A Heart of Excellence

Laurie Ellsworth brings genuine credentials — fitness educator, personal trainer, college kinesiology instructor — to a wellness book that takes seriously the idea that caring for the body is a spiritual act. The four-part framework covering physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health is genuinely holistic, and pairing exercise science with Christian teaching in a single accessible volume is rarer than it should be. The honest caveats are real: this is a 2001 publication, so some fitness science content may be dated, the critical review record is essentially nonexistent, and the modest original print run suggests limited reach. For Christian readers who want to see faith and physical stewardship as unified rather than competing, it's worth tracking down — just go in with appropriate expectations about scope.