Praise God! Through love and obedience to God (which learned through the message being taught by the Weigh Down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship Church), He has delivered me from so much greed and sin. At a very young age I sought out God on my own as my family was not religious. From early on there was childhood turmoil and a deep emptiness or void. I tried to fill the void with so many things and became enslaved to a lot of them.
From the age of 12, I began exercising and not eating to control my weight, I was spurred on by the praise of man but that only lasted about a year until I figured out that I could eat all I wanted and just purge it up. I thought I was so keen, I was really in control; all the while this was controlling me. In college it became a vicious daily cycle of waking up looking for a feeling in food (binging and purging sometimes 6-8 times a day) sexual sin, over consumption of alcohol (to the point of vomiting and even alcohol poisoning), relationships and praise of man. I would fall into bed every night drunk or exhausted only to get up the next day and do it all over again.
After marriage the eating disorder continued, largely concealed from my husband but still on a daily basis. I began to feel hopeless, like a zombie mindlessly walking into this day after day not knowing how to get out. Other sins plaguing my life included controlling my husband, overspending, lying to cover up my sin, bitterness and anger toward just about everyone, self focus, lust, laziness, and harsh treatment of my children. This all going on while I was employed by our church as Director of Evangelism, my husband and I were youth leaders, I led ladies bible study, Sunday school, you name it. God was so faithful and I have seen his hand in my life, his lead and his provisions. Unfortunately I became confused as to why the hope, the joy, the deliverance, the relationship with God that I read about in the bible was not becoming a reality for me. I never felt saved, I felt like an imposter. I had so much guilt. Church leaders would tell me that I needed to let that go and accept God's free gift of grace. Many times I cried out to God for help, I desperately wanted out!
In 1998 (I believe) God led me to the Weigh Down Workshop. I began leading classes in our church. I lost 35 pounds and for the first time began to experience a real relationship with God. He became so real, he rewarded every act of obedience and I saw the bible in a new light. The message of obedience was very hard to maintain because it was not being taught in the church. I knew I was not wholeheartedly obeying God. About year 2000 there suddenly were no participants for a class and I began to revert back to everything I knew was wrong. Within a year I was diagnosed with panic attacks, depression, migraines, and TMJ. I got to the point that I could not get out of bed; I was taking antidepressants, and more antidepressants to counteract the side effects of the other antidepressants, medication for the migraines, sleeping pills so I could fall asleep, and pain medication. I had joint pain, neck pain, foot pain, back pain, fits of rage and crying. The relationships with my husband and children were nonexistent and he took care of the majority of the responsibility of caring for our children who were 1 and 3 at the time. I went to faith healers, prayer services for healing, I cried out to God, and I couldn’t understand why I was not being healed. The medications were not helping and I knew God was my only hope. Finally I was so desperate that, instinctively, I called the Weigh Down Workshop and found a class 30 minutes away. Shortly into the class God revealed that all the curses for disobedience in the book of Deuteronomy had come upon me. I immediately began to repent like never before. I began seeking out God’s leading and his laws and principles from his word and Weigh Down and putting them into practice. Within three weeks I was delivered of all of the above physical conditions. No more medication, except for occasional allergy or colds. And my heart began changing as well. I have increasingly more joy and more peace and more fruit of the Spirit in my life.
I have lost about 55 pounds and have kept it off for over a year now and I am totally free from the 20 year bondage to bulimia! I know I never want to go back to that empty way of life! I thank God for Gwen Shamblin for teaching me God's ways and the people of the Remnant Fellowship church for living it out so that I could finally see what love/obedience to God looks like! I am changing more and more as time goes on. This is something I never obtained by years of counseling, But only by through a relationship with God! His word is TRUE, He is FAITHFUL, and his promises are REAL to all who make him LORD. Praise you God! You keep your covenant of love to those who love you and keep your commands!
Julie Dragt