Book Thoughts: "Made to Crave" (Lysa Terkeurst)

I recently began reading "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst (pretty sure I mentioned this in an earlier blog post).  I haven't finished it yet, but I couldn't wait any longer to give you some of my thoughts on it.

A quick summary: this book is about "the missing link between a woman’s desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen" (borrowed from the "Made to Crave" website).

For a long time now, I've felt that there must be a spiritual connection between my health and my spiritual life (and my ministry as well).  I kept asking myself, "How can I do ministry effectively if I'm not healthy physically?"  And this verse kept popping up in my mind:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - emphasis mine)

 So I thought, surely God has called us to be responsible for our physical health, like maintaining a healthy weight and do regular cardio to keep our hearts healthy (just two examples).

And I figured that there are people out there who are smarter than me who have already made this connection and written a book about it.  So I looked and looked and looked and couldn't find much that wasn't wacko theology or simply dieting books.  I wasn't looking for a dieting book - I was looking for someone to help me understand this physical-spiritual connection.

Ever since the whole doctor-prescribed low carb thing, I've felt even more convicted about all of this.  Because, I thought, surely God desires for me to keep myself healthy.

Then I found "Made to Crave" at Barnes and Noble one day, on accident.  I read the back and thought, "This is what I've been looking for!!!"

And, friends, you have no idea how right I was.

I wasn't even halfway into the first chapter when I knew that this was my healthy lifestyle God-send.  Lysa jumps right into her own personal story and struggle with healthy living and how it's intertwined with her spiritual life (and how that's the case for all of us).

At one point, she's very honest about her cravings for certain foods and said there would be times she'd be on the floor crying because she so wanted to eat the thing on her mind.  As I read this, I though, "Oh.  My.  Goodness.  That is me."  When I first started eating low carb, I would be in tears because I wanted sugar so bad.  And I found that embarrassing.  Crying over candy?!  But I found so much encouragement knowing that I'm not the only one.

And that's what I love most about "Made to Crave" - Lysa is completely relatable.  She's honest and down-to-earth.  More importantly, she lets the reader know that it's not easy but it's doable.  That we can call on God's strength because he designed us to crave him more than we crave food.

Lysa doesn't give you 3 steps to weight-loss success or anything like that.  It's not a diet book.  It's more of a lifestyle book.

Just go get a copy of it and read it.  I can't stop telling my friends about it.  And something tells me I'm going to end up reading a couple of times because it's that good (and I'm definitely not the kind of person to read a book twice).  She also has some other related resources and book-related freebies (including a copy of the introduction) that you might find beneficial AND a 21 Day Challenge to give you a bit of extra encouragement (something I'll probably do in the near future).

But, regardless of the other resources, read the book.  You won't regret it.