Christine Trimpe's Journey to Spiritual and Physical Health: A 100-Pound Transformation Story

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Christine Trimpe about her faith-filled weight loss journey, which led to a 100-pound transformation and a newfound calling to share the freedom found in Jesus. 

We talked about the challenges of maintaining faith and managing weight while exploring the connection between our spiritual and physical needs. We also discussed her diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and how focusing on one aspect at a time, such as sugar, and maintaining a strong spiritual connection through daily Bible readings, helped her overcome food addiction and improve her overall health. 

Additionally, we explored the importance of heart transformation in a weight loss journey and the significance of filling the void in our lives with God's word rather than food or worldly pleasures. 

Don't miss this inspiring and enlightening conversation that emphasizes the interconnected nature of body, mind, and spirit and the power of inviting Jesus into our personal journeys.

 
Connect with Christine Trimpe:

✔Personal - christinetrimpe.com

✔Instagram - @coachchristinetrimpe

✔Facebook - ChristineTrimpeLLC

✔LinkedIn - Christine Trimpe

✰ SOCIALS ✰
✔Website - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/
✔Podcast - https://outofthedarknesswithruthhovsepian.buzzsprout.com/
✔Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ruthhovsepian/
✔Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ModernDayRuthRedeemed/
✔LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthhovsepian/
✔Speaking - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/speaking
✔Books - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/booksruthhovsepian

✰ BUSINESS EMAIL ✰
info@ruthhovsepian.com

✰ MUSIC ✰
hot music - winning-elevation

Transcript

Transcript generated by Podium.page
Help us spread the word by tweeting about us at @PodiumDotPage and including us in your shownotes! https://podium.page

0:00:00
At that time, if I had gone all in on everything to get to my ultimate weight loss success, it would have been too overwhelming. So on my coaching, I love to take women through a step by step approach. I'm like, hey, look. We're gonna focus on one thing. So the very first thing I focused on was sugar. And there was sugar and everything. So I started evaluating sugar the way it was coming into my into my health journey. And learning how what it would take to get rid of the sugars in in the way I was eating. And then the other thing that the other first focus was keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus. Now being in his word, spiritually, I learned that is the Bible is full. Of encouragement. It's full of instruction and how god provides for us and how he is our provider. He's our healer. He gives us, you know, motivation in his word to keep whacking out these difficult journeys. He gives us a straction in in food and how to approach food, and our relationship with food. And, of course, through my time in God's word and through working out this he in this healing journey, of course, I had to acknowledge that I checked off every box for food addiction sugar addiction. And so that was something that I really had to work through and walk through with the Lord. And that's what opens my eyes so completely to how much God truly cares for us and how he chose me. To walk out this journey and how he wants me to care for my body and how he wants me to encourage the church to care for their body in in their physical health, their emotional health, and and most importantly, their spiritual health as well.

0:01:52
Hi. I'm Ruth Hovsepian. Welcome to the Out of The Darkness podcast. Where we help you navigate life's trials based on faith and difficult truths. Christine Trimpe picked up her bible and Jesus transformed her life. He gave her a new joy, a new calling, a new passion for sharing freedom in him. Christine's journey to joy resulted in a one hundred pound weight loss Christine invites you to experience, embrace, and disclaim the joy of the Lord despite the weight of their circumstances. God's word satisfies every craving, body mind, and spirit. Welcome, Christine. I am so happy to have you on out of the darkness today. I have followed you and seen your presence on social media for several years and I am excited to have my listeners also experience your journey and your wisdom today.

0:02:57
So let's start off with telling us a little bit about who you are and where your journey has started and how you've gotten to where you are. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Ruth, for inviting me. I'm overjoyed. I always make sure to share that with you that I'm just a delight. I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I would enjoy talking to people and talking about this story that God has given me. But he has called me out of my little corporate office in corporate America for my private accounting office where I was the controller for I was in accounting for thirty two years, but now I get to speak about this, so I am happy to begin I like to start with the fact that I grew up as a casual or I grew up as a Christian and a Christian home, had a Christian family, Christian grandparents, So I'm very grateful for that legacy of faith that I have in my in my family history.

0:04:03
And I was unfortunately one of those statistics of kids that go away to college and don't continue to practice the faith of their family. Like finding a new church even though my parents encouraged it, finding a new church, and a new town, and a new campus with nobody, no friends, no no family to help me find this new church. It is just something that didn't happen. So looking back during my college years, that's when I kinda started drifting away and my my faith flicker definitely flamed out. And then I just I got married after shortly after college was done, got married, began raising my family, and I did take my children to church off and on throughout the years.

0:04:47
I want my self off and on throughout the years. I participated in the choir. I did ladies bible studies. Slowly when I look and reflect back on that. It was solely because I didn't wanna disappoint my family. Right? I just I I was doing what was right. I was checking off the boxes. I was taking my kids to church so that they could be, you know, presented and exposed to the gospel and the Christian living lifestyle and that, you know, there was nothing deep there. And that went on Ruth until I was nearing my fifties, believe it or not. Uh-huh. Such a I I understand. I understand, you know, the that part about faith because I I've also come to understand that throughout my younger years, and I too until my fifties, was walking the the path of my parents faith, my family's faith.

0:05:46
Yes, I believed Yes, at twelve, I made a commitment, but it wasn't a faith that I owned. It was the faith of my parents. And if you don't own it, it it's not a personal thing. Right? And as you said, we clock in and out we do all the activities, but there isn't that growth in there. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's why I describe it as a casual relationship. Like, so many you would bump into in the grocery store and catch up with, like, for ten minutes or fifteen minutes, you know. I'm like, hey. Hey. I've been so like since I've seen you. You know? Which is how I used to cram for many of these kind of study evenings, and I don't recommend cramming to get ready for ladies bible studies.

0:06:30
But yes, I too, you know, as a child, accepted Christ as my savior in after school bible programs. Every Tuesday, I raised my hand, I wanted make extra sure that I was going to heaven. I believed I knew I'll align that God was good, but I asked knew that God was holy and righteous and all the things, but it just didn't impact my heart the way that it finally did when when god captured my attention as I was approaching the age of fifty. Yeah. So you get it. You get it. Yeah. I I do. And I think many people do as well. You know, there's that little aha moment. In my case, God just knocked me off my feet. I had climbed on this worldly ladder, and the ladder was just knocked right out from under me. And that's when I I realized that my relationship was not a real real relationship with him. It was just a very I just said, a casual one. Yeah. Yes.

0:07:32
What what brought the change in in your life? Well, unfortunately, when I went away to college, I also started gaining weight drastically. Like, you hear about the freshman fifteen. I came home with the freshman forty. I looked like a completely different person when I came home. And I at that time, I didn't understand what was going on, and I continued to struggle for three decades with my weight as it continued to pile on despite my best efforts to do weight watchers, do medical weight loss clinic, do all the things.

0:08:08
All the man made. Every man made diet out there, I bet you I've tried it. I guarantee it. And, you know, it was always about eating less, moving more, counting calories, counting your points. And I am very type a. Like I mentioned, I'm I had a career in accountancy.

0:08:25
Very detail oriented, I followed programs to the t, and then as soon as something like we would switch back into maintenance. Like, I would make some success and I would get to healthier weight, I would be put I'm thinking particularly of the liquid diet that I did one time for ten months. I got to a very healthy weight and they started putting me on maintenance. And so that included eating whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, half a potato or half a yam. And despite following all of their instructions, I started putting weight back on, and it was super frustrating. And in that program, I had been told I had Metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, and we can talk a little bit more about that later. But, you know, I was told these things And I was told to drink these liquid shakes, and I drank nothing but liquid shakes for ten months. And then I started being reintroduced to what we considered healthy whole foods, and my weight started going up again. And it was devastating. That weight loss program probably did more damage to me not only physiologically, but emotionally.

0:09:34
And -- Mhmm. -- and all along, I was lacking in spiritual wisdom. Throughout my all of my weight loss journeys because I never had taken the time to invite Jesus into this journey with me or even have any kind of understanding of how he created us uniquely human in body, mind, and spirit, and there's no way to separate any of that. In those three decades, I was trying in my best power, in my best efforts to control the only thing that I knew how to control and that was my physical health. Howard Bauchner: Yeah, I I hear you on that. I'm not I understand that that's I think so many of us go through I mean, if we put end to end all the diets that we do in our lifetime, especially those of us, like, I was always considered the chubby kid, the overweight kid. Plus, I was very tall when I was a kid. So I had that also against me in that what I thought was against me at that time. But, yeah, it's it's something that we we fix say it on, isn't it? And it's just like anything else in our lives. When we become so over sensitive in that area, and we fix it. And I know that we struggle with it.

0:10:52
And, you know, I've struggled my whole life as well with with weight. And I've dealt with it in different ways whether it was doing very severe dieting, you know, calorie, you know, like I remember back when I was I don't know. Something like eighteen years old, nineteen years old. That was a first time I went on a diet and it wasn't a diet. I just did what I thought I should do because my whole life I'd heard eat less. Mhmm. I did. I was surviving on a muffin -- Mhmm. -- and maybe some popcorn. And I did that for years. And, yes, I lost the weight. I maintained the weight, but the minute I started to eat a meal, the weight came back on. And that was just a cycle. And we see that right because we we're so out of touch with with what our body is doing and what we should be doing. Yeah.

0:11:48
So so how did you make that connection between your your spiritual need -- Yeah. -- and your physical need. How did those two come? Like, you know, like, usually, that's not something we hear about. Right? That that connection, usually, you take care of one or the other. So what was your what was your journal like in there? It was I I I looked back on this this journey, this wild weight loss journey that the Lord has taken me on over the past six plus years now, almost seven years. And I can see his hand over the entirety of it. And I I happen to love Mount like mountains are my favorite landscape and they I I always I love that saying the mountains are calling and I must go So I always have it in my heart, and I was super excited in the fall of twenty fifteen to take my husband to Colorado to go visit the Rocky Mountain National Park.

0:12:45
And he had never been to Colorado, and I was very excited to show it to him and just to be in the mountains again. And twenty fifth celebrating our twenty fifth anniversary. I was the biggest let down on that trip. It was so sad, but being up in the altitude, like, of course, the altitude is an issue. I don't like to use it as an excuse though, but it definitely impacted my eat my health even greater.

0:13:12
We were trying to hike up a trail to Nymph Lake. And when I stood at the the base of that trail, and looked up to see where he wanted to go. And I saw the the markers, like, how long was gonna be? I was, like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to do this. There's just no way. There's no way. And and I probably sabotaged myself just thinking that way, but it it was true. I only made it up a little ways on that trail, and then I told my husband to go on without me.

0:13:41
And that was my turning point moment. Actually have a picture of myself sitting on the side of the mountain on this ledge of the side of the mountain trail, waiting for him. I had dark sunglasses on, which I'm grateful because I tears my eyes. And and at that moment, I was just like, I can't believe I'm not even fifty years old yet. And, like, I was facing having a conversation on the side of that path about my mortality and, like, my fear of not being able to be around to see my kids married to see grandkids. All of all these things were going on in my mind, and I just remember saying, God, I just want to feel better. I just wanna feel better. And at that point, I didn't even think to address losing weight because I had tried so many times. And I was pretty near I was at my heaviest weight of my lifetime during that trip. And I yeah. I was just like I just wanna feel better. So I see that as my turning point moment because there's something that flickered inside of me that flame got a little breeze blowing on it. I caught and from the holy spirit I think saying you you can do it. You can do it. You can take that control.

0:14:55
And when I got home from that trip, I did I did begin the process of taking back control and I knew that I had put off a sleep study for so many years. I knew I had sleep apnea. I knew I was not being a nice person making my husband sleep back to me because I snorried so obnoxiously. And And then my snoring got even worse than that higher altitude, and he did bring it up very nicely. My husband has always been super supportive, and I know that his heart was for me to feel better as well. But I did. Monday morning, I called and made that sleep study, and that was the first thing I did. And I feel like I had to be really brave to do that because I didn't wanna do a sleep study. I didn't wanna bring home a CPAP machine, but that CPAP machine changed my life.

0:15:39
And as soon as I started sleeping better, I was able to wake up. And for the first time in my life, I started waking up early and I started picking up dad's word. And that's how I was spending my money or not my money. I was That's how I was spending the first part of my day every day, and I've done that since then. I don't ever wanna miss a day of spending time in his word in the morning because it truly it sets the tone for my day. I know that some women struggle doing it in the morning, and I encourage them to do it sometime during the day, just get in that very small habit of doing it to start with. It's gonna feel an awful lot like a discipline, but I always promise people before lying it becomes your delight and I can't imagine starting a day or being in a day without having God's word be the central theme of my day. So that don't you forget.

0:16:40
My turning point led to me picking up the word because -- Yeah. -- I was exhausted on the side of that mountain trail. And god gave me good sleep and started clearing away my exhaustion and invited me to pick up his word. And and don't you feel that you are is it was for me that way that initially I was trying to make up for time you know, I I felt that for fifty odd years, I had not, you know, use my time wisely. And now I feel like I I have so much I wanna do in in the word of God, you know, we're just talking about that.

0:17:23
Forget everything else that we can do for the Lord, but just, you know, like, I I look and the time is taking away, and I'm like, roof focus, you know? And I too am like, I I need that daily nourishment. Isn't that interesting? You know? Like, I gone from the nourishment, the physical nourishment to the spiritual nourishment. So what what what what What started to happen for you? As you got into the word of God, there had to have been some change in your mindset. Yes. So I I was on this momentum to take that control of my health. And so I began praying, you know, for a way out to help me help me out of this. I know that I've I'm very motivated by success stories, and I'm like, well, I know people can do it. I know It's been done. You know? And so I would ask the Lord, like, what's the next step? What's the next step? What's the show me the next thing.

0:18:19
And, also, when I got home from that trip, I got my CPAP machine, but I also was having experiencing painful ovarian cysts at the time. And so my doctor ordered an abdominal ultrasound. And I did have the cyst that we were gonna keep an eye on, but it was also discovered during ultrasound. Unfortunately, that I had non alcoholic fatty liver disease. You might hear it called NAFLD and or just fatty liver disease. Yeah. And That was kind of a surprise to me because I didn't know much about it. But in hindsight, now I know most people that are carrying obesity, especially abdominal obesity, would be diagnosed with a fatty liver because that's where our fat is being stored. So I got that diagnosis. My doctor was a gynecologist, so she wasn't she didn't poo poo it, but she also was not surprised by it because she knew I was over a hundred pounds overweight.

0:19:12
So I did my own research. I started doing and just asking, God, you know, like, I you know, I'm feeling better, but there's more. There's gotta be more because just getting the CPAP I wasn't, like, wait, wasn't just, like, dropping off me or anything. So I started doing the NAFLD diagnosis was a blessing because that's what led me on the journey to researching hormones. Why was their fat in my liver? Why was my liver filled up with fat. And that's when I discovered things like insulin, your insulin hormone is your fat storing hormone, and that's when I discovered that sugar as a major hormone disruptor. And so getting all of that knowledge, which again, I believe God took me through step by step. And step by step is important because I feel like in the past, if I if I at that time, if I had gone all in on everything to get to my ultimate weight loss success, it would have been too overwhelming.

0:20:10
So on my coaching, I love to take women through a step by step approach. I'm like, hey, look. We're gonna focus on one thing. So the very first thing I focused on was sugar. And there is sugar and everything. So I started evaluating sugar the way it was coming into my into my health journey. And learning how what it would take to get rid of the sugars in in the way I was eating. And then the other thing that the other first focus was keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus.

0:20:38
Now being in his word, spiritually, I learned that is the Bible is full. Of encouragement. It's full of instruction and how god provides for us and how he is our provider. He's our healer. He gives us, you know, motivation in his word to keep whacking out these difficult journeys. He gives us straction in in food and how to approach food and our relationship with food. And, of course, through my time in God's word and through working out this he in this healing journey, of course, I had to acknowledge that I checked off every box for food addiction sugar addiction. And so that was something that I really had to work through and walk through with the Lord. And that's what opens my eyes so completely to how much God truly cares for us and how he chose me. To walk out this journey and how he wants me to care for my body and how he wants me to encourage the church to care for their body in in their physical health, their emotional health, and and most importantly, their spiritual health as well. Yeah. I I agree with you. It's it's really to educate ourselves to take those steps. And for me as well, you know, through my my journey the last five years, it really was understanding what it is that were my trigger points in my weight gain or staying of, you know, where I was in my way then.

0:22:16
I too had that sort of aha moment, and it was really when I looked at the the wedding pictures that my daughter had taken. Obviously, when she got married, she got pictures. And I as the mother of the bride was in the pictures. And I knew how I felt that day. I I was very uncomfortable. I was suffering from really horrible gout attacks. Mhmm. And so I had I was dealing with that. I was gosh, I was over a hundred pounds at that point overweight. And and I just felt uncomfortable in my skin, and I was getting panic attacks. Mhmm. And I one time had such a bad attack. I felt as though I was wearing a fat suit, and I clawed at my this chest area because I felt the pressure on me. And to me, those were all indicative that I should do something. Right? An indication, do something. No. None of it.

0:23:23
It wasn't until months later that in you know, I I had such a bad Gout Attack again. I ended up in the emergency hospital. My youngest had to leave for work and come to mom. And I'm thinking this is so reversed. Isn't it the mother that takes care of the children? And here, my daughter, and she was looking the sheer look that that look of fear on her face. And, you know, like, she was trying I said, I don't want this anymore. I don't want this anymore. I wanna like you, I wanna be here for my children. I wanna be here for my grandchildren. I wanna be here for myself as well.

0:24:03
And I too started to educate myself when I think that's the key for for that, right, that, I mean, we can be motivated to lose weight for an event. Or to get into a dress or to look good. But unless we educate ourselves on certain things, we will continue going back to our old our old habits. Yeah. That's that brings up one of my key coaching philosophies with my women in my sugar free to me coaching method is to build small habits and see big results. And and I just I see that working so well. Not only did it work well in my journey, but I see it working so well for other women and just kind of slowing it down and sitting with God. Sitting in the presence of God. Within this journey too, we have I have tons of scripture.

0:25:01
The very foundation of my coaching mess it's a faith based coaching method. First and foremost, it's faith my heart is for women and the church. The entire church, if there's any men listening to this, the entire church. Is to be nursing themselves and god's word every single day. And that's first and foremost if you, you know, that's a priority. And I and I pretty much make my coaching clients affirm that they are going to be picking up their bibles and participating in that part of our journey together. It's so super important. It's life changing. Truly what changed my life.

0:25:36
A a weight loss journey. I I can look back and see those decades that I struggled with obesity and and not feeling not feeling comfortable in my skin like you mentioned, not feeling like I fit in, always feeling like when I walked into a room that I was being judged. And I'm, you know, I've worked through the process of finally dropping the heavy weight of all of that experience and and dropping the guilt and shame. But it truly my heart was so in such a bad place. My heart was it's and it it it it all centers in the heart. It's really I say, like, I was carrying all over a hundred pounds in my little heart organ you know, and as soon as my heart started healing, you know, think think of like I like to think of like the Grinch's heart, how his heart it grew, but surely, you know -- Right. -- as my as I grew in the lord, my spiritual life matured and stopped my heart. Grew, but at the same time, I was losing a hundred weigh hundred pounds, which is the blessing, which is I consider a complete miracle and the blessing in all of this And I'm I'm just so excited to encourage women through this heart transformation journey I call like, the tasks that we do in the coaching sessions.

0:26:53
I call them transform action tasks because you have to take action, and that's all part of a transformation story is one of the things I learned, which we can talk about a little bit more, but transformation requires action. Yeah. We need yeah. We can't expect for something to happen, right, without without taking those those actions. So maybe we should go into this this transformation piece that you are referring to. I I'm very interested in that. Yeah.

0:27:27
So my life verse now after going through this journey and documenting everything that the Lord has taught me through this journey is I love in Psalm four seven where David writes, you have filled my heart with greater joy than they have when their grain and new wine about sound. And the green and new wine for me and for women who struggle with food addiction or food fixation or sugar addiction The grain and the wine are such a great symbol of the things of this world that we have craved for so long from our fleshly flushly desires like Paul writes about in Ephesians too. We're craving the things of this world, craving all the fleshly things. I I was there for so long. And so when Paul writes about this, in Ephesians two, go and read it by friends. But it's kind of shocking. Like like, oh, wow. But, yes, I was there. I was there. And I realized that I was craving all the wrong things. I was craving things to the world. And God has completely flipped my cravings. Praise God from craving bread, like real bread. I used to love bread rolls, hot buttered rolls, things like that, to craving the bread of life. And and I can only do that. We can only do that when we are willing to set out and take action and go through this heart transformation story.

0:28:49
And doing a little bit more digging on this verse that David wrote and what his theme was in Psalm four you know, he's writing about the heart, which is the Wellspring of life. And God has given me this tremendous gift of joy through this journey, which is one of the fruits of the spirit, and I cherish this gift. The other one that he helped me develop was the gift of self control is super important in this journey as well. Yeah. And but being the heart being the offspring of life is It's like our it's like our entire being is connected there. Our body mind and our spirit. Our soul and part of having a healthy heart, I talk about heart health, not from a cardiology perspective, but the heart health is is all all the part of that is our emotions and our thoughts and our motivation and and it takes a lot of courage and then action as one of the last steps. So do it like, just doing a deep dive on the Psalm four has opened up the open up my eyes to what God has brought me through what he dragged me through kicking and screaming in some parts when it comes to the looking at our emotions and our thoughts.

0:30:01
That's hard hard deep work when it comes to a weight loss journey. You you know that Ruth. Yeah. And it's but it but, really, God is able to do the impasse. I never thought I would I would be a healthy weight. I never thought I could lose a hundred pounds and maintain it. And be a spokesperson -- Yeah. -- for the fit church, you know, and that's what I love talking about asking now, like, church, are we fed? Are we fed? Because things are are getting rough out there. And I just want I have such a passion and an urgency to make sure that the churches fit in body, mind, and most importantly, in their spiritual health. Yeah.

0:30:45
I I also am, you know, so adamant about telling people, you know, it's my it's like a it is my mission to to tell people that this void that we fill with other things. Right? It it could be food. Right? Because for some people, it it's an addiction to eat because they have feelings or trauma or something that they're just trying to, you know, quiet down with food. In my case, it wasn't food wasn't my go to, you know, as a when I was younger, it was, but then it was other things, you know, for me. It it became other worldly pleasures, but it was always trying to fill a void in my life. And unless we fill it, with with god. Right? God doesn't take away that that void. He fills the void. And -- Right. -- you know, it's it's that's what we need to remember. It's not God take away this feeling only, but it's God fill me with these Yeah. You you know, just fill me up, to feel satisfied, to feel joy. And to me, that is the the key. Right? It's It's -- Yeah.

0:31:59
-- it's not just losing the weight. The the losing the weight is for me was a bonus. Yes. It was get it was getting healthy from the inside, yeah, out. Yes. That is the important piece of it. You know? And I I love what you are doing because it really is, you know, touching two important areas in our lives because we are consumed by how we look. And how we feel. We just don't know what to do. Right? To feel good and to look good. So what is one of the most important lessons that you have learned through your journey that you share with your coaching clients.

0:32:46
We kind of touched on it a little bit how filling ourselves up and we talk a lot about how I was filling up all the holes in my soul, like all the nooks and crannies. I was filling it up most mostly with food. I did a lot of secret eating and things like that. It you know, when I was feeling bad. And truthfully, I was using food when I was feeling good too. So I was -- Yeah. -- I was feeling bad. Like, Okay. We celebrate. Right? We celebrate with food. Yeah. Celebrate a little too much because I was over feeding myself. I was over and and all the good things. Mhmm.

0:33:24
And so it's just this satisfaction in being filled up through god's word. It truly I mean, I still have to pinch myself how transforming picking up this bible, which we have easy access to. We we are so blessed and so fortunate in this country, Western civilization, that we can't go to the store and we can buy the bread of life. The well, the one thing is true in a nervous chest. In this stat on my nightstand or, oh my goodness, my parents gave it to me, They gave it to me. I think shortly after I graduated from college, it was a gift from them. Oh, no. Nineteen ninety five. For my birthday night. But still, that was it was a long time ago. It sat there. And I had other bibles. I had bibles from my teenagers. Just sat there, barely cracked open. And this is life. Like, this is life like East, and I cannot emphasize that enough. And and until we have this life, this heart transformation, how how are we to live? You know, like, how are we to live to glorify God. How are we to live? To to walk out our purpose and our calling?

0:34:43
One of the reasons I went into coaching was to do the do you remember the pro the old pro commercials where somebody with pro okay. So I'm using pro and I told two people and they told two people told two people. Right? If I can impact if I can impact one person who can tell two people to pick up their bible and transform their lives. And they can tell, you know, together, they all tell two people and so on and so on. That's why I went into coaching to to have that kind of obedience in what God was calling me to. I guess you could put it that way. He called me on a corporate America. He made it very clear that I was to begin a ministry and that I was completely one hundred percent fully to trust him for our financial provisions, I used to be so consumed by our financial affairs as well too because I was in accountants. You know, it just came back to me and I had to let all of that go and just trust that God is giving us each a voice a unique voice, a unique calling.

0:35:52
When I lived, like you mentioned, living so unwell, unsure of ourselves, not feeling accepted, not feeling good in my skin, I never would have imagined being some kind of missionary for Jesus. I would have rather just hidden out, you know, stayed hidden in my in my bedroom with the covers pulled out of my over my head. But God really does create each of us for a purpose. And that's what one of the most exciting things I I love to share with the women that I coach is like, you are going to make an impact no matter okay. You have a hundred pounds to lose and you're stuck at losing thirty, but you're still showing up and you're still picking up dad's word. And dad still has a perfect plan for your for your life, for your health. Yeah. And he has a calling over to you. So ladies, it's time to step up and step out and stop being stop hiding. Like, I had for so many years. Yeah. I I'm sure you can relate to that. Chris. Oh, listen. I I hid I hid myself so well.

0:36:56
You know, I look at at pictures and yeah. I was in pictures, but I I missed out on those things. I I also didn't look into mirrors, not only because of my weight, but because the person looking back at me had very lifeless eyes, and I see that in some of, you know, those pictures. I know where I was in what stage in my life, and those pictures speak volumes. But, you know, one step at a time, one day at a time, yesterday, leave it there. Tomorrow isn't here. So look, I always focus in today.

0:37:35
You know? Take the time. This is important. Make the time. And I understand that every woman has a different season. Some are young mothers, Some are with older children, some have, you know, like a mix and then there's, you know, like women, like me who are empty nesters. But we all can make time even those of us with very young children. If you want something badly, you make the time for it. And we really need to do that for the word of God. And how do we back to have a relationship with him unless we do that work. It's like any relationship, isn't it, Kristine? I I think I got that all the time. If I want a friendship to to grow and to bloom, I put me Stanford, you talk yeah. You spend time. You spend time on the phone. You should chatting and talking and, you know, and and and I think that for me as well, it's just not the word of God, but prayer. Spend time and prayer. Yes. You know, we pray throughout the day as we're doing things, but I also want people to focus in on intentional prayer. Yes. You know, praying very intentionally for our children, for our family, for our bounces for friends and so on, you know, going up and out. But we really need to do to be very intentional about what we -- Yes. -- we need to do. Right? You need to be very serious about this.

0:39:13
Something you said made me think of one of my verses that I love to contemplate and love to, like, really think of all the time. And Hebrews twelve to, it says, I I have it memorized, but I'm gonna read it just to make sure I don't mess anything up. Because, you know, he's given me this great gift of joy, which you see. Right? Over -- Yes. -- my forehead. That goes with me everywhere. Joy. Not just the flag. It goes with me in my heart.

0:39:37
So think about Jesus and what he's calling you to what he might be nudging on your heart right now as you're listening. What maybe a little bit of a healthy conviction? He's he's putting on your spirit right now. Listen to what he did for us. And let us fix our eyes on faith. Oh, I'm sorry. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. The author imperfector of our faith who, for the joy, sat before him endured the cross, scorning its shame. And now sits down at the right hand of the throne of God. I mean, look what he did for us. When we're we're recording this, we're just coming out of the the very significant Easter holiday, which really should make us all take that verse. He was twelve too. Take that verse and really Like, what does that mean to you? Where are you? Ask yourself where you're at? You know, spend some time with the Lord. And ask him what he has for you coming out of that. He did this for the joy. And so what little sacrifices can we make throughout our day to strengthen this relationship with him.

0:40:40
One of the things I love to talk about, even just I'm not a fitness guru. Like, I used to hate exercise. Right? But now, I move my body every day as an act of worship and as an act of praise to God. Because he's restored my mobility, he's given me a healthy body how could you not respond that way? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know that you also have something available as the Christmas holidays are drawing near. Can you share that with us, please? I think it would be great for everyone. Yes. I know. This is crazy. Right? Smack dab in the middle of pursuing being a health coach and being called out of a corporate career.

0:41:28
In the season of COVID, none of us will forget any time soon Christmas twenty twenty. I looked around the world, the lyrics, a phrase from all holy night, kept playing over and over in my mind, the weary world rejoices, the weary world joices. And I'm like, yes, Lord. We are so weary. Help us. Like, show up for us. And so I was focusing on the weary. I'm like, so weary, and he prompted me and reminded me about the joy. The weary world rejoices And I know something about this joy. I now know the difference. By spending these years, reading God's word every day, I now know the difference between joy and happiness. I used to be so good at faking happiness. Yeah. I know the difference now, and he reminded me that I know about this joy and I was prompted to write about it.

0:42:21
Every day through the month of December in twenty twenty, I wrote a black post was ended up being a chapter. And beginning, I love going through the gospel of Luke every December because Luke has twenty four chapters if you start on number one, you can count down to Christmas. Learn all about this Jesus. Learn his entire story through the gospel of Luke. And so we did that on December one. And then at the end of that, well, a couple like, about a weekend to it, I was, like, this could be a book, and I felt very strongly that this could be a book, put it all together after the journey, the fact that it could be a book kept me going because I was writing a lot of words every day. I wrote a lot of words in twenty five days, and it did end up being a book. And it's called seeking joy through the gasket of Luke, Christmas to Calvary advent countdown. Oh, I've got a copy right here. And it's yeah.

0:43:15
Beginning on December one, in Luke chapter one, you read a a chapter from the GasLog Luke every day, and then I just have a very short devotional with some questions at the end of the devotional each day, and I am just completely blown away that God called me to write book about seeking joy. So now my message is seek joy, seek joy, make sure you're seeping it in your house. And speak joy to a weary world. That's the whole purpose of this book. And I'm so grateful for it. It's been a ton of fun. It's won book awards. It's up for a book award right now. Then I'm gonna find out in a few short weeks. The way that I've been marketing it is up for a marketing award.

0:43:59
I'm like, just mind blowing how God is using this these blog post words that I turn into a book. It's crazy. I think when we open ourselves up, to the lord. Mhmm. And and give ourselves up to him. I I hear this over and over with all you know, like, with most of my podcast guests saying the same thing, I was so prize that this is what God wanted me to do or this, you know, whatever it is. Right? And I have the same reaction too because if you had asked me five years ago where I would be today, I would not have been able to even think of these things. You know, I one book down, another book ready to to launch in the next couple.

0:44:51
It's, like, lord, you know, what else is there? You know, it's just mind boggling, isn't it? Where we've come? Because we have put our trust in the lord. And, yeah, it's it's just amazing what he can do when we already and willing and waiting. Yes. Just And and we've got I've gone through a lot of waiting seasons. I don't know. Got you. Even in these past couple of years, it's been crazy. Yeah. I I I would love for women to I get such great feedback from women doing this devotional with groups of friends, with small with ladies groups, women's groups in ministry life. So, yeah, grab a copy of it. Yeah. And one other thing you can see in the background here, if you're watching on video, I I've been on covers of magazines. I mean, what I didn't set out on this late last week to be on a cover of a magazine. Yeah. It's you you expect the unexpected friends when when you start being out into obedience and and following through on what God's putting on your heart.

0:46:03
Well, Christine, I wanna thank you for joining me today and sharing your story and your wisdom and your knowledge with my out of the darkness listeners. Friends check out the show notes on connecting with Christine Trimpe and please subscribe and share to grow our community. Thank you, Christine. Thank you, Ruth. Such a delight. Thank you for joining me. To stay connected, follow me on Instagram and Facebook. If you like this podcast, can you help me find new listeners by leaving a rating and review? This small step takes only a moment. But really helps grow the listening audience. So let me thank you in advance. I hope you have a wonderful day and until next time. Let's continue on our journey as followers of Jesus Christ. I am Ruth Hovsepian.

Shownotes created by https://podium.page