Heart Healthy

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from god, and that you are not your own.


Over the last say 6 months or so, both Reed and I have not been very diligent about our health. Whereas we used to never get fried pickles, or chicken tenders or any other thing that was greasy, we slowly started to give in. It started as a "well, we never do, so why not" and then it became more common and we rationalized it the more we ate it.

Then the other night, after I ate WAY too much at Texas Roadhouse, I woke up after a morbid dream. It wasn't a freak you out, scary, I'm dying dream. I was running, but I had to have wires attached to me at all times because the reason I was running was because I had just discovered that I had heart problems.

I really believe God purposes the things in our heads and although sometimes we may think it is random, I know that his dream was God weighing on me how big of a deal it is to take care of my body. I could tell this wasn't any normal "random" dream, just because I woke up with a new found fear and resolve to take care of myself and my husband better.

Now, I'm not out here to hurt anyone's feelings, but let's get the facts. You are at greater risk for high blood cholesterol and heart disease if you eat a diet that often includes deep fried (fried pickles) or breaded foods (chicken tenders), which are high in fat. It's a fact that when you fry foods you are filling the food with an insoluble GREASE called saturated fat and trans fat. Those fats can't be broken down through digestion. SO what do they do? They are stored in cells throughout your body.

This is my confession: We have not been treating our bodies as a temple. Just in the past 5 days I have had a breaded chicken sandwich with fries from Wendy's as well as fried pickle slices from Texas Roadhouse. There has most definitely been other instances, I just can't remember them off the top of my head. And not to mention the fact that neither of us has made time to work out over the past couple of months, me especially. I'm a prime candidate for bad heart health...I eat crappy and I live a very sedentary lifestyle.

I know some people may read this and think, wow your making a really big deal of something that's not THAAAAT big of a deal. But I just want to refer you to the verse above.

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from god, and that you are not your own.

Our body IS a temple, we're not our own, we're stewards of our bodies. We're made in the image of God. I just don't think it's a far reach that God desires us to take care of our bodies. He's asked us to be good rulers and caretakers of the earth and I'm pretty sure if God cares so much about the earth, he also cares that we are good rulers and caretakers of ourselves.

If our body is meant to be a temple of the Holy Spirit...a living, breathing, walking, glory to God giving temple...then shouldn't I make sure that it is taken care of and healthy? I truly believe that the Lord is showing me that it can be an act of worship to take care of our bodies.

I know that some people could go overboard and I don't know that I'm so concerned about making the perfect decisions with food all of the time or going health nuts to the max. But I do truly believe that I can make better decisions that honor God.

I mean how can I be a ruler over the earth, over the fish and the sea and the birds, if I can't even take care of my own body and health? (Genesis 1:28)

Just some thoughts on Reed and my new "healthy heart" living campaign :)