I felt hopeless; I was the heaviest I had ever been. I went to the doctor to find out what was wrong with me…it had to be something. What I found out was that from a medical perspective there was nothing wrong with me other than being overweight. My doctor told me it was a math problem; calories in/calories out…and as an accountant that made sense to my brain. However I didn't know how to fix it. I had tried many things in my life but had always regained the weight ...

In 2014, I was a very broken woman, wandering, lost in a spiritual desert. I obsessed about my weight. I focused on this rather that the real issues disturbing me. As with other woman in the Grace and Strength community I tried multiple diets, fasts, even gastric bypass surgery. I would lose, then regain as is the pattern. The question to myself was why do I keep doing the same thing? I had been in Weight Watchers for about a year and just was not getting anywhere. I found Grace and Strength.

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person...what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person." What was coming out of my heart a year ago was bitterness, anger, resentment, and a deep discontentment. This heart condition manifested itself in fear of failure, shame, and comforting myself with the temporal things of this world, such as material possessions, worldly success, and especially food.

My name is Anna Anthony and I am a 60 year old mother of three and grandmother of one. That describes a lot of people, I am sure, as do many of the other details of my life ... wife, sister, daughter, and teacher. Some of my other stats are likely the same as yours, too. I was overweight for more years than I care to remember, and physically debilitated by that weight.

As My Faith Grew Bigger, My Size Got Smaller: The last five years have been a dieting yo-yo for me. I would lose and I would gain, I would lose and I would gain. I am a rule follower so give me something that works and I could work it. Only every time I would start to loose weight, I would inevitably get a proverbial flat tire.