Fat Chance, by Julie Hadden

I’ve never struggled with being overweight.  Which is why I wasn’t sure what I would learn when I recently read Fat Chance by Julie Hadden.

Julie’s story is truly amazing.  She was selected from among 250,000 contestants to appear on the Biggest Loser, and from then on determined to put her faith in action and not give up.  Sure, she had a few bumps in the road (given that she trained with no-mercy Jullian Michaels it certainly wasn’t easy) but she went on to lose almost half of her body weight and finished season four as runner-up.

Since then, she’s appeared on Oprah, written a book and numerous articles, and she travels around the country inspiring men and women to take control of their health choices.  I love a happy ending, especially when it’s a Cinderella story.

But the ending is not what I took away from Fat Chance.  You see, for Julie, this is just the beginning.  Like so many things in life, her weight loss was not a destination.  It’s a faith journey.

Julie explains in her book that she never wanted to be the poster child for weight loss:   “Speaking still scares me to death, but I know that God has given me this opportunity for such a time as this.  And not seizing it scares me far more than seizing it ever will.” 

The part about not seizing the opportunity really got my attention.  To Julie’s credit, she was blessed with an open window – but she still had to jump through it! 

For many of us, not seizing the moment can prove much more fearful than seizing it.   The last thing I want to do is get to heaven and hear God say, “hey, your life could have been really cool if you just would have had some guts to step out of your comfort zone.” 

Is a window cracked open in your life?  And when it finally does open, will you be ready for the journey?