry, every frustration, every self doubt that pulls me away from you.

I know my worth is found in being your beloved daughter, not in a number on the scale or my reflection in the mirror, but that’s still hard to believe. Help me surrender, Lord. Show me where I’m holding onto tightly, or I’m seeking control. Instead of trusting you, reveal the thoughts and beliefs that keep me stuck in shame, in guilt or frustration, and replace them with your peace.

Draw me closer to you so that I can see myself the way you see me, not as someone who needs fixing, but as someone already deeply loved. I know you can restore and heal me. You are the God of redemption, and nothing in me is too far gone for your grace. So I lay this at your feet, Lord, all of my struggles, all of my fears, my desires for change.

I don’t wanna chase the world’s values anymore. I want to pursue holiness and to please you alone. Help me to honor this body. You’ve given me not out of fear, but out of love and gratitude. Help me to find comfort in you, not in food. When my mind starts spinning in tornado thinking, bring me back to you.

Let me find peace in your presence. My strengthen your grace and my joy in knowing that I am yours. Jesus, I trust you. I surrender this time and this journey to you. Keep drawing me closer to your freedom and reveal to me what I need to know to access your grace. Amen. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

So the five questions on the simplified examination of conscience are these, how do my attitudes toward food and my body reflect my relationships with you? Lord, what am I believing about you when I have these thoughts about my food, about my body? I pause this, but I’m gonna go ahead and just keep reading. 

Number two, am I using food or the way that I look to fill emotional or spiritual holes and needs instead of turning to you? Yeah. Am I finding comfort in my food or in the way that I look?  

Number three. How do my frustrations and struggles with food and the way that I look affect my relationship with others? Am I afraid to go places? Do I isolate? number four, am I allowing the world’s standards of beauty and my worth? To influence me and be beliefs that I hold onto so tightly more than God’s truth.

And finally, what areas of my life related to food, my body, or my thoughts, need healing, need surrender, and need forgiveness. And when you go into confession, simply saying, I haven’t asked the Lord for help here. I don’t think that’s a sinful thing, but I think asking the question allows us to give him consent in.

The deeper examination of conscience falls into five different areas. And let’s begin with the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. This is our relationship with the Lord. How do my attitudes toward food reflect my relationship with God? Am I trusting him in all areas of my life, including my approach to food?

How do my feelings about my body affect my relationship with God? Am I placing too much focus on my appearance rather than on God’s love for me? Am I making my appearance mean something that it was not meant to mean? Am I actively pursuing the Lord’s truth to counter negative self-talk about my body? Am I believing lies about myself rather than God’s words?

You guys, that mean girl in our voice. She’s just been around for so long, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and this isn’t what the Lord wants for you. And finally, the question related to the first commandment, you should have no other gods before me. Have I made idols outta my body size, my reflection, or the number on the scale?

Meaning that if I get to a certain size. That’s when I’ve arrived. When the scale says the magic number, then I’ll be okay. Am I putting my physical appearance above my identity as a child of God? Continuing related to you shall have no other gods before me, but related to our food and emotional attachments. 

Do I see food as a gift to be enjoyed or as a source of guilt and shame? Am I receiving God’s gifts with gratitude or turning food into something to control me? Am I afraid of food? Do I have attachments to particular foods that I need? Am I depending on food for comfort instead of turning to God? 

In what ways do I use food to fill emotional voids or to cope with stress? How does this impact my spiritual life? Am I seeking relief in food instead of God? Have I over eaten beyond enjoyment or physical need? Am I practicing self-control and honoring my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit?

Let’s go to the fifth commandment you shall not kill, which relates to self-harm and destruction of the way that we think of ourselves. Do I believe that my worth is tied to my appearance? Am I valuing myself by the world’s standards rather than God’s love? What messages have I internalized about beauty and the way that I look from the world?

And how do these conflict with what the Lord tells me? Am I allowing secular ideas to shape my self-worth instead of God’s truth? Again, we’re just growing in awareness. All of this can be changed. He can take all of this away. He can lead us to tools to change our idea of what true beauty is to align with his.

Do I indulge in envy, jealousy and self comparison that leads to guilt and shame? Am I breaking the commandment against coveting by comparing myself to others? Have I engaged in self-criticism or shaming myself? Am I speaking to myself in a way that dishonors the Lord as his creation?

The next are the fourth and eighth Commandments honoring your father and mother, and you shall bear no false witness. How do my struggles with food and body image affect my relationship with family and friends? Am I fully present with others or is my focus on food and body in the way I look?

Am I withdrawing? Am I isolating because of my fear with food or the way I look? Do I find myself withdrawing or isolating due to shame? Am I allowing shame to separate me from the people God has placed in my life? 

Do I notice patterns of isolation when I’m preoccupied with the way I look or my eating habits? Am I being honest about my struggles with trusted people or my hiding in secrecy? Am I seeking help to overcome this?

And the last part is about healing and growth. The fifth, eighth, and 10th commandments, you shall not kill related to self harm. You shall not bear a false witness being truthful with yourself and you shall not covet, which is that jealousy that we feel. Totally normal guys. We are not saying that we’re doing anything wrong.

What we’re doing is we’re bringing it into the light of Christ. We had no idea how insidious and how deep our food and weight struggles can be. And when we just recognize these as normal thought patterns, we can certainly start to change them. But also by taking them to confession, we get that supernatural grace to overcome them.

The last few questions are, is there a situation in my life that requires attention, but I fear addressing it? Am I avoiding a truth that God is calling me to face? Am I pursuing, overcoming the root causes of my struggles that I have revealed here? Am I willing to surrender my struggles to God and trust him in this healing?

Are there specific moments or actions related to my struggles with food and body image that I need to seek forgiveness for? Have I sinned against myself, others, or the Lord in this area? What I hope you get from this is that this very simple practice. That requires the spirit of courage from the Holy Spirit to even ask the questions and bring to your consciousness. 

This awareness will bring you freedom, will make the food and weight struggles so much simpler, so much less of a struggle because you have his supernatural grace. I know this will help you.

If you would like a very simple way to turn your food and weight struggles over to the Lord,  I invite you over to weightlosswiththeholyspirit.com, and you can start your journey to freedom from food and weight struggles with the Lord today.

All right, everybody. Have a blessed day.