Led to Biblical Health…The Beginning

Hey Friends,

My name is Jamie.  I want to tell you the story behind Led to Biblical Health, but it first starts with transparency about myself.

A little over a year ago, I found myself in a tough spot.  I had zero energy, anxiety, and panic attacks.  I was experiencing horrible constipation and heartburn, joint pain, headaches, irregular periods, weight gain… the list goes on and on!  I was only 39.  What was happening to me?

The hardest part of all of this was definitely the anxiety portion.  Crippling anxiety is hard to explain to those who have never felt it.  You know you are being completely irrational.  This is the only way I know to explain it.  Anxiety and panic attacks feel like I am drowning in shallow water.  There are people on the shore yelling at me to put my feet down and just stand up.  I am telling myself to put my feet down and stand up, but for some reason, I can’t get my legs to move.  I just keep going under, drowning in fears and what ifs.  It is torture.

I have really always been an anxious person, even as a child.  I have always felt the need for perfection and people pleasing.  I remember having horrible stomach aches in grade school while at morning recess because of an upcoming test that day.  I always felt the need to make my family proud and be the perfect little girl.  Those moments when I did not measure up to perfection standards, and no one can achieve perfection, felt devastating to me.  

As I have grown older, I have grown in my knowledge of the Bible.  I know no one can be perfect.  We are all natural born sinners.  There is nothing I can do to save myself from the wrath of God.  Jesus has achieved it all on my behalf.  He died in my place, took on God’s wrath, knows my need for Him, and this is the only way I can stand before God.  Even though I know all of this, in my mind and heart, old habits die hard.

I still feel the need from time to time for perfection.  Life does not work that way.  Sin has left us with a broken world, full of sadness, sickness, and death.  When life hits those hiccups in the road, my anxiety often spirals out of control.  A year ago, I was in this spot.  My mom had gotten really sick earlier that year.  She had had a heart attack and been placed on dialysis.  She called me on Christmas Day to let me know she and my stepdad had COVID and would not be coming for Christmas.  A few days later, she was having chest pain again and refused to go to the hospital.  She was just tired of seeing doctors.  A week later my husband became really sick with COVID.  I was under a huge amount of stress at work.  I had been assistant manager for about a year, and was burnt out trying to take care of everyone at work, sick parents, a sick husband, and manage my three kids and household.  

My anxiety spiraled like never before.  I had waves of panic that passed through my body for weeks.  I tried seeking counsel from my husband, who at the time felt horrible from COVID, and told me that all my worrying was a sin.  (He was right, but I’ll address this issue more in a moment. By the way, when someone is in an anxiety spiral, telling them this makes everything worse!😜)  I knew I needed help fast!  I could not keep feeling how I was feeling.  I made an appointment with a Christian counselor and with my doctor.  Both an increase of medication and talking with a therapist helped a ton.  I also began doing my own research.  I began to see just how important diet, exercise, stress management, sleep, and lifestyle had an effect on anxiety.  

This past year has been a journey of focusing on eating better, exercising more, and trying to change my lifestyle to a way that supports a healthier me.  I began to notice how much better I began to feel.  My energy level increased, my nails and hair began growing longer and healthier, and I just felt overall better than I had in a long time.  I would love to tell you that my anxiety was cured, but it was not.  It definitely got much better than it was, but anxiety is just something I struggle with everyday.

I began researching whether my constant anxiety was a sin.  It really bothered me what my husband said when he was sick.  After he got better, I asked him about it again, and he had the same answer that yes, worry and anxiety is sinful.  Upon further digging, it turns out he was right.  Don’t get me wrong, there are true medical conditions that set our brain chemistry off, and cause us to be more prone to certain mental illnesses.  (I am so thankful for medications, diet, exercise, and lifestyle that help with this!). The Fall, when sin entered the world, caused a broken people, and our minds are not n exception.  I did learn that when Jesus tells us not to worry in Scripture, this is a commandment, and when we worry, we are disobeying this commandment, which is a sin.  My husband was sick and definitely could have delivered this news a little differently to his stressed out, worried wife, but the truth I did not want to hear was still true.  

The vulnerabilities of our bodies can sometimes exacerbate and show sin in our lives.  This is where the gospel, the good news of Christ, comes into the picture.  God knew before the beginning of time that we would never be able to live a life in which we never sinned.  He knew before He made us that we would be prone to certain sins, and there would be hard things that each of us would struggle with in this life.  He knows how to deal with sins, even ones we think we will always struggle with, and makes us new.

In my research, I begin to discover that diet and exercise make such a difference in how your body feels.  I looked at my diet and fairly sedentary lifestyle and began to slowly make changes.  I started to see a big difference in the way I felt.  Soon, I wanted everyone to feel this  and know that they could feel better.  I began to realize that it is much easier to do the things God calls you to do when you have more energy.  Essentially, if you feel better, you can do more things to glorify God.

I am of the belief that the gospel ties to every aspect of our lives.  I began trying to find platforms that link health and the Bible.  I was surprised to find that there are very few of them.  Many holistic care sites are definitely not Biblically based.  I immediately saw the need for a platform that first glorifies the Lord and shares the message of the gospel, but also teaches how to best care for our bodies so we have the energy to serve others and spread the gospel.  This started Led to Biblical Health!

I share this raw story of myself and how Led to Biblical Health came to be, because I want you to understand that I am so far from having it all together.  The internet can make it seem like I am a picture perfect Christian.  Please know I am not!  There are days when I look at myself and think I am totally incapable of Biblical health coaching.  I have daily struggles that I think I should have overcome.  Then I realize that I am not relying on myself, my struggles, or my perfection.  I am leaning on Christ and am totally reliant on Him for anything good that comes from my life.  For that reason, I can never stop proclaiming who He is and how beautiful the gospel message is.  I pray this blog spreads the message of the gospel and brings glory to Him!