Well friends, it's time once again for me to jump. After all, He
does take us from glory to glory, from strength to strength and
from faith to faith. Just when you start to get comfortable, it's time to grow
and go deeper. After playing sports throughout childhood and adolescence this
lifestyle of exercise and fitness was very much a part of my life and my
personality. I excelled in team sports and received accolades and awards for
physical fitness during my service in the military. This love for exercise and
God's people was consummated in a passion to teach others about health. Becoming
a personal trainer was a desire God put in my heart as an avenue to reach His
people. I first started working as a personal trainer at Gold's Gym in the
spring of 2014.
Business was going well and I was especially
enjoying the many relationships I had built with new clients during the first
year at work. My job as a health and fitness professional soon took on a
whole new dimension when I fully devoted my purpose to being used by the Lord
in full time ministry and enrolled in Victory Bible College (VBC) during the
spring of 2015. During the same season I was lead to enroll for classes at VBC,
the Holy Spirit started convicting me about the environment at Gold’s Gym. Secular
music was played throughout the gym. I had several supervisors that were not
believers. There were antagonizing spirits of lust and pride that pervaded the
place where I spent most of my time during the week. Now, don't hear what I'm
not saying; we are called to be a light in this dark world and to shift the
atmosphere wherever we go, but for my time of preparation at bible school I
knew that my place of occupation had to change.
I began to pray for an exit outside the
corporate wellness industry and an open door into a church wellness program, a
non-profit fitness ministry or a faith based health organization. God answered
my prayer and gave me an opportunity to move to Oral Roberts University's
Aerobics Center. I was not only blessed with an open door to work as a personal
trainer, but I was also given a team of trainers to lead as the program director.
Many of the skills and abilities I had learned as a leader in the military were
put to use again as I managed a non-profit, faith based fitness organization;
Living Well Ministries.
In the last year, my belief system has
undergone an extreme makeover. Bible school will do that sort of thing to you.
The public education system and military training did a really good job
teaching me how to be a leader with worldly knowledge and to confidently trust
in myself. Although I was raised in a Christian home and attended church during
my upbringing, I had not yet learned about spiritual laws. During this last
year at bible college I have been taught about the kingdom of heaven (God's
system), being led by the Holy Spirit (not the mind or flesh) and how to walk by
faith (not by natural sight). Throughout this journey I have discovered with
firsthand experience not to lean on my own understanding, but to seek God in
every decision and to trust Him with my whole heart. As I seek His will, He
shows me the path of life and leads me besides still waters. God speaks to me
in the secret place during devotions, through visions, in my dreams and most
often through the Holy Spirit.
After taking a break from personal
training over the summer of 2016 and working full time at John's school I
needed to hear from the Lord. VBC would be starting again at the end of August
and I knew God wanted me there full time. Regular, full time employment would
not be a viable option for me; bible classes occupy the morning, John gets out
of school at 3 and then homework has to fit in there somewhere. Many of the
working adults pursuing higher education with families can relate to my
dilemma. I could easily pick up where I left off in May with my clients and
resume part time personal training at ORU, but was that the 'right' choice or
the 'easy, comfortable' choice. If this health and wellness business is really a
part of God’s plan then I want to rest assured that it's by God and for God.
None of me, all of You Lord.....
"God's
plans are blessed.
Where
He guides, He provides.
What
God directs, He protects.
Blessings
untold, are waiting for you.
As
God guides and directs the things you do."
Pastor Billy Joe
I woke up at midnight
on July 1st, 2016 and clearly heard in my
spirit that I was to contact a friend and purchase the fitness equipment he had
for sale. The Holy Spirit not only told me to get the equipment, but confirmed
that personal training was a part of my calling and that I was to move my
fitness business to the garage of my house. This was quite an unusual idea
because I had no extra money at the time and to my knowledge the equipment had
already been purchased by another mutual friend. The next day I emailed my
friend to ask if he had sold the equipment to which he replied "No, it's
still available."
About a month after I received
confirmation to resume working in the sphere of physical health and wellness
the Lord showed me both the name and the mission statement for my business. I
was sitting in front of a smart board watching VeggieTales with about 20 first
graders during the second to last week of my summer job. In my spirit I heard
Jude 20 and saw the words faith and fitness back-to-back. Once I grabbed a
piece of paper I began to doodle the image in my head; the cross was standing
up boldly in the center with faith and fitness on either side. I sent my rough
draft to a friend who shared it with a graphic designer and created the logo
that you see branding the business today.
"But
you, beloved,
keep
building up yourselves
on
your most holy faith,
praying
in the Holy Spirit."
Launching out into the deep has been a
journey for me along the road less traveled. He is with me always; He will
never leave me or forsake me. Even though it's a little scary to launch a
personal business and leave the security and benefits of working for another
organization, I can rest in His plan for me. I can trust that, like Billy Joe
said, "Where God guides, He provides." I can't help but giggle when I
think about the tenacity and grit God has placed on the inside of me. He did
knit me together in my mother's womb after all and He has directed my every
step even when I didn't acknowledge His leading in my life.
Have you ever met one of those people who
like to think they are the best at everything, they're indestructible and they
won't back down from any challenge? It's not self-confidence but a God
confidence. Some call them brave and bold, others label them young and dumb.
Maybe David the shepherd boy was thought of in this way? I'm sure Jim Elliot
carried a similar label. One of my favorite quotes from Jim embodies his
complete devotion to the call of God on his life;
"He
is no fool who gives what he cannot
keep
to gain that which he cannot lose."
All of life is a balance of grace and
truth, love and law, work and play. From the farm lands of Foyil, to the
training grounds of leadership in the military, and now as a nurturing mother
in bible school. He is molding me and shaping me into a tailor made vessel for
the outpouring of His love. As I look back over the last 29 years I can see the
fingerprints of God on different events of my life. Now as I cast the vision
for my ministry, His fingerprints start to take on the image of a
painting. We are His beautiful masterpiece, even when we can't see the
whole picture.
Veterans of war, among many combat related
issues, have difficulty leaving the service because they have been taught to
give their life (figuratively and literally) to defend the country for which
they serve. When you take on the identity of your profession and start to
downplay your identity in Christ alone, it's easy to let the temporary
trappings of the world distract you from God's perfect calling in your life.
The Lord had to take me through a season of breaking before building me up.
Just like a horse has to be broken before they are ready to carry a rider
safely, God has to teach us to submit and obey. This breaking can also be
considered a time of separation as the Father teaches us to rely on Him alone
for our every need. He desires that we are freed from all things and that He
alone is our source. I have been torn down, broken hearted and stripped bare of
the self-securities my life was created upon.
If anyone desires to follow Christ, he
must deny himself and take up his cross. I am now a new creation in Christ
Jesus, built up on my most holy faith by receipt of a kingdom that cannot be
shaken. Sometimes we have to lay our promise, our beloved baby down on the
altar. God wants a surrendered heart, fully obedient to His Word, His ways, His
voice. He is faithful and He will always provide, just like He did for
Abraham.
Faith Building Fitness is not just my
business, it's my story; a testimony about establishing my house on the rock
and sharing the journey I have traveled to lay the foundation. I invite you to
join us during the week for classes and for community. Come out to the garage
gym, share your story and become a part of our fun, fit family. We aren't just
working out together, we are doing life together; accountability,
encouragement, exhortation, edification, compassion and cooperation. Time is
short and quickly slipping through our fingers. Make your health a priority and
invest time into stewarding your physical body; the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s time for you to jump!
Though one may be overpowered by another,
two can withstand him,
and a threefold cord is not easily broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
Check out the website here: https://www.facebook.com/faithbuildingfitness/?notif_t=page_fan¬if_id=1476221198644083 and come join us for weekly fitness,
fellowship and faith building.
