Balancing a Healthy Lifestyle and Our Dependence on God

I was diagnosed with IBS when I was 17 and I just remember being so relieved to finally have a diagnosis. For years I had suffered from feeling like essentially my intestines literally hating me. Whenever we went out to eat with friends I was always worried about what I would feel once I was done eating. And so after my diagnosis, I was finally able to make a change and start feeling better.

And so ever since health and nutrition have been super important to me because my food was really affecting my daily life. And this was consistent practically after every meal, I had cramps and everything else bad you can think of. So I made a change, I went on the FODMAP diet for 6 months to see what was bothering me so much. And the FODMAP diet is intense. I couldn’t have fructose, lactose, fructans-wheat, rye, barley, Galactans-beans, Polyols-artificial sweeteners. So I got really healthy over those 6 months because practically every ‘bad’ food is summed up in these common FODMAPs. I started to realize that I just felt better and had so much energy.

As you all probably know by now this blog is by no means a health or fitness blog. Because let’s be honest, I’m not healthy enough for that, but I’ve been working on that so I thought I should share some of the things that I’ve been working through recently. And that has been how to live a healthy lifestyle while also being dependent on God.

It’s easy when you ‘do everything right’ to take credit for your health. When you exercise and eat right and live a balanced lifestyle, it’s easy to credit all of those things for your general health and wellbeing. And those are all great things, it’s really beneficial to work out and to eat right, but it’s easy to fall into something a little more dangerous.

Pride. Pride pops up in everything we do because our nature is inherently sinful and your health is no exception. When we put in the effort it’s our nature to credit ourselves with the results. Because that’s how things work in the world. But when we think this way, it means that we’ve forgotten the One who gave us our bodies in the first place. When we look at our bodies and glorify ourselves we are sinning. We are no longer giving glory to the one that deserves all glory.

And I think health is really important. Without a healthy body, it’s much harder to serve others and be active in the church. Now don’t get me wrong if you’re sick it’s important to rest and heal. I’m not talking necessarily about sickness or disease, but a general unhealthiness that a lot of us in America can fall into. Because yeah it’s cheaper to buy a hamburger at McDonald’s than to make a healthy home cooked meal. But I know for me personally, I am a much healthier, happier person if I eat that healthy meal instead of the hamburger. Because food is fuel and as Christian’s, we should want to fuel our bodies well so that we can serve God well.

I know for me though balancing this desire to fuel my body and the pressures of life have been difficult.

But this desire to fuel my body with the right foods should not deter me from fellowshipping with my friends and eating some maybe not so healthy foods. Because at that moment the fellowship with your friends is more important.

But I also need to remember that God gave me this body and He is the one who sustains it. And so act responsibly with our bodies, but we also remember God and His care for us.

And so I create healthy habits at home and then focus on others when I am with others because that’s what’s most important. But to be completely honest I don’t know what this means entirely and I think it’s different for everyone. God has called us all to different places in life and to have different focuses.

So I would love to hear from you in the comments. What healthy habits have you started doing recently?

Redeemed by the King

 

Photo by twinsfisch on Unsplash

Advertisement