A few weeks ago I went through Made to Crave (linked to my review) by Lisa TerKeurst during an online study with the Proverbs 31 Ministries. After completing that book, they 
decided to go through the Made to Crave Action Plan video series and workbook, so I signed up for that as well. The videos were only online for a week at a time (the rest of their posts on the series are here). This is a different series from one made to go along with the original book: this one was co-authored by a Dr. Ski Chilton.
Each video had an introduction by Lysa, a clip of her speaking about a couple of spiritual principles, a brief time of discussion with Dr. Chilton, closing remarks by Lysa, and then a testimony from someone who had benefited from the Made to Crave book.
The first Made to Crave book was primarily about “want to,” motivation to control impulses and get healthy, primarily spiritual motivation: this book purported to discuss more of the “how to.” They did not discuss a specific diet plan, but rather principles like drinking water, eating more fiber, exercising, taking Omega 3 and polyphenols, increasing fish, fruit, and vegetable consumption.
To me the biggest value in this book is the section of action plans in each chapter: readers were encouraged to look through various activities, choose one or two, and then work through them by the following week. Some focused on the spiritual principles, some on the physical. there are also a number of valuable charts and worksheets.
I didn’t know, until this book, that not all fish is good for you or what Omega 3s and polyphenols were all about.
Some of the quotes or principles I found especially helpful are:
“Temptation is Satan’s invitation to get our needs met his way rather than God’s way” (p. 63).
“Hidden behind a temptation is often a legitimate human need. The challenge comes in how we choose to meet that need…How do you imagine God might want to meet the legitimate need behind the temptation?” (p. 67).
Commenting on James 1:2-4 (Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing): “We have to consider it because we won’t always feel it. When we consider something, we take time to think about it carefully. We concentrate on the issue and weigh the possibilities before taking any course of action” (p. 129).
““Between any trial and the blessing that comes from that trial, there is a pathway we must walk — that pathway is perseverance. Perseverance means having an urgency, firmness, resolve, and consistency.”
There were a few places, however, where I disagreed. One is where Dr. Chilton speaks about how the food industry and lifestyles have changed over the years and how that makes it harder to make wise nutritional choices: he then says, “It’s not your fault. You are not bad, horrible, and lazy.” Actually, making wrong food choices is our fault, and we have to take the responsibility to make better choices even though it might be harder.
In another, Lysa told her pastor she was afraid of of “letting God down” by failing in her journey toward better health. her pastor replied, “You can’t let God down. You weren’t holding Him up in the first place.” She thought that was great, but I thought it was flippant and unhelpful. I wrote more about this here, but in the same place I think I would have appreciated reassurances that God knows we’re going to fail, but He wants us to seek His grace for forgiveness and getting up again, etc.
In another, Lysa read a letter from someone talking about having trouble exercising regularly because she was lazy. Lysa spoke a great deal about lazy being a label the devil puts on us to discourage us and tells the writer that we’re not lazy, we’re courageous. I thought this missed the mark as well: the writer was probably speaking from past experience, and, again, if I were in her place and said that, I probably would have been looking for help to overcome that inertia to get moving and then to stay with it. Maybe thinking of laziness as a label helps other people. To me it doesn’t help to discuss it as a label when I know it is a reality (for myself.)
To me these were more a matter of being a bit off base rather than major doctrinal flaws. Overall I thought the book and videos were very helpful. I probably would not have bought the series, but since the videos were available for a while for this study, I’m glad I had the opportunity to go through them.
(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)
Stray Thoughts 