Brooke Lynn is a strong woman. She is a wife and mother. She is a nurse and an author. And she has a heart after God. She has graciously shared her life’s experiences and struggles on her blog and in her book, Raised by Strangers, in effort to bring healing, strength and hope to others.
As you read of her struggles you find her consistently shifting the focus from her pain to the grace of God. She is definitely using what the enemy meant in her life for harm for God’s glory and to help others.
Regarding her 26-year battle with an eating disorder, Brooke Lynn has said that “There has been pain and many issues I’ve faced in life, but this one in particular has been the most challenging. I don’t share my wounds and this deep matter because I’m seeking sympathy. I’m well aware of the choices and decisions I made and how consequences find me out. I’m not prideful either, where I’d lie and push this aside without admitting my problem. My hopes and intentions for telling these things are to help set captives free. The fact is, truth equals freedom, and knowing we are not alone helps set our minds at ease and shed light on our dark, hidden secrets. It’s my goal to help you by letting you know, you are not alone.”
In Brooke Lynn’s book (Raised by Strangers, page 172), she has said, “Recovering from an eating disorder or any addiction is a long journey requiring patience and learning to live one day at a time. Mistakes happen; we all stumble and fall. It’s important to get back up if we falter and move forward. It is not easy to give up something we based our lives on. It is challenging to reset our minds to the truth as we recognize the lies.”
Below you can find a post Brooke Lynn is allowing us to share, linking to her blog. In this post she shares some things that God has taught her through her surrender to Him.
Kissing the Toilet Bowl
Transparently Yours………………………………
After twenty-six years of battling several types of eating disorders, I was on the verge of giving up on help and hope. I’d just eaten fifteen Oreo cookies, a half-gallon of chocolate ice cream topped with whip cream and chocolate syrup, then twelve donut holes. I ran to the bathroom and began making myself vomit. Standing over the toilet I was shaking, feeling guilty, ashamed, and out of control. I literally felt like I wanted to die. This was a major set-back for me. It had been eight months since my last bulimic episode and I was doing so well after intense counseling. I didn’t understand why I kept doing the things I didn’t want to do over and over. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be normal and enjoy food, eating like everyone else. This was a deep, dark, and extremely painful moment in my life when I hit absolute rock bottom. In that place, I was sitting on the bathroom floor, mascara streaming down my face, sobbing sounds eluding as I tried to muffle them. Feelings of desperation no one could comfort ran through my being. But in that moment, something hit me in a profound way. I saw something happening to me physically, mentally, and spiritually. Knowledge went from my head to my heart, and God gave me an epiphany. -There I was, just God and me. The revelation was, food was my idol. I ran to food for comfort when I needed something to soothe my anxiety, pain, or negative emotions. I trusted food more than God. Food wasn’t the answer to my problems, but it was my drug, my addiction – my quick fix…
( http://www.brookelynnbooks.com/blog/kissing-the-toilet-bowl )
If you are a parent struggling with an eating disorder, I highly recommend that you read Brooke Lynn’s book, Raised by Strangers, as she touches on how her struggles affected her daughter.
Find Raised by Strangers on Amazon
Find Raised by Strangers at Barnes & Noble.
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