My name is Lisa Peters and I was according to the world "a good Christian girl! " Raised in church all of my life, active in the youth, choir, drama presentations, teacher of Sunday School, camp counselor, etc. I went to Christian schools, very active in all of that, and thought I lived a life following Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. However, inside my heart I did not have the fruit of the Spirit that is talked about in the book in Galatians. Love, joy peace, kindness, gentleness, self control,. At times I had these things, however I had a lustful heart and mind, I was never satisfied with life, angry wife and mother. I grew up a big girl and was as a young 5th grader wanting to lose weight!!! I did try other methods of losing weight . In high school, I took diet pills and tried losing weight drinking only water, however gaining it all back. Later in life I tried measuring my food and weighing it all out, didn't work. That was not changing my heart, just the food portions. I lived in slim fast, and still was heavy!!! For anxiety I was prescribed and anti-depressant. I then started the Weigh Down Workshop and I learned that I was heavy and anxious and angry and greedy due to a heart that was never satisfied!! Starting with the food. I finally learned how to eat and then all the while learned to have a relationship with God and come clean with what was in my heart!! We became members of Remnant Fellowship in 2000 and life has changed. We are being taught through a godly leadership our to have a 100% 24/7/365 relationship with God that is genuine. My marriage is healed, I love my children, and there is not anger in our family, our children love God and live for him and they are TEENAGERS!! We know now what if means to be followers of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it's beautiful. My husband and I have lost weight. My husband Cliff has lost 35lbs and myself ,20 and it has been off for over 8 years. I praise God for the opportunity to share with the world this very exciting truth!!! I pray that people can hear this message so they too can be set free and permanently change!!
In 1999 my wife took a Weigh Down class. It was a 12 week Exodus out of Egypt class. As the weeks went on she would come home and share with me what she learned and I would do it. We lost weight and got closer to each other, life was good and we were extremely happy. After the class, as time went on, we put the weight back on, we drifted farther apart and were miserable.
We tried some things to make life better, but nothing has brought joy and peace like living out this walk of obedience to God. My wife and I did not realize at the time that a relationship with God was what Gwen trough Weigh Down was teaching us to do. As it was I was 50 lbs overweight, smoked about a pack and a half a day and was always angry. Not just upset, but real anger the kind that people can tell you are angry about something just by looking at you. I tried taking Zoloft, and Prozac to help me control my anger. I would spend hours on the computer visiting pornographic sites. I was the type of person who would bend over backwards to do something for you but always wanted and expected something in return. Usually a pat on the back or I felt I deserved a thank you for being nice. Not to mention my finances were a wreck. I had 3 major credit cards and all of them were about maxed out--mostly with trips out to dinner. Four years later in the fall of 2003 we were ready to get a divorce. We sat there talking and agreed that the only time we were ever happy was when we were in the Weigh Down class. My wife found a class in our area, we did not have money in the bank to take a class, but she post dated a check anyhow and got us signed up. God provided the money to clear the check by the way! And we have never been the same. By applying these biblical teachings, of mere Christianity, I have lost 50 lbs, quit smoking, I am in control of my emotions and do not need or desire chemicals to control me, and I no longer visit pornographic sites or look to fill my mind or my day with that stuff, which was huge to begin rebuilding the relationship with my wife. We will not divorce. Our finances are being restored as well. We are in less debt now than we were when we first got married and it is going down.
Now we love each other, we work together to teach this way of life to our daughter and she is living it out too! We worship God wholeheartedly and look forward to being around like-minded believers that encourage us in that direction! So now it is 2006, almost 2007. I am a changed man and even different from whom I was 2 months ago. I continue in this everyday and want it more and more. I have learned simply to exchange the way I have done things all my life and do things the way God wants them done. A simple transfer of focus. I am not an emotionless robot either, I am simply self controlled, a fruit of the Holy Spirit of God! I encourage you that you can do this! Taste and see that God is good, lay down your pride and obey Him; and he will show himself to you!
I called myself a Christian, but when I needed something, I ran to food, alcohol, money, antidepressants, and approval of others instead of to God. None of those things gave me what I needed; in fact I was enslaved by them. I was miserable, and didn’t know why I wasn’t experiencing life as a new creation, as described in the Bible. I pasted a smile on my face, but I hated my life. Then I started really listening to the Bible-based teachings of The Weigh Down Workshop, a ministry founded by Gwen Shamblin, M.S., R.D. There were many testimonies of people who’d been able to let go of their relationship with the fridge in exchange for a deep relationship with God—and that idea had great appeal for me. It was exciting to think that it was actually possible to really leave my old life of slavery to food and other things, and to follow Jesus (who said "not my will but Yours be done" - Luke 22:42) as the disciples did. The main false comforts that I have permanently laid down are: overeating, bulimia - 20 years, antidepressants - 16 years overdrinking, marital discord , lazy parenting, general laziness and chronic unemployment, pride, anger, dissatisfaction and complaining, lying, insatiable seeking approval of people, overspending and chronic debt. The people I got to know through Weigh Down and Remnant Fellowship lived in the freedom which is only available in Christ: freedom FROM sin, not freedom TO sin. They shone with peace and joy and exemplified the love of Christ. This was in marked contrast to what I saw and experienced in the rest of the world (sadly, just as much in the churches as everywhere else). I stopped listening to the messages that told me I’d never be able to stop sinning and that God doesn’t expect us to be holy. Those untrue teachings only let me continue in sin. Hebrews 10:26-29 points out, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" I now finally understood the hope in verses like this (that we can stop sinning!), and I stopped skipping over them. Another verse that explains the wonderful Grace of our God: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." (Titus 2:11-14) I had found the hope that we mere humans can be pure--why else would God tell us to be? I had a lot to repent for and a lot to learn! I stayed in Weigh Down classes, joined Remnant Fellowship, and lost my excess weight. It's been off since the summer of 2004. (My before and after photos are on our family's testimony website, http://weighdownworks.blogspot.com/.) At last I was surrounded by people, in person and online, who lived what they preached. I found out that by obeying God's Spirit in eating and in everything else, I could do it too! I finally had support in letting go of habitual sin and living a life pleasing to God, instead of hearing "oh, it’s all right, I can’t stop either, but God understands". Now I love waking up every day, and I can't wait to see what GOD's plans for the day are! My smile is genuine now--you can't wipe it off my face! I wouldn’t go back to my old life for anything.
I Praise God that I heard about this truth JUST IN TIME, for I believe I would have died within a year or two. I was severely bulimic and addicted to drugs and had anxiety attacks that were so severe I would lay on the floor and scream. I wanted to jump out of my skin. I HATED MY LIFE AND I WAS SO SCARED!!! My husband would hold me and pray for me and NOTHING HELPED. I wanted to kill myself but I figured if I did, I would surely go to hell and that would be even WORSE than my hell on earth.THEN.......THE BEST NEWS I ever heard was from God’s Word that if I did not obey God, I would not make it to Heaven (I always knew the Bible said that, but false leaders kept assuring me that as long as I was still "trying" to be good I was okay in God's eyes), and that we COULD obey, AND that we MUST obey!! On January 17, 2003 I stopped purging and stopped excessive exercise and stopped dieting. AND I MADE THE CHOICE TO OBEY GOD!! I stopped lying and cheating and lusting and it was so COOL!!! I no longer need drugs to calm me down, lift my mood, or give me energy. I stopped taking vitamins -- I was taking around 44 per day and spending around $250 per month on them. So since I used to spend $20 or so per binge (and towards the end I would binge around 3 times per week) and since I'm not doing the vitamins I have a lot more money than I ever had before! I thank God for Jill and Larry Ritchie who led me into this awesome truth, and the Nissen's who helped me so much in what once was Toledo Remnant. And for Ruth Kubichar for showing me by example how to be a submissive wife and put God first. And for Tedd Anger and of course Gwen Shamblin who continues to lay down her life for the Saints. As the song says, I have truly "been waiting all of my life" for this -- AND I FOUND ZION, PRAISE GOD!!!
Erin Moore
From a very early age, I was consumed with worry and fear. By age seven, I had stomach ulcers caused from constant worrying about my parents’ arguments, whether there would be enough money, and many “what ifs.” At age nine I began a struggle with extreme body focus, which led to years of bingeing and starving myself. This horrible see-saw threw my weight back and forth from several pounds underweight to 25 pounds overweight, while also exacerbating hypoglycemia and headaches. Though I was raised in the church and my father was a deacon, the teachings I heard and those who taught them gave me no hope. The lives of my past church leaders were truly that of saying one thing and doing another. Most of them were overweight, several smoked behind closed doors, and their families were in shambles: multiple divorces, children out of wedlock, constant bickering, controlling wives, filthy language, suicides, etc. I had no desire to get married or have children, because every family I knew was so miserable. At the age of 18, I was miserable, overweight, depressed, angry, without hope, without purpose. I was empty and looking for fulfillment, but neither the world nor the modern-day church had anything to offer. In desperation, I cried out to God, and He heard my cry for help. I was first exposed to Weigh Down and Remnant Fellowship in the beginning of 2001. I chose then to give my life wholly to the Creator of the Universe, and have never looked back. I am daily changing for the better and loving it! The more changes I make in my life, the happier I am, the more peace I have, the more contentment, the more Fruit of the Spirit. Because of the teachings of Remnant Fellowship, I no longer worry about anything, but take every concern to God and have total faith and peace that He is in control. I am now thrilled to be a wife and mother, because Remnant has taught me how to have a happy, peaceful home. My husband loves and respects me, and I honor and submit to him; both of us looking out for the needs of each other, rather than of ourselves. We are excited to raise our baby son under this Remnant teaching, and to teach him how to have this relationship with God. This peaceful home is a direct result of the teachings of Remnant Fellowship and the examples of its leadership families. By putting these God-given principles into practice, I have become happier, healthier, and more at peace than ever before. I am no longer hypoglycemic, underweight, overweight, or experiencing frequent headaches. I can’t believe how blessed I am – I didn’t know life could be this good, yet every day is better than the one before. No longer do I wake up dreading the misery and the struggle, but now I wake up thrilled at breath and life and so humbled for a chance to fall on my face in praise, prayer, and worship to God Almighty. I have truly been FREED from the sins of the past. My life has real purpose and hope now. Remnant Fellowship has taught me how to have a true relationship with God and have my prayers answered on a daily basis. All of these blessings came once I put into practice the teachings of Remnant Fellowship and imitated this leadership as they imitate Christ. These leaders are completely pure in every area of their lives – there is nothing hidden or false. They are worthy of imitation in every word and action – this never could have been said about any of my church leaders in the past. Without Remnant Fellowship, I know that I would be on a path to Hell. No church I was ever part of taught me that you could turn from sin or that you HAVE to turn from sin. I am eternally grateful for this Remnant Fellowship, this leadership, Gwen Shamblin and her family for laying down their lives to teach me to repent and turn to THE God and have this chance at eternal life. Praise God for His mercy, and for a chance to live a pure life for Him - I would not trade this life for any other. This joy is REAL and this change is PERMANENT! You, too, can have this life!
Hi my name is Brenda Meyer and I come from a background of sexual, physical and emotional abuse starting at the age of 4. My whole life has been a mess, but what made it even worst was that to look at me on the outside you wouldn’t have known it. Sound familiar to any of you? The outside package was held together pretty good and was functional…but the inside was full of hatred, anger, rage, jealousy, self-hatred, greed, low self-esteem, 20 years of being a functioning drunk, unforgiveness, self-focus, depression, constant state of neediness and wanting, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, self-pity, manipulation, phony hypocritical lair, lust, cigarette addiction, deadly fear of the dark, fear of people, a constant daily buzzing noise in my ears and tightness in my head, escapism into a fantasy world, loneliness, and constant internal turmoil. There wasn’t a single area of my life that wasn’t a mess – terrible marriage, terrible parent, in-debt and over-weight! It has only been through the teachings of The Weigh Down Workshop that I have for the first time in my life at the age of 46 years experienced the emotions of peace, joy, happiness and love…with an added benefit of 50+lbs of permanent weight lost. Gwen Shamblin has been pivotal in pointing me to God and showing me how to have a genuine, personal relationship with Him. I have also learned another invaluable Truth…that nothing that happened to me in my past is an excuse for staying in sin!!! My many attempts at solving my weight problem was to try every diet known to mankind: Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Tony Powers, grapefruit, Atkins, Fen/fen, Slim-fast, tuna, low-fat/no-fats, health food, all manner of herbal concoctions, diet of the month, exercise and so much more. Whatever the latest diet anyone else was trying or was on the current magazine rack. I guess you get the idea! Once again, for the emotional problems, I tried it all—counseling, self-help books, seminars, western religion, suppression, climbing into an alcohol bottle and moving to a new state every two years. As a last result, nine years ago for the first time in my life I turned to Church/Religion. I got caught up in the Faith/Prosperity message which only taught me increased greed and lust for “more” and did nothing to identify any sin in my life or heart. I did use Jesus like a drug. I got high on Sundays but by Monday things were pretty much back to normal. After 5 years of calling myself a Christian I was in worst shape by the time I left the last church I intended then when I first started attending. Needless to say “None of these methods worked”! But in less than two years of applying the principles taught by Weigh Down, I’m a much better parent, my marriage is better, we’re working on the debt and the majority of the emotional stuff is either gone or actively being laid down. Simply put…positive Change is occurring in my life daily. Because only “the truth will set you free” and “you’ll know them by their fruit.” Please stop just enduring life and being overweight—learn how God wants you to live!!!! I beg you…don’t let anything or anyone stop you! There is help and hope with The True God…if you don’t give up or quit. This is the Answer you have been searching for…you’ve found it!!!! I pray in the Name of Jesus Christ that this testimony reaches and helps those who desperately need Salvation…like I did!
My name is Laurel Collins and I am 40 years old. I was raised in a family that professed belief in God but our actions or lives never showed it. There was always divorce, unrest, abuse, lack of peace, sin, etc. I starved and dieted obsessively as a means of trying to control at least one thing in my life: myself. But the more I dieted and tried to control, the more God tried to set me free by showing me HE was in control and not the dieting, and not myself. I married for selfish reasons, and was raising selfish children--I was never happy or satisfied. I chased college degrees, friendships, relationships, tried to raise my children a certain way to look good on the outside, all to try to look good outwardly and fill myself up. There was so much emptiness and despair from childhood, I tried to fill it in all the worldly ways that we are told will help: college, money, good job, marriage, children. None of these filled me up. They were blessings, but they were not God. I thought I would die if I went on another diet again, and thankfully when I was at the end of my rope God brought me to the Weigh Down Workshop. It completely healed me because it taught me the TRUTH, which is that life is about a relationship with God, not the things of this world. There is nothing wrong with those things, but they won't fill you. You can't even enjoy them without God. That is what Weigh Down taught me. Truth. Gwen has done nothing but laid her life down for everyone, loves everyone, whether they love her back or not, has used her money and everything God has given her back for Him and for his people, whether they love God back or not. She is the most unselfish, generous, loving person I have ever known. Of all the people I know, and I've known a lot, because I've moved around a lot, overseas and back, Gwen Shamblin is the only one I know who is so selfless and gives everything she has so others can find freedom, to have this relationship with God, that she herself has. She is not stingy. When God revealed all this to her, she did not keep it a secret. She did not keep it just for herself. She did not take light and hide it under a bushel. She set it on a hill, and is continuing to call out and be a beacon of hope and light in this lost world. I don't know of another soul on this earth who is doing this for God's kingdom, except Gwen and the leadership that God has raised up, through Remnant Fellowship. Remnant Fellowship seems different only because it is a church that is not full of hypocrisy and hypocrisy in the leaders, who are not full of sin and saying one thing but doing another. They are not preaching from the pulpit on Sunday and then going on through the week with their secret sins. Yes, I suppose that sounds unique in this day and age. I suppose people being genuinely full of love, with no thought of themselves or wanting anything back, is unique in this world. It is different. It is an example of what Jesus Christ talked about and how he lived his life. This church does not hound for money and put on shows about taking care of the poor and needy while neglecting the sheep right in their midst. This church takes care of God's lambs, this leadership feeds the poor and clothes the needy, this church gives real food which is the will of God; this church teaches us to clothe ourselves with humility; this church teaches us to hunger and thirst for righteousness; this church teaches us to build our house on the rock by putting into practice what Jesus Christ taught, not just talking about it and putting on a play and sharing a few anecdotes and having a few laughs, then passing the plate and see you next Sunday, sorry about your pain and suffering. Remnant Fellowship is NOT that church. Remnant Fellowship is the church talked about and described in the word of God. It is where you come to be a group of believers who want to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, God's greatest command, as Jesus said; and to love your neighbor as yourself. This church is about laying down your life, as Jesus said, laying down your wants and selfish desires and doing the will of God, which is to love him first and then your neighbor. Is that different? Is that scary? Yes, if you've never done that before or never been in a place that does that before. Is that wrong? No. It is the will of God, it's what God created us to do, it's what Jesus taught us to do. It is simply doing what God wanted us to do from the beginning! I will lay my life down for God, and I will lay my life down for his leadership. This is the house of God. I will defend this church and this leadership, and I am tired of the lies and the false rumors and teachings and innuendo that ignorant, not-God loving people are perpetrating. It is time for a stand up, it is time for the offense, and it is time for the head to be the head--GOD ALMIGHTY--and for the war to begin. I am angry at the Pharisees and false teachers of this day. God will bring down on their heads what they deserve. Jeremiah 33 I am thankful to GOD ALMIGHTY to bring me to a place where leaders tell the truth; where there is no hidden sin or double lives or masks worn, but where truth is told. I know this people and this leadership to be of integrity--meaning whole. They are one person, one face. They are not double-minded, keep double-standards, or two-faced. I would not be healed from control eating issues, bulimia, lack of peace, self-focus, depression, resentment toward my family or parents, worry, selfish children, without GOD, Gwen Shamblin, Remnant Fellowship and the leaders. This church stands for truth. It stands for God. It is true healing because, as Jesus said, "IF you hold to my teaching, then you'll know the truth. And the truth will set you free." This is a place that teaches you that YOU hold to the teaching. Then you will know the truth. Then the truth will set you free. It is a place of truth, not watered-down, unconvicting (and thus un-freeing) words, where people love man more and want to keep them entertained, vs. loving GOD with all their hearts, and thus setting people free. People who want to love God and to know Jesus and to hold to the teaching. It is a church of change. It is a church of life. I PRAISE GOD for this church and know I would not be truly living with it, Gwen or its leadership. They are TRUE leaders! TRUE shepherds! Praise GOD and His Holy Name for this place!!!!
God is Incredible! My name is Judy Baldwin, and I thought that as soon as I lost weight, my life would be just fine; I thought that was all that was "wrong" with my life - did God ever have a surprise in store for me!!
Weight Loss: He did bless me with a weight loss of over 75 pounds, but that was just the beginning. And like so many others, I had tried every diet known to man, but not one of them ever worked - that's because God blocked anything other that what he has had planned for us all along - eat when we're hungry, and stop when we are full! Simply genius - but it was just the beginning of the many areas of healing from Him.
Depression: I had been on anti-depressants for 17 years, and had tried on my own to go off them. Each time I tried, I ended up, literally, in a sobbing, depleted, helpless heap, unable to function. So I went back onto the pills, so I could at least function "normally." But when I realized the missing part was to replace the pills with God - to fill up with Him - I tried again. I went off the pills cold-turkey, asked God to fill me up, and I was fine! Not one ill side effect, and I've been off them for over three years.
Marriage: When I realized I wasn't being treated like the "queen" I was, I decided to leave my husband. Mercifully, before the divorce could go through, God got through to me. My husband agreed to take me back, and I am so grateful to have a second chance.
Parenting: I thought a good parent never let a child go through any pain. Now I know a good parent loves the child enough to show him the right way to live, and to point him to God. And if that involves the "pain" of lovingly correcting a child, that's a pretty small price to pay for the child's salvation.
Finances: When I wasn't getting enough attention from my husband, I treated myself. And I treated us into over $80,000 worth of debt. And just this month, God allowed us to finish paying off the obligation to the creditors.
Relationship with God: I grew up in the Protestant church, and I thought I had a great relationship with God. Whenever I needed anything, I'd pray - then I thanked Him and ignored Him until I needed something else. Nobody ever told me to read the Bible - we really didn't need to. After all, whatever we needed to know, the Pastor would point out to us. And besides, we really weren't expected to take it literally... How terribly sad that all was, but I know better now - God's blessings for obedience are incredible, and I can't believe how merciful He's been to put up with me in my ignorance for so long. This is the Truth, it is the Narrow Road, and I've never been happier!!!
I was born in a religious home in the Midwest, where church and religious school were a big part of my life growing up until I graduated from high school. Of course, that is all I knew and trusted in as being a secure part of my life but when I look back and remember and read my journals I was not a peace at all and always discontented and lacked true joy! I knew I did not really have a strong belief in God but knew someday I would when I would "grow up" but first I wanted to experience more of the world—have a little fun, so I moved away and tried new "sins" that my Midwest family would look down on. All that time, I did not fear losing my salvation because I still "believed in Jesus as my Savior". That "belief" was all I needed to get to heaven. All my sin did reap consequences and those consequences made me more unhappy with life so I would have times when I would ask for forgiveness and then start changing my ways, get more involved with church, etc. Life was full of ups and downs, fears and discontentment and I was always searching for that "something" to make me happier. As long as I can remember I loved food and had to be on a diet or exercise to control myself from becoming obese like my other family members. So many years of focusing on all of that made my life center more around me and so I had a difficult time REALLY loving my husband, children and other relationships. Guilt would come in and then I would try harder to please people and when they would not recognize my trying, I would get hurt. All of that was PAIN, a PRISON, which continually grew to a point when I needed antidepressants to get me up in the morning and needed therapy weekly to get through life. I was always sick, had many foot and knee pain from so much exercise, sores, allergies, etc. that plagued me constantly. GOD was so merciful to lead me to the WEIGH DOWN WORKSHOP and my life instantly changed. Just applying the principles for one week gave me HOPE, for deep down inside I knew GOD was the answer. Losing 60 lbs, keeping it off for 4 years now without daily exercise and constant "control" of a diet has been so FREEING! From listening to the TRUTH of what I heard in Weigh Down, God continually freed me from all depressed thoughts, worry, and selfishness. More and more prison doors were opened and my marriage, parenting, relationships with others kept on improving over the years. I know no longer needed to fill up my heart with food, money, shopping, career, "fixing other people" vacations, home decorating, (list could go on and on), because now GOD's LOVE and my LOVE for HIM, and love for my neighbor, fill my heart every day. God eventually led me to this beautiful fellowship of believers who's leaders' are the very lives I want to imitate as they imitate Christ. They will lay down their lives to help us all grow in our faith and to always point us to this relationship with God and obedience to HIM. My husband and 3 daughters have a beautiful, peaceful, loving home and our lives are forever changed. My daughters were developing eating disorders but now they are FREE and have their own beautiful testimonies. All glory to God for HIS TRUTH that truly does and has SET our family FREE!!! Why wasn't I free before when I was in church and church school all my life? That was a question I did have to ask myself and did find an answer in God's Word. False prophets and teachers are out there and we can be deceived. I am so grateful to God for his mercy in leading me and my family to Weigh Down and Gwen Shamblin and to this fellowship where we could learn and apply God's Word and obey it. Jesus DID come to set us FREE from SIN and to destroy the devils' work! Our whole family knows now, what following Christ means. We were blind before, all the time sitting in church, twice a week, but NOW, by God's mercy, we can SEE! No one can take that JOY away! All glory and praise to our Almighty God through Jesus Christ!! We are eternally grateful for the Truth presented in Weigh Down and Remnant Fellowship! NOW we are Heaven bound
Only God knows how truly miserable I was before I was introduced to Weigh Down. How lonely and depressed I was. Filling myself with large amounts of food and watching TV for hours. I was unhappy all the time and I remember thinking, where was the joy and peace everyone talked about but no one possessed? My marriage was “so, so” and I felt guilty for the way I ignored my daughter (my precious gift from God). I took care of her physical needs but was doing nothing for her spiritual and emotional needs except teaching her how to be depressed and angry all the time. We looked pretty good on the outside. We attended church, we had decent jobs, and we even worked in the church nursery and taught Sunday school. It never occurred to us that we should be imitators of God or that Jesus gave us an incredible example to follow. It wasn’t until I started a Weigh Down class that my eyes opened and I could see I was creating my own misery with the choices I was making. I didn’t just like to eat I loved it more than I loved God, and I didn’t just watch TV, I consumed it, it was my escape from everyone and everything around me, it was my passion. God was on the list of things I loved but he was definitely not number one. Putting into practice the principles I learned in Weigh Down helped me fall in Love with the One True God. The God I had met when I was a child, but as a teenager and young adult had lost sight of. Gwen Shamblin showed me what it looked like to really love and serve God. Her life is a beautiful example of living for only Him. These past four years I can finally say I understand what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. He continues to show me ways to put this new love into practice. I no longer have a “so, so” marriage. I have a beautiful loving husband who I don’t deserve. We are growing closer to each other everyday as we grow closer to God. I have been given two sweet daughters that I get to show God’s love to by my actions. When I laid down my love of food and learned to love God more, he blessed me with almost fifty pounds of weight loss. I don’t spend hours in front of the TV anymore. I have an amazing life and don’t feel the need to escape it. I don’t deserve this life and I don’t want to waste one more minute grabbing for more than he has given. I never want to go back to my old life, it was so empty. I praise God for allowing me to find such sweet fellowship, that he has given us the opportunity to be a part of a church body that doesn’t stay the same week after week or even worse go backwards in their walk with God, and that we have leaders that love you enough to tell you the truth when your life is not lining up with the example Jesus set.
I just wanted to praise God for this new life that He has given me and my family. We were all very lost. I grew up in the Baptist church and after I married we attended a Reformed church. Throughout my whole life religion never made sense. It was drilled in my head "once saved always saved". From a very young age I would fear every night that if I died I would not go to heaven. I had no peace. I would pray everyday to be saved because there was something not right about what I was supposed to believe. I never made the connection between obedience and salvation because this was always left out. The preachers never told us that obedience was key, even though it's written all over the Bible. My mind was so focused on myself that I never sought out understanding what God wanted hard enough. This self-focus led me into being a very depressed, angry, and worried person. I would have thoughts of suicide often, but praise God I never did it because I was afraid I would go to hell, and I would have. I could not pull myself out of this pit of worry and depression that I created. I would think up situations in my head daily that would cause me to worry about things that never even happened and I would cry for hours. My depression was totally self-created. I also had uncontrollable rage, jealousy, and would even have thoughts of harming my children.
My children were very unhappy. They had learned it from me. Before kindergarten my oldest son clearly had clinical signs of depression. We couldn't make him smile. It didn't matter if he just got a new toy. He would not smile and always looked as if he was about to cry. My 2nd son had extreme anger and would go into fits of rage that could not be calmed. This occurred daily and lasted anywhere from 1-2 hours where he would just scream for no apparent reason. He was only 3 years old. It was very scary and he definitely would have been misdiagnosed as bipolar. Our marriage was over and I was planning the details of how I was going to move out with 3 small children. My husband and I had no love for each other. We only loved ourselves above everything else, including the children and God. We had created financial upset by spending money that we didn't have. I used to have to write checks for groceries that I knew were not going to clear. In one year we had written at least 40 bad checks. We could not pay our monthly bills and had the collectors calling everyday. We were 2 weeks from having our house repossessed and praise God for not allowing that. We were also 1 week away from having a vehicle from being repossessed. Our parents had bailed us out many times financially and I'm certain they were quite disgusted with our behavior as well. I was extremely lazy and did not keep a decent house. Actually a barn was probably cleaner than our house was. We even had rats running through our dining room.
The longest losing battle I can remember was with my weight. It began in first grade when I was already wearing women's size clothes. I started trying to lose weight in about 5th or 6th grade. By junior high I was 180 pounds. During high school I had found that I could lose weight by not eating at all. That was easier for me than having any sort of self control over the amount of food I put in my body. For about 3 weeks I did not eat even one bite. The terrible thing about it was that I was so vain, I didn't care that my heart was skipping beats, was blacking out, and could have easily died. The reason I began eating again was because my hair was falling out. I didn't want to be fat and bald. So of course all the weight I had lost in 3 weeks (about 30 lbs.) came back on plus some. I was totally destroying my body between binging and starving. I had made myself hypoglycemic from eating huge amounts of sugar (entire box of Little Debbies in one sitting), and then my blood sugar would crash. I had to exercise all the time to keep the weight from coming on too quick. I would powerwalk 6 miles a day and still gain weight because of my extreme greed for food. My life had no purpose, yet this was my life as a "Christian". Completely the opposite of what God wanted. I praise God for showing me this truth that has set me free from the life I just described above. Gwen Shamblin and all of the leadership at Remnant Fellowship have guided me into how to have a relationship with God and made the words "the truth shall set you free" come alive in my life. They are truly led by the one and only God. They love the sheep more than themselves and it's obvious that they love God most of all by the lives they live. Their actions do line up with that of Jesus as they daily give up their wills. I could not get any help from the other church I attended. I had counseling sessions with them but they didn't have the answers. They were struggling with their own sin so much that they couldn’t lead anyone else out. If the Great, Merciful, Loving God Almighty had not allowed me to understand the true meaning of Christianity I would be more lost than I was before. My marriage would have been over, but thanks to God working through the leaders at Remnant Fellowship my husband and I love each other deeply and our family is not the same. My kids smile now and my 2nd son has not had a fit of rage for almost 3 years. These occurred daily and once we started following God and obeying His desires, He immediately rewarded our family with taking all that anger in our little boy away. It was instant. Our 3rd son who was raised, since a baby, in this message of love and obedience to God, taught by the leaders at Remnant, has not had to go through the depression and anger that his 2 older brothers did. We can pay all our bills on time now and God has even allowed us to buy a house again and allowed me to attend nursing school. My husband's small business has been blessed as well and the bills can be paid on one income which is amazing in this day and time. I have no more depression, jealousy, and fits of rage. I can't imagine ever hurting my children. They are not mine. I'm so blessed that God has allowed me to care for "His" kids and raise them to serve Him. I don't obsessively exercise, binge, or starve myself anymore. I'm no longer hypoglycemic. There is self-control in my life. I don't allow my mind to wander around and worry about things that are ridiculous. My mind can stay focused on God's will. Thank you God and thank you Remnant Fellowship for showing me that following the heavenly Father's commands is the only way to live for now and eternity!!!
My name is Monica Homonnay. I dieted all my life, gaining and losing up to 30 pounds. I was always thinking about food, and became very self-focused and self-centered. I usually blamed others for all my unhappiness. In this message, I have learned to look at my own heart. I stopped dieting the day I read the Weigh Down Diet book, and have never dieted again. I realized that the reason I gained weight was because I ate when I was not even hungry, and always ate more than what my body needed. Now I have learned to pay attention to whether I am really physically hungry or not. I am set free from always thinking about what I can eat and what I cannot eat and how to lose the weight. That was an incredible prison. I thank God every day that I don’t have to spend all that time and energy trying to lose weight, and depriving myself of all the foods I like to eat. I also got rid of all anger and unforgiveness. I understood that the answer was to change all the things in my self that needed to be changed instead of always trying to change someone else. This brought great peace! It also improved my relationships. Finally, I began to realize the extent of selfishness that was in my heart, and how that affected every area of my life. All that mattered to me was what I wanted to do, what I needed, or my situation. Now I get my mind off of myself, and think of others’ needs, and what I can do for others. This has relieved great anxiety and depression. I even sleep better at night. I feel so much healthier physically and mentally. My life does not revolve around me anymore, but what is important is my relationship with God, my children, and how I can help others. I PRAISE GOD that I can teach my children this incredible teaching that was taught by Jesus Christ and how to live their lives following in his footsteps.
Where do I start! God has totally saved me and healed me from myself. I was 40 pounds over weight and had fought my weight all of my life. I struggled with depression and was told I would be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. It was not until Gwen told me that depression was self focus that I was totally healed from depression. I live each day to serve our God and his children. How can you be depressed if you are serving Him? I have kept my weight off for 4 years now and have never been healthier. I just had a physical and my doctor was very excited about my blood levels. He said they were all great and that I was in very good health. I have a marriage now that I always dreamed of having. Before I was one of those women who ruled the house. "If momma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy!" That was my house. But once my eyes were open to Gods commands and I started submitting to my husband as unto the Lord God saved my marriage from the brink of divorce. My husband treats me just like the bible says a husband should treat their wife. And my husband is not a believer. That can only be God. Once I did what God wanted me to do, obey Him, he came in and gave me a marriage that is truly from heaven!! He also saved me from a life of over spending and grabbing for what I wanted, not what He wanted to give me. I now go to God before I buy anything. He has so blessed my obedience in this area. He has given us the home of our dream. And allowed me to furnish it beautifully. I now have a covenant with God to never buy anything that He does not give me total peace with. And I do have total peace with my God. I praise God for lifting the veil. For opening my eyes and ears to His truth. For allowing me one more day to serve Him. There is no place else I would want to be then in His truth. Doing His will everyday all day. It is truly the only place to be.
My name is Rebecca Warren and this message from God Almighty has truly saved my life and given me back a life fuller than I ever thought possible by connecting me to the SOURCE of life, God Almighty! A brief background: From the age of 15, I was put on anti-depressants and was deep into self focus and completely anti-authority. My life spiraled out of control as I chose my own evil desires and rebellion of all kinds. I was in trouble with the law, violent toward my parents and despising authority of all kinds, entrenched in drug abuse and always looking for the next "high" to numb my hurting heart, greedy for food--binging then overexcerising and purging, a thief, spoiled and bitter, going to the world and people for comfort, and full of all sorts of angry pride. At the age of 19, God revealed Himself to me in dream and I knew then that He really was real and I had to stop living a sinful life and change my life. I knew I needed help to get out what was so deep rooted in me, but I could find no answers in the churches. I gave up some of my obvious sins such as drug abuse and instead went to overindulging in food, which seemed almost acceptable in most churches. This left me even more miserable and enslaved to self. I was often told the message that "grace covers all" and that I was okay and yet inside I was hurting and knew I was out of control in my eating and certainly not free . Even after going to a Christian college and attending chapel three times a week, I ended up heavier and more prideful than ever. Sadly, I began to indulge in even more of my old evil behaviors and graduated a Christian college financially in trouble, out of control with food and going to all sorts of empty things to try and fill me up, angry and confused. I had complete unrest in my heart and mind and went back onto anti-depressants, more despairing of life than ever. I praise God for this GOOD NEWS! At 24 years old I heard the Weigh Down message and everything made sense! There was hope and true freedom from God! The Bible came alive as Gwen taught God's truth so clearly and lies like the Trinity message were uncovered and shown for what they were. I praise God for her courage to stand up for the truth! I let go of the antidepressants as I found my joy in the Lord by putting into practice the exciting truth that this life is about God, not self, and was free at last from the horrible slavery from food as I put into practice the principles taught in weigh down of hunger and fullness! This message is so liberating and fun! I no longer go to cigarettes or drugs, but I get to go to the Creator of the Universe for everything! I don't have any worries now except whether God is pleased, and before when I hated and despised authority and the thought of submission was repulsive to me (even while going to church!), now I am learning how beautiful and life-giving submission and servant hood to God and others is, and it all makes perfect sense! It is such a joy to live for God and to serve Him and it is so much better than anything the world can offer, and yet I never learned how to live out complete obedience to God in those other churches, and was miserable although they claimed to teach a Christian message. This is only from this message that teaches God's TRUTH and doesn't relax obedience to God or falsely flatter its members is there true change and freedom in Christ! The leadership in this church is absolutely righteous and holy and always point us to God and His will. They lay their lives down in complete love and obedience to Christ, giving of their time and resources to help us all find God, all the while never asking for donations. They are such Godly servants. Where before the leaders at the churches I went to were caught up in sin themselves and full of hypocrisy and their own agenda, the leadership here can be trusted completely because the fruit of their lives is so obvious and beautiful and they are wonderful examples to us all as we find God's spirit. I praise God for this message, this leadership, and thank Gwen for being righteous and standing up for Him and all His perfect ways!
Life before this message for me was miserable! I was over weight, depressed, angry, would do just about anything for friends and completely disobedient towards my parents. No one wanted to be around me! I hated authority and I was so selfish that I didn’t want to get married and I most definitely didn’t want children! All I could do was think about myself! Since joining Remnant Fellowship in 2002 (at the age of 19), my life has completely CHANGED!! Through not focusing on food I have lost 50lbs and have gained a beautiful relationship with God! I stopped worrying about myself and put my thoughts on what I could do for God and others and I found happiness and JOY!! I traded in anger for patience and love. God has given me a wonderful husband who puts God first in our marriage and a beautiful, happy baby boy! I love finding out their needs and taking care of them! Getting under my authorities is such a fun thing now! My home is filled with peace! I love to get the godly advice of my husband, parents and church leaders! Oh and an added bonus: The weight from my pregnancy is coming off!! I never have to worry about going back to what I use to be! All of this would never have happened if I hadn’t heard the message taught by Gwen Shamblin and the leadership at Remnant Fellowship! This fellowship is the REAL DEAL! I praise God for this message and I am so thankful to God and this leadership for helping me to find this CHANGED life!
I praise God for the chance to give him the GLORY that I even have a testimony. I started Weigh Down in college and joined Remnant after my first class. Before the class began, I had told my parents that I wanted to be a missionary in China and began going on various mission trips to "prepare." Yeah right. I went to Paris, and Las Vegas to do this. How ironic that these were also places that were fun and a great vacation. (All in the name of following God of course.) I loved the praise of man associated with this and the self-sacrifice of giving up "my time." And not to mention how excited I was by the food in Paris. SICK! At 19 years old I was on anxiety pills for the day time and sleeping pills at night. I was the fourth generation in my family to do this. My great grandmother took Demerol to go to sleep nearly every night. My grandfather took sleeping medication and anxiety medication. So did my mother. I was told that it was hereditary and I would probably always need them. My insomnia was so bad that often it wouldn’t even respond to the drugs. (God didn’t LET it respond!) My life was centered around whether I had slept the night before, and whether I would sleep the next night. I also was a slave to the fear/phobia of many things, including germs. I was obsessed with reading novels (hours and hours and hours at a time) as it was a way to escape reality and my anxiety. I was also 30 lbs overweight. I exercised for 2 or more hours each day and counted every calorie. (except when I was binging!) I was extremely selfish and even from the time I was a child, I would pout and slam doors when I didn’t get my way. I was a rebellious teenager and very hurtful towards my parents. I was rude to my bosses and teachers. I was told that I was a pessimistic person and always complaining. At the time I did The Last Exodus class, I was in Bible studies with friends and would share what I was learning in the Last Exodus Class. The leaders would briefly discuss these hard to hear scriptures (those who are greedy will not enter heaven) then say that they didn’t fully understand what they meant and the conversation would change topics. My pastor would joke about how much he loved to eat and pat his gut while laughing. My bible study leaders confessed to deep seeded sin and said their church had never confronted it before. That’s when I knew this message was for real, and that I needed to jump on board FAST. I am so grateful!!! My life AFTER: I am now FREE from the anxiety medication and sleeping pills. My sleep is sweet and the only anxiety I feel is when I fear that I am outside the boundaries of God. It is easy to overcome because obedience to God is everything to me now!! I no longer have irrational fears!! My mom KNOWS that it could ONLY be God when she has seen me break free from such strongholds. I now love and honor my parents and have lost over 30 lbs with NO more exercise! The fear of germs is not a stronghold anymore! I now have answered prayers DAILY and love to be awaked in the Night to be with God instead of anxiety. I praise God for this amazing truth that has set this captive free.
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