Look great feel great: 12 keys to enjoying a health life now

The bodies God gives are instruments for experiencing a fulfilling life on earth, for doing good works, for spiritual development. To do the work individuals are meant to do, they need to keep in shape. They must maintain a sound mind, body, and soul. Yet in the modern world, it is all too easy to let one, two, or all three of these slip. LOOK GREAT, FEEL GREAT presents Joyce’s twelve-key plan to address the epidemic of “self esteem drought” that appears to be a factor in perpetuating habits that create poor health.Additionally, Joyce will provide helpful resources, like the “Ounce of Prevention Checklist,” for self-maintenance.

Introduction

Do you have any idea how much you are worth? If you doubt yourself or hate yourself, if you abuse your body with bad food or bad habits, even if you just put yourself at the very bottom of the list of people you do things for, under children, spouse, parents and boss and friends, then you don’t understand your own worth. If you did, you wouldn’t treat yourself that way. You were put on this earth to spread the love of God, and nothing could be more precious than that.

Maybe you never learned your own importance. This is what happened to me. As a child, I was abused and came to believe that I was the least valuable person on the planet. It took me many years of studying the word of God and experiencing fellowship with him before I had even a sense of my own worth.

Or maybe you knew your worth when you were younger, but somewhere along the way you forgot it, buried under a to-do list that clamored for your attention more than your own soul. If so, join the club. The degraded value systems of the modern world bombard us with the message that our mind, soul and body come last, after money, food, status and all. No matter how much we resist, we all succumb from time to time.

I can’t tell you how important it is to reform your value system and return to a much older value system. God’s value system. This applies to everyone and puts your whole being (body, mind, will, emotions and spirit) at the very top of God’s list of important and precious things. Your whole being plays an important role in God’s plan; He has entrusted you with the task of taking care of it, and it is indeed a great responsibility. Only by keeping your mind, soul, and body in perfect condition can you truly do God’s work.

Let me give you an example. One day, I felt a lot of guilt for something I had done wrong. Even though I asked God to forgive me and believed it, Hedid, I still felt guilty. My mind was on my past when it should have been on my future. I felt depressed and discouraged. I had a headache and generally didn’t feel like doing much. The Holy Spirit began to deal with my attitude. He asked me if I thought my attitude helped me do his job. He then said, “I want you to get over this because you’re no good to Me in this condition.” The direct way the Holy Spirit dealt with me helped me see that I was wasting my day due to negative emotions. In fact, I was allowing my soul (mind, will, and emotions) to negatively affect my mind and body. My mind felt oppressed and my body ached. We must realize that we are complex creatures and that every part of us affects the other parts. If we don’t take good care of our body, our mind and soul will be less efficient. If we worry excessively, it can harm our health. If we have no relationship with God and are spiritually weak, nothing seems to work right in our lives. We are definitely three-part beings and have many facets to our natures, and each needs proper care.

But how do you maintain the spirit, maintain the soul and maintain the body? You cannot drop them off at the local mechanic for a tune up. No, but one of the best ways to take care of your mind and soul on this planet is to take care of your body. Your body is the temple of your mind and soul; it is the house in which they dwell on this earth. The word of God says that your body is the temple of God! He dwells in those who believe in him.

Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, whom you have received [as a gift] from God? You don’t belong to yourself…

I Corinthians 6:19