When we moved to Tampa in 2005 there were only a handful of women involved in the Navigator campus ministry. As I met with each, I realized they weren’t enjoying daily time with the Lord so I asked the Lord to give me an idea. Did He ever! That’s when the booklet Get F.A.T., Be Beautiful was born!
Years before at a summer training program, as a way to encourage team bonding, a skit night was hosted. One of the teams made up a fun song,
“Faithful. Available. Teachable. Our goal is to be FAT!”
Even now as I write this, that chorus is streaming through my mind. It’s amazing how you remember things when they’re put to music!
I learned through this song three key characteristics of a disciple are being: faithful, available, and teachable. This was the first time I realized being fat could be good!
I have a Master’s degree in Health Science Education so I thought it’d be fun to create a six week booklet helping women learn how to get F.A. T. through enjoying daily quiet times. In this eight week booklet women spend two weeks of quiet times focused on growing in faithfulness, two weeks learning what the Bible says about being available and two weeks considering what it looks like to truly be teachable. The last two weeks they transition into enjoying time with the Lord anywhere in His Word that He leads them.
When I first started writing this only a handful of women were doing it with me. By the end of the semester, thirty women were meeting daily with the Lord and gathering at my house weekly to share the treasure He was teaching them and what He was doing in their lives as a result. We even had non-Christians join us and come to know the Lord!
Not only did the ministry grow, but by the end of that first semester a foundation was being laid by F.A.T. women who longed to keep getting fatter!
The Lord always gives the best ideas! He led me to start the whole study encouraging the women to fast for 24 hours. As they did, each experienced what it was like to go without food. That first week when I asked how they felt, they collectively groaned and shared, “Exhausted.” “Irritable.” “Weak…”
Then we looked at Isaiah 55: 2-3 where the Lord says, “Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me; hear, that, your soul may live.”
And we considered, “How might what happened to us physically when we didn’t eat be a picture of what happens spiritually if we go a day without any intake of God’s Word?”
Did that ever hit home! Since then I ‘ve used this booklet one on one with women I disciple to help them get off to a good start enjoying daily time with God and growing as His disciple.
It’s hard to navigate for life if you’re starving!
If you’d like to get F.A.T. or help a friend do so, check out this booklet which you can download for free on the Resources page.
Please note this is larger than most booklets on here and will need to be cut down the middle and spiral bound as a book or three hole punched and put into a binder. Office Depot or any copy center can do this for you.
May the Lord richly nourish your soul as you enjoy daily time feasting with Jesus in His Word!