5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: Step Into a Healthier You | 5 Minutes with Jesus | January 7, 2026
- So often at the beginning of a new year, our thoughts turn to
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- Eating better, to exercising, to getting enough sleep.
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- Wouldn't it be lovely this year if our hearts and minds
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- Were turned towards seeing ourselves as christ sees us?
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- You are not.
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- What happened to you?
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- You are a beloved child of god.
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- You can read the same declaration
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- In the old testament and again in the new testament.
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- This is what it says.
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- The spirit of the lord is upon me.
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- For he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
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- He sent me to proclaim that captives will be released.
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- That the blind will see.
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- That the oppressed will be set free,
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- And that the time of the lord's favor has come.
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- Know i was flipping through channels
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- In a hotel room one night.
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- I was actually looking for the local weather.
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- When a woman's face on the screen made me stop.
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- The camera had zoomed in on a tight shot of her face,
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- And to me, the pain in her eyes was overwhelming.
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- It looked to me as if she was almost like trapped
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- Inside her own body, silently crying out for help.
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- So i sat down and i watched the rest of the program.
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- She weighed over 600 pounds and the show was following her
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- Weight loss journey.
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- Camera moved from her face to pictures of her
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- As a little girl.
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- She was adorable.
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- Curly blond hair and sparkling blue eyes.
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- And the person who was interviewing her.
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- Asked how old she was in those photos,
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- And she said she was probably about six.
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- But then the painful question came, how did you get
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- From that little girl to where you find yourself today?
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- And her story poured out through tears.
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- It's a story about sexual abuse when she was seven years old,
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- And the subsequent shame and self-loathing
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- Food had become the only friend she felt she could trust.
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- It brought her comfort and quiet when she was eating,
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- But she knew that she was slowly killing herself.
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- For her, it was a death sentence.
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- I watched the whole program for the full two hours,
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- And i mean, i cheered her on
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- When she succeeded and ached for her
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- When she felt like she failed.
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- She had gone from this bright, energetic child
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- Who loved to play soccer and writer bike to woman
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- Who hadn't been outside her home in over two years.
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- Well, as the program came to a close,
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- She'd actually lost more than 300 pounds
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- And was able to get up and walk in her neighborhood.
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- The last shot was of her watching a girl riding her bike.
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- And as i looked at the woman's face,
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- I no longer saw the 300 pound woman.
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- I saw that little girl
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- With the blond curls and the big blue eyes.
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- She wasn't gone.
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- She'd just been hiding for a very long time.
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- Abuse or trauma in childhood
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- Impacts how much of the real you you allow the world to see?
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- You become more careful, more contained,
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- Because you've learned that life is not safe.
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- Sexual abuse brings with an ocean of shame.
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- One of my dearest friends was sexually abused
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- By someone in her church when she was a little girl,
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- And that abuse triggered
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- One of the most painful journeys i've ever watched.
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- She became promiscuous as a teenager
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- Because, in her mind, sex equaled love and acceptance.
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- As she got older, life became much more confusing,
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- And after she gave her life to christ, she was.
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- She was faced with this question how could she love and trust
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- God when her abuse was from someone
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- Who supposedly represented god?
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- The good question signal long time and intense
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- Counseling and friends who won't give up on her
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- To bring her to a place of peace and acceptance
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- Of the beautiful woman she is today.
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- She had to fight hard to find herself.
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- Whenever
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- I have an opportunity to sit down one on one
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- With someone who has experienced this kind of trauma.
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- I listened to their story for as long as it takes.
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- Then i remind them of the description
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- Of who christ is first given from the prophet isaiah,
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- And then from christ's own lips.
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- The spirit of the lord is upon me.
- 00:04:34.587 --> 00:04:37.724
- For he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
- 00:04:37.724 --> 00:04:41.994
- He has sent me to proclaim.
- 00:04:41.994 --> 00:04:43.529
- The captives will be released.
- 00:04:43.529 --> 00:04:46.399
- The blind will see that the oppressed will be set free,
- 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.170
- And that the time of the lord's favor has come.
- 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:55.241
- Christ was anointed to free those who are in prison,
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- And those who can
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- Barely lift their heads from the weight of shame.
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- So often at the beginning of a new year,
- 00:05:04.317 --> 00:05:06.119
- Our thoughts turn to eating better, to exercising,
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- To getting enough sleep.
- 00:05:09.422 --> 00:05:11.157
- Wouldn't it be lovely this year
- 00:05:11.824 --> 00:05:13.459
- If our hearts and minds were turned towards
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- Seeing ourselves as christ sees us?
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- You are not.
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- What happened to you?
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- You are a beloved child of god.
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- Let's pray.
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- Father, i want to thank you that you are the great redeemer.
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- The matter what has happened in our past
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- That we don't have to stay stuck there.
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- That when we choose to look into your eyes,
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- We see who we truly are.
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- A beloved child of the most high god.
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- Help us to see that clearly.
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- This year we ask in jesus name, amen.
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