I want to tell you part of my story. I want you to hear about how from a young age I believed the lie that I was alone, and how I fed that hollowness and vulnerability by doing whatever I felt I had to do to be loved. I want you to hear how marriage to a good man didn’t fill that hollow place, how even as I grew closer to Jesus, my bitterness with God grew too. I had a husband who did not want to know God. I felt alone in my faith and alone in my call.
Every single thing from a young age that I tried to use to fill the place that only God could fill eventually backfired and caused my own pain, both in my heart and in my gut. I wanted to be loved, I grew bitter with God when He didn’t give me what I thought I deserved, and I became sick. I lived trying to prove to God and to everyone that I was enough, and in the thick of all of it, my gut took a bad turn. My body was storing up so much fear and anger and hurt from my past that it touched every part of me.
That is part of the story, but it isn’t the whole story, friends. Ultimately, this is a story of redemption and forgiveness in the deepest places, both on my insides gut-wise, and also in the core of my heart. This is a story about the goodness of Jesus.
And for those of you who are identifying with my pain and are feeling the call to find out what you can do, physically, to partner with God in your healing through the choices you make, be sure to listen to the second podcast I have attached below as well. It’s a long one, but it was time for me to bring a professional in on this matter to unveil some concrete concepts about food and our gut health. You will meet my friend, Dr. Janna Joshu Grimm. Gut healing and God is one of her big passions. I invite you to listen to both to get the full healing story.
We are all bound up in the very core of who we are: spiritually and physically. We are bound up in the bowels of our beings on so many levels. We have been hollow and have fed ourselves things that have congested us and inflamed us.
So, I invite you to take this step with me into my testimony of heart and gut health, about what it looks like to be set right and healed in the love of Jesus, body and soul..
EPISODE 174: My Testimony & My Gut
EPISODE 175: Gut Health And What Can We Do
For those of you who are on mission with us each month, thank you! Don’t forget, our gift to you each month is RevWell TV – a growing library of at-home, on-line, Jesus-filled, freedom-fighting workouts, teachings and wellness resources designed to spur you on towards increased freedom! Also, be sure to join this month’s RevWell TV Facebook Challenge group where Rachel Harman, will be leading you through the month by as you move your body and study God’s word on the topic of original design. That’s going to be a blast! Rachels’ got some goodies in store for you!
Thinking about joining us on mission (for as little as $10 a month) and receiving RevWell TV but would like a sample before you buy? If so, take a bite out of this workout this #workoutwednesday.
Press play, and enter in. We would love to hear how these podcasts or workouts serves you and brings you freedom in any form! Feel free to leave your comments below so we can chat.
His love.
Alisa
8 Responses
I listened to your podcast today, and I feel like we could be the same person. Except today marks 3 years of separation from my husband. We have been divorced about 1.5 years. We have 6 children who all live with me. I’m in Platoon 17 and have been drawing closer to Jesus through the Holy Spirit throughout this journey. As I listened to you today I was open to hearing from the Holy Spirit. Now I am ill in my gut at the thought that the ex wasn’t the problem. That there is something I have been blind to that the Holy Spirit may reveal to me. I am just sick about it. Please pray for me. SHALOM!
Oh Isabel. Do not be sick. That is not Jesus. He didn’t come to make you sick. He came to heal and free your heart. That’s the enemy trying to shame you into thinking you have done something wrong. If there was something you needed to do, you would of done it then. But now is now. Spend time sitting with the Holy Spirit, FREE from fear, shame or guilt and let Him speak to you. Don’t be afraid. Whatever He speaks to you is for your now. God is doing a NEW thing in you. Every day. A NEW thing. The truth is…we all only see in part. We won’t see any situation perfectly. But as long as we are willing to say “God, show me, me.” in any hard moment, God will be faithful to show us, us, WITHOUT allowing us to enable others who hurt us. We will get hurt. But we are not to enable pain in or suffering in the world. Just sit with Him and let Him love you. He is God for goodness sakes. Give Him the permission to right any wrong or soothe any ache…and you can bet He will. His burden is easy and His yoke is light. – Snuggle up. xo
I love this . It’s like you were talking to me . I have been divorced for almost 2 years after an abusive marriage and troublesome court case . I am carrying the burden of training 4 children, keeping my job and school carrier. I saw the negative aspect of the world and many people I thought were my family and church members. I had a nervous breakdown with stomach issues , headaches and in fact one ailment after the other. The world seemed lonely for me . My health is my outstanding concern now as I am always in pain , stomach pain . I have fears and worries but looking on God to help me and show me His will , ways and mercy to be alive and strong for my self and children and the church .
When will God heal me ??? It hurts when I think of how I have loved God and the pains I have to bear .
Thank you for sharing, Chinchi. Jesus bears your pain with you. Praying for a supportive church family and community to come around you to love, support, and encourage you in this challenging season.
I listened to your podcast today. It really struck a chord in me. While our circumstances are not the same, I believe your message was very applicable to where I am in my life. I feel the pull of the Lord and I want to let him in and feel that hope and release of worry. Listening to you today moved me in a huge way. I felt at peace and I want to thank you. I believe in God and Jesus and I always have — but, I feel I don’t have the relationship I need to have with God or Jesus. I feel at a loss as to how to let and make that happen. Listening to you brought me to closer — so, thank you for your podcast today. And, I hope that as I let the Spirit fill me, I will begin to find a new inner peace and wholeness inside me. And, I bought your progam – Chair Today Gone Tomorrow. I am not a beginner exerciser — in fact I’m very active and healthy. I just went through a minor surgery and need to scale back on the exercise intensity for a bit. I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the whole 8 weeks. 🙂
Hi Beth,
So glad God brought us together. Be sure to jump over and join our private FB challenge group. If you need the address email info@revelationwellness.org to get access to that group and let Dana know you purchased the CTGT program. She will confirm your purchase then send you a link. We do on-going soul care back there for the month and you will have a safe grace-filled community to pursue God, who is pursuing you. He loves you. There’s never been a day He hasn’t thought of this day, with you. – peace.
Alisa, I listened to your podcast tonight on your testimony and your gut and it was amazing how timely it was! I have been dealing with eating issues my whole life – but it wasn’t until I became a Christian four years ago that God really began revealing the root of these problems to me. Over the past years I have struggled in understanding why I just can’t shake my emotional eating, anxiety about how I eat, and focus on always trying to lose weight. It’s interesting how the more I focused on my weight, the more I have gained weight. I think one of the main reasons is that I have struggled so much with anxiety that it has become a debilitating stronghold. My gut is suffering from the same exact symptoms you described, and frankly, I’m scared that I won’t be able to shake the anxiety. I try not to strive in my own strength, but I can’t seem to get freedom from this issue. However – in faith I say that listening to your podcast is going to be a major part of the momentum and grace God is giving me to get freedom. Thank you for your encouraging spirit and words of wisdom and care 🙂
Hi Alisa! I listened to the entire series on gut health including this and it was so powerful for me. I have been holding onto bitterness and unforgiveness and hurts from my past that I thought were gone and healed. Through these podcasts God showed me and brought to the surface that it wasn’t healed, I had just tucked it away and ignored it. I have been very bitter towards my children’s soon to be step mother and her place and role in my children’s lives. I have said very bitter comments to my ex husband about her and I have pushed her as far away as I could. All of this broke in me when I started listening to the podcast on forgiveness. I immediately felt convicted by the Lord and he started bringing out and showing me this bitterness, hurt and unforgiveness that I had been holding onto. I usually am not a bitter person and I am an encourager but in this area it was like I was someone else, someone I Do Not want to be. It’s was very hard to swallow and to confess to God and ask for forgiveness and even harder to go to the step mother and ask for forgiveness. I followed the four steps that you talked about and it made a huge difference. I let her tell me how it effected her and how it made her feel and that was not easy. We opened the door to forgiveness and communication and it was not easy for either of us . We are on the path to healing now and chains were broken and I am so grateful! I have been frustrated that God has been silent with me but I am now seeing that he hasn’t been silent at all. I am living in the yes and amen through RevWell and the instructor training. He is completely transforming me from the inside out and proving to me that he has heard every cry and every prayer and is walking with me through the healing!