The Struggle of Dieting & Exercising in her 20’s After Being a Thin, Active Teen
Growing up in a small town in West Texas, D’Linda Law’s childhood was spent battling severe allergies. She was tired, unable to breathe well and extremely thin. She could barely taste the food she was eating so there was no pull to overeat. From junior high to college, she was either playing sports or very active so she didn’t carry any extra weight.
In 1988, D’Linda married her husband, Tom. She says, “Somewhere in the busyness of the engagement and getting married, I put on 15 lbs. It didn’t show up much outwardly, but it had my attention because it made me feel sluggish, tired, and not myself.”
So for the first time in her life, D’Linda began dieting and exercising for weight loss, not enjoyment. “You name the diet or class and I probably tried it. I was desperate to lose weight. Meanwhile, we started our family.” She lost most of her weight quickly after their first child, but was left with the last 15 pounds. With their second child, it was a struggle to get her weight off. In 1998, she already had some weight to lose when she became pregnant with twins.
Double the Blessings!
After the twins, Parker and M’Lee, were born, D’Linda’s life changed profoundly. Not only had God blessed her with four precious children, but she was led to a local book store where she found the Weigh Down Diet book! She explains, “I realized The Weigh Down Diet by Gwen Shamblin was the best book I had ever read on how to live out Christianity! I gave it to a friend to read, and she found out there was a Bible study at a church that was close to our neighborhood. My weight melted off in the class! Gwen taught me how to wait on my personal hunger signal from God, getting just what my body was hungry for, and to listen to my internal cue on ‘this is enough’ for my body.
“It was truly miraculous to me to return to how I ate in my youth – not being greedy for more food than my body was needing to keep my energy, and joy. I loved hearing Gwen give scriptures that God cared about this struggle and wanted me to go to Him for comfort instead of the food. The class also helped me live out the commands of God, honoring my parents, to not worry, or try to control everyone and everything around me. I began to lay down praise of man, over-spending, and over-talking. Everything I heard, read, or watched in Weigh Down helped me in every area of my life!”
In the summer of 1999, Tom and D’Linda felt like God was leading them to move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for a job opportunity for Tom. They did move and went on a year-long search for a new church. D’Linda kept her weight off the first couple of years, but then began to get caught up in worry, over-eating, praise of man, materialism, and an endless list of struggles, and some weight crept back on.
Desperate for Answers, God Sent Weigh Down Advanced
“I started crying out to God again about my weight which was going up and down every year. I would talk about Weigh Down but didn’t turn to it fully until God got my attention in my early 40’s through hypothyroid disease, a disease that runs in my family. I was told with this disease I could only expect weight gain, and reduced energy. I got down on my knees again and cried out to God and called the 1-800 number for Weigh Down, and quickly signed up for a Weigh Down Advanced class.
“Immediately, I knew it was THE most comprehensive, life-changing Bible study I had ever done. I went from that into the Change Series (Exodus Out of Egypt), which was being filmed at that time, and I made a point whenever I needed help and encouragement to call my online coordinator, Debbie Blair, who has lost 110 pounds with Weigh Down. Every aspect of the classes, watching the videos, looking up scriptures that pointed me to obey God, praying, and getting amazing answered prayers, helped me to stay on track daily and hourly.”
By then, Tom was noticing the changes in her and how these changes affected their four children for the better. That summer, the Law’s visited Tennessee to attend Desert Oasis. “I had gotten most of my weight off but still had about 15 pounds left – the original amount of greed I had picked up early in my marriage. When we got home, I realized how God was worshiped so reverently at the Remnant Fellowship Church in Tennessee. The members of the church were so unified and full of peace, which was unlike anything we had experienced before in our lives.
Making a Decision to Go All In for God
“After returning home from visiting Tennessee that summer, Tom and I decided to go all in with this ministry and did The Last Exodus class as a family. We began to start webcasting the services from Remnant Fellowship. This is when I began losing the last pounds of greed, and started understanding how to be under submission to God, and my husband!”
D’Linda began listening to all the resources available through Weigh Down Ministries and Remnant Fellowship Church. She read the books and stayed in classes. “This kept me focused, full of peace, and more out of myself. I started praying to God and prioritizing our activities. I stopped or slowed down on ones that did nothing to help us fall in love and focus more on God than our own desires.”
Some of D’Linda’s favorite Weigh Down classes (available on All Access) that have helped keep her focused include: Weigh Down Basics, Breakthrough Series and The Revolution Class.
“The life-changing sermons of Remnant Fellowship are totally different from the religion I grew up with that left me needing to go to self-help books, and searching outside of church for answers to help me have a better life. All I needed to have a Christ-like daily walk has been provided abundantly through this ministry and church. I can keep my heart, mind, and soul full of praise, worship, and prayer.”
50 Pounds Down for Over 7 Years!
All of these amazing changes in their lives made the Laws want to move to Tennessee to join the beautiful body of believers that were living this whole-hearted message of Christianity. Their family was blessed to move to Tennessee in 2007 – the year The Legend to the Treasure was being filmed. D’Linda says, “This move into the beautiful body of believers that is living out these teachings helped me and continues to help me lay down my strongholds of greed for food, praise of men (which we called people-pleasing,) materialism, too much talking, and just busyness without a Godly purpose.
D’Linda has lost a total of 50 lbs. by putting the Weigh Down principles into practice, and has kept if off for over 7 years! “I have been able to maintain my weight loss, increase my love for God, and my husband and family, and this beautiful body of believers. My marriage is better than ever, and our children have a solid foundation to cling to, having been taught how to go to God wholeheartedly. All our children have seen prayers get answered and a life full of peace when they put into practice what has been taught here. I have great hope for the future! I praise God for this wonderful life!”
We are so grateful for the Law family who humbly and faithfully serve the church and are an encouragement to so many. You can watch Tom & D’Linda’s daughter, M’Lee, along with other Remnant Fellowship Youth share how their life has totally changed for God in this video about Remnant Fellowship Summer Day Camp:
