Guest Post by Sarah Truitt:

Over 3 years in and little did I see this coming.  I’ve sweated, I’ve seen mountain tops and I’ve seen valleys low.  What consistent thing comes to play? It’s called GRIT.  What is Grit?  Grit is the ability to find strength and character and persevere in all circumstances.  How do we get grit?  Through God’s resiliency.  He is training us to be resilient.  Resiliency is the ability to recover quickly from hard situations.  

God’s

Resiliency

In

Training

Embarking on the Journey

From a young age, I have always been an achiever, very type A personality, with excellence throughout everything I touch.  After graduating from college early with my Bachelors in Business Management at the age of 19, cum laude, I was ready to take on the world!  I started working at a health food manufacturing plant in customer service.  Little did I know my life would swing full circle back to my simple start in the health industry. I was about to embark on a journey.  

When I was 24 my husband and I had our first baby at the same time adopting our foster son.  We gained 2 children in one year.  We decided it was time for my career to go on the back burner.  I was now a full-time stay at home mom, and with that all the responsibilities of the endless most selfless underappreciated jobs.  Going from zero to two kids is hard enough, let alone, my husband got transferred from Utah to Minnesota for work. Throw in an across country move, selling and buying a house with a newborn and an almost teenager.  Whew!  It was exhilarating and exhausting! 

My husband’s career began to really take off and I enjoyed the ride of supporting him on his journey to achieve his goals.  During this season, we had many pregnancies, 10 that went home with Jesus and 4 more that came to join our family over the years leading up to 2021.  

The Lord Answered our Prayers

In 2012, the Lord answered one of our prayers.  We had been battling with pregnancy loss, and we were told we wouldn’t have any more children. God said, “Do you trust me?”  We walked by faith and not by sight. That year our daughter A’ray’a Hope was born.  No medical help, no interventions, a true miracle. At the same time, I had gained a lot of weight and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was in search of health and healing.  

The Lord led me to the book Trim Healthy Mama.  I started implementing this way of living, lost my baby weight, and began my sugar-free lifestyle.  The reason I fell in love with Trim Healthy Mama was because I was allowed to have my cake and eat it too.  I just had to learn how to recreate the things I loved to make them healthy.  I was finally able to stand up to the old phrase, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”  I can have my cake and eat it too; I simply enjoy it with wisdom now.  

Watering the Seed of Coaching 

A few years into my health journey a friend of mine suggested I teach Trim Healthy Mama to others.  I was not interested. She ended up in a battle with breast cancer and went home to be with Jesus.  A mutual friend came to me and said, “want to teach a THM class with me?” The Lord used my previous conversations with my friend to open my heart to the idea. I knew I needed to do this to honor my friend.  Thus, my journey into THM coaching started.  

It was a few years before Trim Healthy Mama launched their certified coaching program, everything I did kept pointing to coaching.  In 2017 while pregnant with my son, I prayed for the Lord’s direction, next thing I knew I got a bag from Trim Healthy Mama that said, “coach.”  It was crazy, because it was accidentally sent to me.  But with God there are no accidents. 

June 21, 2018, the coaching program launched and I wasn’t sure what the workload would be, or what it looked like, but I said I’m going to be a coach by midnight.  I did think, I might be eating my own words, but sure enough, 11:59 p.m., I was a certified Trim Healthy Mama coach.  The program allowed me to start my own business, thus began the journey to Araya Hope Health.  

Leaping into Faith 

The Lord used everything from my story to equip me with what I needed to create my business.  The Lord told me that I brought you Araya Hope and now I want you to bring a ray of hope to others.  That’s when Araya Hope Health was born. 

I started my business with one-on-one coaching very slowly.  When 2019 came, I wrote down that I wanted to help 36 women that year.  Well to my surprise, the Lord had some other things in mind for me.  He quickened my heart to group coaching.  I never planned or desired to do group coaching, it seemed overwhelming and I wanted to run the other way.  I remember he said to me that if I didn’t want to do it alone, get yourself an Aaron. (Like Moses and Aaron from the bible.)  I immediately asked my coaching friend Nikki and she said yes! 

We started our group coaching, “Leap into Faith,” a faith-built experience for Trim Healthy Mama weight loss & health support in the Fall of 2019.  Since then, we have helped well over 400 women.  Coincidence? I think not!  The Lord heard my cry and answered my prayer as well as hearing the cry of these amazing women that I’ve had the honor and privilege to work with.  God’s plans are always greater than our own and I could never have supported that many women in a one-on-one setting.  

The Proverbial Fire 

Even though I graduated college with a business management degree, I did not learn the grit it takes to run my own business until I was thrown into the proverbial business fire. There is no better way to learn, than by doing.  I have now been coaching for over 3 years, I continue to work on self-development to improve my business development.  I’ve also climbed high mountains, experienced low valleys, and have persevered through countless storms.  Last year, we had another beautiful daughter, and I’ve had to learn how to incorporate another blessing into the business of running my own business and managing my family life. Challenges can make us think more creatively, help us to become problem solvers, strengthen our character and shape us into better people, building our resiliency. I have learned to ask for help, humble myself, seek encouragement and do hard things. 

Build Resiliency by Being Uncomfortable

During this season my husband was still striving for his goals and we were able to support and encourage one another.  Finding those who are on your team, ready to cheer for you and support you on your journey is so important. There will be oppositions but look for those who will be throwing up the pom-poms for you and rooting for you, as you work your way towards your dreams and goals. This year my husband was able to achieve his career goal of becoming a director.  Now he is excited and cheering for me to achieve my goals.  It takes tremendous Grit to step out of our comfort zones.  God wants us to be comfortably uncomfortable.  That’s how we build resiliency, that’s how we get grit. That’s how we grow and change.  

Show up and Stay Focused! 

Are you hearing the whispers to step out into faith?  To do something that seems impossible or out of your comfort zone? It will take focus and consistency, just like getting healthy.  I’ve failed at many things, learned many life lessons, but most importantly I keep showing up.  And trust me there are days I don’t want to.  I want to throw myself on the ground, kicking and screaming like a toddler, because I don’t want to show up. But when you get Grit, you keep showing up.  You keep standing up, you keep getting back up because grit comes from resiliency.  God’s resiliency in you!   Allow God to use your story, step into the proverbial fire, step out of your comfort zone, take a leap of faith, stay focused and show up!  

Now that my friend is GRIT! 

Meet the Author: Sarah Truitt