Guest feature
Welcome— my long time friend Susan! She’s been an incredible inspiration in my life. Even though distance keeps us from sharing life face to face, we keep in touch and pick up right where we left off in a text or phone call. Susan exemplifies the gift of encouragement giving gracious words that arise from her grace filled life, her love for God and others. Thank you Susan for sharing your heart with us this month:
Does God care about what we eat and if we exercise? Is it all just a temporal, physical thing?
If someone asked you right now what would you say? Maybe you have never even thought about it!
And if I may be so bold to go one step further, how are you doing in your health journey?
I sat one week with a friend reviewing her health goals and current state. She made the statement that she believed God did not really care about these aspects. From her perspective, this conversation was for her physical state and did not intertwine with her faith and relationship with Jesus!
I believe we all get to a point where we need to be brutally honest about our health journey questions. Does God care about what we eat and if we are active? If He does, would that change your perspective on the question “How am I doing?”
Could the areas of nutrition and fitness be part of our spiritual journey?
I believe God has a lot to say about these two areas and much more than we have time for in the short letter. So let me bring up a verse that I’m sure all of you know but let’s look at it through maybe a slightly different lens and see how we can honor God through the choices we make regarding our health.
Galatians 5: 22–23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control! (italics added).
Have you ever thought about how your personal choices are not only a witness but also displays one of the Fruits of the Spirit? Becoming a woman or man of self-discipline is honoring to God!
But self-control is hard and if we’re honest we don’t always like denying ourselves. Thankfully there’s a power available to us that will surpass our will-power – Paul said to the Galatians, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature,” (Gal. 5:16)
Is food sinful? NO! Please hear me on this! But there are times that we turn to food instead of God and now it is taking God’s role in our life. I believe we don’t grab that pint of ice cream after a hard day, or after a break up… purposely knowing that we are sidestepping God. In fact, up until a few years ago I never even thought about this connection. However, we often use food to numb our pain, stress, and emotional triggers, instead of allowing God to help us. Again, here my heart, I’m not saying you can’t have an occasional treat. We want to start checking our spirit as to whether this is self medication, overindulgence or an actual treat.
Ask God to be your daily portion— Lamentations 3: 22–24. Grasping that He is our daily portion can transform our responses, not only with eating but in every area of our life. Nothing can ever truly satisfy us like God‘s portion. Nothing else is unfailing and absolute – “for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things! “Psalm 107:9
Many of these thoughts are my own intermingled with a lovely Christian author named Lysa Terkeurst. Regarding exercise she says, “The more I made exercise about spiritual growth and discipline, the less I focused on the weight. Each last pound was not a quest to get skinny but evidence of obedience to God.”
Obedience to God?
In the Bible Paul uses athletics and exercise in many of his metaphors/analogies. I think we are familiar with them, but may I humbly suggest one that maybe you might not have correlated with exercise before and shows how serious God is about taking care of your temple. Before the Holy Spirit was given to us and our bodies became the temples for God's presence, God in the book of Haggai describes how one of the first things the people returning from exile did was to rebuild the temple. They started with great enthusiasm but slowly slipped back into complacency and eventually stopped their work completely. Other things seemed more urgent.
God responded by saying,"These people say, "The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to bed built."" He went on to say a lot more (go read Haggai 1:2-8!) But it reminds me how my heart can be divided when it comes to taking care of my body, God's temple. How often do we think, after the holidays, when my kids are older, or I just can't find the time between work, kids, running a home...all the day-to-day activities! It's just not realistic!
But the Lord's strong caution is to "give careful thought to our ways" and to make time to build the house so that He may be honored.
It is my prayer that each one of us will take the time for self reflection and lean into what God would say to us. There’s no condemnation, just thoughtful contemplation on how we can grow more into the women and men God would have us to be.
Please think of me as a resource if you need further help in your health and nutrition journey. We aren’t meant to do this alone! We are better together!
Here for you,
Susan
Susan Ackermann has been a fitness professional since 1984. She has a Bachelor of Science in Sports Medicine and a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology. A teacher for 20 years at Calvary Chapel high school and Hope International she has recently retired from teaching and now devotes her full energies to helping people be their healthiest and happiest through online fitness training and nutrition programs. She is a mom of two adults and married to a golf professional.
Helpful Resources
If you would like a quick 20 minute sample workout of the new program I’m loving, see the link below. Feel free to utilize this as a tool to not only feel great physically but it’s mental therapy as well!
*I highly recommend Lysa Terkeurst’s book Made to Crave for a deeper dive into the link between a woman’s desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make this happen.
