When someone comes to me asking about the Integrity & Grace ministry, often times it is because they are feeling “stuck” in some sort of way.  They may be looking for a form of exercise that will make them stronger, but not hurt them physically or conflict with their soul spiritually.  They may be overwhelmed in their relationship with their body, with exercise, with food but oftentimes; they are also just “stuck” in their very lives.  They are stuck in a stressful, tumultuous relationship with their body and themselves.  Stuck in a holding pattern.  Stuck in a rut that is no longer serving them. They are used to the on-again, off-again cycles of over-exercising or non-exercising, dieting, of self-punishment and shaming themselves and they are DYING to leave it all behind and step into a loving and respectful relationship with their bodies.  They know there must be another way, and they want in, but they just don’t know how to even begin.  I tell them exactly what I am going to tell you now:

Stepping into a partnership with God when it comes to our bodies,

is the first move toward empowerment in our lives and stepping into

deep alignment with our souls.

Because what if this wasn’t “the thing” taking up so much time, energy and attention in your life?  You would probably be focusing on bigger and more important things than the size of your jeans.  You would be focusing on C0-CREATING this beautiful life that God has given to you as a gift, and listening to where and what He wants you to do with it.  That is what gets me excited, what gets me up in the morning…truly what is possible for people when they start to focus on what they are REALLY longing for as a human being, beyond those last ten pounds.  That deep desire, which is innately planted in each human heart, and can ONLY be filled by Jesus.  To execute their vital part, in His beautiful plan for humanity.

God is already here…He never changes and He has been eagerly waiting for you.  And through His leading and guidance, I am here to help you get out of your own way, and to assist you in creating some space for Him to speak directly into your life through His love, grace and peace.  The process foundationally begins by digging into His Word (the TRUTH about who you are and how to live a healthy life), carving out time for reverent Prayer (the CONNECTION between you and God where you can share your deepest desires and find the space to hear His answers) and participating in authentic Worship (the physical act of GRATITUDE for what He has done and for what He will continue to do in your life).  Those concepts are the Love Languages of our Heavenly Father and the foundation of the Integrity & Grace Ministry.

THEN and only THEN, I (HE) will begin to arm you with solid exercise, nutritional and self-care knowledge, to help you to implement lasting change in your physical health. Enabling you to step into your most radiant, empowered and vibrant self, yet.  God-Esteem at it’s finest.  So you can feel simultaneously at home and on fire in your skin, and bring your focus instead, ON YOUR ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE.  God has been patiently waiting for your time, attention and courage.  He will lead the process and transform you from the inside-out in a way that will stretch you above and beyond your wildest dreams.

Trust me, I have been where you are. EXACTLY at your current place.  In fact, when I started pursuing my education in health and wellness through The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), National Exercise Trainer’s Association (NETA) and Precision Nutrition (PN), I was secretly hoping to find the hidden secrets to “get skinny.” What I wasn’t anticipating is that in trying to “get skinny”, I would go on a journey that would set my mind, heart and soul free.  Jesus Christ has always been my solid foundation and He was driving many parts of my life, but on this journey to finding the perfect body, I found that I still wanted to hold the reigns when it came to my physical body-both exercise and nutrition.  Parts of this backward perception were out of my own sense of fear and control, but mostly because of my inability to see how big God is and to truly believe that He cares about every facet of my life-Spirit, Soul and Body.  He was driving my Spirit and Soul, but I definitely was NOT letting Him drive my Physical Body.  I was seeking and using the world’s measures at every cost.  And they were letting me down in a big way.  And He patiently took the backseat until I was ready…but He was always whispering in my ear, “Corrie, it doesn’t have to be this way.  I have created you in my image.  For a much bigger purpose.”

It was the beginning of a journey back to myself and living my

most powerful, vulnerable, whole-hearted life. And now I have the

honor of helping others do the same through Integrity & Grace.

My obsession with my weight and my physical body began early, extended through my college years all the way through graduate school, and well into my career as a teacher, personal trainer and group fitness instructor.  I was always attempting to “beat” my body into submission and at times, it was rebelling against me big time.  My body wanted out. I was constantly obsessing about food and exercise, feeling deprived and ashamed.  I only felt powerful when, through my own self-efforts, I was writing down every morsel of food that I ate and every minute on the step mill of death.  A vicious cycle of over-exercising to compensate for my crappy, unbalanced diet.  Unfortunately, I could only succeed in this “controlled state” for certain periods of time and then would feel such failure when my “normal life” would reinstate itself again.  As I desperately tried harder and harder, using every worldly method I could get my hands on, the roller coaster just continued with more peaks and valleys, twists and turns every time around.

I missed times celebrating with my family and friends for fear of losing control, sabotaged parts of my relationships because I was dominated by exercise and calculating every single thing that went into my mouth and honestly, annoyed others around me because all I wanted to talk about was my obsession with exercise and food.  Each day could be determined a good or bad day by the notion of “if” or “if not” I was able to exercise.  In retrospect, the saddest part is that everyone taking this in from the outside perspective thought I was healthy.  Ooh…complete honesty hurts, but I know that I need to share it with you because I am not alone in these measures.  In fact, in being in the health and wellness industry for so long, I have witnessed many of my beautiful clients, colleagues and friends living this same vicious cycle.  Weighing, measuring, calculating, manipulating, abusing, controlling and hiding the truth-all in the name of being healthy.  And then we were leading others into our dysfunctional, skewed perception of being well.  And so many of us were “dying” on the inside.  Really hear me:  DYING.

What I wish I had known then and what I have come to understand with every cell of my being now is this;  I had it all backwards, the entire time.  My body was not my enemy to beat into submission.  It was not my currency for validation, love and fulfillment. It was ONLY my vehicle.  My vessel to BE, DO and EXPERIENCE everything good in this one life, God has so graciously given to me.  It was meant to be Healthy and Healed…Whole.  That was always God’s plan in the redemption of Jesus and His Word confirms it over and over.

A journey is the act of traveling from one place to another, and the word has often been used to describe our walk through life.  We travel from childhood to adulthood, with many stops along the way.  We see beautiful things; we have to overcome obstacles.  We make mistakes; we make wise decisions.  We feel a multitude of emotions; we meet many people.  And each one of us is also traveling a journey of faith, as we trek through this expedition of life.  Where are you on your faith journey?  Are you at peace? Is your heart at rest?  Do you live with hope? Let me share something with you…if you aren’t living with these things listed above, you can.  I promise you.

It has been said that there is a God-shaped vacuum in our heart.  People try to fill this vacuum with many things as they travel through this world, but the fact is that only God will fit into this place-just like the perfect piece of a puzzle.  When we try to jam the wrong puzzle piece into our heart, it hurts.  It just feels wrong.  It always leaves us unsatisfied and still searching for more.  Our faith journey is the only path that leads us to God and completely fills this hole in our heart.  Only Jesus can completely fill this hole in our heart.  It is just how we were made.  We were made by God; for God.