August 2010

Hello friends,

This is Justin, back at you with another justinwilloughby.com post. I’ve had a few things that I wanted to share with you. I know some people have been told that they are a hopeless case. I know I have been told that. I was actually told that being at the weight I was at, there was no way I could turn it around. This was coming from a guy who has seen it all. He was familiar with people who were morbidly obese. I wasn’t going to take that answer lying down. Yes, at first, it did scare me. Most people did not make it past the first stage of recovery. Well, I did, and that shows the amazing power of Jesus in a person’s life. I expected life, I expected to make it, and if somehow I didn’t, I knew where I was going when I died.

Some of you may have been been called a hopeless case. I want to tell you that this simply is not true. You are not a hopeless case. Your life matters, and you have a chance to recover from whatever you face in this lifetime. Do you struggle with alcoholism? Do you struggle with sexual immorality? Do you struggle with marriage? Do you struggle with weight? I am here to tell you that you can overcome these things. If you are at ROCK BOTTOM, and cannot get yourself up, then you obviously are in need of a little help. I am not talking about a psychologist, or psychiatrist, I am talking about help from your CREATOR! Some of you may not want to continue to read this post because it begins to talk about God. But I am here to tell you, God exists, and His love is ENDLESS! He loves each and every single person on this earth. He loves you and sees what you struggle with. He knows you can overcome what you struggle with. How can you do this? Through prayer, by accepting Jesus as the Boss of your life. Just give your life over to Him! It makes it a heck of a lot easier! He is the God who says He loves you, and doesn’t care what kind of messed up background we come from. He is still willing to accept us as His children! That is a blessing all it’s own. He even takes it a step further. He says if we confess that Jesus is the boss of our life, and believe God raised Him from the dead, we are “saved” which means we will inherit life everlasting (eternal life) in heaven with our Creator when we pass on from this life to the next. All we need to do is accept Jesus as the One in charge of our lives.

This is the answer to that “hopeless case”. You are a special person! Your life matters! Your life is way too precious to be over because of a problem that we face. You can overcome it. It wasn’t easy for me to overcome the weight of 799 pounds. But it was well worth it. I got my life back, and I will never let it go again. I am not a perfect person; I mess up, and struggle with things everyday! But I strive hard to be like Jesus in everything I do. That in turn makes me a better person, because I strive to be like the One who created me in His image, and in His likeness. If you are willing to accept Him for what He has to offer, you should pray and accept Him by faith. Life will finally have meaning and purpose. We don’t exist just to exist. We exist for a reason. That is to live for Jesus, and to do His will here on earth. If you are with me on this, please pray and accept Him. Don’t scoff and look away. It’s not worth it. Life is a vapor, here today, and just like that, it’s gone. What are you going to do? Hopeless case? No, there is no hopelessness in Jesus.

-Justin Willoughby
(One Step)

He made you, YOU

Hey guys, a couple things I’ve really been thinking of as of late. A lot of times people love to compare themselves to other people. This can happen in one or two ways.

One – The person who is just trying to fit in finds themselves doing whatever it takes to become like the person they believe, is the answer for them to be. (Example: A person is pursuing college, that means this person “MUST” pursue college in order to be something in life, or this person attends this club or that church, this must be the answer.)

Two – People set standards for themselves, and they expect people around them to be the same exact way. (Example: They won’t buy something, so “this person” shouldn’t. Or they like a certain team, that means the other person should.)

We see ourselves comparing, setting standards on people, saying “If only this person would be more like this person! THIS WOULD MAKE THEM BETTER!” I am here to tell you, NO! That’s not true, in fact, that is wrong. Not everyone WILL BE the same. You are not like your friends. You are not like your Pastors, teachers, favorite musicians.

God has made every single person unique! Instead of asking “How can I be more like that guy?” or “Why can’t they be more like me?” start asking “How can I be the person God made me to be?” or “What can I learn from this person?” Check out what it says in Ephesians. This does cover a lot in the spiritual aspect of life, but we can also learn something else from this. If God covers the spiritual stuff, He could also cover the physical aspect of life as well.

Ephesians 4:10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

He has appointed some to be (pastors, prophets, teachers…) but let’s look deeper. These are earthly duties with spiritual responsibilities . We could probably even say (God has appointed some to attend college, be a musician, work here, teach here.) As them things are earthly responsibilities to equip us into our own person which will effect us spiritually. He has gifted many people differently. If we would just stop comparing ourselves to every single person, and seek out the person God want’s you to be, and if we would just stop focusing on what our (friends, family, coworkers) are doing wrong and start focusing on what we can fix in our lives to be better people for Him, then our life would be 100 percent more affective.

God has a unique road for every single person. It says so in the bible.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Either we really seek our what God wants in our lives, or we just continue to live like the rest of the world, day and day out comparing ourselves to our friends, neighbors, family, pastors, teachers, etc. When we truly focus on who GOD wants us to be, we will see some amazing results. We will see a bunch of maturing, a bunch of freedom, and even God’s promises coming to pass.

Take this away with you today, I AM NOT anyone else, He made me, me.. with my own set of gifts, and my own style. He did not make us factory toys that get the same design over and over on the machines. God made you (Rachel, Justin, Josh, Larry, Kelly, Tonya, Becky, Alisa, Ralph, Cory, John, Anthony, James, Diane, Scott, Tony, Robert, Doug, Richard, Ethan, Amanda, Michelle, Barb, Kelly, Victoria, Nancy, Stacy, George, Gerry, Eddie, Kevin, Tayler, Brittany, Tyler, Joey, Rocco, Mike, Sally, Tom, Scott, Vince, Bart, Jesse, Jordan, Brian) get the picture? He made you, YOU! Our ways are not always the same as our friends. Let’s mold each other into the characters God wants “US” to be.

Side Note: I am not saying it’s okay to go out and indulge in sin. When we come to Jesus, we come as broken people, who are in need of help and a Savior. We then seek Him out the best we can (read the bible, pray, get together with other believers) and watch how He transforms us into better people as time goes on.

Hey friends,

It’s Justin back with another updated post for you. I want to talk about something that helps me out tremendously during a workout! It’s called “MUSIC”! Music helps me out because I can get into it while working out. Without music, time seems to just drag on. Exercise just seems tougher and harder to complete.

The point I do want to get across here is this, music can help you ENJOY exercise! People can get into music, 2-4 songs go by, and you are already 10-20 minutes into your workout. Go 6 songs, and are nearly at 30 minutes. This helps time go by faster for me. It also helps me exercise a little bit harder. I get into music, the beat, the mood, and it impacts how I perform. I recommend this to anyone starting a workout program or even to those who already have a program all set.

Here is what you can do, get music that you enjoy. I am into hip hop; I like the fast pace, the beat, and the stories artists put into a song. The fast pace helps me move quicker, the beat helps me get into the song, the story makes time fly by.

This is just a little pointer on how to make your exercise session a little more fun for you. Very few people will settle for an exercise program if it is not fun. Music is one of those ways to make it fun.

-Justin
(ONE STEP)