Heartbroken Woman Turns to God for New Beginning

“I remember what my dad weighed - it was like 194 and 195. And I just wanted to weigh less than him,” Martha admits.  “I don’t think that ever happened in my adult life. Never.”

“Growing up, I was taller than most of the boys in school, which meant I got teased.  There was one insensitive comment that I let define me for decades,” she painfully recalls.  

“I remember exactly where I was standing in the classroom.  And he called me 'Big Bertha.’  And I remember being devastated.  I interpreted it as: ‘You’re not the tallest one in the class; you’re the fattest one in the class,’”  Martha explains.  

“I was brought up in a very loving, Christian family, but it never occurred to me that God could help.”

“Prayed, and I did what all good Christian girls do. Your parents teach you the Lord’s prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, you know. But I didn’t have a relationship with the Lord.  Nor in that naïve state thought He could fix this.

“I battled my weight through high school and college, and tried everything to fix it.  But no diet, pill,  gimmick or even plastic surgery fixed the problem,” she says.    

“I probably thought I was unlovable. Not necessarily to God, but to man. And having that thought in the back of my head is probably what led me down the road to my first marriage.  Hindsight, I see how the Lord was trying to stop that marriage.   ‘Oh no, I got this. I can make this marriage work. I can fix him. I can fix me.’”

“But in time it became clear that I couldn’t fix it and I just felt like a complete failure as a person,” Martha confesses.    
“I was married, had the twins, had Carter, my youngest, but my marriage was dead.”

“I kept up a good front, but in my early 30’s, the bottom just fell out of my life.”  

“I lost my very high-paying executive job because of a buyout. I lost my marriage, and then my dad horrifically, tragically died. And in that time, I had nothing else to hold onto other than this God I had believed in for 30 years,” she remembers.  The deeper need was a true relationship with the Lord. Completely. clearly.  “The deeper need was a true relationship with the Lord. Completely.”

“The deeper need was a true relationship with the Lord. Completely.”

“So I spent time developing that relationship like never before. I said, ‘Okay, You are real. And I want to live the rest of my life feeling You and hearing You.’ And so that was—that was a line in the sand. ‘You’re in control. Take over.’  He graciously proved Himself, that He could take whatever mess I had put myself into and provide a way out. And all I needed to do was just ask for help,” Martha says.  

“Several years later, I met and married Steven – a government contractor with four kids.  I was growing greatly in my faith, but the struggle with my weight was far from over. “

“I’m a mom to seven kids now. And I fell flat on my face. And so I shut down. I would go to work during the day, I would come home to a house that had literally been trashed by 7 children. And to be honest, my dinner consisted of either a bottle of wine or four beers.  So it happened gradually and I blew up to 250 pounds,” she admits.  

“I was undone.  And I finally asked God to help me get healthy.”

“I vividly remember thinking, ‘You are 40 years old. This has to stop.’  I pulled back on the alcohol. I still didn’t know how to fuel my body. I didn’t know what foods to eat.  And I heard the Holy Spirit say, “What are you going to do now, Martha?  Are you going to trust Me now?’  I had this sixth sense that He was going to point me in some direction, and He did.”

My first step was to join a gym and start exercising. Next, I read everything I could find on nutrition,” she recalls.  

“In the first 10 months, I lost 50 pounds.”

“I got the discipline from the Lord because I never had the discipline before.”  

“And as I was getting smaller on the outside, I was growing stronger on the inside.  I became a better mother. Your confidence goes up. Your outlook on life goes up.  And the authentic Martha was finally blooming,” she remembers.  

“I eventually opened my own gym, lost 100 pounds, and became a fitness and nutrition coach.  Now my greatest joy is leading others to find their help in God too.”
 
“Stop ignoring Him and thinking you can fix everything on yourself.  Just stop and talk to Him.  He is a God who will take your biggest mess and turn into the most beautiful, beautiful story.”