Do you consider yourself a healthy, happy person? How about one or the other?

My friend, Sally Nance, has a new ebook giving us a formula for being not just happy, but healthy, too. Here’s Sally with what might be the key to your own happiness and health:

Can you even remember the last time you had vibrant energy or stable moods?  You may even be wondering whether or not God cares if you take care of your physical and mental health.  After all, you already have so much on your plate, how could He expect you to add one more thing to your long to-do list?

I want to encourage you to invest in your health and you’ll find you are happier.

Here are just a few reasons it is important to take care of YOU:

1) God commands us to

God tells us in a number of Scriptures to care for our physical bodies, because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit.  In the Old Testament, the dwelling place of God’s presence was in the tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies.  In the New Testament, Jesus’ death and resurrection abolished the ceremonial law, and when He sent His Holy Spirit at Pentecost, His dwelling place became the body of every believer!  How incredible is that!  First Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”  Because God’s Holy Spirit dwells in our physical bodies, we should make it a top priority to care for our physical health.

2) We cannot pour from an empty cup

Anytime one flies, the flight attendants go through instructions on how to use the oxygen masks in case of emergency.  They always tell us to put our own oxygen masks on first. This way, we will have the oxygen we need both for ourselves and to be able to help others around us. Similarly, you cannot pour from an empty cup.  We must first fill our own cups (cultivating our spiritual, physical, and mental health), so that we can give to others from the overflow.  If you are physically sick and chronically depressed, how can you expect to be able to give yourself to the ones you love?  You must first put on your oxygen mask and have your cup filled so that you can give your best to others.  “You anoint my head with oil; my cups overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

3) Your physical and spiritual health are directly linked

I like to view our physical and spiritual health as two sides of the same coin.  It is very difficult to neglect one without the other suffering.  One of my favorite verses that addresses both is Third John 2: “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”  John prayed for his readers to experience health in both body and soul.  When we neglect our physical health and cease caring about our physical body and what we put in it, we will most likely experience health problems that could lead to fatigue, chronic health conditions, and serious diseases.  This will most definitely affect our spiritual health as it could lead to depression, lack of fellowship with other believers, and lack of energy for pursuing spiritual growth or serving others.   As believers, we should want to take care of our physical health so that we have energy to pursue the Lord, His people, and a needy world!

If you know you need to make changes and want to get healthy but don’t know where to start, my newest e-book is for you!  I want to make it as simple as possible for you to start taking care of YOU, so that you can give your best to the Lord and to others.  In The Busy Woman’s Guide to Healthy, Happy Living, I provide you with 40+ healthy recipe and meal prep ideas, a 10-day workout plan (that only requires 20 minutes a day), my top health tips that will save you LOTS of time throughout the week, and a printable health planner to help you put it all together.  My prayer is that this e-book will make it simple for you to start making healthy changes so that “all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.”  

Sally Nance is the founder of The Healthy Happy Woman, a blog dedicated to helping women cultivate healthy bodies and happy souls.  She is a Pastor’s Wife, Certified Holistic Health Coach, Author, Teacher, and Speaker.  She is passionate about helping women overcome health challenges through nutrition, fitness, lifestyle changes, and transformed thinking, so they can live healthy, happy lives doing what they love.