I’m an avid gym-goer. I’ve been this way since I lost 100 pounds 17 years ago and then gained the inner healing, freedom, and skills needed to maintain it. Because of my experience with extreme body transformation, one of my favorite parts of the gym is watching people in the gym. I see so many different kinds. The first are those who just started. I can tell fitness is a brand-new world for them. There’s a lack of knowledge about being in a gym they carry. It’s that awkwar

My first year at the University of Alabama, Bridget and I exchanged gifts on her birthday (our birthdays are 18 days apart in September). In hilarity, but thinking the same, we both gave each other Sara Bareilles’s new album Kaleidoscope Heart. One of our favorite songs on the album, Uncharted, described so clearly how I felt about where Holy Spirit was leading me with Cultivate Life. The lyrics read: Oh, I'm going down Follow if you want, I won't just hang around Like

Always contending. That is my reality. Always contending for something. People. Places. Things. Spiritual people, places, and things. It’s constant. It doesn’t end. Yes, I’ve gotten better at the fight, but it’s exhausting. I am exhausted. I am completely exhausted with contending with the kingdom of darkness over the territory (seen and unseen) Holy Spirit has placed in front of me to conquest. About a month ago, I told my best friend, “I feel like I am going to have a mel