Made to Crave Action Plan Bible Study Participant's Guide by Lysa TerKeurst & Ski Chilton Review: Faith-Driven Healthy Living Companion Guide

Made to Crave Action Plan Bible Study Participant's Guide: Your Journey to Healthy Living is a six-session small group workbook published by HarperChristian Resources in December 2011. It is designed as a companion to the Made to Crave Action Plan video study, which is sold separately. The guide's explicit purpose, as the publisher describes it, is to help participants "put into action" what they learned through the original Made to Crave book and small group study. Each session is structured to encourage group discussion, provide space for documenting a personal journey toward healthy living, and supply quick healthy-living tips. It is not a standalone book but one component of a larger multi-format curriculum.

The theological and motivational thread running through the guide is the idea that craving itself is not a flaw — rather, as the source material frames it, "God created us to crave more of Him instead of overindulging in unhealthy choices." This reframe positions the struggle with food and health not as a matter of willpower alone but as a spiritual and relational one. TerKeurst, president and chief visionary officer of Proverbs 31 Ministries and a New York Times bestselling author, brings this pastoral and personal perspective. Dr. Ski Chilton, who has served on the faculties of both Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine — where he is a professor of physiology and pharmacology — and who has authored more than 130 scientific articles and holds over twenty issued patents, supplies the evidence-based nutritional and physiological framework. The combination is designed to address healthy living from both a faith-driven motivational standpoint and a science-informed practical one.

The pairing of TerKeurst and Chilton is one of the guide's distinguishing features. Few faith-based health resources bring together a figure of TerKeurst's reach in Christian women's ministry alongside a credentialed research scientist of Chilton's standing. The publisher notes that the study includes Bible teachings from TerKeurst alongside testimonies from figures such as Christian music artist Mandisa, giving the small group experience a varied set of voices. The guide is explicitly structured for community use — group discussion prompts, personal journaling sections, and a between-sessions personal study component are all built into its design, reflecting an intent to support accountability and ongoing reflection beyond any single meeting.

The guide's usefulness is inherently tethered to the broader Made to Crave Action Plan ecosystem. Readers who have not engaged with the original Made to Crave book or small group study are working against the grain of the guide's stated design intent, and the video component — essential to the full six-session experience — must be purchased separately. This multi-piece structure means the participant's guide alone does not deliver a complete program. Additionally, the explicitly Christian framework — scripture, prayer, and a theology of craving — is central to the guide's approach, which means readers seeking a secular or purely nutritional resource will find the content misaligned with their needs.

The guide carries a 3.5-out-of-5-star rating based on reader reviews at Christianbook.com, indicating a modestly positive but mixed response. No in-depth critical reviews from major outlets are available in the published record for this specific companion guide. Its natural audience is existing fans of TerKeurst's work, women's small group ministries, and individuals motivated by a faith-integrated approach to nutrition and lifestyle change. Readers who found the original Made to Crave material meaningful and are looking for a structured next step — one that blends biblical accountability with Dr. Chilton's practical health guidance — are the participants this guide is built for.