Faith Heart Magazine Faith Heart Magazine: Volume 4 | Page 27

I ask parents to keep healthy food in the house for the kids and to model eating healthy in front of children. If you notice that kids are having issues with food you should encourage them to talk openly about their troubles, and don’t let them get into a negative spiral with food. Sometimes your kids will go into a rage or become closed off. Please watch for the signs. If any child or teenager is reading this and needs someone to talk with, please email me at [email protected] I promise that what you are going through is for a season and you are strong enough to make it through. Faith Heart Magazine: Do you believe you've won your battle with obesity? Why or why not? Ruby Gettinger: I believe the word of God, “As a man thinks, so he is” We have to start feeding our souls the truth, and the truth is we are more than conquerers through Jesus, Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. We HAVE to renew our spirits daily and sweep out our chimneys of all the chaos. Replace the negative with the positive, the truth. We have a God purpose; we are worth it. We are God’s masterpiece. We must TAP into God. I believe spiritually YES I have and with God YES I will continue! Faith Heart Magazine: Oftentimes, setbacks come without warning. How did the unexpected death of your brother and the cancellation of your hit reality show impact your life? Ruby Gettinger: I lost my brother, John, unexpectedly, and I ended up gaining a little over 70 pounds. He was my heart. I still can’t believe he’s gone. I know he is with God but I still long to hear his voice, laughter, and to see his beautiful smile. When I look at my hands, I see his. It’s strange when I laugh I hear him in it. The first time that happened...I gasped. Wow...the things we do not notice until someone's gone. It was two months before he died when the network told me they canceled the show. We were right in the middle of talking and planning with production...it was a complete shock. It still shocks me to this day because there was no legit reason. A year later the network was taken over by another network...maybe that is why. I was devastated. I felt I was letting so many people down. I didn't want my fans to lose hope. My fans were the best support I have received and continue to receive. They are amazing! I had to shake myself back to the land of the living, get back up and fight again. I got down to my lowest weight of 319. One of the closest people to me became extremely sick. A sickness I’ve never seen or experienced before. The doctors could never figure out what was wrong. I was so scared — they went through a lot of testing, their sickness was 24/7, and I was on watch for them 24/7 for over six months and thank God they are now okay! We never figured out what was wrong, but with prayer, love, and support they are okay today. My Foxy (my fur baby) became sick and within 48 hours of giving her mouth to mouth and fighting as hard as I could to keep her alive, my child of 16.5 years died. I am still heartbroken. Seriously, she was my child. We were together 24/7. I didn’t realize till after her death how much she was my constant companion. FAITH HEART MAGAZINE l 23