Month 7, Day 19-Fat and "HAPPY" ????! Confession time!

As hard as this is to do, here it goes, confession time.  I have not been practicing my God-given gift of self-control for awhile now.  I have been practicing foolishness and not using the wisdom God has given me and guess what it shows.  I have gained all the weight back that I lost plus more because I have not been eating healthy consistently and I have not been walking or working out like I should.  Everything that I learned in the first month of "7" when I strictly and successfully ate only 7 of the same foods everyday for a month, I had pretty much forgotten.  Today I went back and read my blog to reflect and remember what God had revealed to me. Here is an excerpt from month one of my blog in February Day 29...

"The most important lesson I have learned through this experiment is that I do have the Holy Spirit given fruit of Temperance, also known as Self-Control! It is definitely a gift and now I recognize it as such and need to be responsible to use it the way God wants me too. I need to use it daily, anytime God prompts my heart when I feel excessive tendancies trying to take over!
In everything I do, even in eating and drinking, I need to do all things unto the Lord in such a way that He is glorified and honored in it.
I've learned so much just in this first month of seven and I am already making drastic changes in my walk and relationship with Jesus my Lord. I'm excited to see where this next month will take me. Change me to be more like you Jesus, that is my hearts desire!"

Bottom line, I have been living in sin.  I have not acted responsible with the gift God has given me and I have given in to excessiveness with sweets.  WHY do I love sugar so much?  It is soooo bad for me?  I don't want it, but I still eat it because I really do want it!  You name it, I love it...candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, pie...if it's sweet I want it, and very rarely say no to it.  I am a glutton with sweets, and I am fat and I am not "HAPPY". 

For a couple of weeks now, God has been convicting me, working in me, stirring my heart and shining a light on my sin by using my pastor who I admiringly call Rev Kev.  He just finished preaching the entire book of Ecclesiastes to our church....WOW...what a great sermon series, it was seriously EPIC! (just so you know this is the first time for me using the word "epic" ;) 
Now, I know every person on this Earth has sin and every Christian struggles with overcoming their sin which appears in many different forms, but in order to overcome our sin, we must first acknowledge it and confess it, so that is what I am doing.  This morning before church I decided that I was going to be brave and bold and make my confession public through my blog and during the sermon in church this morning God confirmed to my heart that yes, I definitely needed to share.  I had a chance to share how God was working in me at my life group tonight, but I just didn't even know where to begin or how to put all of my thoughts into words, so I said nothing.  A public speaker I am not, sometimes I wish I was though.

So whoever even made up the phrase "fat and happy"? In my opinion the two words can not exist together. I feel anything but happy right now.  For the last few weeks, I've honestly felt myself feeling slightly depressed, uncomfortable and even feeling anti-social where I just want to stay away from friends and people.  I have forced myself a couple of times to go out with friends or to schedule social times and even to NOT cancel my already scheduled social plans, but honestly I pretty much had to force myself and that is soooo not like me as I really love people and I just really love to be around people.  I love listening to friends stories and laughing with them or even just being there to listen when they need someone to talk to... it has been a rough few months, but admittedly, it's all my fault for not being obedient to God.  He has given me wisdom and I need to walk in it, no one else can do it for me, the descision and choice is up to me.  I praise God that He can and will carry me through, I will not walk alone, but I do need to walk upright. 

So today begins a new journey, a journey with God, to truly live the way I KNOW I should.  A journey to a healthy lifestyle and this time, I will continue until I have reached all of my weight loss goals.  Starting tomorrow I have my first goal... to work out for six weeks straight doing my "Slim in 6" video and eating healthy lower carb and  weighing myself daily.  I will definitely blog my progress, because it really does help to keep me accountable.  I must do this not only for my physical and mental health, but for my spiritual health as well.  I must also do this for my husband who needs a wife who is healthy, happy, and confident. And for my kids who need a mom who is active and fun, not someone who is tired all the time and sore because her body is out of shape!

LORD Jesus, Thank You for revealing to me and shining a light on my sin.  Please forgive me, cleanse me from all unrighteousness and help me to change from the inside out.  Please give me the strength and endurance I need to be all that You desire me to be for You.  I desire to be a clean vessel so that You can and will use me for Your Kindgom and for Your glory.  Please make me a reflection of You.  I humbly ask in Your precious and Holy Name that is above every name. Amen.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)  "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Day 15 Mutiny against Stress :)

I haven't blogged like I thought I would this month, but I haven't stressed about it either. This month has been wonderful so far. Spending as much time with my kiddos as possible before they return to school, I always miss them so much when they go back.  This month has also been wonderful due to my quiet moments with my Savior, I haven't been strict on the actual times, I'm keeping in mind relationship not ritual...but any alone moment I have, I open His Word and talk to and listen to Jesus, definitely an increase than normal. It's so nice to have a Bible app. on my phone so that every where I go, His Word is accessible and of course I can talk to Jesus  and bring my thoughts, concerns and prayer requests to Him anywhere, even while sitting under a roller coaster! :)   It really is amazing how trusting in God, in every situation, can bring peace to my mind and spirit. God really is so good and faithful!!!  He has taken away a fear I've been holding onto for a few months now concerning my son and middle school.  God is in control now, actually He always was! I just decided I would take my hands off of it, turn over my worries and just fully trust Him in it! He knows all things! He knows the beginning and the end, He knows the whole story already, I (and my husband) simply need to trust God, pray for and love our son and continue to live and lead by example.  That is really all we can do, God is faithful and I know, no matter what fiery darts get thrown at us, we are safe with God on our side.  Looking forward to an exciting school year for my kids...they are really growing up soooo fast!!! I have decided I'm just going to try and enjoy every change around the corner. Like in the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in awhile you could miss it."   I choose to stop and look around ALOT, I want to enjoy life's journey as much as possible! Life with Jesus is a fulfilled life, especially because it's everlasting! :)

July 31- Last Day of Month 6

Well I wish I could say I did perfect this month, but that would NOT be truthful.  Fact is, it was a harder month than I thought it would be for me, especially since I don't consider myself a big spender and I have changed as I've matured and I really don't enjoy shopping as much as I once used to.  For a few reasons though, I didn't do as well as I hoped.  One of the first instances in which I failed was when I took my girl shopping for a bday gift for her friend from school.  Not even thinking, I took her to Kohls, which was not on my 7 list, the crazy thing was, I didn't even realize until the next day sitting in church, it just dawned on me all of a sudden that I totally cheated without even thinking.  Then the next night my honey and I had a chance for a date night and we took it! Dinner and Batman movie and this time I willfully cheated, and Chipotle was worth it, Yum!!  I didn't count Batman as cheating since I listed the movie theatre in my seven.  So then a couple of days go by and  yep cheat again, this time for dinner  with a friend, Pei Wei, de-lish!!!  The food and company both were worth cheating for and since I never ate at Panera or went to Knott's, both places listed under 7 then I should've been ok......BUT we went out of town for a beach weekend trip so I failed some more.   Oh and I ordered Anne of Green Gables movies on DVD off of Amazon, another not thinking instance.  Wow, I guess I'm a bigger  spender than I thought I was!!! Learning so much about myself through this experiment. I highly recommend it to anyone!  I also joined Pinterest this month, what a fun online window shopping experience! Only been on for a couple of weeks and already have re-pinned 95 things!  I can see how beneficial the website can be, but I also see how it can harm too.  The verse that comes to mind...
1 John 2:16-17 KJV

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. "
I need to be careful I don't become addicted or excessive with Pinterest, just like with anything I must practice self control.

So August 1st starts the mutiny against excessive stress month. I'm loving this month already!! And i might blog more to keep me accountable....so here it goes... :)

Day 13- CHALLENGED

So its "Experimental Mutiny Against Excessive Spending Month" and as I sit in the eye doctor waiting room I realize already I'm going to cheat on my 7 places of spending this month. I NEED eye wear though, I'm blind without it! Thank God for contacts, I'd be miserable without them.   I won't cheat too bad though, I am determined to do my best! I don't see needing too many other things that I can't get at one of the 7 approved places I listed for this month.
So the Dominican Republic/Haiti mission trip was even more wonderful than I expected it to be. God was in every little detail of it. He always amazes me and I love it!  We had the best group of servants on this trip ever! God definitely put the team together and everyone of us put God's glory ahead of our own.  It was so awesome to see the team work and the new friendships for life that evolved in the process.  Yes of course there were times when some could have chosen to be offended and let mis-communication and hurt take over, but they didn't. Instead they chose the higher road, God's road, and extended grace, compassion and humility realizing that God's way is the best way and that we were there to please Him.   The week was fabulous, seeing and learning even more of what G.O. Ministries is doing to help those in need on the Island of Hispaniola to the glory of God, was so humbling and inspiring. 
CHALLENGED... the word that keeps coming to mind and with it a song that God laid on my heart the night we returned back to the D.R. from Haiti, Josh Wilson's - "I Refuse" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbH0IWZL05s (hope the link works)  Really a great challenging song that I listened to over and over and over again that night. I know what God is calling my family to do and it's time we act on it.  I'll say it publicly soon, but for now only those I actually speak to face to face with will know the details.
The trip was amazing. I just wish my family could have been with me,if  they were I would have wanted to stay longer.  I look forward to the day we can all go together.  Haiti has my heart for sure. I NEED to learn Creole and Spanish!!!! Need to make it a priority.   Still so mind boggling to think about how they survive day to day, but realizing even more how great their need for Jesus is.  The Haitian kids... I still can't get over how utterly insane they get over cute little smiley face and heart stickers...simply mind blowing and how I would love to be able to give them something even much more valuable than that...Jesus, He is the greatest treasure of all, nothing is more valuable than having a relationship with Him.  I've learned so much from the little village in Phaeton, so much more than I ever thought possible. I'm Challenged and I'm called to act on it and I will.    

Month 6- Spending:July 1st?! How did that happen?

Wow, the first month of summer is gone...just like that!  It was mostly a good month I didn't do as well as I could've on certain things, but I will be carrying on the good habits I was able to change for the rest of my life.  Such as having a separate recycle container and a trash container in my kitchen, it really does work good that way and as a family we've definitely cut down on the amount of trash we have and that's a good thing. Every little good thing we do when combined with every little good thing done by others, turn out to be great big things that we all did together! :)

So this month is focusing on spending.  I am to spend money in ONLY 7 different places this month.  This month of July could quite possibly be the best month for this, but I'm going to allow grace for myself the first 10 days as I will be traveling with my church on a mission trip to Dominican Republic and Haiti with G.O. Ministries.  When I return however, it will be back to only the 7 places.  So my 7 places are...

1. Food 4 Less ( never thought I would be a shopper there, but it's really close to home and they have an awesome fundraiser opportunity for G.O. Ministries when I use my Kroger re-loadable gift card, 4% of everything I spend goes directly to the Christian missionaries in D.R. so it's worth it!)
2. Gas Station
3. Movie Theatre ($1 family movies on Tuesday and Wednesday, it's air conditioned fun in this heat!)
4. Jason's Deli (A fast kid friendly restaurant for those times when we just need to eat out!)
5. Knott's Berry Farm (Just in case we go again! :)
6. Wal-mart ( I wish I could put down the Mall! ;)
7. Panera Bread (Latte Ladies Bookclub is at Panera and they have really good oatmeal now! :)

So even as I list these places I realize just how spoiled I am... Who wants to meet me at Jason's Deli when I return from my mission trip?!  I'm sure I'll have great stories to share.  Reallly looking foward to all that lies ahead for our team.  The medical team is going to be such a blessing to the Dominican people and I'm sure the construction team will be working extra hard to leave an impact and make some progress on various projects.   Praying God will use each one of us going in the exact way that He desires to and that above all those we serve will tangibly feel and see the love of Jesus,  May God be glorified.





 

Day 12 of Month 5 Already?!

Wow this month is flying by, slow down time, slow down!  Blogging after my piano lesson as I sit here listening to my girl have her lesson. 

Recycling is going well, I can not believe how little trash we have now. I found a recycling center in town that recycles practically everything! Why did I ever put this off for so long, it's really not hard and makes me feel good that our family is doing a small part to help our earth.

Doing good using reusable bags at the stores, I thought the store clerks would hate me, but they have all been so obliging and kind, yay!

Haven't been able to cut driving down as much as I wanted to, might have to scrap that one from my list...it's impossible! My girl is attending a cooking camp at church, which she is loving, so now I'm driving her back and forth to that this week, it's farther then her school...oh well, I'm looking forward to her making our family dinner afterwards! :)

I've bought nothing but groceries and gifts lately so I haven't made it to any second hand stores yet...and right now I'm window shopping online for great deals on toys and sports equipment for our mission trip team to take to Haiti in a few weeks...it's coming fast! So much for only shopping locally ;)

I am being more conscience of turning off lights and using less water by taking shorter showers so that's good.

This seven month experiment has been good for me, it's making me appreciate everything we've been blessed with so much more. I really desire to be a blessing to others...it takes time, and I'm sure I'll never feel like I've arrived.  One thing for sure there are numerous people in my life that have been a blessing to me, and I'm truly grateful to God for all of them!

Month 5, Day 1- 7 Habits for a Less Wasteful Life

Starting month 5 focusing on the area of "waste" this entire month.  I'm positive I'm one of the most wasteful people on this planet. How do I know? I can remember even as an adult with my kids still toddlers,  while cleaning the house in a hurry and "accidentally" throwing away a penny or even a nickel, mostly I was too lazy to fish it out of my own trash can after it had fallen in somehow.  How wasteful is that?  Thankfully I've matured some since then, and now I truly appreciate all God has blessed me with.  I've learned I need to be a good steward, and literally throwing money away is not being a good steward, so I don't literally throw money away anymore, but I still have a long way to go before I will call myself a good steward. 
So this month I will focus on 7 habits for a less wasteful life.  I need to think "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle". I wanted to garden this month, but that just never happened, previous posts explain why, but basically it was going to be too expensive for what I wanted to do... So this month I will shop Farmer's Markets instead, which I never do, so I'm actually excited about it, and since the kids will be on summer break, they will be coming along to shop with me on those days.

I will not overbuy! I do this so much!! I think, oh we'll eat that before it goes bad, and then we wind up throwing it away! Right now I have to throw away 2 bunches of bananas that we never ate! I also forgot to throw them in the freezer this time and I never got around to baking banana bread with them.  It's not "literally" throwing money away, but it is throwing money away and not being a good steward! What a waster I am!!

I have a couple of reusable grocery bags, but I've NEVER used them to buy groceries with, so this month I'm going to be using reusable grocery bags. 

We will be conserving energy and water more, I'm the worst at turning lights off that I'm not using.  I love to have lights on all over the place, I've done a poor job at teaching my kids to conserve energy, because well I can't tell them to do something that I never do! So this month, they are going to learn, and so will I.  I'm going to set up a timer with a buzzer by our showers to help limit our shower time. My kids take too long in the shower sometimes, and I'm sure I could cut some time off of mine as well.  Confession time, last summer on my mission trip to DR/Haiti, we took showers out of big buckets of cold water by using a cup to wet ourselves and rinse with, so one of the things I said I was going to do when I got back home, was to continue taking showers that way by turning the water on only when I rinsed, instead of having it run the entire shower time.  Um....yeah I failed miserably at that, it lasted for about a week when I got back and I tried to do it occasionally after that.  The only good thing that came out of that failure, is that every time I am in the shower I think about the Dominicans and the Haitians and all those in this world who need fresh water, and I pray.

We will be recycling EVERYTHING this month.  I have the 3 little red, white, and blue recycle bins still,  somehow living in a gated community has kept us off of the new city wide recycling program and we have never received the huge new recycle bins where you don't have to sort any of it.  So as of now, we still have to sort and our bins are usually overflowing, especially because we always miss recycle curb pick up days, so overflowing bins make me not want to add anymore recycables to it and I wind up throwing stuff away that I shouldnt. I just haven't made it a priority, but I need to, so this month, I will!

This month I will be shopping garage sales, thrift and second-hand stores for any items we need.  This will not include gift items though, unless they are practically brand new!  I will not be shopping online this month, I will only be buying locally.  This does not include Itunes for music, I just love music!

Driving will be cut down considerably this month, one good thing is I won't have to drive back and forth to school this month since school will be over for the summer in just 4 1/2 days. I will try as much as possible to stay in my little area of town too.

So that's it 7 areas to work on cutting down on waste this month.  Looking forward to new wonderful habits being established in our family.  We all need to do our part in taking care of Earth, it's God's amazing, spectacular, beautiful creation,  that we all call home.

1. Shop Farmer's Markets
2. Do Not Over Buy
3. Use Re-usable Grocery Bags
4. Conserve Energy and Water
5. Recycle Everything
6. Shop Local
7. Reduce Driving Frequency and Distances