A New Thing

This is from Joyce Meyer's "Ending Your Day Right"

A New Thing
Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? ~ Isaiah 43:19

Do you ever get really tired of doing the same old thing all the time? You want to do something different but you either don’t know what to do, or you are afraid to do the new thing you are thinking about doing? You often get into ruts. You do the same thing all the time even though you are bored with it because you are afraid to step out and do something different. You would rather be safe and bored than excited and living on the edge. There is a certain amount of comfort in sameness – you may not like it, but you are familiar with it. God has created you to need and crave diversity and variety. You require freshness and newness in your life. As this year and this day come to an end, make a quality decision to step out into the new thing God has for you. And don’t forget to enjoy yourself!

What is the new thing God has for you? How are you going to fill your life with freshness and newness during 2007? What is safe and boring that needs to be replaced?

The One Thing

Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ and to know that I belong to him. ~ Philippians 3:8-9

Today's sermon was on resolutions and "The One Thing." The One Thing is Jesus Christ and knowing Him. Ron encouraged use to take steps to grow in our relationship with Christ during the new year. That is what journalling is for. God has been asking me to journal for quite some time now. There is no mistake that this is the next step for me to take. I have a feeling that 2007 will be great and I will get to Him a lot more!

Healthy Habits

I keep a list of healthy habits I am working on. Lately it has been 30 things at a time. Some of these are such habits, I really don't have to try. Others, I miss them more days than I complete them. For 2007, I will adjust them each month. For each habit I "earn" 10 cents and that money is to indulge on something just for me. The latest thing I got is a new cell phone which should arrive Monday!

Here is what I have been working on since November 5th:

Journal Food
Write in Fitness Journal
Drink Water - 4 bottles
Produce - 5 servings of fruits and/or veggies
Dairy - 2 servings
Healthy Oil
Nuts
Fiber One
Whole Grain
Caffeine~0-1 items
Alcohol~0-1 drinks
No Sugar
No Flour
No Junk - currently defined as popcorn, gum, hot chocolate in packets, soda, chips, frozen novelties, Fast Food
No coffee at work
No Elevators at work
No computer games (I can waste so much time with these)
Cardio Workout
Core Workout
Stretching or Yoga
Strength Training
5000 Steps Minimum
Remember Evening Vitamin
Keep in Touch
Bedtime 10:45 weedays/11:15 weekends
Clean or Fling - 5 minute minimum
Pampering
Bedtime Routine (wash face, brush & floss)
Use less than 10 Flex points
Binge Free

"Diet" History

I thought I would give you a little background on my diet history. I don't think I have ever been more than about 20 pounds overweight (The highest weight I have recorded is 149 on 10/14/02 but I don't have records further back than that), but it seems like I have always been on a diet. Here is a list of "diets" I have tried (not in exact order because I can't really remember when I did what and often times would go back to diets I had tried before):

• Don't eat lunch diet - In high school I would skip lunch a lot to save the spending money for going out on the weekends.
• Don't eat after 7pm diet - I did this a lot in high school too. This meant a lot of skipped suppers.
• Dexatrim - I remember using Dexatrim some in high school, I don't recall using it later.
• Fit for Life - This is basically a food combining diet. Only fruits in the morning. You didn't eat dairy, protein or breads together.
• Diet Pills - I had forgotten this until I mentioned the Dexatrim. I dated a resident once who gave me a prescription for diet pills.
• Atkins Diet - I think everyone knows what this is. I ate way too much processed food on this diet and felt hungry all the time and I had horrible body odor (anyone else experience that?)
• Carb Addicts Diet - I ate WAY too much (and too much junk) during the one hour you were allowed to eat carbs each day. I did learn about weighing daily and calculating a weekly average weight which I still do.
• Southbeach Diet - I think this diet was actually good for me because it helped me to realize that a lot of my cravings were based on not eating enough protein and too much refined sugar and flour.
• Weigh-Down Diet/Thin Within/The Lord's Table - All 3 of these "diets" seemed to make me MORE obsessed with food. I was supposed to eat anything I wanted as long as I was hungry and then stop when I was full. Or I was supposed to have 1/2 days, liquid days, or fasting days. I did not eat a balanced diet and was constantly wondering if I was hungry enough to eat.
• Three Apples a Day - You eat an apple 30 minutes before each meal.
• Dr. Gott's No Sugar No Flour Diet - The name speaks for itself, just avoid anything containing added sugar or flour. I still try to avoid sugar and flour, but know that portion control is important also.
• Weight Watchers - This is where I have had the most success. Counting points helps me with portion control and the WW healthy guidelines help me keep a balanced diet.

I have been "on and off" Weight Watchers (with some of the other diets in between) since I joined in 1998 to lose weight for my wedding. I lost about 15-20 pounds then (at some point I trashed those records so I'm not sure on the exact amount) and made lifetime before the wedding. We went on a cruise for the honeymoon and I gained 7 lbs on the cruise. Then I fell into the classic trap of not wanting to go back to meetings because I would have to pay (OH NO, not that!) Being newly married and getting used to living with my husband and a change in routine, I gained more weight. I went on and off various diets until August 2004 when I rejoined Weight Watchers. I weighed 145.6 at that time and made it to my goal of 129 by November. I successfully maintained through the holidays. Through most of 2005 I struggled again. I didn't realize at the time, but I had a binge/diet routine going on. I would binge and then diet, binge and then diet. In September of 2005, I stumbled across the BEC (Binge Enders Challenge) Board on the WW website. I joined and it was after I joined that I realized I did have a problem with binging. I went through several 21 day binge-free cycles there and made it back to my goal in that fall and maintained through the holidays again. I left that thread and started posting on the 10 cent Healthy Habits thread at WW in early 2006. This was started by some ladies on BEC who realized that if they were following the WW good health guidelines that there wouldn't be any room for binging. During 2006, my weekly average weight has only been above my weight range of 127/8-131/2 (I've adjusted it during the year) six times. I have finally learned the right way to maintain my weight. Instead of overeating and gaining a few pounds and then dieting to get them back off, I am eating a little more food all the time and remaining satisified. Now, I work on keeping my diet balanced and I avoid a lot of trigger foods (mainly sugar and flour).

Dream About Rosebud

I had a dream last night about Rosebud. Sugar Pop, Honey, Pumpkin and I were going to some sort of church service and while we were waiting to go inside, we prayed that Rosebud would come. Just as we were going in Rosebud did show up and tried to take Pumpkin. But then I told her how we had just been praying for her and were so glad to see our prayers answered. Her entire contenance changed. She then believed in the power of prayer and asked for prayers for a man who would be a good husband and good father to Pumpkin.

I've always had a hard time praying for Rosebud because of being angry with the way she treated Sugar Pop. I've been praying Ezekiel 36:26 for her for a long time:

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

In my dream I could see this was answered.

Heavenly Father, I pray for Rosebud and I pray that you will give her the good man that she desires. I pray for a strong Christian man who can restore Rosebud's life and nurture her. I pray that they can be a family and that Pumpkin can be with them. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

EWTN Family Newsletter - February 2007

I received the EWTN newsletter yesterday. There is a lot of "stuff" in it that I want to spend some time thinking about. I might write about it later after I let it sink in.

“We often look at Jesus with an attitude of predestination - a cold, hard-hearted acceptance of His sufferings and pain. We think, at least in our subconscious, that somehow He had to do what He did and so we slough it off with a shrug of our shoulders, without a thought of the awesome wonder of a suffering God. We cannot comprehend a love that desires to feel our misery.” — Mother M. Angelica

“Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him as stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” — Isaiah 53:4-6

Over and over I read this excerpt from Isaiah. Year passes year, one Lent follows another Lent, and I continue to read it. Each time I read it, though, the passage affects me in a different way — some ways more profound than others. But the aspect that continually strikes me, each and every time I read it, is the sense of my own powerlessness. High and mighty, at times, we imagine that we are our own saviors. Yet, humble and contrite, we realize our need for Jesus Christ and the saving power of His life, death and resurrection.

In the course of my own life, I have experienced some bitter tragedies. I think most of us have. Such heavy burdens of grief and anguish are sure to come to us at one point or another. Looking at the life of our beloved Mother Angelica, we see that she too tasted such suffering from very early on in her childhood — her parents’ divorce, poverty, hunger, loneliness... How did she bear it? “Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”

When we pray the Stations of the Cross, three separate times we recount Jesus’ falling under the heavy weight of the Cross. He fell, so that we could get up. He carried our sorrows, so that we could carry Him in our hearts. Bent under the weight of our own crosses, we must swallow our pride and allow Him to lift us up and to carry our grief. We must allow His humility to surmount our pride. His self-emptying can and must melt the glacier of our self-sufficiency.

The truth of the matter is that He has borne our grief. There is no question as to whether He will do it or not. He has done it. Now it is up to us! Will we choose to hang on to our pain, our burdens, and our sorrows.. .in a spirit of malformed independence? Or will we look in the eyes of our true Savior and thank Him for bearing our sins, our grief, our sorrows and our misery. Every suffering, whether great or small, presents us with an opportunity for growth and surrender. We are preparing once again to enter into the Lenten Season. It seems, during this time of year, we are presented with a plethora of opportunities of dying to self and rising in Christ. What will we choose to do with such opportunities?

Mother Angelica always told us NOT to miss the opportunity of becoming a great saint. Maybe we have become too accustomed to hearing her say this. But let’s think about it for a second. An opportunity can be a missed opportunity. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.” Or if we grab on to suffering as an opportunity for holiness and growth, we can allow Christ’s wounds to heal us. Saints are those who seized opportunities.. . and many times that meant suffering, sorrow, and sometimes even martyrdom. Yet this did not discourage them or make them despondent. They looked upon such things as favors from their Crucified King, for they knew that through such opportunities would come their sanctification.

Family, let us ponder the real meaning of suffering this Lent. Let’s go deeper into the Passion of Christ and understand the depth of what He did for us. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed.”

Sing to the King

And when He hears you sing, He will bend down with a smile on His kind face. As He cheerfully listens, He will say, "Sing on, dear child. I hear you and I am coming to deliver you. I will carry that load for you. So just lean hard on Me, and the road will get smoother by and by."

This was in my Streams in the Desert devotional today. You might have already noticed a recurrent theme in my posts - that I want a new job. This was a comfort for me today and I will spend time today listening to and singing with praise and worship music. I pray the Lord will hear my song and come deliver me.

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes ~ Psalm 101:3 (NASB)

I have created a screensaver on my computer that has various scriptures and spiritual quotes. This one came up today during my quiet time.

When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You, You are there first. ~ Soren Kierkegard

That quote came in a book of "Faith Notes" that DSD1 (Oldest Step-Daughter) gave us for Christmas.

Two messages to me about the distractions that I am allowing in during my quiet time. I've started a bad habit of getting on my computer first thing, instead of having my quiet time first.

Dear Lord, I am listening. I desire to start my day with You. Please increase that desire and help me to avoid distractions. Spending time with you in the morning blesses me and sets my feet on the right path for the day. Help me to remember and to be faithful. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.

Supplements

Here is a list of the supplements I take:

• Prenatal Vitamin (No, I'm not pregnant or trying to get pregnant. I just take them because they are good vitamins)
• Krill Oil - For Omega 6
• Primrose Oil - Supposed to be good for PMS
• Vitamin C
• St. John's Wort - I'm taking to help with the "winter blues." January is the worst month for me, so we'll see if they help.

I normally don't take a calcium supplement because I get 3 servings of dairy a day. If I don't get my dairy in, I will take a calcium supplement at bedtime.

If you obey and do right, a light will show you the way and fill you with happiness. You are the LORD's people! So celebrate and praise the only God. ~ Psalm 97:11-12 (CEV)

I used to obey the LORD to avoid feelings of guilt, but then I fell in love with Him and now I obey Him because I love him. John 14:15 says, "If you love me, obey my commandments." Yes, I do love Jesus and that is why I obey Him and why I am even capable of obeying. Without the love of God in my heart, I could do nothing because I would be trying to do it on my own and I am weak. But God gives me strength and Him living in me gives me the strength and the desire to do His will.

Today, Lord, I go back to work. You know the feeling of dread I have, you know how much I dislike where I am working. You also know my desire for a new job and how long I have been waiting. Dear Lord, give me strength during this week to obey and do right, give me patience as I wait for the job you are preparing for me, give me Your light that I may follow in Your path and fill me with Your happiness. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

A trip to Family Christian

I went to Family Christian today and spent my 25% coupon. This is what I purchased:

• I got two Streams in the Desert to have on hand for gifts.
• A new t-shirt
• My Utmost for His Highest (DH and I are re-read it next year and I want my own copy.)
• Love Comes Softly - We got this on Netflix a while back and it was really good. It was the $5 special today (plus 25% off) so I bought it for our collection.
• Memorize the Message - 52 Scripture Memory Verse Cards. I will have this as my goal for next year. We'll see how it goes. I've set scripture memorization as a goal before, and it didn't last long. Hopefully, I will enjoy this translation more and stick with it.

Some of My Favorite Things

Just in case someone is out there that wants to know a little about me, here are some of my favorite things:

Kaytee Fruit & Net Treat Bells - During the winter I keep one hanging in the tree outside my home office window so I can watch the birds. The bluejays LOVE it!

Health Valley 14 Garden Vegetable Soup - This is my favorite and I have resorted to ordering it online because the local store quit carrying it. I could eat this for lunch EVERYDAY!

Easy Spirit Sneakers - I am on my 4th pair of Easy Spirit workout shoes. I love them because I can order them in my size (10N).

Beauticontrol Lip Apeel - This stuff is GREAT for chapped lips, which I seem to have all winter long.

Ozarka Water - I drink at least four 24 ounce bottles of water a day. I am partial to Ozarka and I think their new bottle design is classy looking. (Note: I start with a fresh bottle each day and refill all day with reverse osmosis water.)

Netflix - We've been using Netflix for years now and I think it is the BEST way to rent DVDs. We started out with 3 movies out at a time and since then, we've dropped cable and increased to 5 movies out at a time.

Fitness Journal - I love using Fitness Journal to track my workouts and pedometer steps. I've been using it for about a year and half and it is great to look back and see the progress I have made. If you would like to try it, leave me a comment with your email address and I will email you a free 30-day invitation.

Beginning Again

Yes, I know. I have said it before, but I am saying it again. I am going to start blogging on a regular basis. You don't believe me, do you? I've been putting it off because I wan't sure what I wanted this blog to be. Is it more of a spiritual journal or a fitness journal or just random thoughts. Basically, I've been putting off starting because I wanted it to be "perfect." I must admit that I suffer from perfectionism and it paralyzes me. I don't start projects because I don't have time to do them perfectly. Or, like this blog, I don't start because I don't have the perfect plan for what I want it to be. I must face the fact, that I will NEVER be perfect. At least not as long as I live on this earth and I struggle with my sinful nature, perhaps in the life to come, God will finally make me perfect or at least He will give me the ability to accept myself as He created me. The one thing I do know is that God is asking me to journal. It is the next step I need to take for my spiritual growth. That is going to be the main purpose of this blog, but I'm sure there will be lots of things written about my fitness and weight maintenance goals and probably a lot of random thoughts too. If you are reading this, I apologize for the jumbled mess that this is going to be, but to steal a line from my dear husband's first (but not yet completed and released) album..."It's Finally Out There."

Let me build with the Lord

I don't even know where to begin today. I'm struggling with my job situation. I need to find something new. I might have a potential job offer soon, but it won't be in accounting. It will be an office manager for a physician. Getting leadership experience would be good for me and I think it would be low stress, but there would be no accounting work involved. It doesn't seem right to have gone to all the trouble of going to school and getting my CPA to just quit doing accounting. I've applied for another job which is accounting and very similar to what I am doing now. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the people at this company. I don't know what kind of values they hold as individuals and as a company. I want to work someplace that is built on solid Christian values. Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." I am so tired and worn out from building and guarding in vain. That is why I want to work at the bank.

Heavenly Father, please hear my cries. Please open the doors required. Please prepare a place for me where I can build and guard with you and with those who live and work for you. Amen.

Complaining About Our Troubles

I was working on my bible study questions this morning. (Women of Faith - Cultivating Contentment). One of the questions was, "What is the difference between complaining about your troubles to God and complaining about those same things to the people around you?" This really got me to thinking and pondering and this is what I came up with. Most of our complaints are about things that the people we are complaining to can't do anything about. For example, complaining about other drivers, world events, how we look...and on and on and on. Our complaints are burdens to those around us because they have to take the time to listen to us and there is nothing they can't do about them anyway. However, when we complain to God, He does have the time to listen (He has all of eternity to listen). And He CAN do something about things. Maybe He doesn't change the circumstances we are in, but sometimes He does change our heart. Maybe He gives us the ability to be gracious to other drivers, maybe He prompts us to do something to change the world, maybe He encourages us to lose a little weight and take care of ourselves. I think in our subconscious we realize that when we complain to God that He might ask something of us. Maybe that's why we like complaining to others, because they will complain right a long with us and never challenge us to make necessary changes.

Heavenly Father, I pray that you will help silence my tongue when I want to complain to others. Remind me to complain to you instead. You have the time to listen and the power to change situations and/or to change me. Thank you Lord for being so patient with me and so willing to listen to my words. I pray that my heart will be receptive to the changes you would have me make. In Christ's Name I pray. Amen.

It's been a while since I posted anything to my blog. But it seems that God wants me to write. What? I don't know. I just keep getting the feeling that I am supposed to write. To really start journaling. I'm not a good writer. I'm an accountant. I can make great spreadsheets, but putting my thoughts down on paper (or should I say computer), is not my strong suit. Maybe with time I will learn how though and maybe that is why He is calling me to start writing.

Here is something I read during my quiet time today by St. Pierre Henri Dorie:

Sacrifices made for God have a sweetness and a joy
unknown to the world.

Taking the time to think and write will be a sacrifice for me because I find it difficult. God uses the sacrifices we make to bless us though. I am looking forward to the blessings I will receive.