Hard Work, Happiness and Hope

This past eight months have been an intense journey, one that is not over yet.

I had reached a point where I was tired of making excuses about why my life wasn't where I wanted it to be. Physically, I was the heaviest I had ever been at 298lbs, and was not only hating myself but battling extreme anxiety. I had been believing lies about myself. I believed that I was too fat to lose enough weight to enjoy the active life I once had.

See, when I was in high school I had been involved in several athletic activities. I was a member of the basketball, volleyball and track and field teams. I had been active in other ways too, swimming, biking, hiking, and teaching canoeing and archery. Somewhere along the way, through the hardships of my early twenties, I lost the will to thrive. My zeal for life and passion for the beautiful person I am had been completely shattered.

In the last while, God has done a revolution in my heart. He's given me the strength and the courage to  put in the hard work to live in the freedom and favour He has for me. In April, I resolved to cling to Him for my physical and emotional strength and took a step of faith in signing up for a 10km race on May 10th. I thought "God, this is so crazy, but with your help I can do it". So I registered in faith. Now I have a few brothers in Christ who have also signed up and are cheering me on in this journey. Three days ago, I hit a powerful milestone of losing 100lbs.

I cried tears of joy. The hard work is paying off. I feel great. In all this I am learning a powerful lesson about my spiritual health. God is using the physical discipline, physical pain and muscle growth, as a first hand object lesson about the work it takes to get over old thought patterns and old habits. As I overcome the lies related to my physical self, the Lord is helping me to overcome the lies that I believe related to the spiritual. God is convicting my heart and removing the old. He's replacing it with stronger, permanent, gracious, holy thoughts and cementing that truth in my heart.

It's Jesus' favourite way to teach, going from the physical to the spiritual. I am gratefully blessed that the Lord and Creator of the Universe takes such care and time for me. I truly feel His love and am excited to see the journey ahead.