Well, DJ is all grown up and has a real name - Candace Cameron Bure. Her brother, Kirk, has become quite the evangelist and she shares the same beliefs and convictions. She's now a wife, mother, author, and public speaker. She is also quite fit and GORGEOUS!
Around Christmas, I went to Lifeway Christian Store to buy a few gifts. I had checked out the sale flyer and saw a book about weight loss that looked interesting to me - and only $5! Well, I couldn't find that book, but there was Candace Cameron looking beautiful on the cover of another book in the same section. It looked interesting and I loved Full House, so I bought it - without much expectation.
As we all know, the holidays are busy, so I didn't read much of the book right away. And let's be honest, I wasn't excited to get into it. My expectations of Christian authors are usually that their book is going to be really sappy and unrealistic.
She wrote this to me. Seriously, she's been watching me and she knew exactly what I needed to read to finally "get it." I couldn't wait to get to each chapter to see what she had to say to me next. What revelation would I experience with each chapter? She uses scripture to show how health and fitness are Godly - we aren't made to be gluttonous sloths. Of course, we know that, but do we act like we know that?
She begins the book telling her own story of her struggle with healthy eating and activity. Being a teenager is hard enough, but being a teen in front of the camera is even more difficult. She really struggled with her appearance. She points out that when it is your appearance, or how others see you, that matters most, you will not be successful. She went through a lot before she came to that fact. I enjoyed getting to know her a little in that first part, but what was coming later was what spoke to me.
In the next chapter she talked about things that hold us back and keep up stuck in our unhealthy lifestyles. She asked a question that really got me thinking - what is your conviction? Why am I committed to becoming healthier? What's going to keep me on track? I was thinking and thinking about how to answer that when I meditated on this verse: Galatians 5:16
"So I say, live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."
Ooh...I've been so focused on gratifying the desires of my sinful nature. Food has been my gratification, as well as laziness. Ouch - ya got me. So, while I'm mulling that over, I read: stop abusing yourself with food. Oh my - that's what I've been doing. I've looked at it as treating myself or indulging myself, but I've really been destroying myself.
So, that is where I started - there is so much more that became ingrained in my thoughts after coming to this realization. Too much to write here...maybe there will be a few more parts to this blog!
She's coming to Birmingham as part of the Extraordinary Women's Conference in April. I can't wait to hear her speak and I'm REALLY hoping to meet her and have her sign my book...and to thank her for writing it just for me! I think we should be friends now - maybe workout buddies?
I leave you with these two quotes from her book:
"There is a place of freedom, when the trying just becomes living."
"This outer shell is simply an envelope for my spirit."
Part 2 - newest blog about this book.
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