If Christians are to be vessels that bring the power of God to a broken world they need to look at pain and suffering head-on and not be afraid but instead be strong, not with physical strength or spiritual emotion but with genuine compassion, grace and long-suffering that foster a courage solely in Christ.
Get The Book – Learn Lessons God Has For You
We can’t fully appreciate the fitness God intends for humanity until we understand AND EXPERIENCE our own weakness and the brokenness of those around us.
Before being introduced to Lyndsey Medford’s book, My Body And Other Crumbling Empires, I have followed Jimmy Peña for years. Jimmy is a former fitness director for Muscle & Fitness, a New York Times best selling author and the founder of PrayFit where he advocates for helping the many people who lack mobility and need respite. In 2013 Jimmy was personally introduced to chronic pain, suffering, and illness. I’ve worked with other groups and individuals all living out their faith in Christ through some aspect of fitness and wellness. I’ve highlighted many of them here in Faith & Fitness Magazine.
I received a copy of a small book by Sean DeMars simply titled, Does the Gospel Promise Health and Prosperity? I’ve not yet done an article on that book but I think you know the answer to that rather rhetorical question – NO!
It’s unfortunate but the faith and fitness community is rife with secular hype and attitude. Put even more bluntly by Paul in the New Testament book of Second Timothy, many have a form of godliness but deny the power. He wrote it from a Roman prison cell, (check out my article on being COMMITTED as a prisoner) a good place to get your eyes opened even more by God. Paul goes on to say, “stay clear of these people”. It’s no surprise that many people who don’t have a relationship with God often do exactly that AND then they stay clear of God too!
When life gets too good it’s easy to be deceived, distracted and ignore God. Unrestrained passion for health and the religious practice of physical fitness can lead to lust, arrogance, ignorance and idolatry. The Bible warning is clear: Do not be deceived. Yet we all too often and easily are deceived. Real positivity only exists in humble and total attribution to Christ. Everything else is counterfeit and lacks lasting power.
YOU CAN’T MAKE YOURSELF EXCEPTIONAL
Lyndsey Medford in her forward says this:
I’m fluent in multiple languages… In early 2009, without signing up for a course or traveling across an ocean I was plunged into the total immersion language program of chronic illness. In a matter of days, I started learning syllables I had never heard before. Burning. Throbbing. Stinging. Stabbing. I was twenty years old and a junior in college, and suddenly I could barely walk, hold a pen, open a book, or pray a prayer. The land of ease became a memory. The body I had implicitly used to make myself exceptional went on strike until I recognized her as more than a machine. – I started paying attention to parts of myself that Christians had taught me to fear, silence, cover up, and control.
-Lundsay Medford
Do you use your body to make yourself exceptional? Does your faith and fitness demand that anything and everything in your body and others that we ourselves can’t make and maintain perfect be feared, silenced, covered up and controlled instead of being wholly given to God?
Christ doesn’t call people to be exceptional. He invites you to be like Him. How do you do that? Check out the Bible for all the details.
COMMIT TO THIS – A CALL TO ACTION
Dear Faith & Fitness Magazine readers, the subtitle of this book is, Lessons for Healing in a World That Is Sick. Get this book. Read it. Pray deeply. Listen to your body in ways you’ve never done before. Find a way to put yourself in the presence of others who are tired, sick, hurting, disabled, confused and even those who are imminently facing death. Befriend them, listen to them, extend grace to them, walk with them and try to feel their pain and suffering. Then tell God, like you never have before, #hereIam
Commit to learning God’s lessons for healing in a world that is sick and you’ll gain a transformed understanding and appreciation for fitness as the true love and blessing from God that it is.
AN OVERVIEW OF MY BODY AND OTHER CRUMBLING EMPIRES
Sixty percent of adults in the U.S. live with a chronic illness. If we included mental illness and chronic pain, that number would be even higher. Autoimmune diseases in particular, including long COVID, are on the rise.
Christian adults living with chronic illness may be left behind by the talk of “body positivity” or embodied theology, as they struggle to unequivocally name their bodies as good. They may have read books about healing through “lifestyle interventions” like diet or “detoxing,” but wonder if being unable to follow the recommendations or failing to heal means they don’t deserve to live with less pain. They are looking for ways to live gracefully within limitations they never asked for, and/or to understand their experience of chronic illness within a larger context of global burnout.
In My Body and Other Crumbling Empires: Lessons for Healing in a World that Is Sick Lyndsey Medford points out the beauty, and ubiquity in limitations; the importance of accessibility, broadly construed; the interconnected nature of health and public health; and the badly-needed wisdom we have gained from living with our particular bodies. A recent review in Publishers Weekly raves: “Those suffering from chronic illnesses will find a compassionate friend in Medford, and those seeking to live a more justice-focused life, a willing guide. Her sharp insights will help readers re-imagine healing and wholeness.”
