Physical health and spiritual health go hand in hand. If you are physically unhealthy, you don’t have the energy to serve God as He would want you to. And if you are spiritually unfit, you won’t have the desire to study the Scripture to see how important physical fitness is to serve God.

We are bombarded with worldly marketing strategies that lead us to believe “life is good; live it up.” But facts reveal that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, poor diet, lack of physical activity, and obesity are the leading risk factors of the American lifestyle. We look for worldly rather than godly ways to solve our problems and ease our pain, especially in the form of alcohol, prescription drugs, and illegal substances.

Our selfish pursuits, egged on by society, bog us down so much that we become inactive in the church. Our fascination and pursuit of material things consume our time and paychecks and lead us away from our God-given role in service as grandmothers, mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters.

The great news is we have control over all these risk factors both physically and spiritually. God will help us. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). What will we choose?

 A physical life limited and shortened by fatigue, shortness of breath, and pain from being obese and inactive?

 A spiritually overweight life burdened down with worldly concerns about our appearance, home decor, and the stress of keeping up with the Joneses?

 Or a life of peace?

Karen Thompson’s goal in writing Heart and Soul is twofold: to help sisters and their families improve themselves (1) physically and (2) spiritually through prevention. In this thirteen-week study you will learn to recognize and manage your risk factors and set attainable goals by spending time studying God’s words. You will learn to exercise your physical and your spiritual heart to get healthy.

Karen Thompson

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