Everything Changed on December 28, 2020
I Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Did you know that God cares about us as whole persons? Wholeness matters to God. By wholeness, I mean our spirit, our soul and our body. Our spirit is that part of us that, as one commentator has put it, “that enables man to perceive the divine.” It is the place where God does His deepest work in our lives. Our soul includes the minds that we think with, the emotions that we feel with and the will with which we choose. And God also cares for our body, our physical and material frame.
According to I Thessalonians 5:23, each part of the believer, all three parts, are being sanctified. That means they are becoming more and more like Jesus. And one day, they will all be fully glorified.
So you are probably wondering what this all has to do with my health journey. The Christ life is a life of daily surrender. We surrender to be filled by the Holy Spirit. We surrender our souls in order that our minds might think Godly thoughts and our wills might make Godly choices. And we surrender our bodies that we might walk in purity and obedience to Christ. I want to be very careful with this passage and not misapply the meaning. When the apostle, who wrote I Thessalonians under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes about our bodies being sanctified, he must be talking about refraining from using our bodies to feed our old fleshly, carnal ways. Certainly part of that is sexual sin. But I have a suspicion that Paul is talking about our bodies being fully surrendered to Christ for service in this life.
This is one of the verses God used in my life to help me on my health journey. Just about 20 months ago, Gina and I started out on a journey to reclaim our physical health. And to be honest, we knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us. Behind us were years of neglecting our health, poor food choices, minimal exercise, all resulting in very poor health. We started out on the journey to reclaim our health, praying for God’s blessing and praying for the Holy Spirit’s help.
As of the writing of this blog, I have lost 125+ pounds and Gina has lost 50+ pounds. Our food choices are far different than they were 2 years ago and our daily exercise, which was non-existent, is now consistently regular. Our doctors tell us our health is excellent.
We have been asked many times now, “How did you all lose the weight?” It first started with admitting we needed some help and that we seemed to be powerless to do it on our own. That in itself was a challenge because we had gone on diets in the past and even had some marginal success. However, we would always revert back to old habits.
Second, we enlisted the help of a health coach for counsel. Together, Gina and I went to see the coach for help on December 28, 2020. Her counsel was outstanding and she assisted us with several options from which to choose. After doing some research into the options she suggested, we also sought the assistance of our physicians. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good support team. Our coach and our physicians have walked with us each step of the way, and I genuinely believe without our willingness to listen to them and place ourselves under their authority, we would not be where we are today.
Third, we followed the plan that our coach designed. There were many options for us to consider. Regardless of what plan you choose, it will only be effective if you will follow it carefully, and yes, rigidly. And that is exactly what we did. Our plan actually had several steps. For example, the first 6 weeks were very intense, however, we needed a total redesign of our old behavior and so those first few weeks were challenging. After the first few weeks, we began a second phase. By this time we were already seeing progress and that became the motivation to continue the journey.
Today, the plan we follow is marginally different from the original plan. However, we still see our coach regularly, we still track our food using a fitness app, we still exercise and we still are looking ahead for progress. The food choices I make today are far different from 20 months ago. For example, our daily food intake includes lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and a few nuts. I have jokingly told people that we have no bread, no pasta, no rice, no sugar and no fun! However, that is certainly not true; we are having the time of our lives and could not be more thrilled to be where we are on this health journey. Rarely anymore do we eat those foods which can trigger our old unhealthy ways. However, we can occasionally enjoy some of those if the social setting allows for it.
Now I have a confession to make to you. From the outward appearance it may seem like the biggest change has come in our body weight. After all, I have lost 125+ pounds and Gina has lost 50+ pounds. However, the biggest change is not in our physical bodies, it is in our mindset. I think “healthy” now, and while that may seem strange, it is far different from before. For example, when I go to a restaurant now, there are just certain things I NEVER even look at on the menu, whereas before I ALWAYS looked for those things. Our mindset is clearly the biggest change.
I am not proud of the pictures in this blog today, and I certainly don’t want to brag about the progress we have made. To be honest, I sometimes feel shame for letting my health decline in the first place. I am, however, grateful for the people that God used to help us in this journey. For nearly 38 years I have been serving in vocational ministry, and I want you to know that I have never been more excited about ministry than I am today. In many ways, the excitement and renewed joy I have is because we have taken the time to reclaim our physical health. We are physically recharged, we are mentally alert and we are committed to staying this way for all that God has before us.
Perhaps you are looking for more details on how it worked for me. You can hear the full story of reclaiming my personal health as a part of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board Spark Conference scheduled for Thursday, August 25, 2022. The link to the free online conference is in the actions steps below. If you register, you’ll also have access to my session, Reclaiming Your Personal Health, as well as all the other sessions. There are a number of other great sessions that I'm sure you will find useful.
Action Steps
Register for The Spark Conference online and participate in my online session to get the full story. Once you register, you’ll receive information by email about how to view the conference. My testimony will be shown at one of the breakout sessions (I’m not sure if it will be offered at both times, or just one of them on Aug. 25.)
You can watch it as it’s live-streamed on August 25th,
or
you can view it at your convenience anytime during the two weeks after the live-stream.Pass this information along to someone you know that may be struggling with their personal health. I am sure you may have a friend or family member that could use some encouragement. Please share this with them today.
Know that if I can help you or encourage you in your health journey, please reach out to me at david@davidsmithministry.com. Gina and I will be glad to share more details of our story with you.