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CBN.com – A LIFETIME OF FAITH AND STRUGGLE
Faith Powell was raised in the church and stayed in the church for most of her life. Since God has been in her life from her earliest memories, she can't remember when she made her own personal commitment to Christ. She believes she must have been a preteen. She says she has always known Christ and always had a heart for missions. Faith was active in church youth activities and has remained active with the church for most of her life.
She had a lifetime struggle with being overweight, or what she calls being "pleasingly plump." Faith assumed that since her mother was overweight that she would be too. They were from the south and Faith's mother always cooked fried foods and other foods high in fat –Faith never learned proper nutrition. As a young woman in her 20s she started to diet. She tried everything, Weight Watchers, etc. with no permanent success.
FIRST PLACE, A LIFESTYLE CHANGE
She was on the yo-yo diet cycle until seven years ago when she started the First Place diet program, which places emphasis on the spiritual aspects of losing weight with nine commitments: Attendance, Scripture Reading, Memory Verse, Bible Study, "Live It" Plan, Fact Sheet, Phone Call, and Exercise. These nine commitments must be done on a daily basis as an intregal part of the program. It is not a diet, but a lifestyle change. One of the keys is the spiritual. There are Bible studies and memory verses that really touch the core and puts food and eating in the proper biblical perspective.
Faith never thought about praying to God about her weight problem, she thought it was her problem and that she had to take care of on her own. She saw an ad for the First Place program in a magazine, and primarily did the program to lose weight and not for the spiritual benefits. Faith says the Bible studies were the most critical point to help her and an added bonus. Being a Christian all her life, she found the First Place Bible studies were the best bible studies she ever had that really address key issues. She found they strengthened her relationship with God.
Faith says she learned that eating food is not a sin. The First Place program attacks wrong mindsets regarding food by using the Bible to combat wrong beliefs. She says the program is not easy, but doable and that the key to success in the program is sticking to it daily. Faith has been with the program for seven years and leads a First Place group (she's been a First Place group leader ever since she started the program). She lost the thirty initial pounds she wanted to lose since she started the program. She admits that though she has gained 10 back and is working to lose them, she sees the benefits of the program and continues to stay with it and help others through the program. She is even "unofficially" the official networking leader for First Place for the state of Virginia.
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