Do you ever feel weighed down by sin? For some, sin only weighs you down spiritually. No one can see the sin you carry. For others, though, the sin they carry spiritually is also carried physically. In Start Somewhere: Losing What's Weighing You Down from the Inside Out, Calvin Nowell documents his journey of loosing 215lbs, both physically and spiritually.

While Calvin's book is mainly for those who want to loose physical weight, with the strong spiritual aspects of this book anyone who wants to loose any type of spiritual weight can find help inside.

Calvin takes you through eight steps for spiritual weight loss - "Own your own weight, see God as your friend, take up a new perspective, get someone to hold you accountable, start somewhere, eliminate the excuses, accept the need for training wheels, and persevere to the end."

I enjoyed following Calvin as he realized his slavery to food, watching as he struggled with allowing God to remove his bonds, to finally realizing the victory of being released from slavery. He does caution that it is very easy to slip back into old patterns, patterns that are built over a life time. Calvin encourages you to daily lay the weight of your slavery at God's feet and let Him carry it.

"No matter what our weight is, no matter how heavy it is, no matter how hopeless it seems or how long we've been carrying it, God is big enough to handle the job...You can have a life free from slavery to behaviors you can't stop, thoughts you can't silence, and appetites you can't satisfy. Starting somewhere means being willing to let go of your weight in sin and start the journey."


(Copy of Start Somewhere: Losing What's Weighing You Down from the Inside Out provided by Tyndale Publishing.)