For her next few articles, Sister Stefanie is going to focus on fitness and how it can relate to faith. Believe it or not, there are many parallels between physical health and spiritual health, and that’s what Sister Stefanie is going to explore in the coming weeks.

I am a personal trainer. My job, passion, and hobbies revolve around fitness and living a healthy life. Here’s a common verse that shows being healthy is pleasing to God:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

As a young person, I was taught that this verse told us not to get tattoos or weird piercings or to do drugs because we would be desecrating God’s temple. As I got older and wiser in things relating to body and health, I realized that this verse can also include the everyday ways we treat our body, ranging from physical exercise to how we fuel it.

I don’t believe this verse is saying that in order to glorify God, we have to be the most fit and beautiful people in the world. Rather, when we take care of our health and our bodies, it can be a great reminder that we need to keep God first in our lives. God created and cares about us and our physical well-being.

I always give my clients homework for them to do on days they don’t see me. The homework is specific to each client, but the basic gist is for each one to be active. So, my homework for you is to be active in general (moving around as much as you can) but also in your branch or mission.

Participate in your weekly meetings, whether it’s volunteering to read a verse in Sunday School, picking a hymn, volunteering to help with kids’ classes, cleaning up the books after church, bringing a yummy treat to share after church … the list goes on.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.