Community Spotlight: Free Indeed

It’s summer. With it comes water activities, electric-bill woes, family vacations, and, of course, lots of great food. Cookouts. Picnics. New recipes. Most of us welcome the summer fare with relish (no pun intended).

Something serious lurks just beneath the surface of the food festivities. It’s worse than obesity and it’s addictive. Some of you who are reading this know precisely what we’re talking about. The rest of us—and that would usually include me—are wholly clueless.

Eating disorders are widespread. Among them, anorexia and bulimia are the most dangerous.

According to a local ministry director, most current treating counseling options do not address fundamental issues. Briana Roths recently founded Free Indeed, a Christian ministry for anorexics and bulimics.

She described the often-ignored dangers of eating disorders. Anorexia—self-starving—deprives the body of nutrition. “The body will actually start feeding on the organs, and organs can eventually shut down as the body is emaciated,” Roths said.

“Bulimics can actually harm themselves by loosing vital minerals in the purging process, [including] potassium. And they are candidates for heart attacks.”

The list of harmful physical effects goes on. However, the emotional fallout is equally as bad. Relationships suffer because people with eating disorders must live behind a mask. Suicide rates for bulimics are relatively high.

Women are more prone to fall into anorexia or bulimia than men. Roths pointed to a number of different causes of eating disorders, including society’s pressure on women to be beautiful and slim.

“I consider an eating disorder to be…a stronghold where the devil has gotten our minds into thinking or believing a certain way, for example that thin is beautiful,” Roths said.

Sometimes an eating disorder begins when people innocently try to start loosing weight.

But Roths said that the causes are often deeper and more emotional. Traumatic events, especially in youth, can cause a woman to try to control something in her life. Unfortunately, their attempts to control their eating habits and body image instead control them.

“The mind is a battlefield,” Roths said. “This is a spiritual war and we can’t just attack this from a physical standpoint and or emotional point solely….the sin nature needs to be addressed, and we can only do that through Jesus.”

That is precisely the focus of her ministry, Free Indeed. She emphasized the power of the gospel to transform people.

“As we surrender our lives to Christ and we give up control….then we gain the freedom that we truly need to overcome these eating disorders. And I’ve experienced that through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in me,” she said.

Those who would like to contact the ministry can call Roths at 817-838-8381 or send her an email at freeindeed@loveneverfails.com. Free Indeed meets Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at Calvary Chapel Fort Worth. The address is 5617 Diamond Oaks South, Haltom City, TX 76117.

The full in-studio interview will be broadcast Saturday morning at 10 and Sunday morning at 9. Roths will delve into the details of eating disorders and how her ministry aims to help them.

Submitted by MATTHEW KUCHEM.