Talking About Faith in a World That Doesn’t Want You To ( + other Monday thoughts)

A few weeks ago, I chatted with Dr. Stefani Reinold about faith, food, and life (podcast coming out soon!) One of the topics of conversation that came up was the fact that Instagram, social media, and our world in general are not at all that accepting of faith-focused conversations. For me personally, and I know that other bloggers with a social media presence have experienced this too, bringing up faith, God, or the bible in a public sphere is very much akin to sticking our necks out. Almost every time, I receive backlash, criticism, hateful responses, and comments of rejection, such as this one, which I received on the very same day as that conversation:

I blocked out the individual’s Instagram handle to protect their privacy, since the purpose of this post isn’t retaliation, but I thought it was a good example of what happens when I speak about my faith on a public platform. While I don’t want to discount the encouragement and support I also receive, the criticism is always loud. I’m grateful that I’m confident enough in my faith that the rude comments don’t dissuade me from continuing to share my heart online, but it still makes me wrinkle my brow because wow. The lies people believe about themselves and about God are powerful, and clearly feed forward into passionate aggression. But at the same time, I get it…I honestly wouldn’t spend so much time writing and posting if I didn’t have my own passion driving me to open up about this message. My faith in God is the root of that passion. It is only by the grace, mercy and kindness of God that I was able to recover from my eating disorder and find food freedom in the first place. Therefore, I can’t talk about food freedom without also sharing about freedom in Christ.

I can’t talk about food freedom without also sharing about freedom in Christ.
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The bible is clear that as Christians, we will face opposition in this world. Honestly, if people are pushing back against our message, it means we’re doing something right. The gospel confronts us in our sin. It highlights our brokenness, and dethrones our self-righteousness. It is inherently offensive. Of course it will come with resistance. But in spite of these things, we’re called to do it. Boldly.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3:15

Because despite the critics, the haters, the outright liars, the ones who despise us because of our faith, there are readers who will receive our message and it will transform them. It may only be the small planting of a seed. It may just be a single, intermediate layer, laid atop a foundation built by someone else. It might even bounce off initially, but come back up as a memory later. We often will not ever see the fruit of our efforts, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t worthwhile. When we are asked to offer up a message of hope and we respond with faithfulness, God is glorified. And isn’t that the whole point?

For more about faith & food freedom:

Things I’m Loving Lately

COVID has rekindled my love for rice.

Okay, I am not sure that I every previously had a love for rice. In fact, for the vast majority of my life, I’d have said I didn’t like rice. And I truly didn’t! Nine times out of ten, if rice was offered up as a side dish, I’d skip right over it. With foods like curries or stir-fry, I’d take a few tablespoons to sop up the juice (and have some carbs) but it wasn’t any thing I ever desired a second helping of. I’ve since learned that the reason for my ambivalence towards rice was the fact that I was eating the wrong kind of rice.

Chinese restaurant takeout box rice? Yuck. Basmati rice? Yes, please!

When COVID first was a thing and all the grocery stores were running out of food, my husband and I stocked up. We wanted to be prepared to hunker down in case things got really out-of-control. (Neither of us imagined, at the time, what really was going to happen!) So, one of the things we purchased was a giant, 10-lb bag of basmati rice. Slowly but surely, we started chipping away at our stockpile, with lentil curries, stir-fry, and other rice-friendly dishes. I was immediately shocked by how different our “covid rice” tasted from the usual type of rice, and my husband clued me in to the fact that basmati rice is basically a totally different food from the short-grain type I was accustomed to disliking.

Nowadays, as our stockpiled supply is finally dwindling away, I’m surprised to find myself craving it every so often. This was a surprise because I used to think rice was so boring. I am officially a convert.

Do you like basmati rice?

Shortcuts for a Simpler Life

As I’ve shared a few times on this blog, I’m pretty enamored by the idea of minimalism. I love reading minimalist blogs, such as The Minimalists and Becoming Minimalist. I feel like I’ve read those blogs start to finish a few times over. So, for Christmas, it was very fitting for my family to give me The More of Less by Joshua Becker. I haven’t finished it yet but I’ve made a solid dent, and so far it’s fabulous. The writing style is very engaging, and as usual, the literary illustrations about the power of desiring less stuff are very moving.

Healthy, Happy, Whole

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing another book lately, which surprised me a little bit because finishing up the publishing process of Fulfilled was a little bit overwhelming to me. After I finally submitted the final draft and the manuscript was sent off to the press, I promised my self never again.

Well, that didn’t last, and now I’m rough drafting ideas for another book, which incidentally also starts with the letter F.

I think it’s kind of funny that almost all the books I’ve written so far start with the letter F. I don’t know why that is, especially because most of the time when we think of “F” words they are four-letter words that maybe shouldn’t be said too often. While some of the F words in my book titles indeed have four letters, they aren’t that kind of four-letter-word:

Faith, Food, Freedom: exploring eating through a biblical lens
Fulfilled: let go of shame, embrace your body, and eat the food you love
Foundations: a kickstart guide for healing your relationship with food

The one book that doesn’t start with F still has alliteration, sort of. It’s called Healthy, Happy, Whole, and it’s a diet-free health plan to help build balanced habits. Check it out of you haven’t yet.