In this interview, Dr. Chuck and Kathy Willis discuss the importance of seeking a balance between the body, soul, and spirit.
Balancing the Body, Soul, and Spirit
Dr. Chuck: Everyone experiences life challenges. Do we suck it up and just endure them, or do we try to escape our adversity? This spoonful of courage comes from Kathy Carlton Willis, God’s Grin Gal. She has experienced all kinds of physical challenges, from rheumatological diseases, thyroid cancer, and even multiple surgeries. But in this segment she’s sharing about her failed surgeries and some things she’s learned in her struggles. Hang on and hear Kathy’s spoonfuls as we learn how to embrace our health challenges. I’m Doctor Chuck, the best guy to see on the worst day of your life.
Kathy Willis: Over 20 surgeries.
Dr. Chuck: Oh my goodness!
Kathy Willis: I know it’s crazy, crazy amount of medications and all of that and, like you said, kind of set me up for failure, because then the weight started gaining more and more weight. I gained over a 100 pounds during this medical journey and I went from being really fit to being not fit at all. And what I realized when I had a shoulder surgery, that went wrong and they told me it was a failed surgery. When I failed PT, I couldn’t move my arm and it was in a lot of pain and I realized I needed to take care of myself, not in the way of fixing your own problems, but God was in that journey with me.
Dr. Chuck: Sometimes, Kathy, it seems like when we get to that position of helplessness, that’s when really we can begin to have, not a self-help, but more of a god-help.
Kathy Willis: That’s exactly it.
Dr. Chuck: And really, and that’s your book, you know The Grin Gal’s Guide to Wellbeing. It’s really about how we invite God into our struggles.
Kathy Willis: Right.
Dr. Chuck: So tell us, Kathy, for someone who’s going through whatever circumstance they’re facing, what would be your spoonful of courage to tell them to begin to take the first step? That “ah ha!” moment that you want them to have when they read this book.
Kathy Willis: Yeah, I think it’s just really important to seek out that balance of body, soul, and spirit and don’t rely on just one. I mean, if you were sitting on a three-legged stool and one of those legs disappeared, you would wobble. You need all three of those legs to be steady so you can sit and be firm, and that’s what it is with our lives. We need body, soul, and spirit in the body. We can do as much as we can to help it. But if we’re not starting with that inner person, the soul is what makes us who we are. It’s our personality, it’s our will, it’s our heart, it’s all of those things inside of us. And then, if we have the spirit part, which is how we talk with God and how we worship him, and how we let him identify who we are, because if we get our identity in Christ, and not in how bad our body is doing, we’re going to do okay with that struggle and for the ones listening that maybe it’s not a physical struggle, maybe it’s a different kind of struggle. The thing that you need to grasp is that you can have joy, and that’s why they call me the Grin Gal, because you need to have joy to get you through whatever that stinky day is, and you can do that when you really focus in on who God says you are and who he is in your life, and it does get better than this. You know, my worst days I can tell myself I know it’s going to get better than this, and that’s what gets me through that bad day.
Dr. Chuck: That’s what makes you keep grinning, Kathy, keep grinning, we need it, and so here we are with Kathy Willis, The Grin Gal’s Guide to Wellbeing. I would encourage you to check this book out and you can find it at kathycartonwillis.com. You can find on Amazon and all the other typical venues, and she also has another guide to go with this, The Grin Gal’s Planner for Wellbeing and we’re going to unpack what this is here shortly.
