These are some reflections from Christians who have recovered from an eating disorder (or significantly improved). They all said that recovery was a very difficult journey. It wasn’t linear and it required perseverance – it could be two steps forward and one step back, or one step forward and two steps back! But they are adamant that recovery is worth it.
‘I like me now, so that’s helpful…What I feel…is that I’m free to make a choice. I don’t think about it. Like, it’s just not a thing for me now. And I guess the biggest thing…is I didn’t know you could live like this. I didn’t realise that other people live like that. Like, I enjoy food, I eat what I want, I eat sugar every day, but I – and the longer I’m in it, I have noticed myself making different and better choices…I have just been kissed by mercy and my whole life has been rebuilt.’
‘I guess just everything. Like, just the way you see the world, I guess…and having freedom to do other things in life. And yeah, the absence of thinking about food…and exercise and things and being able to actually replace that with something that you value, I guess…And…I guess just having some hope for future, not just thinking about like the despair of the now kind of thing.’
‘[There came] a point where I beat [the eating disorder]. In the sense of, I was able to self-manage eating. It took a while to get to that point. I can’t give you an exact breakdown, but after a lot of psychology, a lot of medication…there became a point where…I won.’
‘I just walked in [to an eating disorder treatment centre] as an absolute shell of a human being and walked out a whole human…So that was by far the most challenging thing I’ve ever done…but completely life-changing…I grew in so many ways, learned so many things that I never even knew existed.’
This video is designed to help you reflect on Scriptures about hope. There is also a PDF listing the Scriptures below. If one or more Scriptures stand out to you, you might want to use this to spend some time reflecting, praying or journaling about these.
This is a list of some memoirs by Christians who have recovered from an eating disorder (or significantly improved). These reflect their authors’ individual perspectives and recovery journeys. Depending on your own background, you may find some more helpful than others.
Please note that some of these memoirs contain confronting content. Please consider where you are in your journey when deciding whether and how to engage with these resources.
