The Story of Faith Fit

God is doing big things in Paducah, Kentucky! There is a brand new ministry, with an exciting new concept happening! It is called FaithFit! FaithFit is birthed from a vision that God has given me, although He has given me this vision in small increments; unfolding one page at a time. I didn’t see exactly where all this was going. I have just been riding along with Jesus on an exciting journey! I still am! The really cool thing is, now God has brought an awesome team of people to come along and ride with me! The FaithFit team is made up of some simply amazing folks who are willing to serve and put In the work; consequently, the team is growing! I am so excited to get to share about this awesome ministry and what God is doing through it!

Let me go back to the beginning. Several years ago, God began to show me the results of what eating a diet of clean, God-made food can do! Along with eating this way, eliminating processed foods, and adding strength training to my workouts, the symptoms of menopause I had been suffering with completely went away. I lost the weight I had gained through menopause and my achy back got strong and the pain was gone! My energy level went through the roof and I was feeling better than I had in years and years! At this same time, I had also decided to go back to college and get my degree in Culinary Arts.

My love for cooking and for healthy food led me to start my healthy food blog, Food For Thought. By sharing simple healthy recipes with my readers, I began to see that there was a need for this. People want to eat healthier, but do not always know how. I love hearing someone tell me that they tried one of my recipes and how good it was! Yes! Healthy, God-made food is delicious and can be put together in an endless amount of ways for us to enjoy! No boring food here! I went on to teach fitness classes at a gym, loving the fact that I was getting to help people feel stronger and more energetic, not to mention we were building a community! I love seeing people encourage and support each other in their health and fitness goals! I l felt God leading me to take all these resources that He had supplied me with and put it all together with an element that was missing…spiritual health and focusing on WHY we need to be healthier!

As we all know, we are all made up of a mind, a body and a soul. We need to be healthy in all three areas! If one area is unhealthy, it affects the whole person! God began to show me that not only do we need to be healthy in mind, body and spirit, we need to be healthy and strong for a purpose; to be able to serve Him better! There are some things we cannot help about our health, but there is much we can! What we choose to put in our body and how much we exercise affects us so much! Eating right and getting exercise gives us such better quality of life and makes us much more able to do all the things He has for us to do! It is not as easy to serve Him by serving others if we are tired, sick or depressed because we feel bad about ourselves! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss one thing!

So God began to lead me to start a ministry where we offer amazing group fitness classes with the emphasis on being fit for a purpose…being Fit For The Mission, which is our motto! Ephesians 2:10 is the verse that God keeps before me. It says that we are His workmanship and we were created for good works that He planned ahead of time specifically for us to do! With that in mind, it is so important to take care of ourselves and be as healthy as we can be for those works! If we can do this together in a group setting, it is even better! We are stronger together, encouraging and building each other up! Hence the birth of FaithFit!

I spoke with my pastor at my church, Heartland Church in Paducah, to see about possibly being able to use space there for this ministry. He is super supportive of it as is all the leadership! I am so thankful for that and that we can use such a beautiful facility for our classes! We are able to keep the classes free of charge too! We do accept donations that go to different missions and charities, both local and abroad! I proceeded forward following the Lord’s lead step by step in pursuit of this call on my life. I prayed for other instructors to come on board to help teach. Very quickly we had a whole team ready to put together great workouts as well as a weekly Bible study. Each workout ends with a scripture and a short devotion and prayer. Each workout is to amazing Christian music! The atmosphere is so positive and encouraging! There has been a huge response to FaithFit in our community! I owe all this to the Lord and I pray everything we do there brings honor and glory to Him!

At FaithFit we offer 13 different classes each week! We have a barbell, pump class which is a full-body workout with light weights and high reps, all to amazing Christian music called Power-Up. We offer Cross Training class, which is a HIIT class mixing strength and cardio exercises. We have Praise Moves, which is a fun dance class to upbeat Christian music. There is a Christ-centered yoga class, which is so relaxing and worshipful! We have a stretching class called Stretch n Go to help participants with their flexibility and balance. There is a kickboxing class led by an amazing trainer that is not just strength and cardio, but also incorporates self-defense. We also offer a weekly Bible study! To top it all off, we have an amazing group of folks on our Welcome Team! They work at the front desk to welcome each person who comes through the door with a big smile and a helping hand! Our entire team is so awesome! I am beyond thankful for their willingness to serve! I am always ready to help anyone wanting help with nutrition tips, recipes and meal -planning ideas!

I am blown away by what God has put together at FaithFit! It is a big family of people who want to get healthier in mind, body and soul! It is a beautiful thing and I cannot wait to see what all God has in store for FaithFit! If anyone is interested in doing something similar at their church or community, please feel free to reach out to me. I will glad to talk to you about it! I look forward to more of this exciting journey called FaithFit!