From Shame to Stewardship - A Faith Based Approach to Body Image

Psalm 139:14 says – “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

• I’d like to challenge you to do 3 things this week as you begin to pray and ask God to work in this area of your life? 
• 
  
•  #1- Speak aloud 3 truths about your body from Scripture. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I know this full well. I am a child of the Most High God. He knows me, He numbered the hair on my head, He chose me before Genesis 1. Which will you cling to today?
  
  
• #2- Declutter social media or habits that feed comparison. Listen, social media is keeping you from healing here. Let’s be real. You’re wasting time that could be spent walking or prepping or reading or sleeping. Put your phone down and live your life! 
  
  # 3- Practice 1 loving act of stewardship: hydration, rest, gentle movement, food prep, being present with the people you’re with. Find peace knowing that God will provide when you seek Him with all your heart.
• 
  
•  Holy Father, I repent of the ways I’ve spoken shame over my body. Teach me to steward this temple with grace, not guilt. Thank you for new mercies each day and your constant reminder that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
  
  

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
  
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://www.herweightlossmindset.com/framework

Join my FREE Community: https://bit.ly/JoinTheChristianWeightLossCommunity

Join my Insiders List with weekly tips for weight loss for Christian women: http://herweightlossmindset.com/herweightlossmindsetinsiders

Transcript

How do we move from shame to stewardship?

Okay, you may think I'm nuts, but a few weeks ago, I did a three-day detox, and I usually do them a few times a year, but I had been procrastinating for months, even though I had felt God calling me to do this detox, to clean my system.

I've been procrastinating.

For, I would say, three weeks before I started my detox, I was carrying anywhere from four to six pounds of inflammation in any given day.

My precious, most beautiful baby weighs 22 pounds, and my back has never been so sore.

I swear I'm becoming besties with my chiropractor.

Anyway, I knew that after my birthday week, my dad was here, visiting from Florida.

I had to do something.

I had been dreading it.

Then I really felt God convicting me to start speaking life over my body and get back to my affirmations.

You know, I eat and move according to my goals.

I am healthy, confident, and flexible.

I am lean and toned, and my body like legit started to respond.

In the morning I woke up, day one of my cleanse, I had dropped that six pounds of inflammation.

And throughout that three days, I continued to lose another five pounds.

It's just an amazing cleanse.

If you have any questions about it, email me, info at herweightlossmindset.com.

I've done this a million times.

You get to eat four times a day and drink tea.

It's amazing.

But I woke up day four and I felt so good.

So what's my point?

The words we speak and even more the words that we think have a profound effect on what our body will do and how she responds.

And when we can move out of shame and into stewardship, we start to see our body as God sees us.

And when we speak life over our body instead of shame and condemnation, we actually physically begin to shift from the inside out and our bodies naturally heal themselves as God reveals to us those broken parts of our thought lives that we need to fix.

So how can we shift our perspective?

Today, I'm going to give you three tips to do just that.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight?

Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way?

Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey friends, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach.

I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off.

Nine years ago, I found a system that works and has helped me lose over 90 of those pounds.

I've worked with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to reframe your thoughts about weight loss and your ability to achieve lasting results and lose weight in a way that honors God without obsessing about the scale and meal plan and prep for your family.

So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

So don't forget, through September 5th, I'm offering the opportunity to do one hour or 30 minute poaching with me.

It's $79 for one hour or 59 for 30 minutes.

And you can go sign up at herweightlossmindset.com.

That's herweightlossmindset.com.

So our verse for the day is Psalm 139 14.

It says, thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Your workmanship is marvelous.

How well I know it.

I've heard that verse a thousand times.

Have you heard it?

Of course you have.

But do we actually believe this verse?

Are we walking it out in our daily lives and our thought patterns?

I know that at some point every day, and I'm not exaggerating, and you're probably like, if you're honest with yourself, you're not either.

Like we struggle to believe this, that his workmanship is marvelous.

So I want you to think about a couple of things.

I want you to think about shame and what that truly is.

Shame is a lie that the enemy uses to stall our weight loss.

He plants lies in our head, distractions in our life, through our phone, he places doubt in our journey.

Can we either let him win or we'll surrender to God?

There is no other choice.

It's the narrow path or the wide path.

I want you to consider what you're going to choose today.

Listen, I know you're tired of your struggles.

I am right there with you, but God isn't tired of us.

He knew this would be a struggle area in our life and he wants to heal us.

He wants to heal you.

But we must surrender to that still small voice.

I want you to think about stewardship as worship.

We're treating our body with love, not punishment.

And when we eat whole, healthy foods, we honor God.

When we rest and exercise and speak truth and when we serve others, we honor God.

When we live out the Great Commission, we honor God.

Stewarding our body well, it honors God.

There is no place for shame in the life or body or weight loss journey of a believer.

I want you to ask God to reveal those hurt places and heal you.

Ask Him to heal you and He will.

He actually revealed a hurt to me while I was feeding the baby at about 1130 PM last night.

She'd gone to bed at like 730 and of course she was up for her first feeding at 1130.

And I just I'm always praying Psalm 139, 23 and 24 verse.

And something like that happened when I was probably four or five that I had pushed down.

It popped up in my head and I knew that that was an area He was calling me to forgive and heal.

And I asked Him to take that and heal me.

And I felt immediate peace in the moment.

And I want you to have your heart open to those things.

They're not easy.

They're not easy to face.

They're not easy to confront.

But you have to do it if you truly want to live a life of freedom in Christ, in your weight loss, in your marriage, in your finances, in your friendships, in your parenting journey.

It all matters.

Confidence and consistency start with agreeing with God's design.

And yes, we can say that we do, but do you actually live that truth in your life?

It's one thing to claim and believe, but it's quite another to actually walk in it and live in it.

Which are you going to choose today?

That obedience over the outcome?

So I want to challenge you to do three things this week as you begin to pray and ask God to work in this area of your life.

Are you ready?

Number one is speak aloud three truths about your body from scripture.

So we know, we read in the Word, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I know this full well.

I am a child of the Most High God.

He knows me.

He numbered the hair on my head.

He chose me before Genesis 1.

I want you to get in the Bible.

I want you to start praying and ask him to take you to the place in his Word.

Open up his Bible and ask him to take you to the place in his Word that is going to be the reminder that he needs you to hear today because it's different for all of us.

So speak those three truths aloud.

Write them on your mirror.

Journal them in your notebook.

Step two, I want you to declutter social media or any habits that are feeding comparison.

Listen, I say this a million times, but social media is keeping you from healing here.

Let's be real, you're wasting time that could be spent walking or prepping or reading or napping or being present with your family.

Put your phone down and go live your life.

The last time I spend on social media, the more I realize how much I don't need it or I don't even enjoy the times that I do get on.

Oftentimes, it's just a habit for my finger to move to that app.

And the second that I open the app, I shut it down.

I'm like, why am I here?

You have better things to do with your time.

Like stare out the window and taking in all of God's beauty and creation, even if it's a cement parking garage across from your apartment complex.

Like let your mind be bored.

Teach your children to be bored.

Stop putting screens in front of your face.

I am guilty of this a million times.

We've got to stop.

Let your minds wander.

Let your imagination go.

Let your creativity fly.

And step three, practice one loving act of stewardship.

Maybe it's hydration, maybe rest or gentle movement.

Maybe for you it's food prep or being present just with the people that you're with and leaving your phone in the car.

Find peace knowing that God is going to provide when you seek him with all of your heart.

He is there for you.

He is listening.

We have, there is no shame or condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If he is the Lord of your life, we have to lay this down.

Shame is a tactic of the enemy and it is keeping us from walking out the Great Commission.

We are so wrapped up in ourselves, in our lives, in social media, in our body image, that we're not making disciples as we go where we live, work, and play.

It is the call of the gospel to go out and share the word.

My friends, the world need it.

We need it.

The world needs it.

The world needs you to share your voice, and your passion, and your purpose, and the call that God has placed on your life.

It's never going to happen when you're living in a cycle of shame and diet defeat, and all of these things that are keeping you from your godly purpose.

It's time to reset our bodies with God's holy word.

There is no shame or condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Holy Father, I repent of the ways I've spoken shame over my body.

Teach me to steward this temple with grace and not guilt.

Thank you for new mercies each day and your constant reminder that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Amen.

Hey, sis, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend?

Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcasts.

It lights me up to know this podcast is helping you.

Okay, it's time to go make a protein shake and get my sweat on.

No more standing in the kitchen waiting for motivation to appear.

I will meet you back here for another episode.

God bless.