God hit me with the following truth several months ago...

✨ Jesus must be at the center of ALL things. We must move the body and fuel it to honor Him. Everything we consume (food, visually with television, audibly with music or podcasts) must honor Him. Once we shift our focus onto Jesus and keep it there, everything else naturally falls into place. Everything flows from Him.✨

You see, I’ve been consumed by the health and wellness industry since about 2013. For 12 years, I worked tirelessly toward what the world told me was healthy, beautiful, and what would make me happy. Skinny, fit, strong = happy. My “why” (what motivated me to exercise and eat well) was SHALLOW, filled with things of the flesh. “I want to fit into jeans I haven’t worn in years.” “I want to feel confident in my wedding dress!” “I want to keep up with my kids!"

Add in the fact that my brain was full of so much food noise that it consumed my thoughts constantly. If I ate something “bad” (what the world told me was not included in my "diet") the shame would eat me alive. I was suffocating under shame, addiction, and body image issues - a vicious cycle I could not escape on my own.

Over time, I grew in my faith, drawing closer to Jesus and strengthening my relationship with Him. Early last year, I wrote and was praying a “removal prayer” daily for about a month, crying out to the Lord to take away anything in my life that did not honor Him. I asked for peace, joy, freedom from shame, and for Him to transform my heart so my focus would stay on Him.

Around that time, I regularly listened to the Revelation Wellness podcast while walking. One day, I heard an ad for a 4-week virtual Christian Health Coaching class they were offering that spring. I knew immediately it was God’s answer to my prayer: “Sign up for the class, Elyse.” And so I did. Silly me for thinking He would just remove all my internal struggles without requiring any effort from me 😉

I took the class and learned so much - about who God is, what He says about who I am, what He truly wants for my life.. and I learned to see my body, mind, and spirit through HIS eyes.

I prayed. He answered (in His perfect timing). Then I had to do the work… and over the course of a few weeks, He delivered me - through what He taught me in that class and the work He did in my heart - from shame, addiction, food noise, and body image struggles I had carried for 12+ years.

Everything in my life, both good and painful, has had a purpose. I believe God allowed these experiences so He could work in me and then use me to help others who struggle with similar health and wellness challenges.

He uses what the enemy meant for evil and turns it for good. Now He is calling me to go deeper so I can help others experience this same freedom. I am surrendering my life fully to Him, trusting that He will use every part of my story to help others find freedom in Christ - to embrace their God-given identity, release unhealthy patterns, and see that moving and fueling our bodies is an act of worship, honoring God as our Creator.

If you feel led to support me in this calling, your gift will help make that impact possible! I am enrolling in a 9-week Christian Health Coach Certification through Revelation Wellness (peek more info here!) - the very ministry whose podcast God used to lead me here. He is so good, and He never wastes a single step of our journey.

Once certified, I will begin my own coaching ministry, helping others to love God and love their bodies. God will use whatever gift you give to bless, multiply, and provide abundantly. He promises to do so; we just step out in faith and trust Him! Thank you so much for prayerfully considering to give, it means so much! ❤️

✝️📖🔎

1 Corinthians 6:19–20: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”Romans 12:1 “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.”Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

🎧 And lastly, the podcast I spoke about, here!