Sara's Story
Before After
Eldon's Story
Before After
Before God brought WeighDown to our local church-I cried out to God to fear Him because I knew the Bible said it was the beginning of wisdom and I KNEW I didn’t fear Him and had no idea how to even begin. Also, right before God put WeighDown in my life, on the way back home from church one Sunday, I asked my husband and confessed that I HAD NO IDEA how to KNOW God. The Word was “dry” and I had gotten in such a pit I had no idea even how to have a “quiet time” with Him. He tried to help, but really it was the blind leading the blind. I was sitting on the church pew heading straight down the wide path to hell and HAD NO IDEA.. I was so sick, naked, blind, and wretched. But to everyone else it looked like I had it all together-beautiful sweet children (which I was ruling at home with anger and without very much 1 Cor. 13 love) always at church (from cleaning to nursery to running the children’s ministry to baby showers galore) & looking like I submitted to my husband (but truly had no respect for him when his ideas differed from mine). Do you know what, tho? My standard was everyone else in the church instead of Jesus Christ - the plumbline of righteousness. Truly I was more submissive, more of a servant, more godly than most people in the church. Yet, I knew even then that all these things I did were not TRULY for God’s glory, but for myself, and they would burn up.
So with incredible mercy and love God let me be part of WeighDown, I reluctantly signed up for WeighDown 6 months pregnant with our 5th child. I knew I needed SOMETHING, because gaining over 10lbs in one month was TOO MUCH! I had heard of WeighDown before, but because of shameful pride I thought once a week and $100 was embarrassing to admit to and commit to because of my weight problem.
Well, from the beginning I KNEW Gwen Shamblin KNEW God as she snuggled up on that couch and shared what her relationship was like with her Father. I had never heard of that from anyone. I also knew IMMEDIATELY when she told us that overeating was sin, an idol, and a huge heart problem-it was TRUTH!!! It was like a huge light bulb went on, I praise God for showing me my sin! I knew I’d never go to any other diet or program-praise God that I knew this was the path to freedom in Christ and abundant life that Jesus talked about! WeighDown Advanced set it all more straight and clear, and I praise God He allowed me to see that mySELF had set itself up inside this body, God's temple, because I ruled most of the time!
I have counted the cost and I have sold EVERYTHING to find this God and His Kingdom!!! I will never go back as each day I am thrilled to even be alive to serve the Great I Am . My pre-pregnancy weight was right about 168lbs before WD. God has taken 5olbs of greed from me and I now weigh 118lbs. I could go on and on with the blessings and jewels from my sweet Father. He has been way too good to me and our family! May you see that HE alone gets all the praise and glory and that this lamb has followed the VOICE of Jesus Christ my Shepherd!
God allowed me also to be introduced to what Remnant Fellowship was like at Desert Oasis 2000 in Nashville. I wanted that fellowship with all my heart. I saw people pouring over tons of Scripture together, testifying of changed lives, children worshiping with parents, and sweet, happy peace on these believers faces! As my husband explains in his testimony~he apposed this greatly. But God has worked out EVERYTHING for good to those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose!!
We believe that Jesus' shed blood gave us the most incredible wonderful opportunity to know God our Father by forgiving our past sins. That same Jesus taught that we must lose our life and then we will find it. He said to go and sin no more. He taught if you had sin, to cut it off, because it is better to go to heaven without it then to hell with it. All His life on earth and all the way to the cross, He said not His will, but the Father's be DONE! And finally our Lord Jesus Christ said, "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matt. 7:21 God would be a cruel God if he asked us to obey if we couldn't! HE is NOT a cruel God, but the most Loving, Wonderful, Mighty, Awesome God who wants to lead and call a people His own. WE CAN OBEY HIM TOTALLY and make Him our Sovereign God!!
"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1John 2:3-6
My name is Eldon Gormsen and I would like to share my story of God’s working in my life.
Although there is much to say prior to the fall of 2002 I would like to start my story there. It was in the fall of 2000 that God provided me with a new job in Minnesota. After living in the same town for 15 years our family packed up, moved and left our church home at which I was an elder. The next 10 months of our lives would be some of the most difficult times that Sara and I had in our 14 years of marriage. During this time I was an active persecutor of this message of Jesus Christ and Remnant Fellowship, and especially His servant, my wife. I say this to my shame.
For 10 months I was a prideful, mad and angry person with the majority of
that anger directed towards Sara. All during this time she was loving
me more, being more submissive, living a live that was condemning my own,
and looking a lot better than she had in 10 years!
But also during all of this time God was working on my heart. I had started
to read the Bible more and spend more time in prayer and seeking Him.
Starting in the early part of July I had 4 long business trips during which
I had lots of time to read, pray and listen to God. It was during one of
these trips while out in California that I called Sara one day and told her
that “I am starting to get it”. I could feel the veil being lifted. 2
Corinthians 3: 16 says "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
taken away." I was seeing that obeying God is not a work, following
man made rules (do not eat this, do not drink, certain music, movies are
bad) is what Paul means when he talks about works (Read Romans
6,7,8!). I was also understanding what it meant to be baptized into
Christ’s death and from now on I am to be dead to the sinful nature and
alive to Spirit that is living in me. I saw that God’s grace teaches me to
say no to sin, and that I mock God if I think I can continue to deliberately
sin (Hebrews 10:26-31). I see that everyday I make a choice of who I am
going to serve, God or myself and I can not claim to be a believer in Jesus
if I am serving myself. From that time till now, 3 months later, God
has done an incredible work in my life. I recognize that there were
mountains of sin in my life that I had been blinded too on top of the
numerous sins that I knew about but thought that God would overlook because
he loved me so much.
Here are a few of the changes God has made in my life now that I am seeking to do His will every moment of everyday.
1) I really love God
2) Anger
3) Greed (food, money)
4) Pride
5) Self-centerness
6) Lust
Words cannot express the amount of joy peace that I have now in my life. I have lost over 50 lbs, but more importantly I am a new creation from the inside out. I never will go back to the way my life was before. My heart breaks for those people who are searching for the same thing but cannot find it. It is really so very simple - just do what Gods asks you to do every moment of everyday.
The apostle Paul summed it up while under trial in Rome when he said "So
then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First
to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to
the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and
prove their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 16:19-20
I am so thankful that God has lifted the veil from my eyes. I now truly do
see and understand what His will for me is and God’s word has become alive to me. God has worked a
miracle in my life and has given me the life that I have sought after for
many years but was unable to attain because I was not giving total control
to God and obeying Him in every area of my life. In three months God has
transformed not only my life, but my marriage and my relationship with my
children. My life seems like a dream, I have an incredible marriage,
obedient children, and an overflowing thankfulness and love for God. I
thank him everyday that he has chosen me and my family to be set free. It
is an incredible feeling. Praise God for all the faithful people who are
apart of these awesome Remnant Fellowships across the country, you all have
had an impact on my life. A special thanks to the leadership at Nashville,
Gwen, David, Ted and the rest, you are a shining example of the kind of
leader that I love to follow. A special thanks to my beautiful wife Sara. She
endured much suffering and persecution from me. All of the anger, yelling,
silence, frustration, threats, that she had to endure she did with a
humble, servants heart. Thank you for taking a stand and doing what God asked
you to do when the easy way would have been to do it my way. Someday I pray
that God will allow me to have your humble servant attitude.
Proverbs 1:7 – "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despised wisdom and instruction." Since I was in high school I tried to live these verse. But only now do I truly know what it is to fear God and I pray that my life will display true wisdom that can only come from him.