by Matt Fairchild, Worship Pastor
One day a dear friend of mine came to me and said, “I am worried about you and want you to live a good long life. You are not making good choices and you need to do something about it.” I knew they were right. It was at this point that I realized something: this body does not belong to me. It belongs to God. I gave my life to following Christ and that means that I follow His Word. I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
I was being disobedient by choosing to eat whatever and how much of whatever I wanted. This was leading me to have poor thoughts and make bad decisions based on how I felt because of my newly found low self-esteem. I had removed myself from God’s influence on my life’s well being. I Corinthians 10:31 says, “so whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.” I was not glorifying God with my body. I needed to change. I needed to get honest.
Wellness is described in Webster’s dictionary as, “The state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal”. So what does that mean in layman’s terms? It means trying to be healthy. The first step in wellness is deciding to be well. It is the conscious decision to make positive changes in one’s life. This has to be the first decision. Then you must decide to act on that decision- or in other terms, decide to decide… easier said than done.
How do we get to the point where we can make that decision to be well? It starts with honesty. You must be honest with yourself about your current state. Whether overweight, underweight, happy, sad, depressed, tired, grumpy, and the list goes on, you must be honest and come to grips with who you are. The first step in doing this is having an honest talk with God and giving up our weakness and failures to Him who can set us free from those bondages. Those bondages can hold us back from making the decision to actually decide to do something about our wellness. The next step is having some practical knowledge and tools to be able to make those decisions stick and change our thought processes to more healthy ones.
I started my journey to wellness by changing my diet. I was 40 lbs overweight and on medication for high blood pressure. My outlook on life was low and I was a cranky, tired, middle-aged man. My outlook on life was getting more and more bleak with every step took. I couldn’t make it to my car much less even think about going on a walk or doing something physical without getting out of breath. I didn’t play any sports or outdoor activities and was completely tired and exhausted all the time. My self-image dwindled because of the person I saw in the mirror every morning.
I prayed to God to show me how to start. Everytime I had already tried by myself I either fell off the wagon, just quit, or the ice cream was calling my name and after four bowls I got discouraged and binged because I felt I was a failure.
God spoke very clearly to me during that prayer. The words He spoke to me were these, “I am on your side.” At this point I knew I could succeed. Not succeed for a little while but succeed for the rest of my life. God is on your side. He is for you.
The first thing I decided to do was to clean up the food that was entering into my body. If it had processed sugar or white flour I removed it. Processed sugar and white flour have been linked to multiple issues including diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, fatigue, sleep loss, inflammation and many more issues not listed here. For one month I went without processed sugar and white flour. I lost 15 lbs.
The processed food we have in this world is not what God meant for us to eat. He gave us food in the form of fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, and proteins in the form of animals, beans and legumes. This weight loss gave me the energy to start walking which led to more rigorous exercises like lifting weights and running. Soon I was off my blood pressure medicine. Am I perfect all the time with my diet? No. Do I let falling off the wagon lead to despair and feelings of failure? Nope. I just I have decided to decide to just make my next meal one that is with real food. The road to wellness all starts with putting God first in your life and getting honest with Him. Let Him back you in your journey to wellness. Decide to Decide to put God first and be well!