"I've wasted my best years battling food instead of living."
How it sounds in your head: You're in your thirties and you've spent a decade obsessing over food, weight, workouts. Other guys were building careers and relationships while you were counting macros and fighting binges. You can't get those years back.
"So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame."
-- Joel 2:25-26Source: enemy's condemnation that magnifies lost time to steal hope for the future.
When you look back, so much mental energy went to food and body image that could have gone elsewhere. The regret is heavy and the time truly is gone. Your thirties were supposed to be productive and you feel like you squandered them.
Joseph named his sons 'God made me forget my hardship' and 'God made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.' Thirteen years imprisoned, but instant promotion to second-in-command—all the lost years redeemed in one day.
I REFUSE the lie that I wasted my best years. IT IS WRITTEN that God RESTORES the years the locusts have eaten—no time is lost with Him. I declare that ALL things, even the hard years, work together for my good. IT IS WRITTEN that my people shall NEVER be put to shame. I am blessed with the BARAK that multiplies and restores beyond natural time. Like Joseph who went from prison to palace in one day with all lost years redeemed, I step into supernatural restoration of time, opportunity, and fruitfulness NOW.
The Father is running toward you saying, 'I'm restoring the years—watch Me make you fruitful in the land of your affliction.' He's not counting lost time; He's multiplying your future beyond what those years could have produced anyway.