3 Ways that Pride is Holding You Back From Recovery

Pride is not something that we usually associate with an Eating Disorder or mental health issue. But pride might be the reason that you are holding back from full recovery.

Before we start, let’s come to a common definition of what pride is. The pride that we are talking about here is not the kind where you are proud of the work that you are doing for God. The kind of pride that we are discussing is the pride that says that you don’t need God- that you can do things yourself and in your own way.

Let’s take a look at 3 reasons why pride might be holding you back.

Pride is a form of Control

We like to think that we know the best way to handle situations in our lives. Creating plans is a way to control things.

When difficult emotions or situations come up that we don’t want to handle, instead of turning to the Father, we turn to what we CAN control, which we usually exhibit through a behavior.

Control is at the root of all mental health (in my opinion!). The need to control in what feels like an out of control world is an issue of pride because we don’t trust the One who created it.

We don’t trust that HE has control over the situation, or that He can help with that difficult emotion. Instead of turning to Him for help to get through it, we turn to what we know that we can control- and that’s our behavior.

This is why we keep getting stuck in these cycles of self destructive behaviors. We want to control things OUR way. We don’t want to wait to see how God is going to fix the situation. We see the quick fix and we take it.

When we can let go of the pride behind the thought that WE know better than HIM, then we can break that cycle.

Sis, we don’t know better than Him. The Lord created you. He knows every breath that you are going to take here on this earth. He knows every thought that is going to run through your beautiful mind. So when He says, in His word, that He is in control, we have to put down our pride, our NEED to control, and rely on Him.

It’s only when we can put down our pride that we can start to break these behavior cycles in our lives. We don’t know best. He does.

The Hidden Pride in Anxiety

Anxious people worry about the future. We are stuck in the ‘what if’s’ of life so often that we miss what is happening right in front of us. We think that if we can plan for every senerio then we won’t ever have to feel anxiety again.

We see that the more we jump through the rabit hole of anxious thoughts, the more what if’s come to mind. Suddenly, we’ve missed all of the present moments trying to prepare ourselves for the future ones.

We really think that we can control the future? That’s prideful friends.

To think that God, who controls everything, doesn’t have a plan for your future, and doesn’t have that worst case situation already worked out for you is a lack of trust in the Father.

Pride is thinking that you know better than Him. Anxiety and worry about the future show that you don’t trust Him completely. God tells us so many times in His Word to NOT WORRY about anything. That HE will take care of everything. And yet, we spend precious time on this earth worrying about things that aren’t happening.

God did not create us to spend our lives worrying about the future. He created us to come to Him, to trust Him and to do His work on this earth.

Time spent worrying is not time well spent. Time spent worrying is time spent away from what you need to keep your mind focused on- and that’s God’s plan and purpose for you.

Here’s the simple take away- God has commanded us not to worry. Therefore, we shouldn’t.

I get it, it is HARD not to worry about the future when everything seems out of control. But nothing is ever really out of control- it’s in God’s control. It’s always in God’s control. When we can accept that and make that our mindset, then we can have the faith and trust God in all situations. The anxiety will melt away in your life when you stop trying to control everything by worrying about the what if’s of the future.

Pride during the Battles

The enemy gut punches us when we are at our weakest. He delivers what is meant to be our kill shot when we are already on the floor, held there by circumstances and emotions.

When those thoughts are swirling and start going to extreme places, we have to remember where our help comes from.

Our help during these battles of spiritual warfare always have to be fought on the spiritual plane. Our help HAS to come from God. Trying to fight these persistant attacks on our own will just exhaust us. God doesn’t want us to fight these battles alone. He wants us to turn to Him, our ultimate savior in every possible way.

That simple turn towards him in the midst of the battle will make it an automatic WIN for you. Pride might be holding you back from turning to Him. You may want to prove to yourself that you are strong enough to fight this battle in your mind and get through it through grit.

It’s not that you aren’t strong- it’s that you are fighting the battle the wrong way. We often think that with enough GRIT we can do anything. Personally, I know that this has held me back from reaching out to the Lord during battles in my own life. I wanted to prove that I had a strong mind- that I could do it all myself.

Looking back at those battles that I tried to fight that way, I never really won. I ended up using a behavior, or succumbing to the thoughts, or delaying the attack. I never won. It’s only when I turn to the Father to fight my spiritual battles for me that I win.

We have to set down our pride that we need to win. We don’t need to win anything- God is going to win it. The enemy is attacking us spiritually, so we need to go to God to fight these battles spiritually.

Mental illnesses are serious, and taking medications and going to therapies are essential to overcoming them. As someone who has done it, I know that these are all powerful tools to overcoming these and changing the way that our brain handles stress. But an important element that we often overlook is that our mental illnesses are spiritual battles too. And if we don’t fight them on the spiritual plane too, with God, with scripture, with affirmations, with worship and praise, we aren’t going to defeat it completely. We will be ‘gritting our teeth’ to hold onto recovery until we beat it spiritually as well.

I know that you want to come to God perfect. I get it. I used to think that I had to come to God with everything figured out already. That He wanted to me to come to Him and tell Him all about my perfect day. That’s not at all what the Father wants. He wants us to celebrate with Him AND to fight battles of emotions with Him. He wants us to turn to Him, in every situation, both good and bad and talk with Him open and honestly. He wants us to come to Him first. He wants us to lay down our own pride, our own control, our own idea of how to win these battles that we face, and let Him take over in every possible way.

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