Spiritual Sunday

This week’s sermon continued with the “Go” message from John 9: 1 – 12. Jesus and his disciples happen by a blind man and the disciples inquire who sinned that the man would be blind, the man or his parents. Jesus answered that his circumstances were not because of sin, but so that his life could be used as an example of God’s work. Jesus then spit on the ground and rubbed the mud on the man’s blind eyes. Then He said to the blind man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” The man did and he could see. He went to his neighbors and told them of his meeting with Jesus. What is God telling us to do? Where is he sending us in our lives? Our challenge was to open our Bibles and read what the Lord tells us to do, as simple as it is, and implement it in our lives and observe what changes it makes in our lives. So, I did. I opened my Bible to Acts 18: 9, as the Lord appears to Paul in a night vision. He says, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent, for I am with you and no on will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city.” Does this apply to my life? Yes! How? Oh my goodness! I am always afraid! And this affirms that my trust in the Lord should assuage my fears for He will protect me.

Purse Shopping

Mission: To find a new purse.
Specifics: Outside pocket for my phone and built in wallet. Not too large.
Price: Up to $35
Reason: My trusty purse of 4 + plus years (on and off) broke - the strap pulled right out.
Outcome: Crashed and burned.

Okay really now, I have been to 7 stores today with absolutely no luck finding a new purse. I don't need something that is going to hold the kitchen sink, just the kids' emergency medicines, hand sanitizer, my phone and has a built in wallet. I am so frustrated... I have spent the better part of the last 3 days looking. Grr.... I guess its back to the big, bulky suitcase until I can find something functional for me.

Fitness Friday

Happy Friday! It is a happy one this week! First, congratulations to my husband Josh. His journey toward weight loss and a healthy lifestyle are successful! In five short weeks, he has lost 13 pounds! Congratulations, I am very proud of you! (And a little jealous too! But way more proud!)

I had a successful week too! Not as big as Josh's news, but still. I lost 1.4 pounds since my weigh-in last Friday! Woohoo! And a total of 1 1/2 inches! All this despite, having a wild night out with the girls, cheating on food a bit this week and skipping my "normal" Sunday, Monday and Tuesday workouts, but making them up on Wednesday. In addition to my "off" day being Thursday instead of today, Friday. Not too shabby.

What did I do different though? I think I unstuck my scale by drinking more water every day and getting more sleep at night. I'll keep trying that! Whatever it was it worked!

I have yet to follow through with the health tracker, though. Maybe this week. It just seems so time consuming and that is something that I don't have a ton of. I think I would really like it if I could consistently use it because you can track trends, which would be cool. Oh well. We'll see how this week shapes up.

Spiritual Sunday

In continuation of our "Go" series, our pastor preached on the story of Ruth and Naomi. How Ruth, after the death of her husband and the departure of her sister-in-law, refused to leave Naomi, committing herself to Naomi through and through. The moral? How God is the glue in our relationships.

Why is God the glue in our relationships? I contemplated this for some time. The first thing that I always seem to apply the messages to is my relationship with my mom. Since our estrangement, I have recommitted my life and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. However, has she? I do not know. So, my first reaction to this message was that our relationship is broken because I have a strong relationship with God, while hers is weak.

But, I don't think that is what is meant by this message. I think that what is meant by "God is the glue," is that God brings people together. I think about my life currently and I consider the people that are in my life. I think about all of the people that God has put in my life in the last 18 months and I can see a purpose for each of them. (This doesn't mean that the people in my life prior to these last 18 months weren't put there by God for a purpose, it just means that I haven't contemplated that yet.) Take, for example, Taylor's teacher. I prayed and begged God that we would not end up in the school district that we are in. I knew what was best for my kid and this definitely was not it. Then it came to pass, that we were stuck here. So I prayed and begged that we get into a different school. But alas, we didn't, we ended up exactly where we are. Why? Because God put this amazing veteran teacher in my son's life to help him through his first year of school, to help him to bloom and blossom as no one else could have. And He put her in my life, to remind me that I only get one chance to do right by my kid and to help me be an advocate for him.

I could regale you with similar stories through pages and pages on this blog analyzing the relationships in my life and identifying why God has put each of them there, but I don't think that I need to. I think that you can see how "God is the glue."

Who has God "glued" you to?

Fitness Friday

Well, this has not been an overly successful week. I'm a little sick about it. While I didn't do horribly, I did cheat a bit. First, I didn't exercise on Tuesday, then I had a wonderful chicken and pasta anniversary dinner. Second, I didn't track my calories this week. My goal was to use the calorie counter for 1 week, I failed miserably, only using it for two days - the ones that I posted about last week. Third, I cheated and had dessert several nights this week. And the worst news... I gained 6/10 of a pound. I know I am probably being too hard on myself and should consider some of the other factors in my life right now. But no room for excuses. It was a bad week.

The thin silver lining is that I did make up the workout that I missed on Tuesday and I netted a 1/4 inch loss in body measurements. I did have good workouts this week, completing 557 minutes of exercise in the form of walking, running, intervals, step classes, weight lifting classes, resistance band training, Core classes, stability ball ab exercises and stretching. In fact, yesterday I did about 600 ab exercises! Woo! I'm tired just thinking about it!

But the real feather in my cap is that I spent 35 minutes on the treadmill and went 2.93 miles. I was trying for 3 miles. And this probably seems like a slow pace to all of you fit health freaks that are my friends, but for an old, overweight mommy, I'm pretty proud of this time. I doubt I'll ever see the my high school pace in the 7 minute miles, but I hope to see tens again some day. Hopefully by September I'll be in the twelves.

Goal for next week: use the calorie counter for one week Saturday through Thursday. Hold me accountable.

Our 8th Anniversary

That's right, Josh and I celebrated our 8th anniversary today. Josh did a great job planning. He took me to dinner at a restaurant at one of our favorite places (not a favorite restaurant), then got us a fresh water hot tub for two childless hours. All this after which he brought me home, not one, but TWO dozen roses, one red and one white with small purple accent flowers (I have no idea about flower varieties)! He got the white ones because he thought they were gorgeous. What can I say, I lucked out marrying the King of Romance! Happy anniversary baby! I love you!

Spiritual Sunday

I find myself crying in church often. It is so emotional for me to listen to how Jesus has saved my soul. It is reassuring to hear how I am not expected to be perfect and even the most devout followers have doubts sometimes. This week's sermon was precisely on this topic. Our pastor read a passage from Matthew about John the Baptist's imprisonment. During his imprisonment, one of history's most devout Christians, John couldn't believe that it was really Jesus, the Savior coming to Galilee. Jesus told the disciples to report to John the good news that Jesus had come. This was the good news that John had been waiting, the good that Jesus was doing in his life.

We were then given these thought provoking questions: What is the most recent good thing that's happened in your life? What would you report Jesus has done in your life?

I tend to look for big things that Jesus has done in my life, but not everything has to be a big thing. Most recently, I was driving home from the Bay area with the kids, by myself. It was late and the kids were asleep in the back seat. My gas gauge needle was getting lower, but according to the estimated distance left, I could make it home. The truth is, I was very nervous about stopping to get gas in an unknown town, late at night, with two sleeping kids. So, I kept on trucking, I watched the gauge go down and I was getting quite nervous about making it home. So, I started praying, asking our Lord to watch over us, to get us home. I turned on my favorite Christian rock songs and prayed and prayed. I made it to the gas station in my hometown, safe and sound! This wasn't really a big thing that happened, it was very small thing, but it was God answering my prayers. I would say that this is just one of the things that Jesus has done in my life. I am thankful.

What would you report that Jesus has done in your life?