Jesus is Better

It's the day after Christmas and all of our energy is shifting to the new year. All the new year, new you thoughts start creeping into our heads. How can we become the BEST version of ourselves in the upcoming year? How much weight should we set to lose in the upcoming year? How many books will we read? How much quiet time a day should we check off? How many workouts will we get in? How many veggies should we eat every day?

Absolutely none of those things are bad in themselves. We should all strive to honor God by caring for our whole body.

BUT...

What if we invited Jesus into those goals?

What if we considered that ultimately Jesus has our best plans already laid out?

What if, and this is big, we just sought to get closer to God, trusting that if we were close to him none of the other stuff would matter?

Hear me out. I'm not saying your shouldn't or can't lose weight, eat lots of veggies, workout, etc. I'm saying if we get our priorities in order a lot of those things will happen much more organically. If we seek Christ to help us, to come alongside us on our wellness journey, he will do the heavy lifting (pun intended).

I'm not even saying that you can't set goals and do the work to accomplish them. It's so healthy to do that.

I'm saying, Jesus is better. Put your relationship with him first on your list of goals. Make him your priority. He sees so much more of the picture than we could ever imagine, he may have things planned for you that you could never dream of. Don't limit yourself by trying to do it all on your own.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ". Philippians 1:6 

Overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed. 

Not the word that should describe this holiday season, but the one that keeps coming to my mind. The only thing that should feeling overwhelming about Christmas should be the birth of Christ and the impact of his birth on our life.

I've had more than one good cry and a possible explosion of emotions this holiday season because I am completely overwhelmed. Nothing about this comes from Christ, the Prince of Peace.

In our family, my son bought a house that needed some work prior to moving in and my sister was moving across the country. Both of these things required a lot of being out of my normal routine. Spending time working on the house(s), watching a giant puppy for several days, trying to get everything ready for all the fun Faith Fueled Wellness programs in 2024 and then trying to find time to shop for Christmas and do all of the holiday things I love has been nothing short of exhausting.

Much of this iverwhelmed feeling is all on me. I love and crave routine. I can be flexible. But weeks of being out of my routine has definitely impacted me. I haven't been able to always get my quiet time in, or to be as focused on nutrition or even get my workouts in as much. All of these things would have helped tremendously with this feeling. You know how at the end of a vacation you just want to be home, back to the norm? This is similar. It's all really good stuff happening, but it's gotten me all out of sorts.

I want to be celebrating Jesus. I want to be singing Joy to the World. I want to be so grateful for all of the good things going on around me. But it's all coming out as frustration, which only further frustrates me.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

I'm taking the last few days before Christmas and dropping the feeling of being overwhelmed. I'm going to celebrate and take time to be in awe of our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace!

If you are at all struggling like me this holiday season, lets take the focus off of ourselves and give glory and honor where they are due. In Christ alone.

 

The Lord Will Provide

Recently someone was asking me about the upcoming programming I was going to offer. When I started sharing some of the programming, they responded that I have more energy that they do. I laughed and said "someone has to do it".

I realized later this probably didn't make much sense to them, but it did to me. I want to share the reasoning behind my response with you all!

First, I don't workout or take classes and do any the things because I have a lot of energy. I workout because I don't have a lot of energy. Working out is a daily discipline for me to make sure I move this good body God gave me. And it's true what they say, I've never regretted a workout after it's done. But it often takes a lot of talking myself into that workout first. I also had a boss that instilled in me the importance of always learning and improving, so I've made that a discipline too.

Secondly, my response was geared more to my upcoming classes, not just workouts in general, and here is what I meant:

It is FAR beyond my comfort zone to lead fitness classes, prayer and scripture teaching. But God has led me to do so, therefore, I'm going to do so! It's that simple. 

God said go. 
I'm going.

While I'm working on material for January for these programs, I find myself exhausted just thinking about it all. And I'm not even doing the work yet. I question God sometimes. I'm not sure he got the right person for this work. He assures me every time that he did. 

I worry no one will sign up. He assures me that is not a me problem to worry about. He asked me to provide, not to bring the people to, so I'm providing. 

I'm praying regularly for the following things, and you can join me in this prayer too:

Energy to do the work

Health to do the work

Prepared hearts of other women who want to join me in the work

His words of life and encouragement to speak to the women who show up to do the work

Thank to our Jehovah Jireh - The Lord who provides, I don't have to worry about any of these things. It's all in His control. 

Faith Fueled Wellness

Welcome to Faith Fueled Wellness!

I feel like I just welcomed you back to the blog, and now I'm changing things up again. The blog isn't really changing, it's still going to include all of the things I'd love to talk to you about over a cup of coffee. However the direction of the ministry is changing. I hope you will find it's all for the better!

Why the name change? Why Faith Fueled Wellness and why ditch Mandy's Mission?

Fuel  as defined is to supply or power, or to cause to burn more intensely.
And in this case, the fuel I want to burn comes from my faith in Christ.

Wellness as defined is the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal of physical, mental and spiritual health

Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Collectively, imagine what our lights can do! I hope to be a place to fuel your faith and to encourage you on your wellness journey. I want to help keep your light burning.

I am all about wholeness when I talk about wellness. I personally think wellness comes from the inside out. When we feel better we do better. We tend to focus a lot on the visible, physical changes when we are on a wellness journey. However, if we aren't changing our mindset and our habits, the change will be fleeting.

I want to encourage each of you to be healthy, whole and FREE. Free in Christ. Free to honor Christ with our body by making healthy choices. Not bound to a scale, diet culture or harsh fitness routines.

I know for me, when I started this journey over 10 years ago, I had to start healing myself spiritually before I could work on any physical health goals. I needed to reposition myself closer to Christ to make sure he was the rock I was leaning on when things were hard. And making healthy choices can be hard.

When I stopped leaning on Christ as my rock, when I thought I had it all under control and could handle it by myself, that's when things started slipping. I went from becoming obsessive about workouts and food choices to not paying much attention to the choices I was making. Neither is a good place to be.

This year I've been working on repositioning myself again closer to Christ. As a result, I've also begun working on simple consistency and awareness of my physical health. Daily movement and tracking food. I feel markedly better already.

Along with a new name will come a new focus of my social media feed, which is why I am ditching "Mandy's Mission". This is less about me and my journey, not nothing, but less. None of this was ever suppose to be about me anyway. The goal was always intended to be a way to point others to Christ. Some of the times I did better than others in those regards. The information on social media will be more general wellness and about my ongoing programming. Don't worry, I will share more of my personal journey in smaller groups with those participating in my programming, I still need the accountability too!

So what is this new programming you ask?

Burn Fit Club - In Person (Women Only)

Saturday mornings (beginning January 6, 2024)

Faith based workouts that will include strength training, cardiovascular training, prayer, scripture and positive and uplifting music, all in a shame free zone!

Burn Fit Club - Online (Women Only)
Four week online programs

Five scheduled workouts a week - a combination of strength and cardio workouts

Hand weights suggested, but no equipment required

Weekly scripture focus and devotionals

First program begins January 1, 2024

The Wellness Revelation 10 week Book Study (Women Only)

Beginning January 11, 2024 6:30 Pm 

***Limited seats available

Sign up link for all programs will be coming soon! Feel free to message me if you have any questions! 

Giving Tuesday!

Giving Tuesday is a day set aside to encourage giving back and to help others in need. A lot of emphasis is placed on financial giving. But what if we inventoried our giving a little deeper than that.

What if we reflected on what we were giving, not just financially, but of our whole self. Who and what are we giving too? Is it enough? Is it what God is asking of us? Are we taking on too much and giving more of ourselves when God has called us to ask for help?

Time - Oh how the enemy uses time and ways to waste our time, to distract us from what God is calling us to do. We think of our call as this giant thing, but it might be as simple as calling a friend, or sitting on the porch with a neighbor instead of scrolling social media or binging Netflix.

Talent - We live in a world of comparison, I think we often think we are never good enough. We have constant access to people we think can do the same thing better than us. The problem with that is God isn't calling us to be the BEST at everything, maybe anything. He's calling us to use the talent he gave us, where we have to use it. It's his strength and power that will do the rest.

Finances - We have endless ways to spend our money at the click of a button. Our entire sermon this past Sunday was on finances, and the "rich". As Americans, I think we often get our wants and needs confused. Again, comparison has made it easy to think we never have enough. Confusing our wants and needs, might make our budgets tighter and financial giving/ sacrifice less than they should be.

Home - I am so fortunate to have a home. However, I don't think God allowed us this whole house just for us to live in. It should be open to letting others in as well. This might be small groups, friend and family gatherings, and many other opportunities.

Community - We could live in absolutely any community, anywhere. Why has God placed you where you are? Your town, your neighborhood? How can you be a better neighbor? How can you serve in your community? How can you make your community a safer place for others?

Work - I'm pretty sure God did not place us in our jobs just to bring home a paycheck. Nothing is by coincidence. We are in the place of employment we are in, to serve Him. There are people there who need you. They may need to hear the gospel, but they may also need to see the gospel, they may need a friend, they may need a church invite, they may need just to be seen. You are where you are for a reason.

One of my favorite quotes to reflect on says, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'. Erma Bombeck

I think about this on a smaller scale each night. Did I use everything God gave me to use today? Or did I keep a little in the reserves? Do I not trust He will provide again tomorrow?

It's like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. God provided exactly what they needed for each day. They were told not to store up for other days, but that God would provide just enough. (Exodus 16) He does the same for us, in all those above areas and more. He gives us just enough resources to accomplish whatever his will is for the day. He will give us strength, physically and mentally, He will give us financial resources, talent, time, and anything else we need. Just enough for each day, then we are to rest and he will give us enough for the next day.

Where could you trust God more to help you give back, or give more out of what he has already provided for you each day? It's a question I'm asking myself as well. 

Grateful Heart

I have so, SO MUCH to be grateful for this season of Thanksgiving. I get all warm just thinking about it all. I considered making a list but that felt a little generic. But it also felt hard to just pick one thing to write about that I'm grateful for. I almost felt stuck about where to go with this one. I almost considered just doing something else altogether.

I stared at the screen for far longer than it typically takes for me to come up with a post. Actually, I usually have the post thought out in my head before I even open the computer. But there I sat, feeling empty, when I knew I wanted to say something about gratitude.

Did you know this time last year I was secretly planning a wedding? It wasn't a complete secret, but most people thought we would be getting married in April, when in reality we were going to get married in less than a month. To the outside it probably looked like the sweetest thing ever! On the inside it was right and good, and what we wanted, but wasn't exactly happening in our time frame.

My husband and I had been together for many years at this point. We both knew we weren't going anywhere, but we weren't really talking about marriage. It had come up here and there, but no real plan. Our decision to get married came rather, well, abruptly. I was afraid people would assume there was some bad reason we decided to get married quickly. I assure you there wasn't. 

The truth was, simply, it was time. No real, romantic proposal. No months on end planning the perfect day. And other than being very sick on the day of our wedding, it was exactly what I wanted. A day for my best friend and myself. We didn't have to worry about anything else. Just making a promise to the Lord that we were all in. 

 A little back story, this abrupt engagement and then marriage came from a rather uncomfortable conversation with a leader in our faith community. It's crazy how even the difficult things in life can be used for good by our good God. This uncomfortable conversation may not have been how we wanted to the conversation to go, but it was truth, and it was what we needed to move forward. And don't be confused, we love each other very much. We weren't pushed into being married, well, maybe nudged a little, but it was ultimately our decision and what we wanted.

But, why am I telling you this story in a Thanksgiving post titled Grateful Heart?

Because we needed that uncomfortable nudge! We need to be grateful for not just the amazing things the Lord does for us. For all of the things that turn out well or go the way we planned them. We need to be grateful for people who are willing to have hard, truthful conversations. We need to be people who are willing to have hard, truthful conversations. 

We need to be grateful that everything doesn't always go our way. In our tiny little minds we think we have it all planned out sometimes. We rationalize choices we make. We get laser focused on our goals and where we are going and we miss out on the goodness God actually had planned for us.

He sees the whole giant panoramic picture and all we see is the tiny frame we are currently in. I hope my husband would agree, but getting married was the best decision we ever made together. It improved our relationship that much more. We thought things were great, we had a good relationship. For me, I am amazed sometimes at just how much better things are, and not just in our relationship, but it has carried over into so many other areas as well. That's not to say there are not difficult days and situations, there are. The bible says: I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 - He said you will, not if you will.

So, I'm grateful that even when I mess up over and over again. Even when I take control of the reigns in ALL of the things, God never leaves me, he never stops loving me. I'm grateful his love isn't conditional and that he is the most patient being ever. 

My goal is that I hope this story encourages you to step back and take a look at anything in your life you might be frustrated with, or maybe just stagnant in. Things aren't bad, but they are just going anywhere. Where might God be calling you to make a change? Where might God be desiring a difficult conversation to help you or someone else get to the other side?

He's a good, good God. Follow Him.

Fitting in

We just finished up Revelation Wellness Instructor Training Virtual Retreat for platoon 31. It was an incredible 4 days of worship, workouts, bible study and personal growth. I hope to share more from retreat over time. I'm still really processing so much, but I couldn't wait to share one of my main AHA moments.

On day 3 we attended a workshop titled, "Restoring & Reclaiming Body Image." I was immediately interested in this workshop from the title alone. I struggle greatly with body image, always have. Even after I lost 130 pounds back in 2017, I still struggled. I still saw myself as an almost 300 pound woman. There were things I still wouldn't do because I thought I was too heavy to do them. I'm not sure some of that will ever change. 

In this workshop, our presenter, Rachael Gilbert, shared about her struggles with body image. Then gave us an assignment to complete. In the assignment, we were to make a timeline of moments that impacted our core beliefs about ourself.

There were examples and she talked us through ideas to help us think about what we might include in our timeline. The timeline could and should include positive and negative events. And these events could be small things, or large traumatic things. 

Once we made our timeline she asked us to pick one to work through with her. After choosing our one event, we were to pick our feeling about this event. I wrote down, I felt like I didn't fit in. 

God spoke to me in this moment, not audibly of course, but he stirred the thought inside of me that I was never suppose to fit in. I was set apart. Set apart, that's the words that just kept repeating in my head. 

This thing, being set apart as a Christian, a good thing, was twisted by the enemy and essentially made me make myself small for so many years. I knew I didn't fit in at some point. That made me as a young person uncomfortable. The enemy used that feeling to keep me sad, lonely, and striving to fit in. 

Nearly all my life I've felt I don't fit in. I've given up so much of who I am over time to try to fit in, in so many situations. All the drinking and partying in my 20's, all to fit in. The bad relationships, to fit in, somewhere, with someone. The yo-yo dieting, to fit in. Only in more recent years have I really stopped caring about fitting in. 

Even still, not caring as much didn't make the feeling disappear, I just don't give it the same room to grow now. But do you know what God told me last Friday? You were never made to fit in. You belong to me. You have been and are loved with an everlasting love. You are mine.

Cue the tears.

He gave me these two verses:

Jerimiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

And to make sure I was really listening. Our next workshop was called "Experiential". We had a balloon and a marker that had been mailed to us weeks earlier for this workshop. We were to write on the balloon one lie the enemy had us believing. I stuck with the not fitting in, even though I'd already had my AHA and started to squash the lie. But I wrote it on my balloon, blew it up, tied it, and then we were told to pop our balloons. A piece of paper with a handwritten message fell out of the balloon. The message had been written especially for us. 

Mine said: You are treasured.

Treasured, which means, valued highly.

I've been His all along. I want to say I wasted so many years, but God wastes nothing. I'm just a slow learner, I've proved that in many ways. My story is His story and now I can more than just not care if I fit in, I can embrace the one to whom I belong.

Thorn in my Side

I was standing outside a local food truck the other night waiting to pick up dinner. All while staring at the Mexican restaurant across the street where I had a meeting for lunch earlier in the day. I had to mentally pat myself on the back that I didn’t eat at the Mexican restaurant, because I knew I was eating out that night. I ate my leftovers instead.

But standing there waiting for my food I started thinking about the food I had ate that day. My thought was how even though calorie wise it was clearly plenty of food, it didn’t seem like “a lot”. And I like to eat. 

That’s when it hit me. It was this thought that popped in my head and spoke to me., saying, this is the thorn in your side. 

Food. My weakness that God can use. (Clearly not the only one ;) ) The thing that tempted Eve in the garden. The same thing that tempts me today. When I continually overeat, it’s like telling God I don’t trust that I will be nourished and fed.

This is the thing that keeps me close to Jesus. It may sound silly to you, but it’s true. I am never closer, seriously, it’s that much of a struggle for me, than when I’m seeking God to help me nourish my body and not just partake in every bit of food placed in front of me. Or seek out all the snacks. 

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:7b-9, “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

I’m still a ways away from verse 10 though: That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I know, understand, that only Christ can help me where I’m weak. I speak the words that I need Christ to help me where I am weak. But I would not say I often delight in my weakness. I find my weakness annoying, as would be a thorn in my side.

When things go wrong, I want to find the solution, and then suggest to God how WE can fix it. Instead of just taking it to him and see what he would have me do. Same with food, I often take the next diet or program to him and ask him to bless it by making the scale drop. 

This time is different. I’ve taken my hunger to him and asked him to help me exert self control when needed. I’ve asked him to help me learn real hunger from emotional hunger. I’ve asked him to remind me he is enough and that food can never be my comforter, because that is his job.

I'm praying I learn to find JOY in this weakness. That I accept this thorn in my side, that might be here for life. I’ve seen what happens when I think I’ve got this whole thing figured out, I start relying on myself again. I want to stay close to God, more than I want a number on a scale. So, here is to me starting to accept this food struggle, and that it may just be here to stay.

The God Who Sees Me

 El Roi

My favorite name of God.

El Roi, the God who sees me.

In Genesis 16 Sarai is dealing, not well, with her inability to have children with Abram. Sarai offers her servant, Hagar to bare Abram a child. However in doing this, it only leaves Sarai feeling angry, in which then she treats Hagar horribly, causing Hagar to leave. Hagar was a servant and had only done what she had been instructed to do, but anger and jealousy had caused her much strife. Upon leaving an angel spoke to Hagar telling her to return to Sarai and Abram. The angel of the Lord told her he would multiply her offspring and that she was currently pregnant with a son that she should name, Ishmael. In this moment Hagar felt seen, no longer alone. She called God, the One who sees me.

I too have felt unseen in my life. Believe it or not, especially if you only know me and my online presence, I kind of prefer it that way, behind the scenes, but I also feel God gave me this story to tell.

Previously, I spent years of my life making sure that I was intentionally overlooked. I don't think I did this knowingly, but years removed from that life, I can see now that was exactly what I was doing. Sounds ridiculous, I know.

I had a bad picker if you will, and surrounded myself with the wrong people, got into wrong relationships. After a particularly bad choice and a wrong done against me, I decided to just take myself out of the equation by making myself undesirable. I gained weight to become invisible. I didn't want to be in that place ever again, and I thought this was the solution.

I knew God then, but there was so much shame in where I was in life, I didn't turn to him. I didn't understand I should, could turn to him. Even still, El Roi. God still saw me. He still loved me. He waited for me to ditch the shame and come back to him.

Once I realized this, I've cared far less about who else sees me. Nothing I do is for anyone else, or should be for anyone else. Losing weight, getting healthy, eating right, working out, my job, relationships, and on and on, it's all about bringing honor to Christ. It's never been about me, it's always been about him. And I can use all the life hurts to remind others that God sees them too!

Before I hit post, I realized, it is also worth noting that, I haven't just been Hagar in this story. I've been Sarai too. Like Sarai (Sarah), I too have felt I was past the age of being usable in the ways I thought God wants to use me.  I too have tried to run ahead of God and do things my way, on my schedule, in my time and angry when it didn't work out.  I'm reminded that His timing is always best. I'm hoping he doesn't wait until I'm 99, but I'm excited to see how this new adventure unfolds!

Find Your FREEDOM!

I should have started this blog back at the beginning of my training. SO MANY good nuggets I could have written about more extensively than in a social media post.

But I'll start here from my week 7 class last week. Only 1 class to go after tonight! Then retreat!

In our Bible study we have been going through the book of Nehemiah. We were in chapters 9 and 10 last week. We talked a lot about repentance. True repentance.

Repentance defined is: the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.

Repentance is not the words, I'm sorry. True repentance is sincere. It's changed behavior. It's turning away from the sin that holds us back. 

Repentance changes lives. It can change your life. Secrets keep us sick.

"We must remind ourselves that if we do not let our repentance lead us towards praise, we will stay sick. If all our repentance does is tell us how bad we are and does not lead us to how good God is, we will stay lame. If all our misfortunes and bad choices in life do not lead us towards a heart of praise, we will never be free." - From our Revelation Wellness Bible Study

Repentance does bring FREEDOM!

I can tell you personally the freedom I'm experiencing right now in so many areas is a direct result of finally letting go. It's from repenting and and handing over things I'd been gripping so tightly for far too long.

I had to release my relationship with my now husband. Not that our relationship was bad, not at all, but we wanted to do things our way, not the way we needed to be doing things. I've had to release my behaviors around disordered eating. I kept begging God to just help me with my weight and ignoring all the tools he has given me to help myself. I didn't turn to him when I was struggling. I even had to release my disobedience of not doing even the simplest things God was calling me to. 

These are all definitely works in progress. But my mind sees them different. Previously, I just didn't take these things to God, I held them tight trying to "fix" them myself. 

My life has changed so drastically in the lasts several months due to this release. Not just an I'm sorry God, not I really wish I could do better, not I'll work on that soon, but real heart and behavior change.

I've had to have a sit down with myself about even having a desire to have God call out such things, to show me the things I still need to release, because I can guarantee you that I'm still gripping lots of things. Some I may recognize, some he may not have shown me yet. I need the willingness to hand them over when he does show me, because delayed obedience is still disobedience. 

There is zero shame in saying I was wrong, I want to and I and I will do better! Sometimes we don't know until we know. But once we know it's time to let go.

What is not repenting holding you back from? 

What are you refusing to release?

What do you have your fingers grasping tightly? And, why?

Take a few minutes and think about the things you know you are holding back from a better relationship with God. Take them to him and release them to him today. Find your FREEDOM and then PRAISE the Lord.

“Stand up and praise the LORD your God, for he lives from everlasting to everlasting!” Then they prayed: “May your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise! Nehemiah 9:5

Welcome to Coffee Talk!

I decided it was time to bring back an old friend, my blog. I actually started another blog at one point, but we are coming back to the OG. I'm hoping to publish weekly blog posts on all sorts of topics that I feel would be good conversation if we were hanging out over a cup of coffee.

For my first post in a few years 😉 I thought I'd do a little reintroduction. Some of you have been with me since day 1, over 10 years ago. And some of you are brand new. So, buckle up and let's get (re)acquainted. 

We are going to back it way up to bring it to today and why I am just SO incredibly grateful for God's saving grace and for new beginnings.

I had my son at the age of 20. I have a super supportive family, but as for parenting, it was just us. I tried to be the best momma I could be, but I struggled. My son is now 24 and I'm so thankful that he is such a wonderful young man. And I hope he learned some from my struggle.

My son was always loved and provided for, but I did not always love and care for myself and this did sometimes spill over to him. For probably the first 10 years of his life, my lifestyle was more than just unhealthy. I had walked away from attending church, I partied, had bad relationships and just barely got by financially. Not to mention, I also didn't eat right or workout, I've struggled with weight my entire life.

Around 2011-2012 I hit my rock bottom. Still a single mom, I was working two jobs, and going to school full time, while trying to do all the mom things. I crashed. I lost all of the things, my jobs (grant funded position that went away), my home, and relationships.

It was around 2013 when a light went off in me. I had been back in church for a year or so, I had been seeking Jesus regularly as a result of that rock bottom and I was helping care for my grandpa. Being one of his caregivers also allowed me even more time to spend with Jesus, but I was still not caring for my body.

In June of 2013, I had reached almost 300 pounds on the scale, I'm only 5'2'', I decided that was enough. It was time to make a change. I sought Christ to help me start making healthier changes for myself. He had rescued me from so much already, I knew he was the only way here too. The book "Made to Crave" was instrumental in my change at this time.

Over the next four years I lost approximately 130 pounds. I shared my wellness journey from June of 2013 until present time on social media as a way to hold myself accountable and to share my testimony of what God was doing with me. During this time, I, with a couple of friends, led fitness classes at our church. I was a Beachbody coach and coached many women.  I could share SO much about this time and how the Lord continually rescued me and also used me, but this is so long already, I really want to get to the now.

In 2017 things began to change again. Over the next five years, change was my middle name. I have switched careers three times. I got into a relationship and got married, he's the best. My son graduated high school and moved out. I have moved three times, including buying a home, something I never thought I would be able to do again. There was a pandemic, where I was deemed essential, working as a substance use counselor in a men's residential treatment facility. (Side note: I led weekly fitness classes here too, the guys had a love/hate relationship with me on Monday's, haha).

But, all of that change distracted me though from what I know and believe God has called me to do, and from God himself. I know I'm supposed to use this journey to share about HIM. I have gained back 50 (ish) pounds, I left Beachbody and that community, I have found myself struggling with my place. I miss having a community of women to do life, including workouts, together with.

Then there was Revelation Wellness! I found Revelation Wellness several years ago in the middle of my chaos. I knew I wasn't in the right place spiritually to lead at that time so I never completed the application. After getting married recently and settling more into my job and life in general, I knew the timing was right, finally, and I applied to platoon 31. We are just two weeks from completing training and about three weeks from our final retreat!

I couldn't really afford the training but I trusted that if this was God's plan, he would make a way. I got a scholarship that covered part of the cost. Then I worked on a fundraiser to help with the rest and boy did God show up in that! As a certified health coach already, I had previously done some walking challenges. Participants paid a fee, set a goal of steps for the month and became part of my group where I shared a devotional every day and updated step totals each week. I wanted to do a play on this with workouts, as I would start offering workouts soon after completing training.

I invited people to participate in my daily workouts. They paid a fee to join my group and get access to the workouts I was doing each day for the month. Five workouts a week, a mixture of cardio and strength. Some workouts are as simple as going for a walk, I have handwritten some workouts with demo videos and sharing some workouts are through Rev Well TV (check it out!).

This went over so well in September, I offered to do it again in October. And guess what, I earned almost exactly what I had left to pay that the scholarship didn't cover! God is so good. And while the monetary benefit was a great relief. Having women not just show up, but say that this group has been life changing was even MORE of the confirmation I needed to know that this is where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing.

Don't get me wrong, the devil is trying to use all the lies to talk me out of it, especially given my weight gain. He's trying to tell me I missed the boat. That I'm too out of shape now. I'm past my prime. But I know that God can make all things good. I know, through this training and as we study Nehemiah, that God rebuilds! I know that even if I start with two women in 2024, God can bring freedom to those two women, and those two women can share so God can bring freedom to two more and on and on. I believe God brought me to Revelation Wellness for such a time as this. I can't wait to see where he is moving here! And I can't wait for YOU to join me where he is moving!