New Year New Me 2017

You know the title of my blog post today is what every person says at the beginning of the year. We all have a vision for the new year and many people make resolutions that by the 15th of the month are a thing of the past. Well I am not like every one else so I am declaring my new year, new me mantra today! Well not really, I actually began the year with this idea in mind and it has already been a long 15 days. I started the year with a 21 day Daniel Fast that I am in the midst of now as this will be my 3rd week starting today. I have been vlogging over on YouTube as I feel like this is going to be the year that I am going to push through my insecurities and finally get myself to a place of consistently eating healthy and exercising. The idea is to start the year off by consecrating myself to the Lord with the Daniel Fast and then continue to allow the Lord to guide me in my food choices and my exercise routine. I invite you to come over to YouTube and follow my journey.

Losing4Christ Weight Loss Journey 2017

 

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(Day 7) Still Thankful for Friends

There was a time when I didn’t have many friends. I remember praying for friends, praying for women that would speak into my life and women that I could hang out with, go to dinner or a movie or just sit and chat for hours. I am so thankful that the Lord answered my prayer above and beyond what I could ever imagine. This has been a week that I have truly been thankful for praying friends. I know they are praying for me, I feel it.

Today has been another day where I just haven’t had any energy so I slept all day. I got up early, did some studying and then laid on my couch to listen to a book and the next thing I knew it was 6 hours later. So much for my day! That’s kind of how my weekends have been lately. Lots of sleeping but this week has been the worst. I think I may have slept more hours than I’ve been awake. Well at least it feels that way.

So a friend invited me to dinner (where we ate breakfast haha) and while we were waiting on the waitress to take our order I was yawning. My friend asked me how I could possibly be yawning when I slept all day. I told her that I could go back to sleep right then and be happy. Then we got into a conversation about my health, my medications, my eating habits, etc. She suggested that maybe I should go see my doctor because maybe this fatigue I’ve been having is due to my medication or has a medical reason. Duh! I had not even considered that! My blood sugar has been lower than it has been in 10 years. I am a diabetic who was quite non-compliant for a long time, I hate to admit that but its the truth. Monday I will be making an appointment with my doctor and see what she says. Sometimes you just need a friend to point out the things that you don’t even think about.

Thank you Jesus for my friends!

(Day 31) Recap, Wrap Up and What’s Next

This has been an amazing month of blogging for me. I am excited to have made it to the finish line. I completed a total of 25 posts in the month of October and I am really proud of myself. I have quite a few takeaways that I want to share but first let me recap the purpose of my “31 Days of Transforming My Temple” blog series. At the beginning of this series I said that “This 31 day challenge will set the course for the rest of my life.” My goal was to begin a journey to transforming my temple which is my body. My desire is to walk with Jesus learning to become balanced in body, mind, soul and spirit. So let’s recap my original goals:

The following were the steps I committed to taking:

1. Each day I will pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my food choices. – Need to work on this
2. I will be transparent and accountable to the sisters that God has appointed to walk with me at this time. – Done!
3. I will support my decision with walls of grace and mercy. Should I fall into temptation and veer off the course set before me I will grab hold of grace and mercy, repent, receive forgiveness and continue moving forward. No turning back, no quitting. This is a lifetime journey not a diet.- Done and ongoing!
4. I will move my body. I will begin to exercise at a slow pace even if it’s just 5 minutes a day increasing each day as I build endurance and stamina. – Need to work on this

I also committed to the following for the 31 days of October:

1. Green Smoothies for breakfast and healthy meals for lunch and dinner. – Quit on day 2 or 3 
2. No sweets – meaning no cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. – Nailed it! Yesss!
3. 3 liters of water per day – Nailed it! Yesss!
4. Up to 30 minutes of exercise 6 times a week. Starting slowly at 5 minutes and increasing each day until I’m at 30 minutes which will then be the minimum daily goal. – Need to work on this one

Now here are the small victories that I shared on day 19:

1. It has been over two months since I drank soda and I now drink upwards of 3-4 liters of water a day.
2. It has been 19 days since I have eaten any type of desserts or sweets. Now 31 days!
3. I have been transparent with my accountability partner for 19 days. Now 31 days!
4. I released 4 pounds that I don’t plan on getting back Woo Hoo

My weight loss for the month was 4.2 lbs. I went from 374.6 to 370.4. I weigh in on Thursdays so I did not weigh myself today so I will settle for the loss of 4.2 lbs as being the final for the month. I don’t want this to be about a number on a scale because that is what contributed to my downfalls in the past. Yes I will watch the number but I will not make any goals now or in the future on how much weight I want to lose in a specific time frame. Many people would disagree with that but I know myself and I would rather focus on bringing the spiritual into the physical as I follow Jesus and walk with Him on this transformation journey.

Takeaways related to the writing challenge with write31days:

1. I can write every day! Or at least almost every day.
2. I can be bold and courageous to share transparently the things I am learning in this transformation journey.
3. I can only be victorious by focusing on Jesus and letting Him lead the way.
4. I love the blogging community.

So what’s next?

Well the “31 Days of Transforming My Temple” blog series has now come to an end. But the transformation journey continues. I will be writing about this journey as the Lord leads. I can’t say that it will be every day at this point but I know that if I am learning how to live balanced in mind, body, soul and spirit by bridging the gap between the spiritual and the physical, then I know that others will be encouraged as well. I believe the Lord gives us revelation to share with others. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to be on a journey with like-minded people who are moving towards the same goals. I have met some really great people along the way and I look forward to meeting new friends as time passes.

It has been an absolute pleasure to have you along with me on this 31 day journey. Before you leave I just want to bless you with these words from Numbers 6:24-26:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’

(Day 30) Off My Square

Yesterday was a pretty non productive day for me. Wednesday I was on fire, my eating was going well, I got my exercise done, my spirit was ablaze for revival and I was part of a powerful prayer meeting. I had victories to rejoice in with my scale and non scale victories and then something just crashed into my day and it was all downhill from there. This morning as I shared with my accountability partner how my day went, she helped me pinpoint where my downfall started. Yesterday I tried to encourage someone close to me and basically got a stop sign in my face (not literally😊). It hurt me though and I took on this person’s emotional baggage and got weighed down for the rest of the day.

The story of Elijah in the book of 1 Kings came to me and he had a powerful showdown against the prophets of Baal and then Jezebel send word that she was going to kill him. Let’s read what happened, shall we?

“Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” I Kings 19:2-4 NKJV

Now I realize that Elijah’s response was a little more severe than mine as he told the Lord to take his life. But here’s what connected with my experience. It says:

“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree.”

That pretty much sums up my day yesterday. I had a day’s journey into the wilderness and I sat down and stared into space or stared at my phone quite a bit. There’s no broom tree in my house but if there was I would have been sitting under it. Haha!

How many of us do this? We have a great day of managing our time and working on our goals and then something happens. It can be a stressful phone call, a scathing text message, a devastating event, an argument with your spouse or children, a burnt piece of toast or stepping on a Lego. Something throws you off your “square”. (Which means “out of my usual routine; doing things I wouldn’t normally do.” – Source: urbandictionary.com) That’s basically what happened to me.

So if you follow Elijah’s story you find the Lord sending an angel to care for him and provide food and then after that the Lord gives him revelation by being found in the still small voice. Just go read the 1 Kings chapter 19 and get the whole story. It’s a really good story. Anyway, my still small voice was in many revelations that I had yesterday but I couldn’t receive them until I talked it through today with my accountability partner.

God is in the small details of our lives and constantly teaching us lessons but we have to really be intentional to bend our ears to hear the still small voice. God loves us so much. More than I think we realize. As for all those little things that cause us to be distracted from our goals, we just need to take them to Jesus and keep moving forward. Thank you Lord for revelation during this transformation journey.

Thank you for stopping by today!

(Day 28) Being Intentional Today

Today I was intentional about starting my day with the Word of God. Today I was intentional about meeting my step goal and actually beat my goal with 6016 steps. Today I was intentional about prayerfully writing out my schedule. Today I was intentional about eating healthy. The theme that kept running through everything that I was doing today was the word TODAY. I realized that this has been the ongoing theme for the past few days and the Lord absolutely brought it to full revelation today! We are only promised today. Do you understand what this means? I thought I did too but I see this in a new light today. There’s that word again!

Let’s take a look at a few passages of scripture and then I will explain what I believe the Lord has been saying to me.

Deuteronomy 30: 15-16 NKJV  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.”

James 4:13-14 NKJV  “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

Hebrews 3:12-15 NKJV “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:“Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Today the Lord sets before us the opportunity to choose life and good or death and evil. Today we need to focus on what we are doing in this moment. While planning for the future is good, we never know if we will see tomorrow so we have to make the best of what we have right in front of us and that is today. We are told to exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today” so we will not have our hearts hardened by sin.

You may be thinking to yourself, “what does this have to do with exercise or losing weight?” Everything. It’s bringing the physical and the spiritual together and finding a balance. My desire has been and always will be to honor God with my body. That means while I weigh 372 pounds and when I weigh 172 pounds, my desire will not change. The journey is a long process but the truth is we only have today. I can’t worry about what’s happening tomorrow because I may never even see it. I have to take care of my body today and keep my eyes open to the world around me. I have to be ready to really see the lost and dying around me. Today I must be intentional to care for myself and others. Today I must be intentional to be found in the place of prayer for those who need to know Jesus.

In addition to working on honoring God with my body, I have been reading about revivals and awakenings. My heart is stirred to see the church wake up from its slumber and stop glancing at Jesus and begin to gaze upon Jesus. We have been hearing so much about judgment coming to our nation but I say we must stand in the gap for our nation. I have one more scripture today to share and I hope that it stirs you as much as it has stirred me.

Ezekiel 22:30  “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

I want to be found as one who will stand in the gap for my city, my county, my state, my nation and the rest of the world. I want to be one who weeps and mourns over the darkness that is getting darker in our generation. I believe as the darkness continues to grow darker the Light of Jesus Christ is going to shine brighter than ever before.

I don’t know what you believe or don’t believe but I know God is real, I know Jesus is the only way to the Father and I know that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a gift.

John 14:6 NKJV  “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Acts 2:38 NKJV  “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Today is all you have. Today is a great day to be saved.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NKJV  “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Today I have been intentional to share with you my heart. Please let me know if you need prayer or want to know more about having a true relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for stopping by.