Six months, no maybe nine months, I’ve thought about writing this.
I’ve hit delete and started over just as many times. I’ve rolled it around in my head. I’ve debated it, wrestled with it and most days just, downright refused to write it.
I went as far as having my husband edit it, taking out 1000 words, yes that is with three zeros only to come back and read it saddened that it no longer felt right. It no longer felt like my heart spilled out in black letters scrolled across your screen.
It lacked the hope and the excitement of what I ultimately found to be true in this chaotic world we live in. So I went back to the drawing board. I fell on my face desperate to know his plan, the perfect answer to life and health.
Here we are once again. This time I’m committed to stop trying to make this perfect and instead to let it be real, raw and mostly unedited. Because in this moment more than perfectly poised words what I need is just to be real, truthful and heartfelt.
It may be long, it may be messy but this seems to be my life right now. If you can see beyond all of this and really dig into the words I hope you can feel the excitement, the transformation and the revival of a story that isn’t even my own.
The story of what I believe health is and where lasting health comes from.
This is God’s story, the one where he uprooted every grand plan I had for my life and wrecked me into following His perfect plan. One of satisfaction, of peace, of hope in eternity and man what an adventure it has been.
it’s not what you think
For the last few years I’ve been really battling and struggling with the idea of health. Not because I don’t believe in it, but because I didn’t believe in what the world taught about health.
I struggled with calories and macronutrients, with Paleo and low carb. I winced as I watch people put themselves through another grueling program only to end disappointed. Even more, I lost sleep when they came to me searching, with barely any hope left looking for answers I didn’t have.
I questioned, maybe even more than most, what health was and how in the world were people to achieve it?
I’ve prayed, begged and fallen on my face waiting for more clarity to something that was pretty clear all along. The something that I just skimmed over thinking there had to be more hard facts, science, the nitty-gritty answers to overcome the sea of misinformation and marketing we’re bombarded with daily.
When I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for I kept seeking, ruthlessly until one day, I realized that I wasn’t finding the answers to this question because it doesn’t lie in another perfect equation, strategy or plan. No, the answer lie in hope, in trust, in faith, and mostly in the belief in Jesus.
simple, right?
Maybe you’re totally getting me on this, or you could be laughing, questioning my words, wondering what path I’ve taken and worried about my sanity. I know, I’ve thought long and hard about this and feel like it needs to be said. At the end of the day what we’re missing in health is the firm foundation.
The foundation in which all other pillars of health {nutrition, exercise, finances, relationships, etc} can stand firmly on.
What if we already knew all of the answers to lasting health? Or at least enough of the right answers to help us live it? Maybe there isn’t anything new that needs to be learned but a mindset that needs to be changed. To stop searching for an identity that will only leave us thirsty and hungry for more and step into the only identity that satisfies.
Lasting health first takes remembering whom it is we belong.
I don’t think it’s necessarily the strategies, the programs, the plans that are wrong but rather how we approach them. Falling short could simply be because we’ve missed the foundation to hold the pillars of health. We’ve missed the fact that without this foundation, this belief in Christ, this trust in something more, this sense of purpose we continuously seek to be satisfied rather than living satisfied.
So what am I saying?
jesus is the answer
Christ is the firm foundation, Jesus, is the answer. He is the way to lasting health.
If you really believe this, then I can assure you that the answer to lasting health will never begin with what you should eat and how you should live but for what you live for.
I can say I’ve been fully convicted of this numerous times my self. You can insert:
- The drive to be a certain number on the scale.
- Beating my body into submission for the sake of body image.
- Believing I’m not enough or I have one too many wrinkles forming.
- Simply living unsatisfied with my health, my life and everything in between.
the only thing
If Christ is the answer, the foundation, than doesn’t this change the way we approach our health? The reality is our body has remarkable power that can either be used for good or used to wreck and destroy our relationships, our purpose, our life in its entirety.
While you may be wondering why then must I be here, trying to hard to achieve something he could easily give us, we have to remember this, Christ didn’t promise a life without suffering, or pain, or hardship, or free of sickness, but He did come to give us hope and in that hope we can stand on solid ground.
At the end of the day, health was never meant to be something you live for because when you live for health you miss out on living for the one who created health. Health was born into all of us as a means to live our purpose. As His word says;
“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.…” Psalm 139:13
If we were formed perfectly and intricately full of beauty and health, why then do we doubt? Why do we chase health, a perception of beauty rather than owning what we’ve been blessed with? Why do we doubt the one who knows the exact number of hairs we have on our head? Why do we challenge it and question it and negotiate with him?
“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
the only answer
While I waited for a rush of confidence to tell you that health is more than just a system of rules and diets and schemes I decided to obey what I know He wants you to hear. Health is first and foremost about accepting His love because it is only in His love that we can love.
The truth is, He is our source of life, He is our comfort, our joy, our purpose and our passion. We are here on mission and without believing in what He has for you, who He created you to be and all that He has the power to do, we’ll be left waiting, chasing and dreaming of something we’ll never reach.
We’ll live unsatisfied, always craving more. More food, more things, a smaller number, a better presentation.
As Erin Loechner states: “The reality of mountain climbing is that if the stars are your goal, you’ll be scaling forever.”
Now I’ll be honest with you, I know health matters, I know our action creates results but I know the one thing that stands above all else is the belief in the one who created us.
He wants you to know you’re priceless, irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable and beautiful.
As the King and Country lyrics state:
“No matter what you’ve heard, this is what you’re worth, more than all the money or the diamonds and pearls. Oh this is who you are.”
The question is, do you believe it, live like it, and trust it?
start here
Health isn’t just about a number, it’s not about the lies the mirror is telling you, what your friends look like or how much you’ve eaten. Health is about living your purpose and believing the perfection in which you were created.
I am so thankful that health isn’t ours to control because that results in a lifetime of worry, confusion, frustration and chasing. What I pray for you in all of this is that we would trust, continue moving, believing and living passionately for Him because in Him we find a satisfaction that no number, scale, calorie range or jean size can give you.
Only in Him we find what we are seeking!
My friend, you are not alone, there is a lot of unknown, uncertainty and an equation that doesn’t make sense. But, that is the beauty of Christ. He is mysterious and adventurous but also so full of promises!
The life He’s called you into is deeper, more joyful and exciting than you could ever imagine.
Take the leap of faith, believe you are priceless to Him and never turn back!
May you choose to live for Him, not just when life seems to be crashing in around you, when nothing seems to be working but may we daily choose to live for Him? To stop separating our health from our faith and know that in the uniting of the two that you will experience a future of fullness, satiety and of true living.
Start today by recognizing how deep the Father’s love is for you.
hungry for more
Every Saturday I send out a morning devotional. From health to relationships and everything in between we are digging into God’s word and His purpose for our life so that we can live satisfied in the deepest places of our soul!
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