Since finding the true God and turning from my sinful ways, God has changed my life and turned it right side up. Before this awesome Weigh Down message, I was ‘Mr. Frank the Crank’ wearing the mask of an ashamed Christian. I never lived up to 2 Cor. 2:15 (Anyone being in Christ is a new creation - the old is gone and the new is come). Nothing changed except that I confessed Jesus Christ and believed I was covered under his blood and there was nothing I could do to for my salvation. I was still greedy for money, fame, food & praise of man. Lust and ungodly things controlled 50% of my thoughts. I over drank & smoked like a fiend and all while attending a church, being a Deacon & youth counselor. My wife Carmen and I married April 1, 1995. It was not a perfect union (both trying to control and manipulate each other), but we were searching. We moved to Florida in April 2000 and still more confusion. In October, I weighed about 180 lbs and my wife was 65 lbs overweight. We were introduced to Weigh Down in our church and what we heard started a chain reaction. Now for the first time, the Bible and the verses Ms. Gwen Shamblin was quoting made sense and the church we were attending made no sense. In January of 2002, we started a Weigh Down Advanced class and our minds were blown away and we knew we had to leave the church we were attending. Almost 5 years later — Better marriage..you betcha! 50 lbs gone. No longer walking with a cane. Lust - (what’s that?) it’s gone. Idols - none. My only idol is God Almighty and his precious son Jesus Christ whom I follow every moment of my life doing the will of the Father and not my own will. On Feb 2, 2002, my wife and I attended a Rebuilding the Wall tour seminar in Orlando, FL. What we heard pierced my heart as I faced myself in the mirror of the Book of James being taught by Ms. Gwen. I was on my face repenting and asking God to forgive me. Fast forwarding…our finances have been healed ..and after letting go of our own earthly desires for 2 1/2 yrs, we sold our home in Florida and we moved to Nashville. God has blessed us and allowed us to get our own place. I now have the attitude of my Savior Jesus, being humble even unto death (to self) and will continue to have for the rest of my life. God knows that I could not fully pay him back for this new life in Christ and Him. I will serve the Saints whom I have the utmost honor of worshipping and serving with. Thank you Weigh Down. Thank you Gwen and mostly Thank You God!
I have been released from 47 years of bondage to depression, self-focus, anger, pride, control, the greed for food excessive shopping, theft, and lies. I was on every diet program out there: Tops, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Grapefruit, Eggs, Cottage Cheese, Atkins, Fen Fen, Anti-depressants, therapy, hypnosis, but the worst thing I did was I chose stomach stapling and three times destroyed the surgery by overeating. God also restored areas in our lives involving finances, medical bills, grocery bills, crazy shopping, morbid obesity, depression, anxiety attacks, fibromyalgia, hypertension, pre-cancer conditions, complicated pregnancies, ulcers, acid reflux, to name just a few. I am healthier than ever and I am 52. I used to scream at my husband, children, and pretend that everything was okay. I tried to change and blame everyone around me for my circumstances. I would just go to work and come home and change clothes and eat and watch television. My family was an idol and I looked forward to the gossip, eating and entertainment of my family and friends to make me happy. The rule of our house was, ‘if mom is unhappy everyone is unhappy.’ The night before my fourth stomach stapling I was invited to a class called the Weigh Down Workshop and I told my friend that I was still going to go through this operation and that I would come to her class after I recovered from the operation as I would need help to keep the weight off as I had eaten beyond what my smaller, stapled stomach could handle twice before. I mocked God and gained ten pounds and went another year through much depression, anger, and embarrassment due to this procedure not working as it was supposed to by the world’s standards. I joined The Weigh Down Workshop and started to learn about God and His laws and lost weight. I learned that the focus on self, food, etc. was all against God’s laws and I would not be able to go to heaven if I continued on this path of destruction. I joined the Weigh Down Advanced Series Thanksgiving week five years ago and it saved my life and I have totally changed. God has delivered me from 180 pounds and has moved me and my family to Nashville, Tennessee so we can share this message with other people who are hurting and starving for God. I thank God every day for choosing me and my family and for sending Gwen Shamblin to help us learn how to love God, obey God, and to get on the path to heaven. Praise God, this is year five in following God and doing His will. What an awesome journey and God we serve
November 10, 2001 marks the beginning of what would become known to me as my own personal Exodus out of Egypt. It was on this day that I found myself hearing (for the first time) the truth of God Almighty's powerful and permanent deliverance from a life of slavery to food and sin. This truth was being spoken through a mighty servant of God, Gwen Shamblin, in South Bend, Indiana. At 283 pounds I was a dedicated and extremely active member of the independent, fundamental Baptist church I attended. I was there every Sunday morning and evening service, Wednesday evening service, choir practice and even spent every Saturday morning and afternoon out knocking on doors to build up the bus ministry and junior church programs. If the doors were open - I was there - and sometimes even when the doors weren't open, I was there.
I had spent 30 years serving myself and grabbing for things that were not mine. From the age of eleven years old, I began swallowing a pill to manage my mood swings and fits of rage and deep depression. Many times I planned how to end my own life, but being a coward - I never succeeded, praise God! Starting at such a young age to focus on myself, it was only natural that I had more and more depression and needed more and more pills to combat my own self-destructive behavior. It was never "my own fault" that I acted like I did or that I was morbidly obese or that I spent too much money shopping as a way to feel better about myself. I needed all these things to fill up the emptiness in my heart. I can recall sleeping in, waking up only to watch hours of soap operas and talk shows all day long and getting up just before my husband was due home and racing around to make it look like I had spent my day dedicated to housework. And of course dinner wasn't ready for him after a long day's work because of all that time I spent "cleaning". To cover up my own self-focus, I would be sure to point out how he was falling short of his duties around the house - which would "justify" my nagging and controlling behavior. I praise God for showing me my greed through the tight clothes and embarrassment of being obese and the negative checkbook balance because I was overspending. I went to endless doctor visits because the two or three anti-depressants I was already on weren't strong enough and I couldn't sleep - so I needed sleeping pills too. At one time I was taking over twenty pills a day just to keep going. To lose the weight, I tried all the diets including: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and Richard Simmons' Deal a Meal. I had a membership to the popular fitness club and bought the latest fitness equipment featured on the Saturday afternoon infomercials. I tried diet pills and invested in the latest vitamin regimens offered by the nutrition centers. I even went so far as to pursue the latest solution - the gastric bypass surgery. I praise God that despite my own appeals and letter-writing campaigns after being denied this "life-saving" opportunity by my insurance company, that He did not allow this to happen. All these things only put me more in debt and deeper into this sick and destructive self-focus. God has delivered me from shopping and overspending as a means to feel better. I no longer have the hatred in my heart that would explode into fits of rage towards my husband and children. He has also delivered me from nineteen years of taking anti-depressants and six years of using sleeping pills. God took me from 283 pounds to 133 pounds in nine months. I feel wonderful - better than I ever have in my life!! I have energy like I have never known and a love for God and others that is inexpressible!!! I now know that this life is not about me - it's about God and obeying His perfect will each and every moment of every day!!! I am so thankful to know and thus be walking in the truth. I praise God for all that he has done and is continuing to do in my life. He is the Great I Am and the Creator of the Universe - He is my All in All!!!
Society teaches us that addictions and destructive behaviors are illnesses, for which there is no permanent cure. This is NOT true. Due to the Weigh down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship, hundreds of people are free from obesity, anorexia, bulimia, depression, cutting themselves, and other obsessive compulsive behaviors. Some used to pull out their hair, were alcoholics, or were addicted to drugs or pornography. Some had fibromyalgia, heart problems, thyroid problems or sleeping disorders. Others had marriages that were in ruins and families in chaos. All have exhausted every other resource including: self-help books, every diet, years of counseling, doctors, therapists and support groups, and numerous medications. Many have undergone years of testing and been diagnosed with every disease imaginable. Most have been told that they would have these “diseases” or be in these situations forever, and that they would be on medication and/or in treatment for the rest of their lives. I used to be one of these people…
I spent the first 42 years of my life in pain, physically and mentally. I chose to eat too much food trying to numb this pain. I eventually reached a weight of 226 pounds, wore a size 22-going-on-24, and had numerous health problems. I went to several specialists and three major medical centers including Stanford University Medical Center and St. Mary's Medical Center, in California and the University Of Texas Medical Center at Galveston. I had endoscopies, colonoscopies, gastric studies, and intestinal studies to monitor nerve function. I had esophageal reflux, cholesterolosis of the gall bladder, and bladder and bowel conditions. My blood pressure was dangerously high. I was literally nauseous every day. I had sleep disorders and nerve function disorders. At one point I had to give myself daily shots of Lupron Depot, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, and Klonopin for proper nerve function. I received counseling for anxiety and depression. Having been diagnosed with everything from chemical imbalance, to neuro-muscular disease, I was told if this disease process continued to progress, that I could end up being fed solely by a feeding tube in the future!
Today, I had to look up my medical records to recall these specifics because I cannot remember being that person -- I am not that person anymore! I am thrilled to be alive and live each new day. Due to the Weigh Down Workshop, and Remnant Fellowship, I have permanently lost 106 pounds and now wear a size 4. I eat all of my favorite foods, including pizza, ice cream, French fries and cheesecake. I no longer desire to eat when I am not hungry. Having been told by doctors that I would need medications and antidepressants for life, I no longer take any because I no longer need any!
I grew up in a religious family and went to church my whole life, and all the while was disobeying God in so many areas and never knew it, and never knew why our lives weren’t being blessed and that according to God’s Word, we clearly were not on the narrow road to salvation! My family and I are SO grateful to now know how to obey God, to know the truth, and the truth is setting us FREE! (John 8:31-33) To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." I was not able to lose my weight or to see all of this completely until I stopped going to a church which said one thing (obey God), but lived another. It took being told not only that we CAN obey God, but that we MUST. The leaders of Remnant Fellowship love God more than themselves or their reputations. They lay down their own lives every day to help others find God and life. It is a very difficult thing to tell others not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear: that they must change from within. The teachings come directly from the Word of God. By following these teachings my whole family has been blessed. Our marriage is more precious. My husband and children are learning that God’s boundaries and ways are incredible, and are being blessed for their obedience to His commands. We love His authority line: God, husbands, wives, children…it keeps the family in perfect harmony and makes sure that all are taken care of. We love to honor and serve our bosses and teachers! We are learning how to go to THE God for everything we need and are blown away that He personally answers our prayers when we do this.
The fruit of God’s Word through Remnant Fellowship speaks for itself… permanent healing and changed lives!
My mother told a story that when I was 9 months old I would start to cry if I could hear the spoon scrape against the bowl, because I knew it was almost empty. Whether or not this story is true, I do know that from a very early age I have had a deep root of greed for food! I don't remember EVER NOT being FOOD FOCUSED! School was torture for me because I was fat! I remember the pain like it was yesterday! Along the way I picked many other IDOLS and SINS! When I began my first WD class I was close to 300 pounds, smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day, and spent 10 years in an ADULTEROUS relationship! I was angry, depressed, lazy and SELF-FOCUSED! I lost 40 pounds during the 1st WD series, stopped smoking and ended the relationship all at the same time, but the 40 pounds came back and I would become so EXHAUSTED. Starting my day with the best of INTENTIONS NOT to eat beyond what GOD said, but I was not surrounded by friends or church leaders that believed GREED for FOOD was A SIN! After 2 reconstructive knee surgeries due to the extra weight, I was told my knees would probably ONLY hold up for 5 years and then would need full replacement. That was 7 years ago, and I stand at my job 10-12 hours a day and PRAISE GOD for NO KNEE PAIN or PROBLEMS!!!! I would most likely be close to death or want to be dead if I had continued on the broad road that I was on. Now I am on the straight and narrow path that LEADS to the WILL OF GOD AND THAT IS LIFE! When I took Weigh Down Advanced, my eyes were opened for the first time! Gwen was teaching us that we have been the GOD and NOT allowing GOD to be GOD! I left my church because it allowed its members to worship more than ONE god, and joined a group of people who DID LOVE THE ONLY TRUE GOD and SOUGHT OUT HIS WILL IN ALL AREAS OF THEIR LIVES!!!! I had never seen nor experienced such peace, joy, and LOVE! I would NEVER exchange this life for ALL THE FOOD, MONEY etc in the world! Praise GOD I have lost nearly 130 pounds, and am no longer lazy, and no longer have a need for antidepressants, diet pills, or cholesterol medicine. I PRAISE GOD and THANK all those PEOPLE who LAID DOWN SIN to PROVE TO ME, YOU CAN AND MUST BE WITHOUT SIN!!!! I LOVE GOD, HE ROCKS!!!!!!!
My name is Kristin Price and I have been truly blessed by The Weigh Down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship. The principles that I have learned from this ministry and church have led me to lose 60 pounds! I have kept the weight off for 4 years, and even have a nine month old and I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight! Normally I would have had to go on anti-depressants during my pregnancy and after, to be able to cope with having a new baby- but thank God through this message I don't need to go that route any more! I have learned to go to God to fill me up .About 9 months before I joined this church, I gave birth to a daughter with a genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. The main symptom of this disorder is a ravenous appetite with no apparent feeling of satisfaction. The typical adult is very overweight, has behavior problems, and needs to either be institutionalized or put into a halfway home because they need to be watched constantly so they don't eat everything that they can get their hands on, or steal other people’s food. Sometimes they will dig in the garbage and the fridge and cupboards need to be locked. This ministry gave me the confidence to raise my daughter on normal foods, not the typical low fat diet- and to teach her to obey God. She is happy and healthy; a normal weight, and her doctors and teachers are amazed at how well she is doing! This is amazing mercy from God! Had I been in any of my old churches during this time -I would be overweight and a complete mess, my child would be very overweight, a tyrant, and my marriage would probably be destroyed! As it is though- I have a peaceful marriage, and an awesome opportunity to raise my children to be pure and to love only God!
I found this message over 10 yrs ago weighing over 255 lbs. I had carpal tunnel syndrome, back pain, lactose intolerance, plantar fasceiitis, and depression. I was unhappy with my marriage, I did not love my kids or my family nor did I have any true friends. Then I found a class called Exodus Out of Egypt. I started the class and lost over 65 lbs in the first two classes. I lost touch with the classes and went back to my old habits and started to gain back my weight and became even more depressed and eventually had more health problems, and then I found the Weigh Down Advanced class and my life changed all over again. The truth of this message came back to me: this had changed my relationship with God. I had to learn to change and I did. I put the principles into practice in my life and have lost a total of 115 lbs, my relationship with my husband is wonderful, I have a better relationship with my kids and I truly love them now. My plantar fasceiitis is gone, the back pain is better, carpal tunnel is better, I have no more depression, my lactose intolerance is gone and I have the best friends ever who truly love me. This message has given me the truth of what a true relationship with God is to be, like a Father to a Son, and a loving Father that is caring for us as we obey him. God has blessed my husband and me with healing of our marriage and health and we owe it all to Him and this truth through Weigh Down. Thank you Gwen for listening to the One True God and bringing this message to us. Thank you Gwen and the Leadership! We love you and are ready to stand up and testify to anyone who asks!
For years my husband Frank and I (now 59 and 69) looked for a Church that would truly serve the One and Only God and follow in the steps of His Son Jesus Christ. God led us to a church that is obeying Him and Only Him by following his words and his commands. The leaders and their families are people who obey God and lead by example. We know more godly people that love us, care for us and truly take care of the widows and the orphans in the Remnant Fellowship than we did in all the churches we attended. In 2001 we started taking a Weigh Down Class because I was desperate to lose 60lbs off my small 4'9" frame. I would cry, I would be angry with my husband. I was depressed and desperate. It is a miracle that I was not put on depression medication. The 60 extra pounds on my body caused high blood pressure, knee pain, heel pain and high cholesterol. I truly was a mess and on medications for all of these conditions. My husband was 50 lbs overweight and also on cholesterol medications. Through the Godly teachings of the Weigh Down classes I have lost the 60 lbs and my husband has lost 50 lbs. We now have none of the above ailments and are not on any kind of medications. We are joyful, at peace and full of energy. All of this is a praise to God. When you obey His laws and are under His will your life will change. Our finances were a mess, our marriage was not great--I thought I could control my husband. As we started learning more and more from God's word I realized that I controlled nothing. God controlled it all and the day was his and not mine. Our marriage as well as our finances are healed. A recent miracle is that God is allowing us to purchase our own home again after having to sell ours to pay of our credit card bills. There is no other church that teaches you that if you repent, turn from sin, change and obey God that he truly (and he has) will bless you. We are blessed tremendously in this daily walk with God.
My name is Amy Adamo and I am 37 years old. I was overweight pretty much all my life. I was a chubby child, and started on Weight Watchers when I was 13 years old. I've been on every diet out there, and nothing ever worked. I thought that being overweight was just a part of who I was or a medical problem, and there was really nothing I could do about it. I gained a lot of weight in college, and weighed 180 when I got married. I gained even more weight until I was at my peak weight of 230 lbs. right after I had my son. I had high blood pressure, borderline preeclampsia, gastric reflux, etc. I had to be induced because my blood pressure became dangerous. Praise God that he spared my son and me. Right after I had my son, I had to have my gall bladder removed and have hernia surgery. It was then that my sister and mom told me about Weigh Down. My husband told me he wouldn't pay for another diet, because I would spend too much money on the diet and just gain all the weight back along with even more weight. My mom paid for my first Weigh Down class, and that was why I was able to go. From the first class, I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I had never been taught that it was a sin to overeat beyond God's boundaries. I was never taught that you must do the Will of God. I was so excited that there wasn't a food plan that you had to follow. God instantly started taking off weight from my body. I was able to eat any food my body needed within God's boundaries of hunger and fullness. I was out of bondage of slavery to dieting and overeating! God also revealed other things in my life that I was in bondage to which were: praise of man, fear of what others thought of me, or what I thought they could do to me, addiction to soap operas and TV, self focus and anti-authority. I was consumed by what others thought about me, and I was a slave to other people's moods and reactions. It was really debilitating, because I would worry about what other people thought about me all the time. That disappeared! Praise God for taking 90 lbs. off my body, along with so many other strongholds. I went through a second pregnancy, and lost all my pregnancy weight (30 lbs.) in just two months! My husband also lost 25 lbs., and laid down horrible road rage and pride. He is a different person, as I am. My family is so happy now because we love to find the Will of God, instead of being in the prison of self. Remnant Fellowship has been such a huge blessing in our lives. We are now surrounded by people who always point us back to God. Praise God for the miracles he has done in our lives and for Weigh Down and Remnant Fellowship!
As a member of The Remnant Fellowship MY LIFE HAS CHANGED. I am JOYFUL all the time! I went to churches all my life only to be full of anger, control, lust, pride, rebellion, anti-authority, disrespect and then became 105 pounds overweight. My back and hips hurt, lungs and heart were stressed, had hypoglycemic symptoms, stomach, gastric, digestive and circulatory problems. Our finances were out of control. Church and life in general was all about me. I finally learned true repentance and am here, alive today set free from sinning, false religion, financial problems, the extra weight and the all the other physical conditions forever! I had tried many diets, starving myself with anorexia, exercise and weight lifting and knew nothing worked permanently. I always felt deep down, if I spent this much time on my body and not on what God wanted, it wasn’t right. The problem was that I didn’t know how to DO what God wanted. Hopeless, angry and "broken" I found Weigh Down that taught me hope in God and how to DO His will! I was so happy to turn, repent and replace love for food with love for God and I lost weight. What really pierced my heart was learning that my anger was sinful. I was mean, unkind, rude, obnoxious, impatient, and gruff. I loved getting angry. It made me excited watching people react to my anger. Anger drove my life. It was the underlying force that kept me rebellious, lustful, prideful, disrespectful, controlling and anti-authority. I was a horrible wife and food had satisfied my anger. I began crying out to God for how to remove the anger from my heart. Suddenly it popped into my head, "You know what to do, you have done it with the food." I had done it; turn, repent and focus on God! I praise God for having so much mercy. I cannot believe it. It is a huge miracle of God to be able to bear the fruit of the Spirit instead of anger. John 5 tells about the man that Jesus healed and told him to "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk". In verse 14 Jesus says to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." I am well again and have stopped sinning. Whatever God gives to test my devotion to Him is only a chance to share in Christ’s suffering and focus All Love and Glory on God. In Remnant Fellowship I know now that it’s ALL about God Almighty, obeying ALL His commands with a repentant heart, living for God and not self and following His son Jesus Christ. We are not begged for money, guilt tripped and pressured to desire to lead every committee. My desire is to show God I love Him by living pure and then being a part of the Body of Christ. All Glory to God that He has healed my marriage, my attitude, my life, my body and our finances. I now know how to live free from sin. There is no other way to live. Jesus said, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life" John 6:63. I used to force a smile for attention to self. Now I can’t keep from smiling for attention to God and can’t wait to have opportunity to say "Praise God!" I do have deep gratitude for the Shamblin family. This is life, truth and peace. I know how to DO the will of God. It’s ALL about and for God Almighty!
I always lived my life looking for the "next best thing," knowing that there had to be something that would finally make me happy. From childhood, I would look to others to see what made them seem so happy. Because I came from a background of expensive schools and most of my "friends" were financially well-off, I mistakenly thought that it was money or material things that brought happiness. A lifetime of looking to things of the world to fill me up left me financially, emotionally, and spiritually empty. I would rage at my parents, then my siblings, then my husband. I either overspent our money or spent my days trying to figure out how I could buy more things. I also turned to food, sexual sins, alcohol, recreational drugs, cigarettes, and gossiping friends to try and ignore the misery in my heart. I was a controlling worrier, who twisted my body into knots with trying to get everything on the outside right to be happy. I became overweight as an adult, and was plagued with infertility as a result of the excess weight on my body and the resulting hormonal imbalances as my body tried to correct the problem. I was finally able to have a child as a result of years of hormone therapy, but because I was so focused on how to get and how to spend money, and how to make myself happy, my focus as a parent was not what it should have been. As a result, I became a frustrated and even more unhappy young woman and mother. Although I was raised in a religious system, I was never taught to turn to God to fill me up. No one in the expensive schools, the churches, or the therapists I saw had the key to unlock my prison. It was not until I began attending Remnant Fellowship and taking the Weigh Down Workshop classes that I realized that the people I'd known my entire life were not truly happy, and that I had just been ignoring the fact that we all over drank, gossiped, manipulated others, raged at our families, and loved money! For the first time in my life, I met truly happy people, who spent money within God's boundaries, ate only when hungry and did not overeat or over drink, would never gossip, and would stop whatever they were doing to lovingly correct an errant child. I learned to shift my focus off of material things and onto God to fill me up. I learned that living by the Ten Commandments and always having the Fruits of the Spirit aren't just good suggestions that God would kind of like you to aspire to, they are a MUST if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven! And it IS possible to live like this! I learned to have more peace and patience with my daughter, to never rage at my husband, to be grateful for all my parents sacrificed to give me a good life, to wait on God to provide instead of running out and buying everything brand-new. I learned how much more fun it is to take care of God's needs first, then the needs of others, and to wait on God to give me my own desires. I lost all of my excess weight and am now people tell me they can never imagine that I used to be 176 lbs at 5'4". I have since become pregnant with our second child with no complications. My coworkers never believe what a controlling, tense, angry person I used to be at work - one of them described me as a "lamb" and I had to chuckle to myself; if they only knew the old me! In restaurants and public places people often comment on how patient I am and what a good relationship I have with my toddler, when they see me stop what I am doing and attend to her needs or they see me lovingly train her to obey her parents. But the most important thing that has changed in my life is that living for God has finally made me TRULY HAPPY! I love God and the happy face people see in public is the exact same face I have in the privacy of my own home, or even when nobody's watching! This is because the happiness radiates out of my heart, so it is impossible to hide. I want to invite people I've known, strangers, family members, everyone to try doing what Remnant Fellowship members do every day, living for God alone, because I know that their hearts will never be happier, either!
Here's God's transformation in my life...
MY PROBLEMS WERE…
My name is LaTamara Jackson I am 29 years old and I too was raised as a "Christian". I grew spending many hours participating in church activities. From as young as the age of 6 years old I can remember having issues with greed and overweight. This would soon manifest itself into a life full of depression, self-focus, anger, jealousy, praise of man, and sexual sins. I became suicidal at the age of 12 and attempted suicide 2 separate occasions. I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at the age of 18 and put on anti-depressants. I was told I had chronic depression and that I would deal with it for the rest of my life. Inside I felt hopeless and out of control. I would beg God daily to end it all. Hoping for some way to end the pain I felt in my heart. I would cry out to God for happiness but I had no understanding of prayer or what a relationship with God meant. I would numb my pain with food causing me to gain over 135 pounds. Along with the weight came digestive problems. I would wake up in the middle of the night with horrible stomach pains. I always had to keep a bottle of Pepto Bismal with me just in case I had an "attack"; I had horrible skin irritations from where my thighs would rub together due to being overweight. I was ALWAYS HOT!!! Due to all of the problems with being overweight, my self-confidence was low so I would seek approval from men by engaging in sexual sins hoping that a relationship would end the pain. I smoked cigarettes. I over drank. I had so much anger in my heart that when things did not go my way I would literally see red and lash out at my target which was usually my mother (I blamed her for EVERY bad thing in my life). During all of this I continued to attend a church that could never help me find an answer to any of the problems I had. I felt lost but with no one having any answers—I figured there wasn't one. So I accepted the pain and misery and decided to move on with life because this was just the way that it was going to be. BUT, PRAISES BE TO THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, He had another plan. A friend suggested we enroll in a Weigh Down class together and I thought, sure what else do I have to lose? Little did I know this would be the BEST decision of my life!! I thought I would go lose weight and then go on with my life of finally getting to be happy. This did happen but on a much higher scale than I could imagine. I did lose weight, I also stopped smoking, overdrinking, engaging in sexual sin, focusing on praise of man, being angry, and contrary to what the doctors said, I am no longer depressed and I am HAPPY!! I also no longer have stomach issues or skin irritations! God has healed my body and I am healthier than I have ever been. This message has brought about the true happiness I always longed for but did not think was possible. I have found a true family and true friends!! I have leaders who point me to God and I no longer focus on myself! I have been taught how to have a relationship with God and it is beautiful going to Him for everything. I did not know I could look for God's Spirit, even in the small things like what to wear or where to go. I wake up everyday looking for what God wants from me not what I can get from him. I have finally been giving the keys to unlock the prison that I was in and for that I will ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL!! There are not enough words or time to explain the joy that I have in my heart (the joy the world said I could only get from taking a pill). There is also no way to fully explain to you the difference in my church experience (but I will try):
Before: I only went to church because I felt like I had to, I never wanted anyone I did not know to sit next to me, I was only nice to people because my mother worked there and I felt I had to be nice, when service was over I wanted to leave ASAP, I did not want to nor did I participate in church functions because I felt the people were fake, I gossiped during service, I watched the leadership engage in sinful acts, I did not like the people I fellowshipped with and did not spend anytime with them outside of church, I was never confronted about my greed.
Now: I go to church because I can't wait to get there to see God's people and to hear his Word, I love the people I sit next too and can't wait to see who God will allow me spend time with during that service, I love the saints I fellowship with and I want to be around them, I am usually still at church when they are turning off the lights because I love fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I love participating in church activities and spending my time serving God's kingdom and his people (it is SO FUN!), I would never gossip about or judge God's people, I watch as the members of this leadership live holy, pure and sold out lives for the one true God, I LOVE THE PEOPLE I FELLOWSHIP WITH, I can't wait to spend time with the saints outside of church, I was taught how to lay down greed!!! Thank you God for Remnant Fellowship!!!!
When I first discovered Weigh Down in 1997, I was extremely overweight and miserable. My weight had reached an all-time-high of 286 pounds. I was outgrowing the largest size in the plus size store. I was on anti-depressants, my cholesterol was high and I often dealt with acid reflux. My joints ached. I was angry and unhappy. I was frustrated with my husband and my children and our finances were a mess. I felt trapped and hopeless, with no way out. I had tried all the popular weight loss programs, with no success. I called myself a Christian, but I was confused. I knew something was wrong. My heart was broken! I had destroyed God’s temple, as described in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. I cried out to Him for an answer, and he heard me. God directed me to The Weigh Down Diet book, by Gwen Shamblin. I started reading the book and DOING what it said. The first week I lost 7 pounds. This was working, so I kept practicing the principles and I lost 147 pounds. God had answered my cry for help and removed the excess weight, setting me free from the bondage of food! But that was just the beginning. As my relationship with God and his Son Jesus Christ grew deeper, he changed my heart and that changed EVERYTHING about me. I have learned that whole-hearted obedience to God Almighty brings happiness, life and peace. He has restored our finances and made my marriage sweeter. My children are obedient which makes for a happy and peaceful home. He has blessed me with the fruits of the Spirit. I am a new creation, a changed person. Through Weigh Down, God also led my family to Remnant Fellowship. We had been searching for THE TRUTH for so long, and we finally found it. I praise God for Gwen Shamblin and our Godly leaders, who have shown us how to how to live a life pleasing to God Almighty, by taking Christianity seriously and putting God first in everything. All praise to our God! We have been highly blessed by this message.
Praise God! Through obedience to God's message being taught by the Weigh Down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship Church He has delivered me from so much greed and sin. At a very young age I sought out God on my own as my family was not religious. From early on there was childhood turmoil and a deep emptiness or void. I tried to fill the void with so many things and became enslaved to a lot of them. From the age of 12, I began exercising and not eating to control my weight, I was spurred on by the praise of man but that only lasted about a year until I figured out that I could eat all I wanted and just purge it up. I thought I was so keen, I was really in control; all the while this was controlling me. In college it became a vicious daily cycle of waking up looking for a feeling in food (binging and purging sometimes 6-8 times a day) sexual sin, over consumption of alcohol (to the point of vomiting and even alcohol poisoning), relationships and praise of man. I would fall into bed every night drunk or exhausted only to get up the next day and do it all over again. After marriage the eating disorder continued, largely concealed from my husband but still on a daily basis. I began to feel hopeless, like a zombie mindlessly walking into this day after day not knowing how to get out. Other sins plaguing my life included controlling my husband, overspending, lying to cover up my sin, bitterness and anger toward just about everyone, self focus, lust, laziness, and harsh treatment of my children. This all going on while I was employed by our church as Director of Evangelism, my husband and I were youth leaders, I led ladies bible study, Sunday school, you name it. God was so faithful and I have seen his hand in my life, his lead and his provisions. Unfortunately I became confused as to why the hope, the joy, the deliverance, the relationship with God that I read about in the bible was not becoming a reality for me. I never felt saved, I felt like an imposter. I had so much guilt. Church leaders would tell me that I needed to let that go and accept God's free gift of grace. Many times I cried out to God for help, I desperately wanted out! In 1998 (I believe) God led me to the Weigh Down Workshop. I began leading classes in our church. I lost 35 pounds and for the first time began to experience a real relationship with God. He became so real, he rewarded every act of obedience and I saw the bible in a new light. The message of obedience was very hard to maintain because it was not being taught in the church. I knew I was not wholeheartedly obeying God. About year 2000 there suddenly were no participants for a class and I began to revert back to everything I knew was wrong. Within a year I was diagnosed with panic attacks, depression, migraines, and TMJ. I got to the point that I could not get out of bed; I was taking antidepressants, and more antidepressants to counteract the side effects of the other antidepressants, medication for the migraines, sleeping pills so I could fall asleep, and pain medication. I had joint pain, neck pain, foot pain, back pain, fits of rage and crying. The relationships with my husband and children were nonexistent and he took care of the majority of the responsibility of caring for our children who were 1 and 3 at the time. I went to faith healers, prayer services for healing, I cried out to God, and I couldn’t understand why I was not being healed. The medications were not helping and I knew God was my only hope. Finally I was so desperate that, instinctively, I called the Weigh Down Workshop and found a class 30 minutes away. Shortly into the class God revealed that all the curses for disobedience in the book of Deuteronomy had come upon me. I immediately began to repent like never before. I began seeking out God’s leading and his laws and principles from his word and Weigh Down and putting them into practice. Within three weeks I was delivered of all of the above physical conditions. No more medication, except for occasional allergy or colds. And my heart began changing as well. I have increasingly more joy and more peace and more fruit of the Spirit in my life. I have lost about 55 pounds and have kept it off for over a year now and I am totally free from the 20 year bondage to bulimia! I know I never want to go back to that empty way of life! I thank God for Gwen Shamblin for teaching me Gods ways and the people of the Remnant Fellowship church for living it out so that I could finally see what obedience to God looks like! I am changing more and more as time goes on. This is something I never obtained by years of counseling, But only by obedience to God! His word is TRUE, He is FAITHFUL, and his promises are REAL to all who make him LORD. Praise you God! You keep your covenant of love to those who love you and keep your commands.
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