Penny is a young woman with ME.  She has had it for years and apart from weakening her physically it has kept her isolated.  Sitting alone at home day after day, with no friends, she is eight stone overweight. Food is being used to fill the empty void in her life caused principally by loneliness and boredom.

June was orphaned when she was still a baby and although brought up in a loving home there is an aching void in her heart for the mother, especially, who she barely knew.  Added to this, her husband has abandoned her, leaving her to bring up three young children on her own. She loves Jesus but still there is an aching void in her heart for a deep and satisfying emotional adult relationship which eludes her. Stressed out with hard work and the battle of bringing up her family on her own, she collapses in front of the TV at night and eats junk food.

Paul is the life and soul of the party.  Everyone loves him for his natural talent of entertaining people and making them laugh. His rotund shape and chubby cheeks all help convey the stereotypical image of a loveable teddy bear, but like the proverbial clown he is really wearing a mask.  Deep down he feels insecure, wondering whether anyone really likes him for himself, or whether it is just for his sense of humour that they hang around. Superficially he connects extremely well, but he has inner needs which no-one is even aware of.  He longs for intimacy and yet fears it, so he cracks a joke to deflect attention lest he should reveal too much. Whenever he is alone, he eats, not recognising that in this way he is seeking to fill the relational void in his life.

Maggie lost her husband two years ago.  In her initial grief she didn’t want to eat at all, but over the passage of time she has put on weight.  Bread is her particular downfall, - warm and fresh, with lashings of butter!  The evenings especially seem long and lonely and eating this particular food helps alleviate the loss which she has yet to come to terms with.

Perhaps there is a bit of Penny, June, Paul and Maggie in you? Do you identify with their need to eat in order to fix the pain of loneliness?  Does it work?  No, of course it doesn’t, although for the moment it does seem to numb the ache inside. You thought your problem was simply your weak will and lack of control – and maybe there is an element of this – but really your problem has very little to do with food. You are simply trying to feed your soul in the same way that you feed your body, and because it isn’t physical food you need you are never going to be satisfied. 

God has created us for relationship, both with Himself and with each other. Whether through force of circumstances or our own inner insecurities we do not always experience this to the depth that most of us both desire and need, and knowing that our eating is out of control as well only makes us more despairing. But there is a way out of this pit and God is the One who is there to help you.  Right now, He is standing by your side – the friend who sticks closer than a brother.  He knows your innermost thoughts and fears; He loves you for yourself and He is not ashamed to own you as part of His family. As you are drawn into a deeper relationship with Him I believe, also, that you will also be brought into a place where you can find emotional sa