Journey to Jesus: Mindset

As I was reading and studying God's Word on a daily basis, my heart was changing.  It was also healing.  I had joined a group called Bible Study Fellowship and we happened to be reading through and studying the book of Revelation.

I look back now and realize how God aligned that study with what I personally needed to hear in my own life.  My Granny was gone.  She was with Jesus and while that thought was comforting, it did not help with missing her on this side of eternity.  But reading and studying about Heaven did help. Why would she want to come back to us when she had tasted the goodness of Jesus and everything He has given to her and rewarded her with for being so faithful to the end?

In turn, the study helped start the healing in my life that I needed.  God was already working in my heart, and I was praying that He would move mountains in my life.  And that's exactly what happened.

Last February, I had decided it was time to get back to healthy eating and exercising. We had just moved into our new home in our new city and I knew that I wanted a fresh new start in every area of my life.  Then it was around April that I came to realize that I was still using food as a comforter.  Even though my relationship with God was better than it was, I was using food to fill a void in my life.  I was using food to fill the spot that I needed God to fill.

Now please realize that I was in the "desire phase" for about four months before I took serious action.  But I still had that longing to change until I made a move.  I would have to say that I was in the desire phase, in regards to my health, for a much shorter time.  I knew that once I took action with my relationship with Christ, that I could take action with my health as well.

Over the summer, I knew that I needed to work on filling my heart with God instead of food.  I knew that I could lose weight, because I had done it before.  But I did not want this time to just be about losing weight.  I knew that I needed to change my heart about food.  I was reading in 1 Corinthians and stumbled across these verses:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I had read those verses before, time and time again.  But this time it clicked with me.  I knew that the Holy Spirit was within me.  He was helping me--teaching me and convicting me.  He would help me get through this situation as well.  I knew in that moment that I needed to start treating my body more kindly.  I needed to fuel it with the right nutrients so that it could perform optimally for God's purpose.



I knew that I had been called for a bigger purpose than just surviving.  I knew that God had plans for me...I just was not sure what.  But I had a brand new mindset in my fitness journey. I knew that I had to keep that mindset fresh, because I knew there would be days that I just did not want to do anything.  I knew there would be days when it would get tough.

I was not doing this just for weight loss, but because God called me to honor Him by taking care of my body...the one place where He lives. That was my new mindset.  It was the thought that helped propel me into a different place with my fitness and nutrition.  It gave me a different purpose for getting out of bed and sweating each morning.  And it was the thing that keeps me going.

I want my life to honor Christ.  I never thought that working out could be a form of worship, but once I had that mindset, it became something greater than myself.

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