Stonecroft Ministries talk grief, weight loss … and staying grateful in Shelly Beach
Stay positive and grateful and be an inspiration to all around you.
Stonecroft members enjoyed talks from a medical doctor and police captain at the August meeting.
Dr Lizel Gagiano spoke about managing weight loss and, with a big smile, asked for everyone’s permission to address such a sensitive topic.
She opened by medically defining obesity, adding that it was a chronic, complicated disease that had numerous adverse effects on one’s general health.
She said that it needed to be managed by diet, lifestyle changes and exercise to reduce the excess weight, also stressing that the obese needed compassion as it was a very difficult long-term journey.
Lizel spoke on the use of weight loss injections, known colloquially as ‘pens’.
She said GLP-1 receptor agonists are medications which were initially formulated for diabetes control but are now increasingly used to aid significant weight loss.
She gave detailed information on the three types currently available in South Africa, ranging from R500 to R3600 per month, and what they each offered.
Captain Heidi Slabbert gave a heartfelt, moving talk thanking God for His strength and guidance.
From an early age, she witnessed her grandmother praying to God for help and strength.
This stayed with her throughout her own life.
Heidi shared about God’s provision and support through the last four years of the illness of her daughter and the death of her husband.
She found that in the seeming chaos of the ICU, machines, and specialists, she needed to become still with God and look for a deeper meaning. She never asked why, but prayed and prayed.
Throughout those long periods in the hospital, she prayed constantly for God’s strength, and people noticed that her strength came only from God.
However, by God’s grace, she has come through, carried by friends and family.
Heidi closed by saying that we all have our stories and stages in our Christian journey, and we need to be ready for what comes, either happy or sad.
Stonecroft’s next meeting will be at Shelly Beach Methodist Church on September 18 at 09:30.
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