Fitness.
Some people are passionate about it. Others groan when they hear the word. I used to be the latter and am now the former.
How did I change so drastically?
Let me start out with a basic belief I hold:
I believe my body is a form of currency.
Huh?
Yes! My body carries me around in this world. Without it, I am unable to buy up the spiritual opportunities and cannot fully serve my God. If my body is dead, my story is over. If my body is sick, broken or unhealthy then there are many opportunities that are going to be removed from my life.
My favorite example is from when we lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. I had become dear friends with a young girl from a remote village who asked me to go home with her over a break. I jumped at the opportunity. We traveled for 2 full days by 2 long bus trips, then a bumpy van ride followed by a 9 hour hike that took us--exhausted--to her remote mountaintop village. We climbed over 5,000 feet during those 9 hours. I got to be the first ever non-ethnic visitor to their village. EVER. Like in their multi-thousand of years history, I became the first person to visit the village. She told me I would be talked about in their upcoming oral history forever.
Um, wow.
We carried the gospel to these people. I could not speak their language, she did the talking. I sat quietly observing faces and praying constantly for her words to fall on tender hearts and for them to hunger for the One True God.
She hadn't gone home in over 2 years. (I learned this fact later.) She shared with me that she had not the courage to go home without me at her side.
I was given the blessed gift of carrying the news of Jesus to this remote village...and I couldn't have done it if I had weighed too much, been in poor shape or overindulged like my selfish desires want me to on a daily basis.
The spiritual opportunity would have gone to someone else. Eventually, she would have gone back to her people with someone else as her companion. But because I was ready, I got to be the one.
We do not know the future. We do not know when we must be ready for any number of things. The very best way to be prepared for the unknown is to care diligently for the casing we come in: our bodies.
Maybe you are thinking that it is not likely is it that you will be asked to hike through a mountain range to accompany a budding missionary to her people, but you might just want to be around for your daughter's graduation. Her wedding day. You might want to feel good enough to chase your young son down the beach and not wish you hadn't eaten all that pizza and guzzled all those Mountain Dews over the past years.
Whatever God has for you, you want to be ready. I know you do.
Let me share one other thing with you.
In the past, I used to hate my body. And I don't mean that lightly. I hated it. God showed me a vision so incredible that I never forgot it. One day while I was indulging in yet another pity party about the version of thighs He gave me, He filled my mind with a foul image: a burned up pile of ashes that smelled rotten and was completely repulsive. I wanted to look away...but could not. I then reeled backward when He spoke to my heart that the pile of ash was me. He basically let me understand that my body is a mercy covering for what I truly look like in my sinful state. I realized that my outside was UNBELIEVEABLY better than what I REALLY looked like. I suddenly saw all those things about my body that I had formerly hated as an opportunity to give praise. Thick thighs? Thank you, Lord! Wide ankles? What a gift! All of it was worlds better than what I had just seen. (Please do not pick apart this theologically. This was useful to my heart to move me forward and I hope it does something for you as well!)
I then prayed to never forget what He had just shown me. I then understand that it is not my place to question why He made me as He did. ("Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it saying, 'Stop, you're doing it wrong!'" Isaiah 45:9) It is neither mine to judge if I look like an airbrushed model on the cover of a magazine nor compare myself to the random person in line at the store. All that matters is that I become my personal best. That I am diligently caring for my body as the gift that it is from God Himself.
I am now a Team Beachbody Star Diamond coach and I offer to help and encourage anyone who is serious about using their body for God's glory. I support my customers via Facebook, email, the Team Beachbody website and in person for those who live near where God has planted me. I use a wide variety of workout programs from Beachbody because they work so well in my busy lifestyle as I stay at home raising these 5 precious children God has given me. I daily drink Shakeology and by it have kicked a 20 year coffee habit. I have built and developed muscles I didn't know I had and find great joy in feeling READY for whatever God brings my way in life.
If you want to join one of my Beachbody Challenge groups, please find me on Facebook and send me a message. I would be most honored to partner with you and help you get your "currency" READY for whatever plans God has for YOU!
Click here to find me on Facebook and send me a message. Click here to visit my Beachbody coaching page, or click here to learn more about Shakeology.
Some people are passionate about it. Others groan when they hear the word. I used to be the latter and am now the former.
How did I change so drastically?
Let me start out with a basic belief I hold:
I believe my body is a form of currency.
Huh?
Yes! My body carries me around in this world. Without it, I am unable to buy up the spiritual opportunities and cannot fully serve my God. If my body is dead, my story is over. If my body is sick, broken or unhealthy then there are many opportunities that are going to be removed from my life.
My favorite example is from when we lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. I had become dear friends with a young girl from a remote village who asked me to go home with her over a break. I jumped at the opportunity. We traveled for 2 full days by 2 long bus trips, then a bumpy van ride followed by a 9 hour hike that took us--exhausted--to her remote mountaintop village. We climbed over 5,000 feet during those 9 hours. I got to be the first ever non-ethnic visitor to their village. EVER. Like in their multi-thousand of years history, I became the first person to visit the village. She told me I would be talked about in their upcoming oral history forever.
Um, wow.
We carried the gospel to these people. I could not speak their language, she did the talking. I sat quietly observing faces and praying constantly for her words to fall on tender hearts and for them to hunger for the One True God.
She hadn't gone home in over 2 years. (I learned this fact later.) She shared with me that she had not the courage to go home without me at her side.
I was given the blessed gift of carrying the news of Jesus to this remote village...and I couldn't have done it if I had weighed too much, been in poor shape or overindulged like my selfish desires want me to on a daily basis.
The spiritual opportunity would have gone to someone else. Eventually, she would have gone back to her people with someone else as her companion. But because I was ready, I got to be the one.
We do not know the future. We do not know when we must be ready for any number of things. The very best way to be prepared for the unknown is to care diligently for the casing we come in: our bodies.
Maybe you are thinking that it is not likely is it that you will be asked to hike through a mountain range to accompany a budding missionary to her people, but you might just want to be around for your daughter's graduation. Her wedding day. You might want to feel good enough to chase your young son down the beach and not wish you hadn't eaten all that pizza and guzzled all those Mountain Dews over the past years.
Whatever God has for you, you want to be ready. I know you do.
Let me share one other thing with you.
In the past, I used to hate my body. And I don't mean that lightly. I hated it. God showed me a vision so incredible that I never forgot it. One day while I was indulging in yet another pity party about the version of thighs He gave me, He filled my mind with a foul image: a burned up pile of ashes that smelled rotten and was completely repulsive. I wanted to look away...but could not. I then reeled backward when He spoke to my heart that the pile of ash was me. He basically let me understand that my body is a mercy covering for what I truly look like in my sinful state. I realized that my outside was UNBELIEVEABLY better than what I REALLY looked like. I suddenly saw all those things about my body that I had formerly hated as an opportunity to give praise. Thick thighs? Thank you, Lord! Wide ankles? What a gift! All of it was worlds better than what I had just seen. (Please do not pick apart this theologically. This was useful to my heart to move me forward and I hope it does something for you as well!)
 |
| Get your "Mercy Covering" ready to go! |
I then prayed to never forget what He had just shown me. I then understand that it is not my place to question why He made me as He did. ("Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it saying, 'Stop, you're doing it wrong!'" Isaiah 45:9) It is neither mine to judge if I look like an airbrushed model on the cover of a magazine nor compare myself to the random person in line at the store. All that matters is that I become my personal best. That I am diligently caring for my body as the gift that it is from God Himself.
I am now a Team Beachbody Star Diamond coach and I offer to help and encourage anyone who is serious about using their body for God's glory. I support my customers via Facebook, email, the Team Beachbody website and in person for those who live near where God has planted me. I use a wide variety of workout programs from Beachbody because they work so well in my busy lifestyle as I stay at home raising these 5 precious children God has given me. I daily drink Shakeology and by it have kicked a 20 year coffee habit. I have built and developed muscles I didn't know I had and find great joy in feeling READY for whatever God brings my way in life.
If you want to join one of my Beachbody Challenge groups, please find me on Facebook and send me a message. I would be most honored to partner with you and help you get your "currency" READY for whatever plans God has for YOU!
~
Click here to find me on Facebook and send me a message. Click here to visit my Beachbody coaching page, or click here to learn more about Shakeology.
