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4 Easy Ways To Simplify Your Health

May 17, 2019/0 Comments/in Current Events, Encouragement, Everything, Faith /by Heather Gillis

This week is a guest post from Jen Roland, who is owner/blogger of Faith Fueled Fitness. I love faith and fitness and am excited to have Jen guest post and share her insights of making health simple and easy. Make sure to check out her recipes and fitness workouts! Have a great week!

In Him,

Heather

4 Easy Ways To Simplify Your Health

There are two words that every new mom dreads.

Bathing suit.

While not explicitly stated, when my sister-in-law asked me to be a bridesmaid – in Florida and by the beach – those two words were exactly what I heard. Holding my one-year old on my hip, I envisioned stuffing my post-pregnancy belly into a strapless bridesmaid dress. The mental image was less than flattering.

I needed a way to simplify my health especially with a baby.

But, I was determined. I vowed to lose the rest of the baby weight, get in amazing shape, and do whatever it would take to get my pre-pregnancy body back.

For the next five months, some might say I was a little “obsessed.” I worked out for over an hour a day and followed a strict meal plan. I cut out all refined sugars, eliminated caffeine, and passed on the pizza at parties. When her wedding day arrived, I received lots of compliments about how “amazing” I looked. My husband must have agreed, because I came home from that trip pregnant with baby number three.

Two weeks later, after experiencing heavy bleeding, I was diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma, deemed a high-risk pregnancy, and directed to halt all physical activity. At 33 weeks, I went into labor, was hospitalized to stop the contractions, and sent home on strict bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy.

When I was given the green light to exercise three months after my son was born, I was starting from ground zero. This time, God showed me that I needed to approach taking care of my health differently. He taught me that if I wanted to change my habits, I would need to start by changing the way I think about them.

It began with renewing my perspective from fitness and nutrition as vehicles to achieve the perfect body to fitness and nutrition as opportunities to glorify God by caring for the body He gifted to me.

As I started to view my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, I began to treat it that way, focusing on life-giving foods that helped me operate at my best without counting every calorie that went into my mouth.

God revealed that in letting my thoughts and actions revolve around when I would work out or what I would eat, I had made my body an idol. I needed to break free from the obsession so I could focus more on Him. As I put Christ at the center of my health journey, it became less about perfecting myself and more about living to please Him. This shift in mindset has had a tremendous impact.

In the words of Beth Moore, “The ultimate goal for most of us, however, is freedom from obsession so that God rather than the body can be glorified. This goal is most often realized through recapturing the lost art of moderation. This means learning to do what we need to do (to keep ourselves healthy) and then getting on with living.”¹When we seek our self-worth, personal fulfillment, or happiness in something other than the Lord our God, we’ve allowed that thing to take an inappropriate position of power in our lives that should be reserved for Him.

1 Corinthians 6:12 tells us “I have the right to do anything,” you say – but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” – but I will not be mastered by anything.”Click To Tweet

We have the “right” to eat anything we want and we have the “right” to exercise. However, while something may be permissible, it may not be beneficial. And while something may be beneficial, it may be unnecessary – even unhealthy – if taken to extremes.

Caring for our health shouldn’t feel like a burden – it should feel “free.” We can choose to let go of the diet mentality and focus on life-giving choices. We can choose to let go of obsessing over every bite of food, becoming slaves to a number on a scale, and constantly chasing perfection. Doing so is an obsession and is actually unhealthy.

4 Easy Ways To Simplify Your Health:

Have a strong WHY for improving your health that is about more than physical appearance. Consider how positive lifestyle habits will allow you to operate at your best so you can give your best to God and others.
Exercise regularly, but not obsessively. Start small with a few minutes a day and build from there (download my FREE GUIDE for short, simple workouts). Focus on progress, not perfection and consistency over performance. As you build new habits, focus on what you will do, not what you cando. Daily wins build momentum and fuel you to keep going!
Focus on consuming nutrient-dense, life-giving foods (not pre-packaged or highly processed). (Download Living Giving Foods List.)
Adopt an abundance mindset that is focused on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, such as more energy, decreased chance of disease, a closer relationship with God, and improved quality of life. Shifting our focus to what we are gaining and our health as an opportunity to glorify Him sets a foundation for sustainable change.

As we begin to make small steps toward a healthier lifestyle, we must not neglect the importance of regular quiet time for our emotional and spiritual well-being. (Check the Resource Guide in my 7-Day Jump Start Plan for some suggestions to get started.) We can commit our plans to the Lord, asking Him for the strength to keep going when we’re lacking in motivation. Then we place our eating, exercising, and everything we do before God as an offering, honoring Him through caring for the body He has given each of us.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 Click To Tweet

Properly fueling our body, mind, and spirit is a means to live with purpose to pursue God’s plan for our lives. When we keep that perspective, we can rest in the fact that our priorities are well-aligned. We can stop obsessing over things this world says make us happy and focus on the one thing that brings true fulfillment.

Call to Action: Download 12 Strategies to Simplify Your Health. Choose one habit that is doable in your current season of life and which would have the greatest impact on your health. Share it below or in our private Facebook group, along with your WHY. Why is this habit important to you? How will it allow you to operate at your best so you can give your best to God and others?

Additional Resources:
FREE 7-Day Jump Start Guide
Life Giving Foods List
FREE Recipes, Meal Plans & Workouts

To learn more about Jen and her mission of faith and fitness Click Here.

References:

1. Moore, Beth. (1998). Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit. Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press.

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What’s My Focus?

September 21, 2018/0 Comments/in Christianity, Encouragement, Everything, Faith, Prayer, Real life, Struggles/Trials, Uncategorized /by Heather Gillis

The other day I had the most vivid dream. I’m not much of a dreamer, but for some reason, this dream was so vivid and clear. I could remember the details and emotions elicited by the dream like I was there experiencing it first hand. From past posts I’ve shared, I like to run. In this dream, I had trained and prepared for a race.

I remember being in a car driving to the race, trying to get there, but something was always getting in the way–traffic, crowds, roadblocks. I remember feeling anxious thinking I wasn’t going to make the start of the race. Then the race started and I wasn’t at the start line. The crowds of runners passed by me. Feelings of disappointment and failure rummaged through my heart as I watched the runners pass me. I had prepared and trained for a race I could only watch and not participate in. Every which way I turned, every time I tried, something got in my way to prevent me from getting to the start line.

After I awoke from my dream, I felt like I failed (nice way to start the day). I felt the devastation of not completing the race, thinking what does all this mean? I spent time in prayer asking God the meaning of the dream and heard his gentle response. He asked me a very simple question, “Are you going to continue to focus on your stumbling blocks or allow me to take care of them?” “Focus on my purpose for you, I will take care of your stumbling blocks.”

God was right. At the time of this dream, I was a hot mess. I was in an ugly rut of taking matters into my own hands, trying to handle things my way, amplifying the stumbling blocks that laid before me. God was trying to show me, my struggles, my inadequacies, my unbelief will always keep me away from His purpose for me. Focusing on my struggles making them bigger than God will always take me out of the race, not allowing me to participate and worse yet not finish.

When we live in God's purpose for us, it doesn't matter what struggles or obstacles lie in front of us, if it is His will, He will move them. Click To Tweet

At the time of my dream, I was studying the book of Nehemiah. If you haven’t read Nehemiah, it is such a wonderful reminder of what God can do when we discover and live in His purpose. God chose Nehemiah to carry out what He had promised to Abraham. The Jewish people spent many years in exile and now it was time for God to come through with His promise for restoration of Jerusalem, their holy city.

Nehemiah’s heart was broken when he received news his people (The Jews) were in great trouble and the wall of Jerusalem was broken down. Once Nehemiah heard of the turmoil, his burning desire to help his people became the sole purpose of his existence. Two qualities I admire most in Nehemiah were his wise, decisive leadership skills to lead people in the hard work of completing the wall and his prayerful heart.

Before taking on this task of rebuilding this massive wall, Nehemiah devoted four whole months in prayer, praying and fasting before taking action! Once the four months was over, it only took 52 days to rebuild the wall! What is so amazing about this task, about 60 years prior Jerusalem’s wall was destroyed and rebuilt which took 20 years to rebuild!

What was the difference?

In both occurrences of the wall, there were obstacles, inward and outward oppression getting in the way of God’s purpose of rebuilding the wall.

Neh. 2:10- There were enemies getting in the way of rebuilding the wall

Neh. 4:10-11 There was doubt, discouragement, laziness, and fear

Neh. 5:1-5- The Jews and their families were being exploited as slaves

Neh. 6:1-8- There was an evil conspiracy plotted against Nehemiah to lure him away from the wall

Neh. 6:10-14- Lying prophets tryied to tempt Nehemiah to sin

Nehemiah 6:9 'For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, 'Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.' But now, O God, strengthen my hands.'Click To Tweet

Nehemiah was successfully able to complete the task of finishing the wall because He stayed in prayer and focused on God’s purpose, not the obstacles.

Our obstacles will always prevent us from finishing the race. Satan will throw obstacles in our path to prevent us from living in God’s purpose for us, to keep us from His plan because He knows God’s ways are greater and better than anything we could ever imagine.

When our focus is on what God is able to do, God will move our obstacles out of the way.Click To Tweet

We have a choice– Focus on our problems or Focus on God’s purpose.

Nehemiah never lost sight of completing the wall WITH God not FOR God. He stayed in prayer and asked for God’s wisdom never faltering from His purpose. Our struggles, our unbelief, our doubts, our past, and insecurities will always keep us away from God’s purpose. We can choose to amplify our struggles or allow it to be God’s platform for what he’s able to do.

What is your focus?

Do obstacles get in the way of God’s purpose for you?

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Training For Heaven

July 28, 2017/0 Comments/in Christianity, Everything, Faith /by Heather Gillis

The other day my daughter and I were on our way to a youth ski race. Kids on different ski teams compete against each other by going down the slalom course. The top 3 kids who achieve the fastest time in their age group win a medal. Usually my daughter is excited to go to ski team to have the opportunity to ski for a few hours. But this day she was having a little trouble. She groaned and complained how she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to compete, she just wanted to ski.

I tried to sugar coat the situation and encourage her, she was going to have fun. She had already won three medals in the three races she competed in. In my attempt to encourage her I said, “Don’t you want to win another medal?” Her response was very convicting. She said, “I’ve already won enough medals, I don’t need another one.”

She was right.

Honestly, I didn’t care if she won or not. I just wanted her to to have fun and do the best she could. It was more about changing the attitude of her heart and working through it. Then I was convicted by her words.

How many times have I been trapped in the lie of achieving more? And when was it ever enough? Click To TweetI am reminded of when Paul was speaking to the Corinthians of the imperishable crown.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets a prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Paul was using the analogy of running a race to represent how are we living our physical and spiritual lives? In the worldly races we run, there will only be prizes given to the top winners. Even though everyone participates in the race, not everyone wins a prize. Only those who perform and achieve the best times win. Paul was teaching the Corinthians, what is the point in running a race to obtain a prize in which we only receive ourselves? If we are going to go through the training and effort in running the race, we should not do it just for ourselves. We should run to obtain the crown that lasts forever in which everyone receives who runs the race.

Paul’s words asks a deeper question. ‘What race are we running anyway?’ ‘Are we training to win another medal or training for heaven?’

Even though my daughter had performed very well in her previous three races, unfortunately this day she was disqualified. She assumed because she did so well previously she would do the same in this race as well. At the end of the race she had missed a ski gate. In the ski race, if a racer misses the ski gate they are disqualified—their time doesn’t count and are ineligible to receive a prize.

“Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Paul was warning the Corinthians don’t become lackadaisical when running the race, be purposeful and intentional. When we run aimlessly, we become careless and lack discipline to complete the race to the end.

Oh how we can become disqualified from the race when we allow sin to reign and rule in our lives. We can become overly confident that we have already received and obtained the prize of heaven and become lax in our walk as Christians. God showed me an important reminder that day. He made me question what race am I really running, and what am I running it for?

Am I running to win a crown that will perish or the imperishable crown of life that is everlasting?

Don’t become disqualified from the race, keep your eyes on the prize. The race we run as Christians has already been won. When we participate in the race, we partake in the victory of Jesus—receiving a crown that never perishes! There is no greater prize a runner could receive than the reward of heaven. Heaven is the ultimate prize. That day with my daughter was a reminder to stay focused on the reward of heaven, so we can endure and persevere to the end.

Paul leaves us with words of encouragement. He knows the race we run as Christians will be hard. He knows it will take discipline and training. In all of our efforts, Paul reminds us we are all in training for heaven. When we run the race for the Lord, we will never be disqualified from receiving the greatest reward ever in heaven.

Keep running the race, keep fighting the good fight, You are victorious in Jesus Christ!

This post was first published on www.akchristianwomensministry.com.

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