My testimony (Cliffs Notes version)
I attended a seminar last week called 'Tell it Like it Is', which taught how to testify with impact. The instructor walked us through the process of creating a brief testimony and I thought I would share mine with you today:
Where I was
I was a Christian, but I wasn't living in victory. I was nearly 100 pounds overweight, and felt defeated, depressed, and discouraged. To cope with those feelings, I ate. Food became my god, lover, and friend. I knew that I was killing myself with a knife and fork, but felt powerless to stop it.
My experience meeting Jesus
One day, I got up from the sofa too fast and experienced a crushing chest pain. It only lasted a second, but the pain terrified me. God spoke to me in that second: "It is not supposed to be this way." I chose to believe Him and my life changed.
Where I am now
God invited me to trade the false security of food for real security with Him. He is now my God, lover, and friend. I walk with Him daily. I am no longer defeated, depressed, and discouraged, but am filled with His love, His peace, and His joy. I no longer abuse food and have lost 80 lbs so far.
Where I hope to be
God is still working to help me achieve my ideal weight and to cultivate spiritual fruit within me. At times, I still struggle with temptations for destructive foods, but I am winning this battle by strengthening my faith in Him daily. God has promised me an abundant life and assures me that I can do all things through Christ. I boldly claim and confess those promises every day.
Peachtree!
I’ve completed the 2006 Peachtree Road Race and am wearing the coveted T-shirt today. It was so much fun…definitely one of the highlights of my life! I was amazed at how well organized the whole event was, especially considering that over 55,000 people participated.
I met a wonderful young lady at the event. She had suffered a stroke a few months earlier and her friends challenged her to complete the event. We ran together a bit, but walked mostly and talked along the course. She inspired me greatly because it would have been so easy for her to use her health challenges as an excuse to give up, but she didn’t. It was wonderful to see her cross the finish line, even though it was apparent that the effort exhausted her. It made me even more determined to continue on my own path to better health.
In fact, here is the biggest lesson I learned from training for the Peachtree: the best thing about the training process is the person you become in the attempt. I think that my spirit has been enlarged, my character has been strengthened, and my ability to persist in spite of challenges has increased. Best of all, I’ve gained an even greater appreciation for all that my body does for me. At times I’ve taken it for granted, but participating in the race really drove home that my body is a gift from God and I should continue treating it that way.
I’m going to do it all again next year!
Hiding
Recently, I was trying on a pair of pants and happened to notice a horizontal black line running along my side, just above my hip bone. For a brief moment, I wondered what it was and then it dawned on me; it was a patch of skin I hadn't seen in years. The fat that used to be around my waist caused the skin to bulge out and then fold over on itself. But now that the fat was melting, the skin in that area was no longer bulging out and folding over. I was seeing the skin that had been hiding underneath the fold. Then I thought about how that was a metaphor for all of the emotional hiding I had been doing over the years.
How many times in the past had I tried to hide from my feelings by running to food as a refuge? How many times had I avoided revealing my opinions for fear of disapproval? How many times had I dodged opportunities because I was afraid of failure or success? Too many times to count.
When I made a decision to no longer hide from life, then my body heard me. It seemed to say, 'Well, if you aren't going to hide from me, then I won't hide from you anymore either.' So now it continually surprises me with new discoveries, little gifts really.
I'll see a new patch of skin, or catch the ripple of a muscle when my leg moves a certain way, or feel my flexibility increase in ways I never thought it could. Oh, it is exhilarating!
My hope is that you too will decide to face your fears and problems head-on, not hide from them. If you do, you'll find the whole world is out there waiting for you.
