About Me

For a good portion of my life, I spent a whole lot of time striving - you know, doing things in my own strength but winding up exhausted, depressed and burned out. This was true of my early endeavors to achieve the “perfect” weight, optimal fitness and a highly accomplished education. I desperately wanted to feel significant, secure, confident and loved, but my pursuits for wholeness in all the wrong things left me empty, needy and more unwell than ever before.

Nothing could fill the void in my heart - not some ideal number on the scale, not hours of compulsive exercise at the gym, not my straight A’s, not worldly accolades and not all the alcohol in the world. Rather, my frantic grasping and reaching amounted to the epitome of lack and brokenness as I was left trying to battle my way through years of anorexia, bulimia, alcohol abuse and severe anxiety and depression.

Then one night, after another miserable day of starving, binging and purging, I fell to my knees done in and defeated. I had finally reached the end of myself with nothing left but longings to be free from the world as I knew it and at peace with Jesus. Throwing in the towel on my life, I wept with God as I recounted all the ways in which I had failed to be healthy and whole in my own feeble strength…

Counseling didn’t help. Self-help books didn’t help. Daily vows of compliance and discipline didn’t help. Willpower didn’t help. That’s when God whispered,

“I’m throwing that towel back because I love you. Wipe your face and try again… but this time with Me. I promise neither to leave you nor to forsake you.”

God was offering me His unconditional love and support, but I was so wrecked that it was hard to believe in a happy ending. Nonetheless, I took Him at His word and dared to make some promises, too. I assured God that if He could guide me to recovery, I would clean up my mess and trust Him to make me new. Furthermore, I would pay God back by using my time and talents to glorify Him in whatever career I chose. This is what paved the way to Higher Fitness and Wellness.

As I put forth the hard work to embrace a lifestyle that included God’s counsel and direction, I saw profound changes. Moving faith to the forefront of my healing empowered me to make incredibly discerning choices for my body, mind and spirit because I discovered my worth in a God Who deeply loved me and Who held mighty plans for me beyond eating disorders. I soon realized that God had made me for His greatness, not for my addictions, and this enabled me to release the bondage of scales and tape measures and the idols of calories, fat-free foods and exhausting exercise. Food, fitness and movement were slowly but surely becoming what God intended all along: a means to fortify my body so that I could have the health and vitality necessary to fulfill His unique assignments. 

This drastic health shift also liberated me to admit my dependence on alcohol. While God never condemned me, He did convict me with a gentle and loving…

“I’ve been waiting for this confession. Alcohol is not for you. Please leave every bottle at My altar, and I will fill the residual hole in your heart that alcohol could NEVER satisfy. Together, we will send its deceptive lies and broken promises back to hell. We did it with your disordered eating. We can do it again.”

And, with a TON OF EFFORT, we did… ❤️ And it remains a FOREVER labor of love. ❤️

I eventually pursued fitness as my calling and acquired certifications in various areas of health and wellness, exercise physiology, kinesiology, personal training and group fitness instruction. While I am blessed with success in the nonprofit and corporate sectors of fitness - as well as in my private practice - I am most thankful for the day that I integrated faith into my fitness career by renaming my company Higher Fitness and Wellness.

After a season of doing fitness by the books, the ones that encouraged ME to be the ultimate authority on changing other people’s lives, I remembered my promise to God. I had vowed to use my freedom story, studies and vocation to point others to a higher way of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness through sound exercise science AND the mighty power of God at work within them - a power that can accomplish more than anyone may think!

The truth is that my professional competency alone is insufficient to help good bodies declare victory in their fitness and wellness. Only God can produce a permanent change in people by shifting how they view their whole-body health. Only He can stir hearts to WANT to apply what I teach them. My work returns null and void without Him.

Higher Fitness and Wellness is my THANK YOU to God. It is the fulfillment of the surrender, obedience and honesty that accompanied the dark admissions and desperate prayers on my knees so long ago. This is why I do what I do, and I can’t believe how blessed I am to be on this mission with God to encourage health and fitness through faith. In fact, I often look at the transformation of my life and say, “This is not me.”

That’s when I can actually hear the smile of God saying…

“You are right. This is US!

Now rise up and inspire My people to a higher level of wellness with everything you have learned.

Please remind them of what can happen when they stop believing the lie that life should be easy.

Please tell them that I am real and that I love them.

Please say that it is never too late to companion with Me.

Tag, Jen, you’re it! Please love and serve My people well.”

My friend, if you are ready to get well, you are so welcome here. ❤️