In the fall of 2015, I gave a talk at a small women’s conference. After my presentation, Rae Lynn DeAngelis, the founder of Living in Truth Ministries, approached me. She introduced herself, mentioned that my perspective on nutrition was new to her, and asked if we could meet for lunch so she could share more about her ministry. The events that followed have been a testament to God’s goodness and grace, making me reflect on how different things might have been if she hadn’t followed the prompting to speak to me or if I hadn’t accepted her invitation. Let me tell you the rest my personal story of saying yes.
As we talked over lunch a few weeks later, Rae Lynn shared her journey with disordered eating and how she has used her brokenness and recovery to help others see themselves through God’s eyes. Shortly after that, I surprisingly found myself sharing my journey with a disorder that I had never openly talked about before. To that point, only my husband knew anything about my journey that began in college and ensnared me for ten years before God led me to freedom. My parents had no idea. My college coach and teammates had no idea, and my now grown children, family, and friends didn’t either.
That lunch led me to accept Rae Lynn’s invitation to speak to several of her healing groups during the nutrition week. I even participated in a healing group experience myself and began serving on the LITM leadership board. At the same time, I developed a lovely friendship with Rae Lynn that deepened my faith as I learned from her.
Not long after that, Rae Lynn asked if I would be willing to videotape a nutrition teaching conversation for a project she was working on for the “Eyes Wide Open” program. Shortly after that, we developed a virtual format for the program and co-led several online EWO groups. During one of those classes, a participant asked a question that would change my life. She asked, “If we aren’t supposed to follow a diet, what should we do?” That simple question, handed over to the Lord in prayer, has taken me on a God-ordained journey that never would have been possible without Rae Lynn’s obedience years before. “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him” (Psalms 128:1 NIV).
This verse from Revelation 14:12 NIV has undoubtedly proven to be accurate. “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” God was calling me to take the non-diet processes that he had guided me through years before that led me out of my bondage of disorder and put it into a journaling program that other people could use. That was the easy part. Turning it into a book ready for publication was not. However, he placed all the right people on my path to try the program, offer feedback, and help me develop and publish the project. Rae Lynn encouraged me every step of the way and covered me and the project in prayer.
After publishing the program in October 2019, I was excited to see The Mindful Me Journey become an Amazon #1 new release and worked to develop a company to support it under His guidance. However, I had yet to learn what that meant, what it was supposed to look like, or who it was supposed to serve. Five years later, God still hasn’t provided all those answers. Yet, he has opened doors, allowed me to hone my skills, and develop the message He wants me to deliver to individuals and groups. He has also provided people along the way in need of freedom from disordered bondage that I could help as well.
If just publishing a book was the journey God intended from Rae Lynn’s obedience, that would have been enough, but there was so much more to the journey. I needed to promote the book, my company, and my counter-cultural non-diet approach to weight and health maintenance that I had first presented to that small women’s conference four years before. How could I share my book and the development of it without sharing my story? How could I publicly share my story when my parents, family, friends, teammates, or coach had no idea of the journey?
When they say God’s timing is perfect, it is, even when we can’t see it at the time. I began promoting the book in November 2019 and had presentations all lined up for the first quarter of 2020. As we all know, the world came to a screeching halt in March of that year and has never been the same. However, God laid out perfect opportunities for me to tell my parents the truth about how I developed the book based on my disordered eating journey. He provided perfect timing and opportunity for me to share with family and friends, my close teammates, and even my coach. The truth of Luke 12:2-3 NIV came to pass in my life. “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
There have been hard days of not knowing what comes next with how God wanted to use the book, the company, or me over the last five years. God continued to open doors, answer prayers in unexpected ways, and encourage me to keep moving forward, sharing my story and the non-diet approach God helped me develop to find freedom. Rae Lynn has remained a close and dear friend, prayer partner, and confidant. Only God knows what the future holds. My job is to stay seated at his feet with a heart willing to listen and obey his direction. At the same time, I stay in fellowship with people like Rae Lynn, who can continue to help me grow.
Let’s go back to the question I pondered initially. What if Rae Lynn had not obeyed the nudging to approach me? Sure, God might have used someone else, but it also might have been a much more arduous journey. I’m so glad Rae Lynn asked and that I said yes to her and God’s plans because they are better than anything I could ever come up with.
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