Kerry Wood, host 0:13

We are live. We do. Thanks. Hey friends, this is Carrie Wood with another edition of the Free Holiness Podcast. And today I'm going to be exploring a topic that really ought to be important to every single one of us. How is our health? Not just how is our health spiritually or how is our health physically, but how is our health in a very complete and whole way. In order to have that conversation, I'm talking to Katherine Passauer. She and I had an opportunity to meet at the latest session of the North Carolina Annual Conference. And she was kind enough to send me a copy of her book, which is called Honoring God with My Body: Journey to Wellness and a Healthy Lifestyle. So, Catherine, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Thank you, Carrie. It's great to be here.

Kerry Wood, host 1:26

So tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your relationship and experience with God?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

That's always an interesting question, isn't it? It is. Maybe because farm life and teaching take up so much time during the week, they were just exhausted. And we didn't do anything but the necessary farm work on Sunday. So we did try to at least ex um celebrate the Sabbath in that way. But so I didn't start attending church until I was a young adult. But it wasn't until a crisis in my marriage many years later that I truly realized how important a relationship with Jesus is. And my husband and I had separated and I had said, no, this is it. I don't want to be married to you anymore. And I had an interaction with a neighbor who invited me to a Bible study, and it was called Me Obey Him. And I thought it would be something about submitting to God, but it turned out it was a Bible study about learning to obey our husbands. Oh my. And I'm quite an independent person and uh considered myself self-sufficient, that I didn't need anything like that. But you know, I felt a whisper of God telling me, look, you need to go to this Bible study. And it was a life-changing experience for me. That group of women prayed for me on my struggle, first of all, to recognize that I needed to make the steps to reconcile with my husband. But moreover, and more important, I need to fully submit to God, which I had never done, even though I was considered myself a a Christian from the time that I began attending church and voiced that I, yes, I want to accept Jesus as my savior. And but I didn't take that final step of submission. And that's what that was what changed my life. I was a better wife, a better person, a better mother, because I had finally stepped onto that journey with my savior. So it was life-changing for me.

Kerry Wood, host 4:10

Yeah. So so in some ways, your story um parallels John Wesley's in that he was living as a Christian for a very long time. He would have considered himself to be such. But then when he had his uh Aldersgate experience and he felt that that true assurance that you know Christ died for him and he fully received by faith, that sounds very similar to your story. You lived your life in a certain way, but then in that time, that experience, that expression, you found the love of God in a more powerful way than ever before, and it became real to you.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Absolutely. That that expresses it perfectly. Thank you.

Kerry Wood, host 4:52

That's great. That's wonderful. So, so what about your family then? Is there anything that you would like to share?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

I have a wonderful husband, two children, and three grandchildren. The my parents have since passed away, of course. But uh I grew up with I was the youngest of five children, and although my older sister has passed away, the the other four of us are still close, and so I have a wonderful extended family and church family. So I am truly blessed.

Kerry Wood, host 5:25

That's great. That's very, very, very nice. So, what is the short version of how you wound up in a ministry of serving God through wellness and healthy living?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

My early career, uh, I was a physical education teacher. I taught elementary physical education for many years, and I began to notice that our children primarily were not in very good health, and it really concerned me. And of course, I tried to reach that small group of children that I touched on a daily basis, but then I realized that I could reach more children if I went back to school, and so I did so I could teach in college and help prepare teachers because then I could help them also be more aware of their own health and well-being, as well as reaching more children. Um I I loved teaching young adults, it was great, but also they had the same problem. You know, our society, we are basically a sedentary, sedentary society, and we have all these wonderful things like fast food and already pre-prepared food, and it's really convenient to eat these days, but not necessarily make healthy choices. So I was trying to do that with my young adults, and then again, still helping to reach children. But then I begin to age, just like we all do, and I realized that our middle-aged and older adults were also having difficulty dealing with chronic health disease, which is not only debilitating during our lifetime, but also our chronic diseases contribute to uh uh early death and all sorts of disabling conditions as we age. So began to have classes at church and do Bible studies. And this book, Honoring God with My Body, was an outgrowth of those Bible studies that I began to do for any age. I mean, the first time I did it, my daughter was in it, and she was in her twenties, and I had a 95-year-old man in it who said he didn't want to get old until he had to, and he was willing to do anything to help delay the process, and so it was a a wide age range.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

They helped me. I this this Bible study was just a rough draft then, and with their advice and feedback, uh, I think I made it more uh fitting for them as Christians to recognize the relationship between our physical health and our spiritual health and all those other health themes that I know you're going to ask me about later.

Kerry Wood, host 8:20

Right. Yeah. So that that's really good uh to to segue into this next question, which is your book doesn't start where most health-related books begin. They they they will talk about nutrition things, they will talk about the importance of movements, but you start with God's love and then connecting to loving oneself and loving others. Tell me how did you decide that was the right place to start?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Well, that was part of my personal journey too. This my I struggled with with my faith, as I mentioned earlier when we were talking at the beginning of our conversation. I struggled with the knowledge that God didn't love me, that he had so much else going on that he didn't really care about me. And and I I went through a time period where I struggled with my weight and with self-control and self-discipline. And during that same Bible study that I mentioned early, I recognized God's great love for me. And then I began to read the Bible more. Of course, I had experienced it some in our classes and church and things like that, but I began to read it for myself and it spoke to me about God's love for his people, his great and infinite love for his people, and we are his people, and then the fact that Jesus sacrificed himself for us, the greatest gift of love that anyone could ever share. And so if God loves us that way, it means that we're special to him. And if he loves us that way, then we need to honor him, love him. That's the natural response, love him in return. And then in turn, that made me feel like, well, if God loves me so much, then I need to take care of this body. He loves me. I need to take care of this body. And then, of course, what we're all called to do as Christians is to serve him. So, what's our response to his great love for us? We love him and serve him in return. And we've all been given different gifts. But one of my gifts is being a teacher and then being able to share knowledge with others and try to help them make healthier choices because it's a matter of well, it's a matter of our quality of life, you know, the choices that we make as far as choosing, you know, smoke, not smoke, um, drink or not drink, or drugs, or or what we eat.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Or whether we move, because we are created to move. We have this amazing body that is created to move, and sometimes we just don't move enough.

Kerry Wood, host 11:12

Yes, yes. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that it is out of God's love for us that we find our ability to then live our lives out of that love and healthy nutrition, healthy lifestyles, if they're not connected to the love of God, then it's just our effort, and our effort, just like we can't save ourselves from sin, we can't save ourselves from bad health either, all on our own.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Well, that's true, because we're all tempted. I mean, we we read that in scripture. We've all been tempted and fallen short, but he's with us. And I know you're gonna ask me more later about the the Holy Spirit, but that that Holy Spirit is living right here with us, and and he's our advocate, our guide, our counselor, who's helping us to make wise decisions. And it's not just about not just about what we eat or what we we uh move about or not, but it's about how we treat other people, how we strive to to serve God by serving others in our job or in our families or in our church family.

Kerry Wood, host 12:24

Yes, yes, exactly. And and you connect unhealthy physical behaviors to some of our deeper emotional issues, our the the the things that are in our souls that are in need of healing in order for us to then be able to be more healthy. So the the health practitioners, mental health practitioners will have been acknowledging this for a long time. They, you know, the all of the things about various eating disorders, you know, they they always tie them back into, well, what's going on, you know, in the in the mental health. So where do you see scripture actually making this connection even more profoundly than the way our healthcare system has already started making that connection?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Well, we tend to to focus on particular aspects of our mental health or our emotional health, or whether we're depressed or not, or whether we are dealing with uh physical conditions that limit uh limit our ability. But it's our body is is one big package, and you know, our brain, of course, is necessary uh to control everything else, but we I believe personally we shouldn't separate our emotional health from our mental health or our physical health or our vocational health. Are we happy with our job? You know, do we feel we have purpose in life? You know, that's the vocational aspect. And and do we have good social relationships with others? We're not designed to be isolated, you know. The pandemic really reminded us of that.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

It did.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Because isolation drastically affected people, you know, depression increased dramatically, and and uh people stopped going out and people they gained weight, they disassociated with their friendships and relationships, and it was just a it wasn't just that people were sick physically from the disease, it affected every aspect of their life. And so I think it's important to recognize that we need to keep a balance in all of those aspects and recognize that one affects another.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Physical physical health, for example, if we are limited in whether we can uh in our movement ability, whether we can go out and socialize, if we're confined to our home because of a physical limitation, then that affects our emotional health, it affects our social ability to communicate with others, it affects our physical ability because once a chronic disease gets us, it's gonna affect us for the rest of our life, unless we can find ways to cope with it effectively. And so all of those different dimensions of health interact and one affects the other.

Kerry Wood, host 15:16

Yeah. So so to go back to my question, uh is there places where you found that connection in scripture that helps us to understand and realize the depth of this connection?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Oh, yes, I did digress from that, didn't I?

Kerry Wood, host 15:31

I know you're good, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Well, if I want, um let me check on something. So we have God's promise that He loves us and He wants us to have an abundant life. And I take that to mean that He wants us to live joyfully, to be happy, and one way that we are joyful and happy is if we do have a good quality of life, which is really based on the choices that we make. And we're way back in scripture, we're reminded when Daniel and his friends were encouraged to eat the more uh rich food and to drink the wine and things that were served at the king's table because they were wealthy and they could afford really good tasting food. But healthy food can taste good too. It's just that we've gotten used to ooh, sugar is good, or when you mix sugar and fat together as an ice cream, that's really good. But we were reminded, you know, Daniel reminded reminds us, because that was recorded in scripture, that they ate the food that God had prescribed for them early on, which is seeds and nuts and fruit and vegetables, and didn't and avoided those rich foods. And so to me that's a reminder, and people now are turning to the Daniel diet as a way to make healthy choices.

Kerry Wood, host 17:04

Yeah. So that's and I think about uh the Apostle Paul as as he described, you know, that that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and so he he admonishes honor God with your body. And uh that that to me is one of those key places where we recognize that what we do physically matters to what everything else about us uh is is experiencing. So if if you don't have uh honoring God with your body as part of your overall Christian life uh response to God's love, then you're probably missing out on some of the great blessings God intended for us to have.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

You are right, and thank you for reminding me because that's some the most important uh lesson, I think. And while you were sharing that, thank you. Uh remember that I had also jotted down the um from Galatians, and this again is is Paul said that we can it's our desires of the flesh that are in constant conflict with the what's the Holy Spirit is guiding us to do and what the and he's speaking in terms of himself. I mean he's what he what I desire to do and what the Holy Spirit is reminding me to do is they're in conflict. And so which one are we going to listen to? So a lot of our healthy choices are the desires of the flesh. To whether we know do I eat this? Uh I really love uh hot fudge brownie sundae. But uh it's you know, maybe once a year wouldn't be too bad, but every other day would be bad. So whereas I could be eating a uh fruit or something else that's much better for me. And so we are in constant conflict, and and he he recognized it too.

Kerry Wood, host 19:07

Yes, indeed. So exercise is a dirty word to a lot of people. What are some of the causes for this? Why are we in our modern culture so uh exercise resistant? And and maybe another way of asking that is why is it that we've turned so many of us have turned exercise into some kind of a um, oh, I gotta go to the gym or I've gotta go hire a a personal trainer. We we've turned it into some kind of a production rather than just being part of our lifestyle. Do you have any insight as to what that is all about?

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Well, many years ago, people had to work really hard just to survive, and it involved physical labor. They had to grow their own food, they had to work with their hands so much. But these modern conveniences that we all enjoy and appreciate have limited the physical aspect of survival. I mean, there are still many professions where people have to work hard physically, but many of us had lifestyles where we were sitting as a as a teacher, uh as a college professor. I had many, many hours sitting in front of the computer every day, and I'm not the only person that does that either. So many of us have uh habits or jobs that require a lot of sitting, and that has contributed to the uh the drastic change in the health of people in in the United States, I can you know, with 60% of our people considered overweight and with heart disease and stroke being the and cancer being the primary killers of of people that made some lifestyle choices that wasn't necessarily the best for them. But part of the issue of us not wanting to exercise, and I'm not saying that I love it, I I do it and it makes me feel better, and I know that I'm doing something good for my body. But part of the reason is people really don't know the benefits of exercise. They think, oh well, yeah, they're telling me to do it, but I don't know why. I feel pretty good the way I am. Um, I don't need to exercise, but it's you know it's good for our heart, hurts a muscle, and exercise strengthens our heart. I'm a uh an older woman who's already developed osteoporosis because it runs in my family, but I'm doing the best I can to present prevent that with weight bearing exercises, and that helps prevent it from getting worse. Right. And regular exercise is is good for our stress, and goodness, we are all stressed. Sometimes, but it's a great we are, yes. It's a great stress reliever, and as I mentioned, it strengthens our bones, it helps us maintain a healthy weight, it enables us to have times that we can interact with others. Make it a social time, just go for a walk in your neighborhood and have a person that's your buddy, your accountability buddy that says, Yes, we need to go get our walk in.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Walking, risk walking is one of the best things, and it doesn't take a gym membership, it doesn't take uh fancy clothes or a trainer. All you need is a good pair of shoes and a safe place to walk. And it's it's a great activity. So exercise has so many benefits, and I don't think everyone recognizes that it's good as a preventive measure as well, because it does help prevent diabetes, it helps prevent cardiovascular disease, and even with people who've already developed a chronic disease, if they can find a physical activity that is suitable for them in their current condition and age, it might be water aerobics, it could be uh chair aerobic exercises where you just sit in your chair and you do all kinds of things that involve movement. And so there's always something that we can find if we are are willing. But back to your original question, part of it people say they don't have time. That will be a primary reason, but we do take time to do the things that are important to us, right? If we will consider that physical activity is a lifetime habit that will keep us healthier and happier for a longer period of time, it won't make us live forever, but we've got that we've got that goal promise in a different way. But this is taking care of our body here. And it's and we can we just have to make the choice to do it, and it doesn't have to be a lot. If we even start out with five minutes a day, we just you don't have to go for an hour. In fact, most people will go to the gym, they'll work out really, really hard, and the next day they can't move because they're so sore. Yes, and so then they say, Well, that's not for me. I'm not going to do that. But you know, start out slow, find somebody that's uh going to be an encourager for you. You can find stuff on YouTube, on your TV activities, things that you can do at home and not even have to step out of the house. But I encourage people to do it as a social time, set you a little time to walk, but then just gradually. But 30 minutes a day of of activity is enough to get you good health benefit benefits, and it doesn't have to be all at the same time. You could do 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon and 10 minutes in the evening, and voila, you've got it.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

So I think we find time for things that are important, so we have to make that exercise time part of our daily, regular routine.

Kerry Wood, host 25:13

Yeah. And and in your book, you talk about um that connection of heart health and muscle strength and endurance and joint flexibility. And all of those things, God made them to work together. So talk a little bit about how the God part fits this to make exercise so beneficial.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Well, the Bible tells us we're fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are. Our human body is just an amazing and awesome creation. He took from the from the earth, he he took material that he gave us 206 bones and a multitude of muscles and a brain, an awesome brain. I mean, sometimes we wish we were smarter, but our brain is an amazing, amazing creation. And he put that all together, and so he gave us the knowledge up here, and then he gives us the physical aspect to do so much. You know, we can walk, we can run, we can dance, we can pick up things. We have these amazing hands that allow us to do so many things, and so it's it's put together, and it really is. I think we take our bodies for granted, yes, and and but he gave us this up here so that we can recognize that yes, if we take care of our bodies, then we can be active and and happier for a lifetime. Our quality of life makes a huge difference in how we feel about life up here, our emotion. If we can if we can get up and walk around, if we can hug our grandchildren or our our children, and if we can play with them, if we can do things physically, it makes such a huge difference in our quality of life.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

And and Paul even refers to you know, the physical ability is of some value, but our spiritual relationship is the most, and that's right, it is, it's the ultimate importance, but he God gave us this ability to move and do, and a heart that works really hard for us and really craves having some exercise so it can be stronger. He gave us all this, and I think we I think we honor him when we take care of it.

Kerry Wood, host 27:36

So, how does spiritual warfare impact all of this? What does the devil why does the devil go after our bodies?

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Well, the devil will do anything possible to separate us from God, and if and if the devil can make us feel worthless or make us feel like we don't have to do these things, or make us feel like we are not of value, or make us feel stressed or overworked, and they whisper in our ear, you know, you don't really have time to do that. You've got enough to do already, or or you're just fine as you are. I think that's the thing that gets us the most. We'll try to to change a habit. Let's say we have um we drink too many soft drinks. Um, I don't, I don't I'm blessed that I've never liked soft drinks, but so many people really enjoy them or sweetened beverages in some sort of a way, and that's a place where we get a really overabundance of sugar from sweetened beverages. But let's say we wanted to cut back, and it's hard to do it cold turkey, but if if we could just substitute milk water for one of those soft drinks and gradually just add more water and less soft drinks, but then we get this thing, we have a rough time and we think, oh, I really need some caffeine, I really need some sugar, I deserve it. I've worked hard today, I deserve it. And so he'll tempt us in the same ways that he tempts us in other areas too. He wants us, he wants to separate us from God, and if we're trying to do something to honor God with our bodies, taking care of them, he's gonna try to intervene with that. He's gonna say, Oh, you don't need to get up early and go to exercise, just rest, just sleep instead. So he's gonna put those those little alternate behaviors into our minds, or oh yeah, there's only one piece of chocolate left in that bag, go ahead and eat it. And so, and I I as I mentioned, I struggled as a young adult. I learned how to, as a teenager, I learned how to cook uh brownies and fudge and all kinds of things, and basically discovered sugar. Yeah, and I had a battle with sugar for the next 30 years. So we we just have to train in alternate behavior, you know. Yes, they we get that whisper that, oh yeah, go ahead and uh go ahead and uh eat that quart of ice cream in the freezer. It's just waiting for you. Just go ahead and eat it. Well, that's when it's time that we go go outside and take a little walk, or we we open our Bible and get distracted in reading the Bible. We choose an alternate behavior when the devil tries to sneak in and and tell us that we don't need to do whatever it is that we're trying to do to make a healthier choice.

Kerry Wood, host 30:41

Yeah, well, as I'm listening to you, um, I'm having visions of my morning routine where I have my iPad, and it's so much easier to just open up my Apple news feed and and read about what's all going on in the world. And then I suddenly realize, oh, ran out of time. I gotta go get ready to go do this, that, or I gotta go do this other thing, and all that intention of exercise just threw out the window because I allowed those distractions to to get me. So you you're inspiring me to uh not let the iPad be the devil's handiwork.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

I understand, and and so and yes, the news that is an um a calling that we and we do need to pay attention to what's going on, but we could probably do that in a little less time. But yes, whatever it is that's distracting us from exercise or making a healthy choice. Now, a lot of people will say about making healthy choices with food. You asked me about exercise, but just reminds me healthy choices about food. Oh, it's so much easier to go out, or it's so much easier. But even when you go out, you can find some healthier choices or stock your your cabinet and your refrigerator with some healthy choices. And so when you're tempted to reach for that whatever it is that's already fixed, just open the refrigerator door and grab some of those fruits and vegetables instead and think about Daniel.

Kerry Wood, host 32:14

Well, I I know that you know God will work, you know. So the the Christian life is this idea of transforming, and even our taste buds can be transformed. Um, so I'll just share a couple of examples. You you mentioned the sugary drinks. So I grew up in Texas. Texas is the home of Dr. Pepper. And so I drank Dr. Pepper's like just, you know, at least three a day. I mean, they they had that old advertising slogan of, you know, 10, 2, and 4. Drink a Dr. Pepper at 10 in the morning, two in the afternoon, four in the afternoon, and you know, it's gonna be great. So there was a time in my life that that I would do that, and then I would also have Dr. Pepper, you know, at 6 p.m. and at 8 p.m. and you know, all that and the other. And the Lord convicted me that I needed to uh cut back on all of the soda drinking. And so I did. Then several years later, after not having uh drunk Dr. Pepper's for for years, my wife and I happened to be back in Texas visiting some family, and we were gonna go to the state fair of Texas, and uh they were offering a $5 admission with a Dr. Pepper can. And the regular ticket was like $35. And so, of course, it was a no-brainer to come in with a Dr. Pepper can, but that meant I had to go to the grocery store, buy a six-pack of Dr. Pepper's. And so I thought, well, I've got this, I'll I'll try it, see what it tastes like. I had one sip of that Dr. Pepper, and I had to go spit it out in the sink because it was good for you. And I used to guzzle this stuff by the gallon. And so the Lord does transform our taste when we give him the opportunity to do that. Uh, and the other story is um I grew up thinking I hated Brussels sprouts because the only way I'd ever had Brussels sprouts was when they were boiled to death and then uh put in in milk. And so it was always creamed Brussels, and it was like, ugh, I can't stand this. Then my wife learned how to roast Brussels sprouts, and all of a sudden they're one of my favorite vegetables, you know. So just toss them with olive oil, a little salt and pepper, throw them in the oven for 40 minutes at a 400-degree oven, and they come out and they're just amazing. So, friends, there are ways that you can learn to love the healthier stuff and hate the unhealthy stuff.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

That's good. That's two wonderful stories. Thank you for sharing. I had that experience with sweet tea. Your your doctor, I'm a southern girl, and so we I we grew up on sweet tea.

Kerry Wood, host 35:08

But uh yeah, North Carolina and sweet tea, those are synonymous. Oh, yes. Oh yeah. So in in week seven in your book, you focus on dimensions of health beyond just our mental and physical. You've alluded to some of this in our conversation already, but you know, when we bring in emotional and social and vocational health, is this how we turn the corner into a more healthy lifestyle when we see the integration of all those areas in our life? Talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

I believe so. And it takes uh a period of reflection on our part to really examine where are we in those areas? You know, do we have healthy relationships within our family and within our church family or within our um work environment? It's important to be, you know, collegial in your work environment, or or you have a terrible feeling after a day's work and being there if it's all conflict and and no joy, and so uh, and then examine you know how are we feeling emotionally? Are we choosing friendships that encourage us, or are we do we have people that complain all the time and then we pull down by that? Yeah, and it's the same with um intellectual, mental, mental health. Are we are we doing things to stimulate ourselves? Are we learning new things? I believe it's important to be a lifelong learner, and that may mean learning about how to take care of your health, right? We can all learn new things about um ways to make healthier, healthier choices. So, yes, I I believe it's all together, and I haven't mentioned spiritual, but that's of course is the most important part. But if we've got a close relationship in our walk with with Christ, then we can feel more comfortable examining these things. If we're having trouble in a in a friendship, if there's conflict, you know, we pray about it. We say, you know, what do I do about this? Do I need to to reach out to this person, or is this relationship toxic and should I just step away from it? And so all of these uh dimensions of health, you know, I call them, are together, and of course, spiritual being the most important. But back to the physical aspect, you know, if we feel bad physically, and we've talked earlier about that, it's going to affect all of these other things.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

If we if we are depressed, we're gonna have trouble functioning in our job and in our social relationships. If we are physically unable to do certain things, it's going to mess with all these other dimensions as well. So it's really important to keep a balance among all of these things. And so as I mentioned, you know, physical activity helps us cope with stress, it helps us it stimulates our brain. We get this shot of dopamine and we feel better. It makes us more alert. And if the same things that are good for our body as far as exercise, eating healthy, all of those things are good for our brain. And so that's going to help our mental and emotional perspective as well. So we it's it's guiding us to take control of our with God's guidance, of course, but to take control of our choices and our lifestyle so that we can live the most abundant life possible that He needs for us to have.

Kerry Wood, host 38:50

I I'm reminded of you know, when David prayed, Lord, search me and know me. That prayer is it God already knows us. That prayer is really, Lord, search me and tell me what I need to know about myself. And so I think that that's that's kind of what you're you're describing here is that that that's how that comes together. Um, and it also reminds me of Paul when he talked about, you know, we are the body of Christ and we are all connected to one another. And he gives that whole long description of hands and feet and eyes and ears, and you know, you can't be just one thing because that turns it into um a monster, you know. So it's that interconnected, that interrelationship that exists with us as the people of God, and it's reflected in the interdynamics of just our physicality as well. And so there's just such a beauty in being able to see our lives through that perspective instead of you know trying to segment and bifurcate and pretend that what happens to me and one level doesn't have an effect on me at another level. So I really appreciate the way that you draw all of this in together for us.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

And thank you for sharing that scripture too. I think the another part of that uh is to examine me and see if if there's anything offensive in me. And so I think it's periodically, or maybe every day, I need to do that. You know, what have I we've just finished Bible school at our at our church and I was working with recreation because of my background. And and I had to, you know, really bite my tongue several times when when a a child just went off, had a a breakdown because something didn't go exactly the way they wanted it to go. And so that was my opportunity to be kind and help them work through that. I try to avoid competition with young children, but some of them don't want to make everything competitive, and then they get all upset when it doesn't turn out exactly like they want to. And so that was a time for me to reflect, you know, how can I not be offensive in my response to them when I wanted to say, yeah, just straighten up. But uh, and in fact, I prayed about that just this morning as I was reflecting. And so I think we do need to periodically reflect, you know, what what do I need to ask God to change in me so I can be a better light for him.

Kerry Wood, host 41:32

Right, right. And that kind of gets into what we as the global Methodist Church, we we're trying to um recapture, uh, re-emphasize this idea of entire sanctification. Uh John Wesley described that, you know, going on towards perfection, you know, we we often have a misconstrual of uh perfection as something different than what uh Wesley was describing. So when we think of something being perfect, we think that, okay, there's it's all static, it's it can't go wrong, you know, it's it's something that is not what we know in our human experience. But when we look at sanctification from a different perspective, meaning that it is more and more of God being put into us, so getting rid of all of those impurities as you were describing, then our health just really fits into that as another piece of what the sanctification process looks like. And and you did that uh in your book. So talk a little bit about how you see the connection between the wholly healthy W-H-O-L-L-Y and Holy H-O-L-Y.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

I did not truly understand the process or even what sanctif sanctification was until I tried to delve deeper into this. And so it was a learning learning curve from me there too. But when I one thing I read said that sanctif sanctification is being set apart by the designer, and so when we're sanctified through Christ, we're set apart for his purpose to do good works, and and it's the blood of Christ that allows that sanctification, and so we are working to become pure and holy for his purpose, and it's it's something that takes well, we keep on doing for a lifetime, but of course it's important to get the process started and to keep it going, and because so it starts when we accept Jesus as our savior, it starts, but then we begin to purposefully seek what. Is he guiding us to do in life? I mean, we're we're on earth to serve him. He's we're his hands and feet here on earth, and we're here to serve him. So back to the WHO L L part, holy, we do that with our our whole self. And so we're we are responding spiritually by loving him and spreading the word to others, the light of Christ to others. And then through our vocation, we are being a light for Jesus, even though some of us can't do it uh on a daily basis except by showing that we are followers. We can't go out and and witness to people in our workplace, but we can show them that we are Christ's follower by loving one another as he loves us. That's what we're called to do. And goodness, he loved us enough to give his life for us. So we love others by putting their needs in front of us when possible by trying to meet their needs in a healthy and and wholesome way. So I think that we show that we're in the process. I'm not saying I'm sanctified yet. I'm still, he's still working on me.

Kerry Wood, host 45:21

That's right. He's still working on all of us. That's yes.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

And so I'm I need to, wherever I am, I need to show that I am the person who's God within me and coming forth through the light by the words I share, my attitude, my facial expressions, by my the encouragement I give to my grandchildren and the children that I worked with at church, all of those things I'm to exemplify that I'm sanctified. I'm a trainee in training, working towards sharing the love of Jesus Christ with everyone else. And one way that I can do it because of my background and my knowledge is to encourage, you know, provide people with knowledge about healthy choices and healthy behaviors, and then be an encourager to help them on that journey.

Kerry Wood, host 46:22

Good, good. So how would you uh encourage somebody? What is what is one takeaway that our conversation ought to uh give to those who are listening to this?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

I think we're we're never too old or to start a new healthy habit. And it could be something related to physical, it would also be related to something spiritual. I'm reading through the Bible now. Not that I haven't done it before, but it's with another group, and we're encouraging each other, and so that's a healthy habit for me, healthy spiritually for me. But as far as our our physical health, examine you know what is one thing that you'd like to change. In your case, you've already changed something, you've given up sugary drinks, which are one of the most harmful things that we can do. There's enough sugar in one Dr. Pepper to overwhelm your sugar requirement for the day, and some folks will will drink more than that. So making a change to drink more water. So I would say you start small, don't feel like that you can change everything overnight. Take small steps, but keep stepping. It might be don't don't go for a week and then say, eh, this is too hard. It's not too hard when you invite the Holy Spirit to help you on this journey. Make it possible to make some small changes, and small changes add up to things that make a real difference and are hell, just like you and giving up the sugary drinks, or people that are are not physically active now. But if they could start even just walking a few steps back and forth in their house to get started, it's better than sitting in the chair in front of the TV. You know, get it and some TVs don't have commercials anymore because they're streaming, but but when there's a commercial on a TV program, you know, take a walk back and forth and put some little weights beside of your station. And during the commercial, you can lift some little weights. Just find ways to be a little more active, maybe not park in the closest place to the store. Park a little further away to give yourself a walk. And if you go into a big, large store and you know something that you own is on this wall, you could walk all the way around the store the long way to get there, just to give some extra steps.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

So we we can find ways to add activity and we can find ways to to substitute things. So I just say look for the small things first to give yourself encouragement and eat more of those fruits and vegetables. Cooked cooked in a healthy way.

Kerry Wood, host 49:24

So who knew that Walmart could actually be something healthy when you park at the far end of their vast parking lot and then you walk the perimeter of that store? Yeah, you've you've got some exercise in and you can avoid the Nillow wafers.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

Yes. Well, walk past the uh temptations with your one eye, only one eye open.

Kerry Wood, host 49:47

That's right. That's right. Well, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

Be safe. When I mentioned parking far away, um, but be safe. If it's dark, you don't need to park far away from the store.

Kerry Wood, host 50:00

That that's true, that's true. And and and always important if you have uh some some physical uh uh considerations to to see the doctor and learn what the doctor says. Here's a good way to get started safely. Uh, because the last thing you want to do is uh create an issue uh because you've already got issues.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

You are absolutely right. Thank you for reminding me of that. I always keep that in my notes, but I didn't get to it today. So, yes, anyone who's not currently physically active should check with their doctor or medical provider to make sure it's safe for them to be moving more.

Kerry Wood, host 50:40

Mm-hmm. And what are the safe ways to do so? Uh because like you said, you've got many, many opportunities for what that can look like to start that health journey. So that's very good. So, Catherine, how can folks connect with you? If this has uh piqued their interest and they would like to engage further with you, what are the ways that they can connect?

SPEAKER_01 51:02

I have a website. Uh, it says Katherinepaysower.com, just the the name as you have it uh listed.

Kerry Wood, host 51:10

Go ahead and spell it out for us. It'll be in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

But okay. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E paysour, P-A-S-O-U-R. No, no period or dashes or anything, just the name altogether.com. And that's my website. I have uh I blog weekly on faith and inspiration. I also have a wellness tab there that has all kinds of more detailed information about just the things that we talked about today, so it can give folks lots of opportunity to answer questions. There's also a contact tab there that you can email me and I can answer any questions that you might have. I'm on Facebook, X, Instagram, just the name Catherine Paysower. Uh, you can find me there as well. And uh do a newsletter once a month. It'll have um always has some wellness tips in there, plus some things that are going on my author journey. And I have book giveaways. Okay. Reading is a great stress reliever. I enjoy reading all kinds of books, and each month I'll have a book giveaway for the book.

Kerry Wood, host 52:23

So where can people find your book if they can't get to the giveaway?

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Oh, well, uh, it's on all the major booksellers. Uh Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target. You can get it that way.

Kerry Wood, host 52:36

Perfect. Excellent, excellent. So is there um anything else that you want to uh be sure to tell us while we're having this conversation together?

SPEAKER_01 52:47

Well, it's been a delight to be here with you. I would just encourage people to think about um how you can make one one change that might that might honor God as far as uh your your body. And I'm including all aspects. I'm not just talking about uh whether to eat more vegetables or whether to take a walk, but just what is what is one one thing that you could do that that you would honor God by making a change.

Kerry Wood, host 53:19

Excellent. Well, Catherine, may I pray for you?

SPEAKER_01 53:22

Please do.

Kerry Wood, host 53:23

All right. Oh, gracious and loving God, I thank you for Catherine Paysower and for this motivation that you have placed in her heart to help us learn what it is to be wholly healthy in a holy way. God, I pray that this conversation is one that uh will be heard and repeated over and over, and that at least one person will be inspired by your Holy Spirit to make the changes that we've been talking about for another person who has already been working to be healthy, to be encouraged in staying the course in that faith, and somebody who maybe had been healthy and doing things and then started letting these old habits creep back in. And God, I'm I'll be honest, I'm talking about me right now, to be re-encouraged, to be re-motivated, to re-engage in choosing the healthy ways, choosing the wise ways in which I live, in which I eat, in which I move. Lord, may you bless all of us in a holy way to be fully embraced in your love and grace, fix in us all the things that sin has broken. Thank you for Catherine and her ministry. May she continue to be blessed as she serves you by teaching this lesson to others. We ask this all in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

Thank you, Carrie. Thank you for your prayer. Thank you for thank you for letting me have a chance to share.

Kerry Wood, host 54:57

This has been a wonderful conversation. I appreciate your taking the time. And I hope folks will uh really dive deep in the things you're telling us to do.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Thank you. Thank you. And you you take care.

Kerry Wood, host 55:08

I will. Thank you so much. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take the time to share it with others. We are on Facebook. You can share it through that, or you can put anything out on X, Twitter, whatever you want to call that these days. We have trystholiness.org. That's our website. You can leave us an email at twisttoholiness at ncholiness.org. There are many ways to reach out and engage with me. If you have ideas about a future podcast, please share that so that we can keep going with the good news of what God is doing here in North Carolina. And I look forward to seeing you next time.