Monday, December 31, 2012
Closing out 2012
Recently, we were encouraged to pull out prophetic words spoken over us in the past and read over them again. This exercise was both challenging and encouraging, because it's exciting to see how God has moved and know that He will move in our lives in the coming year. He truly is the God of Hope who will triumph in our lives!
Closing out this year, I am thankful for so many things, but right at this moment, for my sweet husband, Paul. As we complete 20 months of marriage, I know that I am a better person because of him and his undying love for Jesus and for me. I bless you, Paul, and look forward with great anticipation to all God has for us in 2013!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
New Year Thoughts
We are approaching the start of a new year on the Roman Calendar. Instead of making resolutions, I want to post something different:
My New Year's Expectations
1. I expect to see God change me so that He is increasingly glorified in my life.
2. I expect to see God move mightily in my friends' lives across the planet.
3. I expect to see Holy Spirit increase in pouring out His gifts in my life that the Kingdom of God moves forward with power.
4. I expect to see Holy Spirit move in ways we've never seen Him move in the western world as we humble ourselves and pray.
5. I expect to see God build my marriage so that we as a cord of three strands will be strong!
What are some of your expectations?
Monday, December 17, 2012
Tragedy
No one is ever ready for what happened last Friday in CT. You cannot prepare for something like that, and when it happens, everyone is left with many unanswered questions and life-long grief at levels unimaginable.
I nearly throw up every time I close my eyes and picture the faces of those little victims as they watched their friends die, one by one. The confusion, the fear, the shock, the pain, the horror. My heart grieves for the families as they start on this journey of living life without these little ones who brought nothing but joy to their lives.
We have a serious problem in this nation, and it is multi-faceted. Many people would like to narrow it down to one issue, but it is not a 'one-issue' problem. It is a multi-layered problem with one issue at the very core, which many do not want to address. At the risk of neglecting the many layers, I want to go to the core, which is the heart issue.
Our problem is our hearts. Our hearts have gone astray from that which is true and truth, that which is right, noble, and real. We've allowed everything and everyone to distract us from the One who created every heart on this planet. Some will take offense to what I am saying, but let me give you an example.
Let's say you choose to change your diet and eat nothing but donuts, cakes, soda pop, cookies, ice cream and other sweet things. It will not be long before you are sick and your body begins to go into shock. Then the ensuing illnesses emerge, and you scream because you are not receiving the proper "care" for your illness and you wonder why all these things are happening to you. You forsook good nutrition and chose to fill your body with junk. Junk in = junk out.
In a similar way, we have chosen to go a certain course...for many, that path is away from the creator of the universe, the creator of mankind, and we have chosen to believe other things, follow other values and feed our hearts, minds and spirits on things that are contrary to what we were originally intended to feed upon. For some it has been a slow process, a slippery slope...for others, it's been an outright abandonment and rebellion against a God they really don't understand, because if they did, they would realize that He's all about love according to His Kingdom. Slow or fast, the results are sickness...illness....and then when horrific, uncalled for tragedies take place like this past Friday, we wonder why and begin to complain about this or that without dealing with the heart issue.
The only things I know about the young man who committed these heinous acts of violence against innocent victims are that he was odd, an introvert, very smart, and that his mom refused to talk about family. I haven't read anywhere that he had a living relationship with the living God. If he had, maybe, just maybe, he would not have committed this crime and 28 people would still be alive today.
But they aren't...and that is the tragedy. We have to ask the hard questions, the CORE questions, rather than dance around the periphery, thinking that if we peel off the outside layer of the onion, the rotten core won't really matter. God, grant us strength to go to the core.
I nearly throw up every time I close my eyes and picture the faces of those little victims as they watched their friends die, one by one. The confusion, the fear, the shock, the pain, the horror. My heart grieves for the families as they start on this journey of living life without these little ones who brought nothing but joy to their lives.
We have a serious problem in this nation, and it is multi-faceted. Many people would like to narrow it down to one issue, but it is not a 'one-issue' problem. It is a multi-layered problem with one issue at the very core, which many do not want to address. At the risk of neglecting the many layers, I want to go to the core, which is the heart issue.
Our problem is our hearts. Our hearts have gone astray from that which is true and truth, that which is right, noble, and real. We've allowed everything and everyone to distract us from the One who created every heart on this planet. Some will take offense to what I am saying, but let me give you an example.
Let's say you choose to change your diet and eat nothing but donuts, cakes, soda pop, cookies, ice cream and other sweet things. It will not be long before you are sick and your body begins to go into shock. Then the ensuing illnesses emerge, and you scream because you are not receiving the proper "care" for your illness and you wonder why all these things are happening to you. You forsook good nutrition and chose to fill your body with junk. Junk in = junk out.
In a similar way, we have chosen to go a certain course...for many, that path is away from the creator of the universe, the creator of mankind, and we have chosen to believe other things, follow other values and feed our hearts, minds and spirits on things that are contrary to what we were originally intended to feed upon. For some it has been a slow process, a slippery slope...for others, it's been an outright abandonment and rebellion against a God they really don't understand, because if they did, they would realize that He's all about love according to His Kingdom. Slow or fast, the results are sickness...illness....and then when horrific, uncalled for tragedies take place like this past Friday, we wonder why and begin to complain about this or that without dealing with the heart issue.
The only things I know about the young man who committed these heinous acts of violence against innocent victims are that he was odd, an introvert, very smart, and that his mom refused to talk about family. I haven't read anywhere that he had a living relationship with the living God. If he had, maybe, just maybe, he would not have committed this crime and 28 people would still be alive today.
But they aren't...and that is the tragedy. We have to ask the hard questions, the CORE questions, rather than dance around the periphery, thinking that if we peel off the outside layer of the onion, the rotten core won't really matter. God, grant us strength to go to the core.
Monday, December 03, 2012
My journey to increased health
Some of my blog readers know that my husband, Paul, and I began a journey last August with the #1 weight-loss and fitness program in the nation: VISALUS.
We are LOVING the journey to health and fitness, feeling stronger, better and more alert every day. It's so simple, it's almost nuts....a breakfast shake in the morning (or the shake mix in oatmeal as Paul loves it, or pancakes like we both love it), healthy snack mid-morning, lunch shake, healthy snacks in the afternoon, and a normal dinner in the evening. Or sometimes we switch it up: breakfast shake, healthy snack, big lunch, healthy snacks and then a shake for dinner. Some of our friends are doing just one shake a day for breakfast and seeing some amazing transformations!
I decided to post my progress in pictures here. Our goal has not been weight-loss, but rather, for Paul, weight-gain in the form of muscle, and for me, losing skinny fat and putting on more lean muscle. So, since the beginning of August, I have actually put on 3% of lean muscle, lost 3% of body fat, and my body age is 30! So, here are the visual results:
We are LOVING the journey to health and fitness, feeling stronger, better and more alert every day. It's so simple, it's almost nuts....a breakfast shake in the morning (or the shake mix in oatmeal as Paul loves it, or pancakes like we both love it), healthy snack mid-morning, lunch shake, healthy snacks in the afternoon, and a normal dinner in the evening. Or sometimes we switch it up: breakfast shake, healthy snack, big lunch, healthy snacks and then a shake for dinner. Some of our friends are doing just one shake a day for breakfast and seeing some amazing transformations!
I decided to post my progress in pictures here. Our goal has not been weight-loss, but rather, for Paul, weight-gain in the form of muscle, and for me, losing skinny fat and putting on more lean muscle. So, since the beginning of August, I have actually put on 3% of lean muscle, lost 3% of body fat, and my body age is 30! So, here are the visual results:
This was me at the beginning of August, 2012
Nice belly pooch, huh?
This is me today, December 3, 2012, leaner, meaner and feeling great!
I'm loving my new belly!
Feeling great!
Of course we'be been doing exercise as well, like sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, walking, pull-ups, and the elliptical machine at the gym, in addition to some Kettle Worx workouts. It's about changing one's lifestyle for the better! If you'd like to join me/us on our new life-time journey of health, CLICK HERE AND JOIN THE 90-DAY CHALLENGE!
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