This web site is dedicated to the building up of God's church through promoting a message of truth. The testimonies you'll see here are all amazing, life changing, and fruitful.  Each person's personal story is due to the true message of the Bible that says to live your whole life for God. Every second, every bit of energy and every thought. This is not what I myself heard in any church until I went one day to the Remnant Fellowship. This message, that is so clearly stated in all the books of the Bible, has changed my life for the better forever.

So, come take a look. Listen closely and it may change your life too.

                                                            What we believe

My name is Luke Higgins and it is my honor to testify to the endless love, mercy and guidance of our God.  I too lived a life full of seeking ways to please myself.  That mind set led me to a sad, depressive, lazy and altogether miserable life. 

There have certainly been many ways in which my life has changed and its due to this transfer of my focus from myself and meaningless ways to a focus on God.  This is the message found in the Weigh Down Workshop and Remnant Fellowship that takes the truth found in the Bible and applies Gods teaching to our everyday lives.

One idol that I have been set free from is the idol of drugs.  Before I knew anything of Gods’ requirement to have no gods before Him I lived my life by running back and forth from pleasing myself one way to another.  I spent lots of time getting lost in my thoughts after smoking marijuana.   When I started smoking I thought I could control it but once I came to the assumption that there wasn’t a problem with it I became lost in it.  I thought everyone smoked and it really became the answer to everything for me.  As if when I was high I was smarter and could understand more and have deeper conversations.  I realize now that I was only having conversations about marijuana and talking about the problems that others had in their lives.  I never looked at myself to think I was doing anything wrong.  I was in college for about one semester while smoking weed and after that semester I dropped out.   I became so lazy and uninterested in anything except getting high or basically any momentary pleasures so school went to the very bottom of my list of things to do. 

When I left school I went back home to the Cleveland area and met up with my old friends from high school.  It didn’t help that they had all continued using drugs throughout the years too.  Day after day I would go home from working second shift, head over to my friend’s house, and waste time and energy doing nothing but drugs and playing games.  This all happened while I was a 23 year old college drop out with responsibilities that went unmet.  The last straw came when one of my friends had given me some marijuana seeds to use to grow weed.  When I drove home that day I put them in a daily planer I had gotten from one of my bosses.  No sooner did I zip the folder in the planer up with the seeds in it did I forget all about them.  I was taking the planner back and forth to work for weeks but one day I forgot it there and one of my co-workers turned it in to my boss.  Consequently, they realized in was mine and I was terminated.  I worked at UPS for more than 3 years and was a supervisor there and in one second it was all gone. 

I left the building that night after being fired, looked up at the stars and thought, “God, I know you’re telling me to stop smoking this stuff and this is punishment.”  However, when I got in my car to drive away I called my friend, told him I lost my job and went over to his house to get high. 

Thank God for His patience.  He could’ve and probably should’ve taken me out right then for not heeding His correction and following the spirit.  Two months later, while I was working two jobs and otherwise not changing my behavior, my step mom and dad asked me to come to their house for a Bible study and fellowship with people from all over the country.  I seriously thought, “my life stinks, I wake up in the afternoon with no purpose, I can’t sleep at night because I’m so anxious but don’t know why and my life’s going no where, I’m worse then broke, I’m in debt and I’m just plain fed up with it, I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m going.”   I went that next Sunday to their home and we just read the Bible and fellowshipped via phone lines with people in Nashville, TN in a church called Remnant Fellowship.  One thing that really hit me that day was that God expects us not to bow down to anything of this world but, that we are supposed to look to Him for everything and put all of our heart, soul, mind and strength into it.  Just from hearing that I realized immediately that I was putting many things before Him such as drugs, lust for women, laziness, sleep, video games and just simply always pleasing myself.  My heart, soul, mind and strength went into getting those things.  Those are things that will burn in the end.  They could not love me back and never did.  In fact, my life was a living wreck and falling apart.  Those “gods” couldn’t save me and it ultimately was Satan’s ploy to get me to not follow God.  Satan is the father of lies.  His desire is to kill us and send us to hell.  That’s the path I was following.

Once I started laying down those things I once ran to my life came full circle.  I temporarily worked with my father and got to get in under his authority.  God blessed me very quickly by allowing me to go back to school and get my degree.  That’s something I could never do under my own energy.  I met unbelievably generous and loving people that would give up their lives for fellow brothers and sisters just as Jesus taught us to do.  I sleep very peacefully every night and in fact most times I can’t even count to 20 before I’m asleep.  My job is better and more rewarding than ever as I work selling computers for Dell Inc.  And I have been richly blessed with a wife who seeks after God in truth with me and shows how the relationship between Christ and the church was meant by God to be. 
This truth is a precious jewel and is not in high quantity.  There is only one true message and it’s a complete and total turning to God and his word and running from our own sinful desires.  It can be done and must for God’s kingdom to be established.  For more information and testimonies please visit the Remnant Fellowship and Weigh Down Workshop web-sites.  Everything produced by these organizations has produced much good fruit and I owe my changed life, first of all to God and secondly, to Gwen Shamblin and the truth coming from them. 

Praise God that His way is so awesome!!!

Heather Higgins' Testimony:

Would you believe me if I told you I used to be crazy? Well, from the time I was born until about a three years ago I was seeking after things I thought would make me happy, things such as food, friends, alcohol, not listening to my parents, television and sexual pleasures. I was going to everything except the only true source of happiness, GOD ALMIGHTY!!! That’s pretty crazy if you ask me! I was a major contol freak! I wanted everythng my way and I didnt care what I did to get it that way! I controlled people by lying, crying and having fits of rage. I controlled my weight by starving myself until I would run  to the food and over eat! I started using diet pills and laxitives at the age of 17 to help with the control. 

My mother had been a part of Weighdown Workshop since 1995 and found out about Remnant Fellowship in 2000. My parents decided to leave our church on Novemeber 10, 2001 after hearing Gwen Shamblin speak at the Rebuilding the Wall tour. Really the only thing I knew about weigh down was that it was a weigh loss program and I wasn't over weight so I told my mother that I wasnt going to go to the "weight loss church". From the moment those words left my mouth I was cursed!  I started gaining weight at a very rapid rate! I went from 145lbs to almost 180lbs. . I was so unhappy, but I wanted to control my life so I continued to stay away from Remnant. However God had a plan for me. In May of 2002 the boyfriend I had been controlling for almost 2 years broke up with me after I went crazy after the prom and beat him up.

On June 22, 2002 I cried out to God and He answered me. I asked Him to show me how to find love and how to get rid of all this anger I had in my heart! I had seen the lives of the people in Remnant change for good and them having such joy!  For the rest of the summer I took a Weigh Down Advance class and went to Rebuilding the Wall and learned that in order to live the life of my dreams I had to die to my will and live ONLY for God's will. I fell in love with God's word and the bible opened up to me and I read it with NEW eyes.  I saw that I had to give over control of my life to God and that HIS ways are in fact the only way to eternal life with Him!

What changes have taken place of the last three years!!! I have lost 50lbs. and am even lighter then when I was in control! I love my parents and siblings! I have more friends then I could have ever imagined and they are true friends! They stand up for me and don't talk behind my back! All they care about is that I am running after God and His PERFECT will.  I also have a wonderful husband who LOVES God with all his heart! We have a wonderful marriage with God as the head!

Now I am not going to tell you that I changed over night! Infact I have struggled more than I should have and I am still learning to this day! BUT I havent given up in the hard times! I have been tested, but I now know to run to God and not to control or food! I talk to HIM during the day and ask Him to help me pass my tests and HE HAS!!!  I am being set free from sin and being FULLED up with LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTILENESS and SELF CONTROL!!!

(Editor's note: Luke and Heather Higgins live in Brenwood, Tn and just welcomed their first child in July)

Andy Nissen's Testimony:

Short term success in Weigh-Down Class is partially due to discovering and following the amazing design that God has for our bodies: eating only when hungry, according to cravings, and stopping when satisfied.  True "success" long-term is had by following Gods amazing design for all of our lives not just for food.  Following God as the only one true God / Director / Leader / Shepherd in all decisions, every day, 24 hours of the day is His ideal plan for all people.  Once this foundational step toward total obedience is taken the extra weight comes off, and in my case that was significant ( I had 90 extra pounds of disobedience hanging on my body) but that is only the external (and greatly appreciated) change.  The most amazing changes are in my heart and mind.  I do not worry  any more.  I am not fearful of what to say in any situation any more.   I do not lie awake at night, I do not wallow in self-pity or depression any more.  My inner-life today is drastically different from even 6 months ago.  My goal for each day is to do whatever it is that God has for me to do.  My goal is to please him (not out of obligation or fear but) out of love for my perfect Heavenly Father.  I look differently at His son Jesus as well.  He lived His life as our "plumb line" as someone to model our lives after.  He was holy (set apart for God) and I desire to be holy as well  as I pursue this loving obedience daily I experience love like never before.  I experience peace like never before.  I have no regrets at the end of the day.  I can honestly say that if today were my last day Id be grateful that I've been able to live this long, walking daily with God.  Im not sure about you but that (for me) is big.

 If you have any questions for me at all regarding anything I'd be happy to share what I can with you.  I am completely convinced that following God as THE only God worth following, is the only way to TRULY live.  I'm not interested in living life any other way.

Lord to whom shall we go?

Kerry Nissen's Testimony's:

We have been in Remnant Fellowship for 3 years and  it has been the best years I have ever had.  I love the people we are able to fellowship with.  I love having classes to tell more people all about the truth of our changed lives!  I love clearing out the old things that used to fill my time, and putting in all these amazing new things I am given to do for God and His church.  I love Sundays, actually I love every day!  Because God allows me to hear the truth about Him.  He is a GOOD & LOVING Father, who wants to take care of every moment of my day and night!  He wants to be THE God of my life! 

I am thankful that I am beginning to understand that this life is short, and passes quickly.  I am thankful that God has opened my eyes, and I can see the meaninglessness of storing up for any treasures here on earth! I have learned so many things through Weigh Down, and now Remnant Fellowship, but one thing that really helps me is realizing this is JUST the "job interview" it is not about this life. (Thank God!)  But it is about Him and His Church, the body of Christ, the next life!  The Truth is

Titus 2:11-12

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age

The Sorrells Testimony:

    Andy and Maggie before

Maggie before

Andy Sorrells' Testimony:

Maggie and I met on the internet in October of 2000. We talked for a long time, constantly e-mailing each other and even began talking on the phone. In February of 2001, we met face to face for the first time.
We both agreed after this initial meeting to actually date. This was also around the time that I had starting getting back into drugs and the like, and needless to say, I broke Maggie's heart, and dumped her.
She never stopped praying for me throughout all of the months of my total selfishness and drug abuse. I called her again in August of 2001, wanting to meet up and catch up on how things were going with her, only to stand her up when the day came for us to meet. I just felt like I couldn't face her, there was so much sin in my life that I thought that just a glimmer of hope might slay me right then and there. 
On September 11, 2001, Maggie had been up in the air during all of the terrorist attacks, but I didn't have a clue. When she got home, she sent out an e-mail (yes, even to me) telling everyone that she was okay. I got up the nerve to reply to her e-mail, seeing how God had started a change in me that very morning.
Over time, God moved Maggie from Chicago to Nashville. We began dating again as soon as she arrived. We found a church together and really thought that this was the place that God wanted us in.
Over the next nine months, we became regular attendees of this church, but had many idols that we didn't even see at the time. Food (resulting in weight gain), sexual lust, materialism (resulting in debt), anger, laziness, self-righteousness, etc., were major pitfalls for our relationship.
With all of this sin in our lives, came absolutely no accountability from our church. Even in the midst of all of this rebellion, our merciful Father allowed us to be married. Starting off, it was rough, to say the least. We were both full of self and depressed. I had lost my job prior to the marriage and couldn't find one to save my life.
In October of 2002, Maggie had gained 51 of the 180 lbs. she had lost and knew that Weigh Down was the answer. In November, she began her first Weigh Down Advanced class. Little did she know how much her life was about to change.
We had also already begun praying about changing churches. Some of the saints from Remnant Fellowship in Maggie's class invited her to come check out the services. She begged me to go for at least two weeks, but I wasn't "feeling" it. However, I agreed to attend one service (with a huge chip on my shoulder).
We went one Sunday morning in early January 2003, and I was looking for anything wrong to keep us from going back. When, I walked in, I could see that something was different. These people actually looked genuinely happy to be together at church! I talked to quite a few people that morning and decided to try it once more. The second visit, we both were convinced that this was the place that God had called us to. We were finally taught truth, we were taught to lay down our lives completely for the One who is most worthy.
Over the next year and a half, through the teachings of the Bible at Remnant Fellowship and through applying the principles of the Weigh Down Workshop, I lost all of my weight and Maggie continues to lose. We've now lost a combined total of 554 pounds.

Remnant Fellowship has changed our lives in so many ways. Not only do we have new bodies, which is really just the tip of the iceberg, but we have new outlooks on life.
We have been many trials throughout our relatively short marriage. In October of 2003, we lost our baby daughter while my wife was seven months pregnant. We later found that this was attributed to a genetic blood clotting disorder that my wife had gotten passed down. The old us would have ran to the food, ran away from each other. Simply put; we would have just ran away from the pain.
This was not the case, however. We simply ran to God. The truth taught at Remnant Fellowship has changed many lives that we personally know. We know that if it weren't for the kindness of the people at Remnant and for the amazing Weigh Down seminars and books, that we would be hopeless, like we were before.
I know that many out there are looking for answers, and please let me tell you, it's out there. My wife and I have been given new leases on life and we praise God every day for them.
So, if you are struggling, even if weight isn't your problem, please consider the Remnant Fellowship and the Weigh Down Workshop. Many have entered Remnant and Weigh Down with all kinds of addictions, issues and problems and have come out with the answers. Together, Maggie and I have been ridden of 554 pounds while eating whatever we wanted (within the bounds of hunger and fullness).
In ending this, all of the praise goes to God our Father and Jesus Christ His Son for passing us by, and allowing us to get it right. 

EDITOR'S Note: The Sorrells recently appeared on The TODAY SHOW.  For more info or to watch the interview, please go to the Weigh Down Official site.

Debbie Blair’s Testimony

My name is Debbie Blair and from the time I was a child I desired more food than my body needed and had a stubborn attitude in general thinking I knew what was best for me. On the outside I was seen as a good person – even though inwardly I struggled with wanting the approval of people, selfish ambition, pride and by age 25, I weighed over 235 pounds. I grew up in churches with spiritual leadership and attended faithfully for 30 years, yet my life ended up in a pit! The Word of God teaches that greed is idolatry (Ephesians 5) and that greedy people will not inherit the kingdom of God. Instead of going to God’s Word to instruct me, I went to worldly methods of dieting and exercising but would just gain the weight back when I grew tired of following the restrictions. Thank God for sending Weigh Down into my life in the fall of 1995.

During the first session I learned the mere Christianity principles (simple teachings of Jesus Christ) that would set me free from my sinful behaviors. By denying myself the freedom to decide when and how much I ate, I was able to see the enslavement I was in (Luke 9:23, John 8:34). I actually had to fight with myself to obey the God who made me. The main focus of the class was to get me to transfer my passion for food over to a devotion to God-Almighty. Once that was accomplished I just wanted more and more of God! His ways are far better than mine and bring blessings! For example, God wants me to turn to Him instead of to anger. He wants me to fear Him instead of fearing what people think about me. In two years time, I lost 80 pounds, god’s Word became living and active in my life and I hungered and thirsted after righteousness instead of earthly things (Matthew 6:33). I became a new creation (1 Cor. 5:17), learning to see everything from God’s perspective and to do things His way instead of my own way. Living this way brought incredible peace, joy and hope! This led me to become a Weigh Down Coordinator myself because helping others find this amazing grace makes life worth living!

In 1997, ’98, and 2000, I went to the Desert Oasis held in Nashville and I saw first hand the fruit that was being born through this ministry. I read Gwen Shamblin’s books and watched her life testify to complete repentance from sin and then obedience to God being how to enter the kingdom and become the light of the world. I continued to share what I was learning with friends and family and to encourage our church to use the Exodus from Strongholds class. The leaders resisted the idea and as time went on, even those who had lost weight in Weigh Down began to gain their weight back. John taught in 1 John 2:3-6, "3We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." (NIV).

I wanted to walk as Jesus did and over the years I had spent much time seeking what that meant though God’s Word. I learned that Satan was a liar and I also learned to begin discerning between true spiritual leaders and false ones. In the fall of 2001, Weigh Down Advanced came out and I joined a class. This class helped me lay down the idol of food for good and then showed me that God was calling me to something bigger than just cleaning up my own life. I needed to take a stand for the truth and help God get His will done on earth as it is in heaven. The apostle John says in 1 John 2:17, "The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." I want to live forever and I want to be a servant in the kingdom of God – under the Lordship of Jesus Christ His Son. I want to be a vessel to house God’s Holy Spirit and then go out and help others find this relationship with the God of the universe. It begins with an invitation from the Father into a covenant relationship with Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. All relationships require a response (Romans 12:1-2) and God’s Word gives clear instruction on what He wants from His people. Disobedience or rebellion sidetracks a person from living out the will of God or being free to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

A few years back, God revealed to me through the words of Psalm 40:1-10 what He had done for me because I had been obedient to Him. God continues to bless my life and the lives of my family abundantly. There are five Blair’s and we have collectively lost over 300 pounds as a family. I have had the privilege of seeing my own teenage girls repent and learn these truths along with my husband. I praise God for the truth and love sharing about our lives and God’s resurrection power.

EXODUS STORY - SHARON CLAYE, CENTER LINE, MICHIGAN

 My Mother’s highest weight was 350 pounds, and she shared with me the HORROR of always being the heaviest person in the room, and being unable to control her eating. We dieted and subsequently binged together.....I lived with the fear that I, too, would someday become morbidly obese and not be able to control my body.

 I searched for “deliverance” from my eating problem in the church.   It seemed to me if I were “free”, I would be free from overeating also.  Why did we sing songs in church about Jesus setting the captives free when most of the people were obviously in bondage to something?  I felt like I was a total hypocrite.

My top weight was 181 pounds; when I was in my early twenties I sought out Christian counselors so that I could get “delivered” from binge eating.  As the years went on, I became bulimic (bingeing, then purging with laxatives and excessive exercise) to control my weight, and in 1991 I got a job as a Leader for Weight Watchers.  My goal weight was 139 lbs.

SOMETHING WAS WRONG -- MY EATING DISORDER WAS GETTING WORSE!!  I continued going to Christian Counselors for twenty five years....and yet I knew I was destroying my body by bingeing and purging.  My anxiety was so high I would literally lay on the floor and scream, feeling as if I were crawling out of my skin.  I would binge until I could barely breathe (twice I ate so much I actually fainted!)  I HATED MYSELF FOR IT, BUT COULDN’T SEEM TO STOP!

Finally my Counselors told me they couldn’t help me anymore.  By this time I was on diet pills, anti-anxiety medication (Paxil), more laxatives, and I was receiving testosterone shots.  I would go to church on Sunday, feeling hung over (Saturday was usually a binge/purge day and I was in the bathroom a good portion of the night) and cry out “IS THERE NO HELP FOR ME IN GOD???”

Ironically, by January 2003 I was one of the best Weight Watchers’ Leaders in the area, with a Saturday morning Weight Watchers’ group of over 500 members!  I was well-known in the Detroit Metropolitan Area, so I decided to take the WDA class in Toledo, Ohio (a 3 hour round trip) where no one would recognize me.  The class was held by a member of Remnant Fellowship.

 On the way to my Week 2 Class, I  ate 10 1/2 ice cream sandwiches, among other things.  I felt like I was just wasting my time in the class, since I obviously didn’t “get it” -- I felt like dropping out, but what other hope was there?  None, and I knew it.

 On the long drive home from class that day, I played the Week 3 Tape.  And I said to God, “Oh, God, if I REALLY believed that overeating were such a horrible sin, I would stop -- please reveal this to me!” And one of the ladies in my class told me I needed to pray for a fear of the Lord, so I continued to ask God for that as well.

 A few days later I was in my car, bingeing, driving from store to store to purchase more food to pig out on.  Still the tape kept playing.  At one point I thought “You hypocrite, how can you listen to this tape while you’re bingeing?  Take the tape out of the cassette player!”  Then I thought, “No, maybe it will help me to hear this even while I’m bingeing!”  I am so sorry to say that it never occurred to me to stop bingeing, since I did not think I was able to stop.

 Then all of a sudden what was being said on the tape hit me -- “SHE’S SAYING THAT IF I DON’T QUIT BINGEING  I’M GOING TO HELL!!!”  Wow, I can’t tell you what a revelation that was!  And all of a sudden I said to God, “God, I am scared!” and the scripture came to me that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Somewhere that night or the next morning, January 19th, 2003, I experienced a TRUE repentance, a death to self, like I had never imagined possible.  I realized that I had made a mess of my life, and I traded in MY will for GOD’S will.  I gave up my life!  And here’s what happened:  Matthew 10:39 - “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”. 

 Immediately, all desire to binge/purge left me.  The scriptures came alive to me -- I can’t get enough of the Word now -- and it was EASY to quickly withdraw from my diet pills, Paxil, and testosterone shots.

 I went back to my Week 3 WDA Class and told them all about my true repentance and how I HAD to immediately do three things:

1.  Leave my church and go to Remnant Fellowship;

 2.  Quit my 11 year career at Weight Watchers (I could not lie about how to lose weight, for now I knew the TRUTH!); and

 3.  Get water baptized into His death, burial and resurrection!

 But the story doesn’t end here!   As a result of my repentance, and being a member of Remnant fellowship (surrounded by other believers), I have changed SO MUCH!

I USED TO                                                                       BUT NOW I

Rule over my husband                                                  Lovingly submit to my husband
Hate to cook                                                                   Love to cook for my husband and          

                                                                                                   Remnant fellowships
Pay someone else to do the housework                     Do it myself, as unto the Lord!
Lie                                                                                     Speak the truth in love
Curse under my breath                                                   Pray without ceasing!
Have to set a timer and force myself                            Have to force myself to STOP reading
      to read the Word                                                                  the Word!
Spend over $800 month on various                               Budget carefully as my husband
      items for “self”                                                                    wishes
Get my validation from my job                                      Rely on God, and God alone!
Avoid children -- too much work                                    Love kids!
Harbor sexual fantasies                                                 Submit every thought unto the Lord
Lie in bed depressed                                                     Wake up, and get down on my knees
                                                                                                    in prayer!
Do what I wanted to do, when I wanted                   Ask God what His will is 

Spend $20-40 for a one-day binge!                              Spend very little money on food!
Continually watch my weight go up                             Have lost 18 pounds since January!
Spend 2-3 hours in the gym, 6 days                            Relinquished the god of excessive      
 a week (to burn off calories)                                                   exercise
Binge on sugar free or fat free desserts                     Enjoy REAL chocolate and desserts
                                                                                                  within God’s boundaries of
                                                                                                  hunger and fullness
Be afraid of many things, but especially
 of becoming morbidly obese                                        I fear God, and God alone!
  

 I would advise everyone reading this to pray for a fear of the Lord, and to submit your will to the ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD!   And then RUN, don’t walk, to a Remnant fellowship, where you can be strengthened by a group of TRUE believers WHO HAVE THE VICTORY!  You may encounter some resistance from others, but this is the scripture God gave me for strength:  Matthew 10:37-39:  “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

 I HAVE FOUND A GREAT LIFE!!!

Jill Ritchie:

The following is a testimony of how Gwen Shamblin, through the Weigh Down Workshop, and Remnant Fellowship has changed my life:
 I have attended church for 13 years. When I would read verses like "do not complain about anything", I would convince myself that it was impossible to live without complaining. Well, I am here to tell you that God has delivered me from complaining!! Through Weigh Down Advanced, I have gained a brand new perspective about life! I deserve nothing! Anything beyond food and clothes is a bonus! God has not dealt with me as I deserve to be dealt with. I should be eternally separated from Him right now. But I am not. He has been kind and patient with me and it has meant my salvation. 

 Gwen Shamblin’s writings of her relationship with God helped me to gain a new perspective of the life God desired for me - a life without sin!  Here is a list of other sins God has helped me to lay down: self-pity, anxiety, anger, vanity, pride, gluttony, man-made religious rules, overspending and shopping for self, impure thoughts, pride, grabbing for an image, trying to gain sympathy, lack of love/concern for others, laziness, drunkenness, high expectations from God and man, foolish chattering, gossip, jealousy, coveting things others had and vacations, losing heart after being disciplined, empty fellowship, giving my husband the "silent treatment", withholding relations from my husband, fits of rage, screaming, approval of man, love of money, soap operas, computers, television, and not being led by the Spirit.

 To sum it up, God has helped me to lay down the sin of self-focus which is the source of the sins listed above!! All I want to do now is work for His kingdom. Work for His kingdom is the only worthwhile job we have to do.  I am now a part of the Remnant Fellowship, which is a church formed by God, through the Weigh Down teachings.  The Remnant Fellowship is a group of people that esteem God’s word.  We are living every day and every hour looking for the will of God.  We are dying to what our sinful nature wants and now living for what God, our Creator, wants!  This is what God deserves and this is what is appropriate.
 I give God all the glory and only want to be more humble so that I have more love for this dying world and for my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thank you God for Gwen Shamblin, Weigh Down and Remnant Fellowship!

Blake Zanoni’s Testimony

At around age seven, judging from my childhood pictures, I began to gain extra weight. Food was a reward for doing good and a comfort for feeling bad. By the time I was 16, I weighed a whopping 225 pounds. Kids made fun of me at school and I just wished sometimes that I could just wake up thin or not wake up at all. I was in denial about how bad my weight really was. My Mom was introduced to the Weigh Down Workshop through church and soon became a coordinator of a class in our home. This was a class that I was forced to attend. I didn’t want to go and though I never spoke a word against it, my body language said it all. During and after going through the class, I was able to loose some weight, but I was doing it for Blake and what I wanted to get out of it. I was still rebellious with the food and didn’t take it seriously.

Then on November 11, 2001 my parents saw Gwen Shamblin speak in Southbend Indiana where she introduced them to Weigh Down Advanced. I started Weigh Down Advanced in December of 2001 at the beginning weight of 225 lbs.! My eyes were opened to the complete truth! I learned that you can not have greed for food and make it into heaven. I learned that I had to die to my will with food and obey God’s signals of hunger and fullness. It wasn’t easy at first and I struggled through the first couple of months, but I just kept listening to the tapes and surrounding myself with the Weigh Down message and people who were involved in the program and really DOING it.

In May, 2002 my best friend left for Nebraska. That night there was a pain laid on my heart that I couldn’t put my finger on. As we said our final goodbyes I got in the car and drove away. On the ride home I started thinking about the pain I felt for my friend who was leaving and realized the pain God was feeling as I was straying from him. It was at least 10 times greater. At about 11:17 I clicked on the radio and the first words I heard were "…forever is a long time without you…" It was all I could do to pull my car to the side of the road without crashing and I picked up the phone and had to call someone. God really delivered me that night and gave me a chance to turn my life around and live for him. I knew that it was time to start losing weight for God and not Blake. By the middle of July I was down to a weight of 157 lbs. By the end of August, 2002 I was down to my current weight of 148 pounds. That is a total weight loss of 77 pounds in about 9 months!

Through the Weigh Down Workshop I developed a relationship with God that I never had before. I truly wait EVERY time until I hear the growl. In between time, I just turn to God, pray, read my Bible, listen to a Weigh Down tape or get into my workbook. If I’m truly hungry, then I get exactly what I feel like eating and I eat until I’m satisfied. I don’t ever feel uncomfortably full anymore. With this new way of life I can honestly say that I will NEVER see those pounds again!!! 
 

Blake with his wife Rachel

Just to top things off here is the first chapter of "Rise Above" by Gwen Shamblin.

A passionate people

Thank you for opening this book. I feel that God has prompted you to search deeper for the solution to the life-draining problem of extra  pounds. If you are overweight, you are undoubtedly seeking deliverance from the insulting enslavement of dieting, fat gram counting, taking pills, and constantly focusing on self. Many people feel like failures and wonder why they can’t seem to get their weight, their eating, and their bingeing under control. After working for years with obesity, bulimia, anorexia, and some struggling Weigh Downers, I have witnessed unprecedented weight loss success, unbelievable healing, renewed hope, and restored relationships once the principles of Weigh Down were truly applied to the heart. I know that this message is God’s truth. It is a message that will set you free from your struggle with food.

Many of you have already read my first book, The Weigh Down Diet. (If you haven’t, don’t despair. You will still be able to open your heart to the message presented in Rise Above, and you can learn more about the principles of The Weigh Down Workshop by reading Appendix A and Appendix B in the back of this book.) The Weigh Down Diet is the skeleton of the formula for permanent weight loss. It touches on how this formula of a transferred heart can make you thin. The book explains how you can learn to stop in the middle of a candy bar and have no desire to eat the second half. God did not put rocky road ice cream or cheese dip and chips on earth to torture us; such foods are for our enjoyment. However, He wants us to learn how to rise above the magnetic pull of the excessive food, so that we do not eat more than what our body is physically calling for. Food can be an enslavement just like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, money, or any worldly pursuit that consumes our lives. The problem is the same in each case: the person’s heart and passion have been given over to something other than God.