Flip-Flops

About a month ago, I went to a Woman's Ministry event at my mother-in-law's church that she hosted. The event was "Beach" themed, complete with beach-y decorations and summary foods.

One activity during the night was to answer a certain question and discuss it with the women at your table. The question was: "If you could walk in another woman's flip-flops for a day, who would it be, and why?"

Ok - there are a lot of women that I would love to experience their lives for a day - all for different reasons. There are woman I would want to walk in their flip-flops for a day because they are spiritual, others because they are famous, and still others because I value who they are and would love to know what it's like to be them. I would love to experience a day in the life of my mom, my sister, a president's wife, a famous actress, and even my best friend. Generally I'm an indecisive person, so you can suspect that this would be hard for me to narrow down in a matter of minutes, however, the one person that kept popping into my head was Olivia Ward, Season 11 Winner of the Biggest Loser. Perhaps she came to mind because I follow her on Twitter and because I'm on my own weight loss journey. But honestly, for this time in my life, she would be who I would pick. Throughout the entire show, she and her sister, Hannah, were strong competitors who worked hard and reached their goals. I would want to walk in Olivia's flip-flops (or in this case workout tennis shoes) for a day because she has reached her weight loss goals (at least as far as I have seen). I think walking in her shoes would allow me to experience what it would feel like to reach my weight loss goals, and would give me the motivation to keep going on my journey.

I'm not sure what Olivia's spiritual beliefs are, but I'm pretty sure she's a Believer. Some things I've seen on Facebook as well as the fact that her husband leads worship at a church, and just the way she conducted herself on the show, make me believe that she is a Christian. Assuming this is accurate, that would be just another reason I would want to walk in her shoes - to see how her weight loss journey affected her spiritual journey and vise versa.

I truly believe that this weight loss journey is just as spiritual as it is physical, and that I have to learn to crave Jesus and be filled with him instead of trying to fill myself with unhealthy foods. (Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst is all about this topic. I've done a review on the first half of this book that you can check out here, and a second review will be coming soon). To be successful with my weight loss journey, I have to rely on God's strength because I know I couldn't do this on my own. I have to seek him, crave him, put him first in my life, and know that as I lose weight and get healthier physically, I'm becoming healthier spiritually. It really needs to be a holistic approach with God at the center or else I will fall back into old habits. If I just try to fix what's broken on the outside, but not address the spiritual aspect, as well as whatever it is that has caused the physical problem, I may never truly conquer my issues with weight and food.

So thank you, Olivia, for inspiring me to continue on my weight loss journey. I know you don't know who I am - and really, I don't know you - but I'm genuinely happy for you that you have reached your weight loss goals. Please keep doing what you are doing and continue inspiring others.

Love,

Lauren