Karisse's Story - I have struggled with my weight and body image my entire life. When I was nine my favorite past times were reading and doing crafts. It was at a health check up that year when I heard my doctor tell my mom to get me into an active past-time "because I was fat". I remember shame filling me as I stood there, because I hadn't realized there wasn't anything wrong with me. Until I heard that word: Fat. I remember holding back tears as my mom grabbed my hand and we stormed out...

Throughout my childhood, I never had a weight problem.  I was thin, active, and overall healthy.  I ate anything I wanted and kept my "cute little figure". I remember my mom telling me that I needed to be careful, that things might not  always be this way.  I didn't believe her (I was a teenager--I knew everything!). Then I grew up, got married,  and while pregnant with my first baby the military moved us 16 hours from my home.  This was the beginning of my spiral downward.

Peace. Such a strong word. No matter what angle you're coming from, it means the same thing, but has so many different levels of gravity to settle in. Peace. What does it mean to you? Are you familiar with it? Is there is peace in your home? Is there peace in your life at all? Or does peace resemble a circular symbol you saw in the 60's a time or two...maybe a hand gesture that has completely lost its meaning? Sadly enough, peace is something that may be a rare occurrence to some.

As we approach the Fourth of July Holiday, it is always a great time of the year to reflect on our freedoms. Not only the constitutional freedoms we have and celebrate in the United States, but personal, individual ones that are just as near and dear to us as well.  Today I want to talk to you about the freedom that can come through a Christian Diet Program. Webster's dictionary defines freedom as: the state of being free; exemption from the power and control of another.

Life ... something we all must face and learn to get through the best way we can. We all experience (and love) the good times, but being human, we all experience those rougher, tougher, hard times too. I've learned it's not what we go through in life, it's how we choose to get through it.