Sunday, June 20, 2010

I need a Christian accountability partner!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (New King James Version) 
Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Some of you may know that I was recently delivered from an addiction to food. Food controlled my life. I was putting food before God and it was damaging my health and my relationship with Him. I recently started a course called The Lord's Table and it has really helped me realize my mistakes, and given me great advice and scripture to use against this bondage that I was being held by. My relationship with Christ has grown by leaps and bounds! (And I have lost 12 pounds!)

I am still doing The Lord's Table course to help me continue to overcome this addiction. Today's course suggested I find an accountability partner. The course suggests that this person be a Christian, who is not currently having the same issue. I know that many of you lead very busy lives, and may not have time to help me with this sort of thing, but you may know someone who can. There would not be much involved other than praying for me and being there when I need to talk, or seeking me out to help me stay accountable. All the correspondence could be through email. Or if my partner prefers, some days could be over the phone.

From the course:

Here are some guidelines to follow when you initiate accountability with your partner:
  1. Agree to openness and honesty. Bondage to overeating brings deception with it, and some of us have been deceptive for years. If we want to escape from our slavery to sin, we must start with honesty, even if it is humbling. If your accountability partner asks how you are doing, and you have just fallen into sinful eating, you must honestly admit it.
  2. Agree to prepare and share with your accountability partner your plan for overcoming sinful eating habits. (This means looking for areas of possible temptation and developing a plan to flee them.) Ask your accountability partner to help you by making suggestions to your plan and holding you accountable to it.
  3. Agree to give your partner freedom to ask the hard questions, without taking offense.
  4. Agree to initiate communication daily for the first 30 days, as far as is possible. One important thing to remember is that your partner will, at some point, fail you in some way (Jesus Christ is the only one who will never fail us). It's critical to take the initiative ourselves in providing our accountability reports. Simply get in touch with your partner and say something like, "I’m just letting you know I'm free from overeating today. I exercised and I'm seeking to enjoy the Lord." Don't wait for your partner to ask you questions; initiate the process by keeping him or her informed as to your condition.
As you can see, being my partner would mean having daily contact with me. I am asking that the person(s) who agree to do this be very serious about this. Again from the course:
"My friend, an accountability partner who loves Scripture and cares for your soul should be able to detect when you are about to fall asleep in the land of enchantment—that is, he or she can tell when you're struggling with sinful eating habits. An accountability is there to "wake us up" when we're at risk of falling back into our old ways. This is an indispensable part of finding freedom."
I am praying that God will send this person along my way. I hope that if this seems like it could be you, that you would pray about it first and be sure that this is what God would have you do. Please comment here if you feel like you could help me, or email me at kjrobinette{at}gmail{dot}com. Thanks so much for reading!

1 comment:

Bree, Home of Blogmania said...

I have a busy weekend but would love to talk with you about this, maybe Monday? I am leaving this comment so you know someone is interested and we can talk, that is if you haven't found someone :)- breebee.com breejanderson@gmail.com