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In the spring of 2000, as I lay on my sofa, bored and miserable because I had already eaten my allotted calories for the day on my current low-calorie/low-fat diet, I noticed movement across the street. I got up to look out my window and noticed my neighbor, who was smaller than I'd ever seen her, running around her front yard playing with her little boy. I mustered enough energy to go outside and ask how she'd lost weight and how she had so much energy. Well, you guessed it, she answered: "The Weigh Down Diet!" My neighbor let me borrow the introduction audio tape, and as my thin-eating husband and I listened to it, we couldn't believe how much SENSE it made, and it was a Christian diet, too! Praise God! As soon as possible, I signed up for the next class.
As I began taking Exodus Out of Egypt, it was amazing how clear life started to become. We weren't intended to be in bondage to ANYTHING on this earth, especially food. Instead, our food is to do the will of the Father. I lost four exciting pounds the very first week eating grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream. I started praying for things I'd never thought of before. My hardened heart grew softer as I learned from Gwen Shamblin how a love relationship with God was meant to be. In fact, on August 5, 2000, I wrote God a prayer that I just recently found, and here is part of it: "Dear God, I have a lot to confess, and I ask you to humble me and search my heart and separate me from my sins. I ask that your Spirit will enable me to repent--to turn from those sins and to not do them again; to be a doer and not only a hearer; to take the knowledge and discernment you've so recently entrusted me with and to follow through; to be a moment by moment follower of You so that in every situation I may live fearlessly obedient to your Word and will." Then I listed what I needed to repent from: lying, deceit, willful rebellion, idolatry, pride, unsubmissiveness, not being a good steward, laziness, vainness, gossiping, yelling, impatience, unkindness, being unloving, rudeness, negligence, not reading the Bible or praying, bragging, not forgiving, whining, complaining, not following through on promises, overeating, over-drinking, greed, discontentment..."
It felt awesome to confess all that, and then my husband and I began taking the Exodus from Strongholds class, because, as you can see, I had a lot more to deal with than just the overeating. That class was so awesome, as I applied the principles of dying to my will and my sin, and replacing that with GOD! My husband began to be released from bondage to sins he'd had for years! I can't praise God enough for allowing us the opportunity to participate in these classes and cross that desert of obedience and almost make it to the Promised Land. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), but WE have to DO IT! After all I learned and started to apply, "God tested my heart" (1 Thessalonians 1:4), but He found my faith lacking. I went back to Egypt.
Fast forward to the spring of 2002. I weighed more than ever and I was back in a pit of depression, self-pity, and projection. I thought all my problems were because of my husband or our circumstances. I couldn't fit in last year's summer clothes, and I needed to go on a diet, again. My husband suggested a variety of options from other weight loss programs to surgery. I shook my head no and said I knew the ONLY answer was the Weigh Down Workshop. We had moved by this time, so I looked online to find a class in my area, but they were all in the middle of their sessions. However, Gwen Shamblin herself was coming to my city to do a "Rebuilding the Wall" tour! I signed up, and on May 31, 2002, my life changed forever. She walked us through the Bible, and I felt my hardened heart melt. That day I found out that to love God is to obey Him and that His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). I left the meeting room, determined to focus on God to obey and love Him. This time was different.
I did EVERYTHING Gwen taught in the classes: repent, obey, love, focus, stay in the Word, pray continually, be joyful, give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:16-17), stop loving the world, stop looking for praise from man, discipline those children, submit to that husband, boss, and the laws of the land. I signed up for the Weigh Down Advanced class, and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The Exodus classes gave me the tools to lay down sin and replace those idols and strongholds with God, and Weigh Down Advanced gave me the motivation. As I did these things, a miracle happened: I became a new creation! I cannot sing God's praises loudly enough! Today, on May 13, 2003, every single one of those sins I confessed almost three years ago is absolutely gone! Most were gone in the first few weeks and months after I saw "Rebuilding the Wall" and began to be a doer of the Word as I learned in Weigh Down Advanced. Today, I am smaller than I have ever been in my adult life; I am in a size two! I adore God Almighty and live only to do His will. My marriage is brand new! Once I began obeying God, my husband was "won over without words" by the behavior of his wife, when he saw the purity and reverence of my life. (1 Peter 3:1-2)
My life is full of the fruits of the Spirit now: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5). This love for God is a pearl of great price and a treasure beyond all others. Start today losing weight and gaining a true and righteous relationship with God Almighty through His Son, Jesus Christ by participating in classes, reading Gwen's written materials, and doing the Weigh Down Online, which are all mere Christianity and only point us to our Creator and Sovereign Lord.
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