I am so thankful to God and His Son Jesus Christ for allowing me to find the Weigh Down Ministries. I came across the Weigh Down Diet book at a local bookstore back in 1998 and it changed my life. I read about a love for God that author Gwen Shamblin had and I knew this is IT, this is what I want and need desperately! I told my friend about the book and she found a local class and signed us up. I quickly lost my weight and was more consistently joyful than I had ever been. I didn't realize until years later that I had only made it "halfway across the Red Sea" as Gwen describes it; I had backstroked back to Egypt. We were moving as I had lost my weight in the first class and I had let go of all my worldly ties and "busy" activities I was involved in. I felt free from burdens that I had tied on my own back and I learned to truly honor my earthly Mother and Father in a way I knew God commanded me to do.
After we moved it took us about a year to find a church, and then another year to start ministering to others through Sunday School classes which was what we felt like God was leading us to do. As we took on all these added responsibilities I began to feel more and more hopeless. Hopeless to help others, hopeless to raise godly children, Hopeless for my life to have joy. I turned to food again, rather than God, to fill the void in my life. I would talk about Weigh Down but didn't actively search for a class, this was an eye opening and miserable time, outwardly I seemed happy but inside I was constantly crying out. God so generously allowed me a couple of years ago to find the scriptures, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your words." Also "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."
My breaking point and last exodus began when I woke up one day and searched for my Rise Above book I had from years before; I found the 800 number and began the classes. I knew from my first Exodus to trust God and that this was the way I could gain this heart for him that Gwen had so eloquently talked about in her own life. I took the classes over and over again, calling the coordinators of my classes and hanging on for dear life as I knew this was the answer. My heart had become so hardened it took everything I had to break through to the truth to live this walk of self-denial Jesus had patterned out for us. It wasn't until I surrendered the food, my reputation, my selfish desire for more of everything, that God graciously delivered me into the Freedom of a life where He is first.
In the fall of 2006, I and my family joined the Remnant Fellowship Church. It is fantastic! A whole church body that is being taught continuously, young and old alike, to put God first, and then love each other. I have more love in my heart today for all my family and friends than I ever had before hearing this message. Every aspect of my life is richer because of these Bible studies. I thank God for fulfilling the desires of my heart to break the generational sin of how I treated my parents; I have undeservedly received respectful, loving children filled with the fruit of God's spirit. I have HOPE for their lives and the generations after because of the timeless Biblical instruction we have received...PRAISE GOD!
D’Linda Law