What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV biblegateway.com

I’ve been on a health journey for sometime now. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love to gab about healthy food, vitamins, exercise and gardening. The passion I have for all things health started around 12 years ago, when God intervened moments before I was about to take my own life in the spring of 2010. I was seriously depressed and had been for many years. I was in my early 30’s with a wonderful husband and three beautiful children. Everything about my life looked perfect to anyone who only knew me on the surface, but my mind was in shambles on the inside and so was my body. The voices in my head made me believe lies about myself and I had stopped trying. I had lost so many battles. The weight crept on and I don’t remember even caring about that very much. I was just trying to get through each day as a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home momma. Just trying to survive. It took all the energy that I could possibly muster to get through the day tending to the needs of my family. I tried to make it as easy on myself as I could with some things. Our meals being one of them.

It seemed so much easier and cheaper to eat prepared meals from the frozen food section: TV dinners, skillet stir-fry’s and the like. So, that’s what I did. Mostly everything we ate came in a box or a can. I was already used to eating plenty of canned vegetables growing up on Smith Island. It’s hard to get great produce on an isolated island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay! That wasn’t to say that I didn’t have fantastic meals growing up. My mother was an outstanding cook. The best there was. OUTSTANDING. But like I said, I was used to not eating fresh veggies. It just didn’t matter to me.

Getting back to that unfortunate turned miraculous night, I sat at the dinning room table with a bunch of old depression meds I had recently been made aware of while cleaning out the bathroom cabinets a few weeks prior. I probably had been prescribed and taken off of almost every depression medication know to man by that point. I just desperately wanted my mind to hush. I can still remember how loud it was in my head. I opened up God’s word one last time before “going to sleep” and I stumbled on 2 Kings 20:5, which says:

“Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I WILL HEAL YOU, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD.

2 Kings 20:5 NIV Blue Letter Bible

I knew when I read those words that God would heal me of the depression and anxiety! And, He really did! Can you guess how?? You guessed correctly if you said through diet and exercise. Taking care of my body, which Paul called “the temple” in 1 Corinthians 6.

I realize that for some who struggle with mental illness this is not going to be enough on its own but for me it was. God healed me in this way and I can never forget it! Although, if you saw me today you would probably think that I have forgotten! Which is why I’m writing “Rebuild The Temple” instead of “Build The Temple.” But, I got to work on my “temple” right after that night and started learning all that I could about what God says about health and healing. It lead me right into my own wellness! In three years time I was almost 80lbs lighter!! I was exercising once or twice each day, even running! I still can hardly believe it when I think of the anxiety and depression I had faced before.

With my family’s support we had made the switch from highly processed food to eating healthy organic food and buying from farmers markets when we could. It was a win-win for our family. My getting healthy was causing my family to get healthy as well. We looked better, we felt better and there were less doctors appointments and medications. Sounds like a miracle to me!

I am not as fit as I was when the health journey was fresh. It’s been many years now. I’ve gained almost all the weight I lost back. Sure, I still have a passion for health and healing but I have been less motivated as of late. I haven’t been as eager as I was years ago. It’s not uncommon for me now to skip a workout or eat drive-thru from time to time.

There have been some lasting changes however. We still buy organic food when it’s available. We stay away from processed foods and have a small garden and try to make everything from scratch. Exercise is still done but not as frequent, and I have a full vitamin cabinet.

So, what happened? When we moved I was used to walking or jogging in the morning and strength training in the afternoon but now we live in an area where the elements of nature are against those walks/jogs. I think I got really frustrated with the high tides and mosquitoes! The greatest problem however, that I have to deal with that I didn’t before: Candida albicans. My archnemesis.

“Candida is a fungus that aids with nutrient absorption and digestion when in proper levels in the body. When it overproduces, typical candida symptoms may appear. In the digestive tract, if left unchecked, it breaks down the walls of the intestinal lining and penetrates into the bloodstream. This releases byproduct toxins and other toxins from your system, causing leaky gut syndrome. Make no mistake: This is a chronic health condition.” (https://draxe.com/health/candida-symptoms/#What_Is_Candida)

As you can see, this can have severe ramifications. For someone who was used to having very little problems loosing weight before, this illness can make you feel like you are going crazy!! I thought at first it was just a mental block that I needed to work through. I’ve been devastated by this autoimmune disease for 8 years now. I only found out what was going on and what I was dealing with, within the last four. I more than likely contracted the candida when I was prescribed so many antibiotics for chronic UTIs, which I still have and treat with natural remedies. Now that I know what the problem is, you would think that it would soon subside but, that’s not been the case. In some ways this has been more frustrating than the depression was. It feels like sabotage. It makes me feel like I know what Paul meant when he said,

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little YEAST works through the whole batch of dough.”

Galatians 5:7-9 NIV Blue Letter Bible

Paul called the sin and evil found in our lives…yeast, which is what candida is. We know that Satan loves to render us ineffective. This is a great example of that. My Achilles heel: Sugar, bread, noodles, potatoes…creates YEAST. Knowing this should make me gear up for battle. This should tick me off to the point were I’m determined to do something about it. Right? Well I have. I can’t tell you how much time and energy I have spent researching this, talking about this, spending money on this but I’m still suffering. Why? Because this isn’t going away if I pass on doughnuts. I’ve been shown that I’ve been fighting this alone. I get so frustrated that I leave God out of the equation. God said to me a while back; “You are in the way. The battle is mine, not yours.” Recently I hear His spirit telling me to “Start praising!” This is the prescribed way to deal with any “invader” that comes to steal your inheritance or territory. I just started to put this all together this morning! Look at King Jehoshaphat’s story with me in 2 Chronicles 20.

This shows an accurate plan of attack against foreign invaders:

1. Fast (and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. vs.3)

2. Pray (The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. vs.4)

3. Trust (Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” vs.12)

4. Show up (You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.” vs.17)

5. Worship and Praise. (“As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.” vs.22)

A couple years ago a friend was talking to me about how the spiritual affects the physical and vice versa. He even mentioned how negativity and a complaining can cause illness. Well, now it’s been made a reality. Much like when God said He would heal me and then everything in Scripture seemed to be about health and healing to me!

My negative attitude has made me sick. The frustrations I have had and the stress in my life has made me physically ill. The prescription, amazing enough, is praise!!!

In the book of Ezra the elders wept at the sight of the new temple that was built after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. In the same way when I look at my temple and how it has “fallen into disrepair”makes me sad, but this is how God grows us up! So we will see what not to do, or what we should have done differently. He lets us fall down and fail sometimes to make us more aware of who we are to look to for our strength and success. Ezra told those elders to praise the Lord anyway. To eat and drink and celebrate because God was with them! This has been such a reminder of what God did in my life to heal me 12 years ago. He will stop at nothing until we are whole and perfect. I will start declaring positivity over my life instead of failure. I am already healed, In Jesus Name. I will start today to rebuild the temple with Him. Praise God!

-Carole Ann Landon

Small Beginnings blog post #7

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