Born for a Battle

Hi friends!  Can you believe it's been 2 months since I've blogged?!  I wrote about the big changes coming here but since that site is still not quite done I want to write this post to share a bit about what's going on with me.  

In November I completed my Revelation Wellness Instructor training and the day before I went on that retreat my husband and I completed a Spartan Beast.  Both of these things were defining moments for me because God did things in me spiritually and physically that I didn't even know were possible. 

(pic of me & Matt at the end of the Spartan Beast)

The last few weeks I've been battling with feeling defeated in all that I'm doing. I'm not real sure why but I just have been in a battle for my mind and the things God has called me to.  As I ran tonight I felt the Lord remind me of our Revelation Wellness theme for the month "born for a battle".  He reminded me that we are in a battle and battle can get ugly sometimes.  As I ran I felt Him download these core truths about being in a battle and I felt someone else could use this encouragement too:

WHAT

The truth is that we were all born for a battle of some kind.  If you are a believer in Christ than your battle is the Lord's.  We are all in the Lord's army.  However, we all play a different part in that army.  We all have one goal but we will all be called to different areas in order to see God's battle plan come into action.  So my question for you today is: WHAT is the battle for which you were born?  

WHY

Now that we've established that we are ALL born for a battle we must answer the question: WHY is this my battle?  The battle in which I am called is two fold: one for marriage because I'm sick of seeing God's people ripped off of the beauty that God intended for marriage. And two, for our body, God's temple. I long to see people set free and God's temples restored.  When we answer this WHY we are receiving our call to action from God. This WHY is what drives us when we just want to quit.

(Side note: I wrote this article a few years ago called What is your Why? that has been my most viewed and shared blog post. I think many people are looking for the answer to this question :) )

WHEN

Any good soldier knows there is a time to enter into battle, a time to study your enemy, a time to make your game plan and a time to rest. If we are going to enter battle we must WAIT on God's timing. If we run off ahead of Him we will get slaughtered every time.  The battle belongs to the Lord but we will only win if we get our marching orders from Him.

WHO

Because battle is intense it is important to know that you have backup support from other troops.  Who are you surrounding yourself that is for you?  Who's got your back in prayer and encouragement?  This is an area that I long to see the church rise up in and cheer one another on. We must stop competing and comparing and start completing one another. Take a minute today to ask God who He is bringing along side you to fight(like He did for David) and who He is asking you to come along side and cheer on.  A simple text or phone call to someone might be the momentum they need to keep fighting their battle.  

What is the battle for which you were born?  I would love to hear about it and know how we can support you. 

A few more fun pictures from our Spartan Beast:

Finish line!

Dunk wall

Wouldn't be a Spartan without some barbwire :)

Sandbag carry up & down a steep hill

Big Changes Coming...

Hi friends!  Wow, I have really missed blogging regularly and sharing my heart with you.  But as you know, God has taken me on quite a journey recently and I've been busy with new projects. In case you don't already know this about me, I've been teaching group fitness classes for almost 10 years and I have my Bachelors of Science in Health & Exercise Science.  Over the last 10 years God has brought me on quite a journey in my own health. I've had eating disorders, been overweight, underweight and just flat out hated myself(at times).  But God has set me free from all of that and I have a heart to see other women set free as well.  

With that said, God spoke very clearly to me about a fitness ministry I am to start called "First Fruit Fitness".  The story behind how God gave me the name and what it means will have to be its own blog post. But for now I want to share with you the direction God is taking me with this dream He has birthed in me.  Because it's a new name I feel I need a new site but am not quite ready to move on from Life Outside the Shell since my heart is still to see women set free and walk in all God has called them to be in every area of their life.  While this is not final, more than likely I will transition this to a new site under my name and there will be a tab for Life Outside the Shell posts and First Fruit Fitness posts.  

Now on to the exciting part.  Here is what I envision First Fruit Fitness will offer:

• An At Home Workout membership library.  Each month you will receive new workouts(lead by me) and a new workout calendar written by me. 
• Healthy Recipes & Nutrition tips
• One on one coaching and/or accountability calls with me(this would be a separate fee depending on how often you want to do the calls).
• Devotionals & Power Verses
• Fitness games to play with your kids
• and so much more...

I am not tech savvy at all.  Thus I must pay someone to help transition this site into something a little more functional and user friendly for all the things I feel God calling me to.  Will you please join me in prayer as I seek God about all of this?

I have to be honest, it would be so much easier to stay hidden in my shell(or should I say, tucked under my covers in bed) but I know God wants to use my personal testimony along with my experience and book knowledge of the body to help set people free.  Below is a short video on a few things I will be doing to raise funds to get these things up off the ground.  I would love your feedback on any and all of this so please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have comments or questions!  

Finding Peace in Your Relationship with Food

When most people write about stress during the holidays they address the hustle and bustle of different parties and the weight of feeling the need to do everything.  But God put it on my heart to address another aspect of Thanksgiving and Christmas that brings stress and anxiety to many people. This article is going to address the anxiety that food brings to the table(no pun intended).  

When I opened my email today I received one entitled "How to survive Thanksgiving".  At first it sounded interesting so I clicked it to read their tips and as soon as I started reading I heard the Lord tell me to stop.  So I closed out the browser and He began to speak to me about my own anxiety when it comes to parties and food. He showed me How deeply saddened He is that a time that was meant to be full of thanks has turned into a time of anxiety about what to eat and how to burn the extra holiday calories off.

As He was speaking to me about this someone sent me a video on a new eating disorder called "EDNOS" or "Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified".  As I watched this video my heart broke, especially when the girl referred to her disorder as "Ed".  The number of Americans, especially women, who have eating disorders is growing by the minute.  Everywhere we turn we are told we need to look a certain way in order to be valued and loved. If we weren't born naturally thin we will go to great lengths to ensure we fit the norm.  

When I was a teen girl(and even throughout my early twenties) I would go in cycles where I would binge or starve myself.  I remember in the times I was starving myself I would have nightmares that I was eating junk like pizza or donuts.  I would wake up terrified and disgusted with myself.  Because of this I know all too well how much of a death grip food can have on your life. If you are addicted to food, or the lack there of, you will rearrange your entire day around it.  If you are addicted to eating it you are concerned about what the next meal will be even while you are eating the first. If you are addicted to withholding food from your body then you will decline certain party invitations if you know it will be too tempting to eat food.  You will retreat and isolate yourself to a place where you feel in control.  To put it simply, satan has you on a chain and the idol(food) is leading the way.  It tells you when to go and when to stay.  God has no voice in your life when you are in bondage to food.  

For those struggling with something like this, Thanksgiving and Christmas, times that are meant to bring joy and peace, can bring nothing but anxiety and wishing you could just play sick for all the family gatherings.  I can tell you that God has set me free from this cycle of bondage but it is something that I must keep submitted to Him or it will rear its ugly head.  

Here are two key truths in finding peace with food and your body:

1. Food is Fuel.

Food was created by God to fuel our body. However, from the beginning of time satan has used food, a beautiful thing God created, to get between us and God. Food was never intended to be our enemy or an idol in our life. 


There is nothing more true than the statement "Eat to live, don't live to eat".  I remember when binging on junk food was a bondage of mine I  meditated on this truth often.  God's word says in 1 Corinithians 10:21 "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Pray before you go to the Thanksgiving feasts or Christmas parties.  And pray often.  Even as you are loading your plate, ask God to give you wisdom and self-control.  Ask Him to show you how to enjoy the food but not over indulge. Reevaluate often and ask if your behaviors are bringing glory to God.  Ask questions like: am I at war with food?  Am I using it to fuel my body or to fill a desire only God can fill?

2. You are not your own. 

 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says  "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

If you are a born again believer your body is a temple of the most High God.  He dwells in you and you in Him.  There is not one moment of any of our days on this earth that this is not true. There are no exceptions or special holidays when our bodies are no longer temples. So when we enter into holiday parties we must keep this perspective. Does God want us to enjoy a yummy meal with our family and friends?  Absolutely.  But does He want us to go to an extreme and either starve ourselves out of fear of gaining weight OR go the other way and binge until we feel we are going to throw up?  Not at all.  Do everything in moderation and with a sound mind and God will bless your temple.  

If this article spoke to you today I encourage you to take a few moments and talk to God about it.  Ask the Holy Spirit what He is asking you to give up this holiday season or enjoy with no guilt.  He cares about every single detail of your life and food is no exception. In fact, food was His idea.

I pray you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! :) 

Why I'm taking a break from blogging

Hi friends!  You may have noticed from my last few posts there are a lot of changes in my life right now. From homeschooling our kids to my Revelation Wellness journey and on to my involvement with our church and business my life is very full.  Despite all that I feel very called to write. I never dreamed I would enjoy writing as much as I do but the Lord has really birthed it within me over this past year.  Just like exercising, or any other habit, it is good to schedule regular time to do it or it won't get done.  So for the last several months I have had one day a week that I sit down and write a blog post.  So why am I taking a break?  

The Lord has dropped a dream/idea for a book and/or small group curriculum for fitness on my heart.  I began to write a portion of it this last summer when I lead a fitness group at our church.  God gave me the format and so many ideas to go along with it.  I haven't written any more on the curriculum in a few months simply due to time.  Every time I run God gives me more ideas and revelation for the book.  Today as I sat down to write my weekly blog post I asked God what he wanted me to write about and his response shocked me "nothing on the blog, work on the book".  This is exciting and a little scary at the same time!

As I said yes to God in taking the time I would usually blog and instead work on the book I felt I would just keep it to myself.  Because you know, it can be scary to share dreams.  What will people think?  Will they laugh?  Judge me?  But then God reminded me that it's good to bring things into the light and I want all of you to know that I didn't just give up on blogging!  I will still write from time to time but it just won't be on a set day weekly for a short season.  

I don't want to share too much about the book yet but I do want to give you a glimpse into what it will cover so far:

• Small group curriculum for a fitness life group with format and devotional for each class
• Daily fitness related devotionals
• Appendix with workout ideas
• Appendix with games/partner drills for your classes
• Power verse & power thought cards you can cut out of the book
• Healthy and whole eating tips/recipes
• 10 Minute workouts you can do at home

This is how I need your help:

1. Pray for me!  Pray for wisdom, ideas and favor as I write and move forward with this project. I have no idea if it will get published but I feel God calling me to write it so that's my part, the rest is up to Him.
2. Give me your feedback!  You saw the ideas I have for the book above but I would love to hear from you.  What would you like to see in a book like this?  I want this to be a resource for people, and churches, who want to incorporate fitness in to their lives but just need a little help getting started. It's time to put some of this fitness knowledge of mine to a better, higher call. :)

Thanks for all of your love and support, it means the world to me!

Fit Friday: My Revelation Wellness Journey

I have to be honest.  I haven't always enjoyed exercising.  In fact, I pretty much hated any physical activity at all when I was a kid.  I attempted to play basketball which was quite the joke.  Don't get me wrong, I was in the team picture but that's only because the coach was kind enough to let me "borrow" a jersey so I looked like I was part of the team.  Other than that I really didn't enjoy physical activity, unless I was forced to(like the time I was chased by our camel). :)  As I hit high school I discovered that you could do things like run or Tae-bo to lose weight. When I saw the results that came from exercise I jumped on board.  I was sold.

From that moment on I became an exercise addict.  I would exercise at midnight(insane I know).  I would do two a days.  Anything I could to burn just a few more calories.  But it wasn't enjoyable.  It was my way of beating up my body.  In fact, the meaner my self talk was the harder I worked and more I starved myself.  You could say I was "scared skinny".

I stumbled into teaching group fitness classes and fell in love.  Not only do I get to beat my own body up but bring some others along with me?  Yes please!  I spent the next several years getting certified in every format around and creating new moves.  Don't get me wrong, none of those things were bad on their own, but they turned bad when I worshiped them more than God.

I no longer view exercising as a hate session for my body but as a privilege that I get to move and use the body God has given me to accomplish new things.  My husband and I started running Spartan races and I have never felt so connected to God when I do those because I rely 100% on His strength to carry me through.

A little over a year ago God began to speak to me about this gift He has given me.  I spent so many years doing my research and training and now I have a heart to use it in a healthy way.  It would be SO tempting to keep this new found freedom for myself but I know God didn't put me on this earth to be so selfish.  If I can be free in the area of fitness why can't others be too?

Just like God always does, he brought the next step of my journey to me a few months ago.  I had the privilege of being in a Master Mind group at a blogger conference with the CEO of Revelation Wellness.  When I heard the heart behind the ministry I knew it was right where God wanted me to be. This is a non profit ministry whose motto is:

After much praying(and many others praying too) I knew God was calling me to this ministry.  He opened doors for me to do the instructor training that only He could have opened.  I began my training last week and will continue for the next 8 weeks and end with an instructor training retreat in Arizona.  I will also be certified to teach their "Weigh less to Feed More" curriculum, which I am super excited about.

To say that God has spoken to me in just the first 2 weeks of training would be an understatement.  I have a renewed sense of vision and purpose.  He has given me dreams.  He has given me a name for a book.  He has spoken to me about other areas of my life that are non fitness related.  But that's just it,  we are one in all that we do.  There is no such things as separating certain areas of our life.  When we have one area of our life that is not submitted to God it affects ALL areas of our life.

I don't know what the rest of this training holds but I know that God is in it.  I am so excited to share this journey with you!

In the meantime, check out Revelation Wellness website for more information on becoming an instructor yourself OR to subscribe to their Vip-tv for online workouts!