Think about your bank account. Throughout the month, you make deposits and withdrawals, and hopefully you keep enough in reserves for the times when the unexpected happens.
Your health works much the same way.
Every Day We're Making Deposits
Your body was wonderfully designed by God with an incredible ability to maintain, repair, and restore itself. But it needs the right resources to do that work.
Every nourishing choice is like making a deposit into your health account.
- Whole, nutrient-dense foods
- Clean water and adequate minerals
- Restorative sleep
- Regular movement and strength-building
- Sunshine and fresh air
- Healthy relationships and laughter
- Rest and margin in your schedule
- Prayer, Scripture, gratitude, and stillness with the Lord
One healthy meal probably won't transform your health overnight. Neither will one good night's sleep.
But just like putting a little money into savings every week, small deposits accumulate.
And Then There Are Withdrawals
Our bodies are also constantly spending resources.
Stress is a withdrawal. So are inadequate sleep, refined sugar, processed foods, inactivity, overcommitment, dehydration, emotional stress, and constantly pushing through exhaustion.
Environmental exposures, illness, injury, and simply navigating different seasons of life can require additional resources, too.
But here's something important: not every withdrawal is bad.
Staying up late celebrating a wedding may be worth the withdrawal. Christmas dinner with your family isn't a health failure, and a busy week serving someone you love may temporarily require more from you.
The problem isn't making an occasional withdrawal. The problem is continually withdrawing without making enough deposits. Eventually, there isn't much left in reserve.
That's often when we begin to notice fatigue, poor sleep, digestive changes, weight that won't budge, brain fog, cravings, mood changes, or simply that nagging feeling of “I don't feel like myself anymore.”
Stewardship Means Managing the Account
First Corinthians 4:2 says:
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
A steward manages something entrusted to her. That includes the body God has given us. Caring for our health isn't simply about losing weight or looking younger. It's about maintaining enough reserves to fulfill the purpose God has called us to do.
We want strength to serve, energy to love our families, clarity to fulfill our responsibilities, and resilience when illness, grief, stress, or another difficult season makes a large withdrawal.
But How Do You Know Your Balance?
Here's where the bank-account analogy gets even more interesting.
Imagine never looking at your bank statement. You continue spending based entirely on how you think you're doing.
We sometimes do the same thing with our health.
We say, “I think I eat pretty well.” Or, “I'm just tired because I'm getting older.” Meanwhile, our body may be giving us clues that certain resources are becoming depleted or that something deserves a closer look.
That's why it's important to check your balance.
Depending on the situation, different assessment tools can give us different kinds of information.
Lab work can measure specific biomarkers such as blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid markers, nutrient status, and other values your healthcare provider may use to evaluate health.
Urinalysis provides a snapshot of substances present in the urine at that particular time and can offer useful information that, interpreted appropriately, may help guide next steps.
Visera biofeedback scanning is a non-diagnostic wellness tool I use to explore patterns and areas of stress or imbalance that may be helpful when considering someone's overall wellness picture.
Muscle response testing works by observing how the body responds to gentle pressure. The idea is that the body can sometimes show signs of stress or imbalance through muscle weakness or changes in response.
Thermography is a safe, non-invasive scan that uses infrared technology to measure heat patterns in the body. It looks at temperature changes on the skin that may reflect cellular growth in areas of stress, inflammation, poor circulation, or imbalance.
No single test tells the whole story. But information can help us stop guessing and begin asking better questions.
Where might my account be running low?
Where am I making too many withdrawals?
What deposits does my body need more consistently?
And when something suggests a medical concern, that's also valuable information to take to a functional health professional.
Start Making Deposits
Perhaps you've realized your health account isn't where you'd like it to be. You can't replenish your account overnight, but you can start by habit stacking, making one deposit today.
Drink more water. Take a walk. Eat a nourishing meal. Go to bed earlier. Step outside into the sunshine. Spend a few quiet minutes with the Lord. Then make another deposit tomorrow.
Galatians 6:9 reminds us:
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Small deposits, faithfully made, accumulate.
That's biblical health stewardship, faithfully caring for what God has entrusted to us, one choice at a time.
What's the Balance in Your Health Account?
If you aren't sure, it can be helpful to stop guessing and take a closer look. That's one of the things I love helping women do: look at the information their bodies are giving them and identify practical next steps to make more intentional deposits into their health.
Get started making your deposits today with my 7 Steps to ReNewing Your Health guide.
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