This recent graduate, who wishes to remain anonymous, has a story to tell about acceptance and accountability and what she found and achieved when she joined the Grace and Strength Lifestyle.

Dear Grace And Strength,

So...here am I writing my testimony! Can you believe it?

I have been with Grace and Strength for more than a year. I joined in January 2016. I live in Europe and simply found Grace and Strength on the internet as I was looking for a solution for my weight problems. The Christian attitude was absolutely important for me because in the past, I had been using weight loss methods that used to compromise my faith.

When I wrote to G and S, I was soon contacted by [founder] Cyndi [Benson] who -- together with Coach Bekha and Coach Allison -- always treated me in a very kind, loving and tolerant way. They accepted me with all my doubts, and I was full of doubts! I used to lose weight and gain it back all the time, and I did not even know what my ideal weight was because I have always been overweight. This problem had been a shadow over my life. To be able to live without this shadow I needed to learn to believe new truths about myself, my limits, my characteristics and possibilities. I had to change my heart and my thoughts; I had to allow my faith in God to penetrate into my cells and tissues.

At the beginning, I did not really believe the program would work for me. I thought the diet was too strict, and fast weight loss was not healthy and I did not believe I could go without sugar and wheat. I also heard a lot of negative opinions about American health programs. For 2 months I chose the healthy eating plan and joined the calls without following a strict diet. Then I started phase 2 in April 2016. I soon began to release weight. In about 3 months everyone around me was amazed, my results were visible. By then I had totally given up eating and drinking unnecessary things like sweets, alcohol and cakes. I actually could have finished much earlier if I had followed the plan more closely. My weight loss was slow and stable, actually quite easy.

I decided to stay in phase 2 a bit longer than planned because I felt I needed to give enough time for myself to work with the Lord who was so obviously and visibly changing my heart, my thoughts, my limiting beliefs. I somehow feel that I took a trip to my past with the Lord and we met the little girl, the teenager and the young woman I used to be and we embraced these persons and taught them discipline, self respect, gave them nutrition information, practical knowledge, showed them the importance of boundaries, of planning, of activity management, of Bible verses.

All this happened during the weekly calls, the Bible study, as well as in messages with my Coaches and accountability partners and on the Facebook page. In these forums we became friends, shared moments of our personal life, our exercise routines, our recipes, our hardships and successes. We really wanted to help each other. I first felt the loving care of the G and S community when in March 2016 Coach Bekha and a lot of my G and S friends contacted me after the Brussels terrorist attacks to ask me how I was feeling, because I am living in Brussels. I think this gesture played an important part in the start of my G and S Journey.

I am at the end of phase 3 now (actually, I am now an ALUMNI member). I would honestly recommend the program for those who are looking for a Christian solution for their weight problems. The loving attitude of the group, the high professional and practical knowledge of the coaches (who also used to be clients once), the Facebook page, the exercise challenges, the group prayers, the accountability partnership make it possible for everyone to reach their weight goals. I am really thankful for all of these!

~Anonymous

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* Individual results may vary.