Jean Watson's Testimony

God is everything, and he fills up my whole heart. Food was my God from the age of 6 until I was 49 years old.

Gwen Shamblin and the Weigh Down Workshop saved my life and the lives of my family. I know now the truth that in my old ways of living I was heading to Hell. The bible teaches that being greedy will NOT get you into the gates of Heaven. I didn't read a bible eventhough my home had many on the book shelves.

I was always seeking God, but my heart was always heavy. I was morbidly obese by the 5TH grade, and I held my family as an idol. I was in a Catholic school and grew up with a loud mouth. I made all the jokes regarding my body when the people made fun of my looks, and I called it a sense of humor. This was God’s way of getting my attention for what I was doing to his temple. I was the God back then and the youngest of six children. I was the apple of my father’s eye. When my father died I turned to food and many things to make me happy more so than before, and I went up to 325 pounds.

Later on in life, I was 28 and I worked for a medial equipment company. Because my mother was a registered nurse, I knew how to work with doctors and medical billing. I was desperate and ran to doctors for weight loss answers. I did the paperwork so I could get a stomach stapling. In the valley of this decision I trusted a man over my God and almost died. One month later, I had complications from the operation and had to undergo a second operation to prevent me from dieing from malnutrition. After that sugery I lost only 50 pounds. I went back one year later, at 275 pounds and was still so desperate to lose the rest of my weight. The doctor and Insurance Company agreed to redo the stomach stapling. This time I lost 105 lbs, weighed 170 pounds, and wore a size 12 dress.

In 1983 I married my husband. During the marrage God blessed me with 3 children and I was still working for the medical equipment company full time. After my 3rd sons birth, I was stressed out from taking care of my sick mother, balanacing my job, having many doctors visits for depression, and dealing with the side effects from having a histerectomy. At this point I went up to 250 lbs. To fight the weight gain I tried Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig , fen- fen, many other appetite suppressents, exercise programs, and dietician visits. The doctors gave me many medications. None of these things helped to get the rest of my weight off for I was still in love with the food. In November of 1999, the last solution the doctor gave me was to have one final stomach stapling, and to seek council to not overeat again. I went for the FOURTH time to this drastic, dangerous procedure to lose the weight for good. I was warned by a friend the night before the operation to join "Exodus Out Of Egypt," but I ignored the warning and went to the hospital. I did not lose any weight from the operation.

In desperation I looked into "Weigh Down." I went to Desert Oasis in 1999 and 2000 to listen to the truth of the Bible, given through Gwen Shamblin. I tried being a Weigh-Down coordinator, but I chose to lose the weight my way and did not lose my weight.

In November 2001, I was still broken and depressed, very angry about my lot in life, I watched TV all day, was lazy and in excessive debt, and not a loving wife or mother. At 270 pounds I heard about Weigh Down Advanced. I asked a friend to go and bring back this program because I was too overweight and could not tell people how to lose weight when I could not lose a pound on my own.

Little did I know that God had a plan for me to find him and that he was always there for me. I just had to dig into his word and learn to love him with my whole heart, body, mind, and soul. I was blind to all of this when doing the other classes as I chose to do it my way and not God’s way.

The keys to success were given to me at the "Rebuild the Wall Tour" in November of 2001. I joined a Weigh Down Advanced class , and did what the video’s said to do and went down to 148 pounds and I'm still losing more weight. I left the Catholic Church and joined Remnant Fellowship. My husband and children followed, and now we have been in this fellowship of believers and have found the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Gal: 5:22, "joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control."

Every day is a challenge and God allows things to test our hearts. For a while I did backslide, but now I am pointed in the correct direction thanks to my many brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus who all love me very much. I no longer suffer the anxiety attacks that I one did and I feel that I no longer hold on to any of my other idols thanks to God!

Praise God, I am still here and I will serve him 24 hours a day. His kingdom is my highest joy and I am here on Earth as a warrior for God’s truth.

You need to subscribe to Weigh Down Online, and hear the truth for yourself. You can see the life changing fruit of the people who follow God’s Spirit and live by the Spirit, for I am just one of 800 people who have followed and have been let out of the prison door.

Please let me know if I can serve you in anyway.

Love,

Jean Watson

Remnant Milwaukee, Wisconsin