Where it all began...
The original Faithful Fitness Testimony.
See where we came from.
Read where we have been.
Notice how we have grown.
Join us on the journey to where we are going.
I know some of you have heard this before, but here’s my testimony. This is not just my weight loss testimony or my exercise testimony. This is how mindset changed my life.
I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Genetics and lots of steroids for asthma as a kid led to me always being big. I was always the tallest and always heavy. I never felt like I fit in. I remember being in second grade wishing I looked like my peers. Back then I didn’t even understanding what made me the way I was, I just knew I felt out of place. As I got older, I figured out that while I couldn’t shrink my height, my diet could change my waistline.
My first diet adventure was when I was in 6th grade. The dreaded grapefruit diet. I remember holding my nose and gulping grapefruit juice out of my lunch box hoping it would melt my tummy away. I still don’t really like grapefruit. This continued throughout junior high and high school. I tried low carb when that came out big. You know they say you never really how important something is until it’s gone? Well potatoes are important in my life. I did weight watchers 4 times and watched the weight fall off…then reappear. The whole time I was trying to change who I was to fit in. I was trying to change so I could share clothes with my skinny friends. I wanted to lose weight so that boy would pay attention. I wasn’t doing it for me, I was doing it for them.
So, I did it for me. Sorta. The last time I did weight watchers was to lose weight before I got pregnant. Lose it to gain it. I was (and am for the record lol) happily married to a man who thinks I am a goddess no matter what. I didn’t need anyone else’s approval. I wanted to get healthy for my baby, and I did. I lost 40 pounds, then gained 40 while pregnant. Perfect. But it was hard. Every bite was a struggle. Every day was not fun. It was a chore. That attitude is no way to live your life. So, doing it for myself was better, but still not the ticket. I wanted joy and health. Can’t that happen?
Then one day a friend suggested that I teach a fitness class at our church. With my background in dance, it seemed to make sense. Plus, I kinda liked the idea of teaching a class as a work in progress myself. You know, I get it because I am right there with you. So I gave it a shot, and created Faithful Fitness. Inspired by Zumba and dance, but focusing on diet and spiritual health too, I started flying with ideas. Then I started
writing devotionals for my classes. Then God stepped in, and it clicked.
Doing it for others is a joke. Doing it for myself was hard. Doing it for God was almost easy.
When I am the focus, there are a lot of feelings of failure and “this isn’t worth it.” When my health became an act of worship, it wasn’t about me anymore. It was about thanking God for the body he gave me and treating it with respect for Him. I chose 1 Corinthians 6:19 as the Faithful Fitness cornerstone verse. Let’s take a close look at that verse and really chew on it (no pun intended).
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”
Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Whoa. In biblical times, the temple was where they went to encounter God. The presence of God was found in the temple. Now, we have the Holy Spirit. God himself chooses to dwell in your body. Your body is a mobile church, people! How do you treat your church? Do you walk in with muddy shoes, toss trash in the aisle, and spill your coffee in the pew? NO! We take care of our churches because it’s God’s house. Your body is God’s house! Take care of it as such!
You are not your own. This body is not ours. This is our loaner. This is God’s tool to get things done through us.
When you borrow your friend’s car, do you go mudding and throw French fries everywhere? Run the tank empty and say, “hey thanks, pal!” No! Unless you are a terrible friend…but that’s a whole different conversation. You take care of the things that don’t belong to you. Well, your body doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to God. Take care of it so that you can return it to Him in good shape.
Health is a form of sacrifice and worship. The sooner we understand that, the sooner health become a joy. Motivation becomes obvious. Yeah, we will all have our slip ups, none of us is perfect, but the overall lifestyle of health as worship is so much more satisfying and successful than the constant struggle of doing it for others or even yourself. Do it for God, and see where He takes you.