Honoring My Temple

How badly do you really want it?

• Kelly Wenner • Season 1 • Episode 19

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0:00 | 10:44

Most of us have a picture in our minds of how we'd like to feel—stronger, healthier, more energetic, more confident. But if we're honest, there's often a gap between what we say we want and what we're willing to do to get there.

In this episode of Honoring My Temple, we explore why lasting change requires more than good intentions. We'll look at the tension between wanting the result and embracing the process, what the book of James teaches us about wisdom, and why our health goals may need a Christ-centered perspective rather than a culture-centered one.

If you've ever felt stuck, discouraged, or frustrated with your progress, this episode will encourage you to stop chasing the world's definition of success and begin asking God for the wisdom to pursue what truly matters.

Because maybe the greatest transformation isn't just changing your body—it's allowing God to change your heart, your habits, and your priorities along the way.

Connect & Go Deeper

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Honoring My Temple podcast. If you're looking to put God at the center of your life and live that out practically through your health, habits, and everyday choices, this podcast is for you. I'm Kelly Wenner, founder of Soul Strength Fit and author of Honoring My Temple. Here we explore biblical wisdom and how to apply it to real life, your mindset, food, exercise, and the habits that shape who you're becoming. Let's get started. Today I want to ask you a simple but important question. What do you want in regard to your health? Your fitness goals? How do you want to feel when you wake up in the morning? How do you want to feel in your body? What kind of energy do you want to have? What kind of relationship with food do you want? What kind of life do you envision for yourself? Maybe you want to lose weight. Maybe you want to feel more confident. Maybe you'd like to look in the mirror and feel good about what you see. Maybe you want to feel comfortable in your clothes again. Maybe you want to have the energy to keep up with your kids or grandkids. Maybe you want to reduce your risk of disease. Or maybe you simply want to feel healthy, strong, and capable in the body God has given you. Take a moment and really think about your answers. Not the answer you think you should give, your answer. What do you want for your health? What do you want for your fitness? What do you want for your body? Be specific. What does that look like? How does it feel? Can you picture it? Most of us can. Most of us have some idea of what we'd like our health to look like. But here's the harder question. How badly do you want it? Because there's often a gap between what we say we want and what we're actually willing to do to get it. Many people want the result. Fewer people want the process. We want the weight loss. But do we want to consistently make the food choices that lead to weight loss? We want more energy, but do we want the earlier bedtime? We want to feel stronger, but do we want the workout? We want better health, but do we want the daily habits that produce better health? And that's where so many of us get stuck. Not because we don't want change, but because we want change without changing. We want different results while continuing many of the same habits that produced the results we currently have. I remember a personal training client years ago who illustrated this perfectly. She wanted to lose weight. She wanted to get healthier. She wanted to feel better in her body. But she didn't want to rearrange her schedule to make the workouts a priority. She told me she was a picky eater. She grew up on fast food and that's what she liked. That's what she wanted to continue to eat. She wanted change, but she didn't want to change. She wanted change, but she didn't want to change. And if we're honest, we all do this, at least sometimes. We want the result, but we're not always willing to embrace the process. Because wanting something doesn't mean doing it perfectly. We all have setbacks. We all have off days. We all have moments when we choose comfort over growth. The question isn't whether we're perfect, the question is what we're building most of the time. Are our habits, choices, and routines generally moving us toward the person we want to become or away from her? This reminds me of a passage in the book of James. James describes a person who doubts as being like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. He goes on to describe that person as double-minded. And honestly, I think many of us experience that same struggle when it comes to our health. One minute we want health. The next minute we want convenience. One minute we want self-discipline. The next minute we want comfort. One minute we want energy. The next minute we want to stay up too late. One minute we want to lose weight. The next minute we're reaching for something we know isn't helping us reach that goal. We're pulled in two different directions. Part of us wants the future we're envisioning. Part of us wants the comfort of staying exactly where we are. And that tension can keep us stuck for years. But I love that James doesn't simply point out the problem. He also points us toward the solution. Just a few verses earlier, James writes, If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. What a beautiful promise. Because wisdom is exactly what we need. And not just wisdom for our faith, not just wisdom for understanding scripture, not just wisdom for believing the right things. We need wisdom for how we live, wisdom for the decisions we make every day, wisdom for the habits we form, wisdom for how we spend our time. Wisdom for how we care for our bodies. Wisdom for recognizing what's helping us grow and what's holding us back. Maybe a prayer we should be praying more often is simply God, give me wisdom. Show me what needs to change. Show me where I've drifted. Show me where I'm making excuses. Show me what I'm not seeing. And give me the courage and discipline to act on what you reveal. Because many of us don't simply need more information. We need God's wisdom helping us apply truth to our everyday lives. And maybe one of the areas where we need God's wisdom most is in the goals themselves. God, give me the wisdom to set the right goals. Because the world has a lot to say about health and fitness. Social media has a lot to say about health and fitness. And if we're not careful, we can end up chasing goals that were never meant to be the primary goal. Maybe the goal isn't looking like a 25-year-old fitness influencer. Maybe the goal is building and maintaining a strong, healthy body. Maybe the goal is developing the wisdom and self-discipline to care well for the body God has given you. Maybe the goal is feeling in control of your food choices, being able to choose wisely, being able to stop when your body has had enough, being able to enjoy food as a gift from God without feeling controlled by it. Maybe the goal is to develop a relationship with food that reflects God's design to eat when your body needs nourishment, to enjoy the foods God created and provided, to receive them as gifts, to enjoy them tremendously, and to develop the wisdom to stop when our bodies are satisfied. Maybe the goal is to have the strength, energy, and vitality to fully live the life that God has called you to live. In other words, maybe the journey becomes less about you and more about Jesus. Rather than working for the approval of others, we can be we become focused on honoring God through the way we care for our bodies. Rather than viewing exercise as a punishment or a way to burn off what we ate, we begin to see exercise as a gift, a body that can walk, a body that can lift, a body that can move, a body that can serve. What a blessing. Rather than comparing ourselves to someone else's appearance, we remember that God can use this journey as a refining process, a process that stretches us, humbles us, teaches us, and develops our character. A process that can ultimately then draw us closer to Him. Rather than staying consistent, so we can look good in a bathing suit, rather than staying consistent with our healthy habits just for that reason, we stay consistent because discipline, perseverance, self-control are qualities worth developing. Rather than viewing healthy food as something we should eat, we've been we begin to see it as fuel, fuel to live out the life God has called us to live. So this week, rather than focusing on the outcome, maybe just start with this prayer. God, give me wisdom. Wisdom to set the right goals. Wisdom to align my actions with what I say I want. Wisdom to recognize when I'm sabotaging my own growth. Wisdom to see where I've drifted off course. Wisdom to make choices that are beneficial, not just comfortable. And give me the courage to make the changes that wisdom requires. Because knowing what to do and doing it are often two different things. Ask God to guide your steps. Ask him to help you stay on the path. And when you wander, ask him to gently nudge you back. So this week, spend some time with that question. What do I really want? And are my actions aligned with that desire? Then ask God for the wisdom to see clearly and the courage to respond accordingly. Thanks for spending this time with me. To learn more, visit SoulStrengthFit.com.