How My Weight Battle Helped Me Recognize the Voice of God

On this episode of Worship Is My Weapon, Rita wraps up the conversation about Obesity and the Church by encouraging viewers to uproot the criticism of self and others to find our permanent value in the Lord.
If you would like to support the Worship Is My Weapon podcast 🙏🏻🕊️🤍
Venmo - account.venmo....
Paypal - www.paypal.com...
💌 Stay connected with Rita by signing up for her exclusive mailing list: worshipismyweap...
And follow Rita on Social Media: linktr.ee/rita...
00:00 Coming Up
00:35 Discrimination in the Church
03:19 Have a Balanced Perspective
05:06 Influenced by the Age and Culture We’re In
05:46 Wanting a Quick Fix vs Walking the Long Road
06:34 Subscribe to Rita’s Newsletter
07:26 Limited by the Freedom People Have
09:25 Denied a Record Deal Because of Weight
11:12 When Adele Lost Weight
13:30 Meeting Confident Overweight Girls
14:48 Dealing with Ridiculous Mentalities
16:55 Where Are You Getting Your Value From?
18:06 Mentorship Program
20:06 How Do We Discern Deception and Abuse?
22:21 The Bigger Issue
27:18 Learning to Discern and Process Abuse
29:02 Wearing Justice
29:19 How Would God Have Us Respond to Bullying
32:39 Get a Hold of Freedom From God

[@RitaSpringer]

How do you believe God perceives you?

[@cherylhobson6633]

I believe that My God and King sees me as His! As beautiful! As His daughter!!!

[@pmholli54]

I’m so grateful that God sees my heart vs my appearance. It breaks my heart that Christians don’t remember that.

[@angeleav]

Like a pencil drawing he did and is very proud of

[@ReneelovesGod]

I believe God perceives me as His beloved. Fearfully and wonderfully made. On another note, it’s true we as a body of Christ doesn’t love correctly. I look to myself to reflect on my potential but the body of Christ is very unloving.. and it’s not my church but I have been to church’s here in Florida and I felt unloved. They don’t have a clue that they are not showing love. It took me to find my current church to truly find the true love in the body. And I know the difference.

[@888hereandnow]

Accepted

[@TDLSP]

Also true story: when I was a little girl and my parents were first saved during the Jesus Revolution we started attending our first Charismatic Church. The worship leader only had one leg and no prosthesis. The piano player only had one arm. Literally played the piano with only one arm and a nub. The assistant pastor had cerebral palsy. I kid you not, I didn’t think one thing about it. I was so amazed to be in the presence of God, as a five year old, these differences only made those moments better. The faith of a child.

[@essieaku3563]

That is amazing ! If only the world as a whole could operate like that ! 👏💕🙏🕊

[@foreverkidschurch]

Wow this is true beauty

[@georgiabudd]

"separate THEIR insecurity from MY dignity". wowzers words.

[@pattitanaka8186]

For a decade the greeting pastors would enthusiastically hug and welcome everyone entering through the doors but not me. It was so painful that I had to stand to the side and pray and feel connected to God and have a personal purpose to walk through the gauntlet of rejection. The one thing that I knew was that Jesus had no apparent beauty that people would desire him or be attracted to him. He was despised and rejected by men. He was like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised and we held him in low esteem. I knew they were wrong. I kept going to that church and still do even though it has changed affiliation. It's because that's where I meet God. Thank you Rita for your wisdom. It was an impartation.

[@kirstynalmeida7761]

The struggle with weight gain is that it’s obvious, we all have struggles and crosses to bear, and I’m sure if we asked- everyone would want their burden to be hidden and kept in secret. This is why we can’t judge those who struggle with their weight - if only all of our burdens were on display for the world to see… you are so right when you say we live in an image driven society, it is to our very own detriment. Jesus is said to have been very plain looking, barely 5 feet tall- our society has portrayed Him as quite the opposite. Something to consider, thank you for your podcast Rita!

[@WiseWomanLola]

You know, I've never thought of you as overweight. You voice is all that touches me.

[@heatherhancock_author]

Thank you for bringing this topic into the Light. I’m in an opposite scenario in that weight was never an issue until I hit menopause in the midst of the Covid lockdowns. I gained 40 pounds in 2020 and and another 10 the following year. This has added to the challenges I have always faced within church buildings and services, not as a thick girl, but as a disabled girl with a prophetic anointing as a Seer and a Scribe. Leadership didn’t allow this young woman then, or this middle-aged woman now to function in God’s call because I am in a wheelchair and use a walker a little. Now I am a fat disabled woman… and yet Jesus calls me Beloved. He loves the me inside of this earthbound body. He sings over me and holds me when I cry. He fills my lamp with His precious oil of perfect love. The part of me seated with Him in Heavenly places is healed, and unrestricted. I don’t need physical legs to enter the spirit and I don’t need this physical body in that place for He has shown me how He sees me.

[@CandaceFriedrichs]

I am so thankful for your honesty Rita. My experiences have been much more internal, and my obsession with how I look has had more to do with early (less than 5) exposure to images of women in porn. that was what i believed at a young age i needed to be to ever be attractive to a man. and then after graduating from Bible college and dating "Christian" men who thought that I at 5'1" and 120 pounds was not ideal weight only fueled that idea. At the end of the day, it IS all about our own identity and the acceptance of who we are based only on who God says we are ... Others who throw those lies at us are definitely speaking out of their own false concepts and almost always their own trauma. I would love to sign up for your mentorship but I do not work for a church. I can't apply without having the the rec letter from a pastor. i love all your podcasts, but this was 🔥as always.

[@elizabethwollmann1099]

What a gifted Mama you are Rita !!!! Thank you ! ♥️🇨🇦

[@xhioable]

This was healing to my soul. Thank you, Rita for being so vulnerable.

[@bocceball63]

Rita, I am so sorry that you had to endure this in your life. I battle with my weight as well and the way people perceive you or the way you perceive yourself, it's hard to live with. I think we see all the pretty people and think we're not good enough, we're not as talented. It's a lie.....but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt and affect you. Love you and love your music and ministry. Thank you so much.

[@Seyi-f4c]

I'd like to thank you specifically for what you said in the second to last segment about 'cycles in your head' this resonated with me and I appreciate your vulnerability. Your content is transferrable to so many areas of life.

[@MelissaMayo-er1mu]

Wow this has been soo good

[@ParkerRudolph]

I love that you have merch, but I would love to rep "Worship is My Weapon". The podcast. I just want to share this with everyone. Your topics are amazing, and the wisdom is so solid. I've taken a lot of notes! Just thought I'd pitch the merch idea. Maybe it's because you don't want to point people to you, and rather- to Jesus, but I'd love to point people to this podcast who know Christ already. That kinda sounds like I'm making an assumption of why you don't have merch like that. That's not what I'm trying to say, lol. Anyhow, I am so thankful I found your channel. Such a blessing!

[@LoveConquersAllFears]

I think you are amazingly anointed, talented, and beautiful! It’s crazy how worldly Christians and the Christian industry can be. I can’t say I’m surprised though.

[@TDLSP]

I wish I had the words to express how much your podcasts are reaching my heart. What you are saying matters. Thank you.

[@karenreynolds349]

This is the world we live in!!!!!

[@JenniferHosford]

I was in a church where pastor would teach about not being a blob for your spouse. I was in the struggle of pain and coping with food. I am still not free from overeating. His wife would look me up and down every time we met. I was not able to overcome the feelings of shame and disconnect. I had to leave. I recently listened to a sermon from that church and it was the same. The church has gone from almost 1000 to about 40 people. It is very sad.

[@maryarcher8484]

Be thankful, if he could say this in disrepect, instead of maybe like a health challenge.T 31:46 hat was not how a man of God would have handled it.. that would be like the world would teach. Losing most of all of the church members proves he was not coming from a good place with God. I am not judging him, but Jesus would not have spoken that way. Wasn't it Barnabus that came to Jesus? He had cribbled feet and felt like the non-believers would make fun of him, and he couldn't keep up with the other deciples. Jesus told him he would do great for the Kingdom the way he was, and Jesus didn't heal him.

[@sophiamgeorge4883]

So real ! Thank you for being you @ritaspringer

[@charlottebarclay4631]

I love how you tickle every subject.

[@trovil2]

There were pharisees and religious leaders in the bible and they still remain today....always asking why Jesus would hang out with the sick, out cast, anyone that didnt look the part...always the outward....i am so thankful that Jesus sees me and I know that my first identity is DAUGHTER. I will be despised and rejected here on earth yet my ability to radically forgive will always keep me free. I keep my eyes fixed on Him and will continue to obey where the Lord asks me to go and what He asks me to do....even if others reject the good news i carry. I will have to answer to my obedience only. May my zeal for the Lord shine! Keep abiding in Him!

[@catmom142]

❤❤❤

[@SandySchmitz-vi3zs]

I am a teacher and the groups of women in my church, and four years my obvious sin of gluttony had brought me to almost 250 pounds for 20 years. At age 67 I saw my doctor and she asked me to investigate a ketogenic eating plan alongside intermittent fasting for my health which was declining.preparing to lead a group of 40 or so adult women through the little classic “the Christians secret of a happy life” and this paragraph articulated my heart, as I begin the new health journey: there was a lady who had habitual sin which her emotions dearly loved, but in her Will, she hated. Believing herself to be under the control of her emotions, she thought she was unable to conquer it, unless her emotions changed first. But she learned the secret concerning the Will, and prayed, “Lord, you see that I love this emotionally, but in my real central self, I hate it. 11:17

[@SandySchmitz-vi3zs]

Until now my emotions have had the mastery. But now I will put my Will into your hands and give up give it up to your Working. I will never again consent in my will to yield to the sin. Take possession of my will, and work in me to Will and to do of your good pleasure.“this has been my prayer and in five months I have lost 60 pounds and given up so many of the aches and pains and illness that had plagued me because of my eating. My heart is to see other people free.

[@Kalala45]

This was an awesome podcast. Perhaps there is opportunity for Christian fitness that helps reflect and bolster self-esteem? We should never allow people’s judgments to define us- there is symptom of a more serious problem with those that do that.

[@safehavenhomeschooling3963]

It's sad that they measured you by outward appearance when God looks on the heart. Beauty is skin deep. But I think you are beautiful. Your talent and skill and anointing speaks for itself. This is not a Christian way to do things. These men need to repent.

[@hannahawori3639]

I have this thing, which I acknowledge is wrong but I guess I still feel it, where I think God is embarrassed like cringing at me, from some of the prayers I've made😬😂

[@laurie9993]

Rita you dont look fat, maybe slightly big boned or muscular. Like who cares ❤ ! Thanks for the engagement on this topic

[@JenniferHosford]

I was in a church where pastor would teach about not being a blob for your spouse. I was in the struggle of pain and coping with food. I am still not free from overeating. His wife would look me up and down every time we met. I was not able to overcome the feelings of shame and disconnect. I had to leave. I recently listened to a sermon from that church and it was the same. The church has gone from almost 1000 to about 40 people. It is very sad.

[@mamamia5130]

😢😢