By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
I’m currently battling a cold. Ugh! With my stuffy nose and watery eyes, not only is it hard to breathe, but it’s hard to taste food as well. I suppose the nose and taste buds work together more than we realize.
Thankfully, my disability is short-term! Losing my sense of smell doesn’t compare to how difficult it would be to lose my eyesight or ability to hear. And yet, many people live with these kinds of disabilities every day.
The 1999 film At First Sight with Val Kilmer parallels the true story of Shirl Jennings. Losing his eyesight at a young age, Shirl had adapted to his disability and lived a fairly normal life. But after living with blindness for forty years, Shirl was given an opportunity to regain his sight through an experimental surgical procedure.
Although the surgery was a success, Shirl had a difficult time adjusting to his new way of life. He struggled to process the information he was receiving through his restored vision. Everything previously learned had been filtered through his other four senses: hearing, touch, taste, and smell. He had to learn everything all over again through his new sensory input—sight.
The adaptations that Shirl endured following his surgery success shadows real life consequences we may encounter when recovering from an eating disorder.
Anyone who has lived with a disability knows that change, even when we know it is best for us, is hard. It requires a relearning process and a new way of perceiving the world around us.
We need to understand that food is not the enemy but a necessity for our bodies to function properly. Unlike other addictions, food is not something we can simply remove from my lives; therefore, we have to allow God to change our attitudes surrounding it. There is a difference between being thin and being healthy.
When I was in bondage to my eating disorder, my sense of value as a person was warped. I had an erroneous perception that people would only love and accept me based on my outside appearance. That was a lie, a lie the enemy used to keep me blind to the truth.
It took some time, but God eventually revealed the truth of who I am and how He sees me through Scriptures like these.
“Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” (Psalm 45:10-12)
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
Don’t let Satan blind you to the truth any longer. Allow God to transform your mind and start seeing yourself through a new set of eyes.
