A ‘War Cry’ helps to beat ED

A ‘War Cry’ helps to beat ED

Girl interrupted - in War Cry magazine, March 3rd, 2012. Article by Jen Ven.

The opportunity to spread the word about eating disorders is always a pleasure – to think that one person may benefit from reading an article, and be inspired to reach out for help, is enough to keep me going!

I am grateful to the Salvation Army for devoting the whole of Page Five  in their latest issue of Warcry magazine, in Australia, to my story of recovery and hope. Every day, I receive e-mails from parents and from people with eating disorders, who are feeling lost and wondering how to beat this illness that is an eating disorder.  The main thing is to never give up hope, never give up in reaching out for help. Believe in yourself and know that if you are true to yourself, everything will work out okay. For me, the tough part of recovery was getting the courage to listen to myself, instead of ED. I was totally afraid of listening to myself, for it seemed ED had eaten a dark hole, like a bottomless ravine, in my soul. Today, my soul is whole, and I feel content at peace. Please know that you can, too.
Faith was always a comfort for me; when I was in the pits, faith helped me gain the courage to try one more time – to never give up on finding a way out.

The history of  the Salvation Army’s magazine is apt for our fight against eating disorders: The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called The War Cry in London on December 27th 1879. Not long after the Salvos commenced in Australia in 1880, the first locally produced War Cry appeared. The name refers to the Salvation Army’s ‘war’ against evil forces and influences in the world; its members raise a ‘war cry’ in opposition to anything that crushes the human spirit.