Round Two!

Well, my kickboxing continues.  I am actually doing some kicks with a little bit of power now.  AND I am running more and more.  That is hard for me, but it will get better with time.  I hope!  I have been running (walking when I have to catch my breath) 1.5 miles in addition to some shorter and faster sprints.  Some days I think he is trying to kill me, but I trust he knows how far to push me. 

I am getting stronger.  I like the way that feels.  Makes me remember the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finally started getting stronger emotionally after the yuck of my divorce.  There are great leaps and then minor setbacks.  But overall the “chart” shows progress.  That emotional growth is an ongoing process…the physical is too.

I have lost 51 pounds now.  Wow.  I’m almost out of clothes to wear! I had kept some of my smaller clothes from the past (thank goodness) but the smallest size I have is just about to be too big.  I will have to go get a few things I guess.  I just hate buying too much because I don’t plan on being THIS size for too long.  I had to go get some smaller workout clothes…it is embarrassing when your pants start slipping down during class, and you have on boxing gloves and can’t pull them back up easily!

This has been such a fun adventure! I look forward to seeing what marvels God does with this~

 

Kickboxing and the non-athlete

I have started something new.  Something I never thought that I would (or could) do.  I have started working out…lifting weights, running, and kickboxing.  Am I crazy?? I am 46 years old and have never done an athletic thing in my life!! Last time I ran? 7th grade.  No lie.  I was in band in high school (and in Sudan 8th grade was part of high school band) so that counted as my “athletic” credit.  Ya know, since we marched for a couple of months and then sat in rows of chairs on a stage the rest of the year!!

One day, a friend of mine came to my office.  This friend happens to be a world champion kickboxer and 7th degree black belt.  He is a very physically intense and intimidating person if you don’t know him well! Anyway…he was talking about the fact that he had been training a lady for a year and she had lost about 85 pounds. Whoa!  This wasn’t the first time he had talked about this sort of stuff.  I can’t count the number of times that he had asked me when I was going to come to his kickboxing class. (ME?? Yeah right)  But that particular day, his comments just pushed a button in me.  Could I do that? Would I be physically able to do that?  Those thoughts kept bumping around in my brain for several days.  Finally, I emailed him and asked if he thought he could work with me…the completely uncoordinated non-athlete.  Thankfully, he had an open time and so with much fear and trepidation, I met him at the gym on a Sunday afternoon.

That was March 7th and  I have come a long way since then!! I go to the gym 5 times a week at least and three of those times are highly supervised by him.  I get an hour of one on one time with him and now I’ve started  a kickboxing class (taught by him) once a week for an hour.  Recently, we’ve added a 15-20 minute boxing workout where he has the focus mitts on and he teaches me how to throw some punches.  Now that is FUN STUFF right there!!!

One of the best things about him…he is a very encouraging trainer. He’s not anything like those two on the Biggest Loser.   He doesn’t use intimidation or humiliation nor does he yell.  He encourages.  He motivates.  He cares.  And invariably, he makes me laugh.

In addition to the workout, I’ve completely changed the way I eat.  He has a food plan that has worked so well for me.  I am never hungry and I really don’t feel like I’m missing out on much.  I’ve quit drinking Dr. Peppers and quit eating hamburger meat.  I eat lots of veggies and fruit, fish and chicken.  Plus I eat five meals a day to get my sluggish metabolism to kick into gear!  I get one day a week to be “silly” and have things I normally don’t have…I just bump up my workout the next time I am at the gym.

So far, I’ve lost 35 pounds.  Wow.  I didn’t think that I could do that.  Not in 12 weeks especially!! I’ve still got a ways to go, but with his help I feel very confident that I can do it!!

I thank God for him and his knowledge and ability and kindness.  I thank God for his godliness….he really is such a good man.  Every day I pray for God to bless him and his sweet family.  Every day I pray for God to protect him.  (This friend is a police officer for his “real” job).  Every day I ask God to bless this friend thru me somehow.   I also ask that God keep me physically able to keep doing this.  I thank God for making my body able to do these things…to respond to training…to get stronger so quickly…to do the things I am asking of it!  I thank God for giving me this chance to be better in yet another way. 

So…my “Step by Step” has taken a new path (and this new path looks a lot like a treadmill) and seems like I will be taking a lot more steps on it! LOL

 

John 1:10-14

 ¹⁰He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

 ¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I read these words this morning and two phrases jumped out at me.  First, even though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  Here was the Creator and the world wanted Him gone.  He came, not with cursing or with hateful, condemning words, but with grace and truth.  Yet they could not wait to catch Him doing something wrong so they could crucify Him.  That’s heart breaking.  Yet I wonder if I would have been any different.  I am slow to admit that I am wrong. I can be stubborn even when the result is self-destructive.  

Second thing that strikes me…for those of us who believe He gives us the right to become children of God.  Not by natural descent, or human decision.  But by God’s choice.  He has decided that we will be His heirs…if we believe Jesus.  Believing isn’t just checking the right box on a test  “Do you believe in Jesus. YES”.  No, it’s so much more than that.  It involves obeying Him , following Him, being like Him, letting HIM be Lord.  It involves doing what He says.  “Simple, but not always easy” as my favorite teacher often says.  But the payoff to that is HUGE!! We get to inherit God’s kingdom!!! I like the sound of that, don’t you?

 

Best Valentine EVER!

My daughter is 12 going on 22.  She has such a precious heart and personality.  She makes me laugh so often.  Well….last week she made me cry.  In a good way! This is the Valentine card that she made for me:

Those of you that know my fears over my failures with my kids can understand a little of what this did for my heart. 

God is good.  He gave me three precious kids.  They each own my heart in their own way!

 

I will never…oops I just did

 

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
   ” ‘I will strike the shepherd,
      and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

 ³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

 ³⁴“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

 ³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

 ~~~~~~~~~

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

 ⁷⁰But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

 ⁷¹Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

 ⁷²He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

 ⁷³After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.”

 ⁷⁴Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

   Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26)

Have you ever said “I will never do that” and then find yourself doing that very thing? I have done it so many times! You think I would eventually learn.  Everytime I read this story, I weep with Peter. 

I have promised my Lord that I would be His and live worthy of His death…and then turned around and acted like I had never made such a promise.  Lived as though I had never known anything about Him.  Denied Him.

I am ashamed of those times in my life…when my defiance was so outward and obvious.  But I am guilty of failing Him every day.  My only saving grace is…well…His saving grace! 

 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Thank you Father for Your gift of grace and mercy.  And for saving me when I was Your enemy.

 

Merry Christmas

Jesus was born…God became flesh.  His parents held Him and loved Him and cherished the things He did.  He came to this world knowing that He came to die, but He came anyway.  And loved us….enough to die in our place.

Thank you Father for Jesus.   Thank you for sending your only begotten Son… because of your love for us…so that we could know Him, obey Him and be with You forever.

 

Praise God for trials?

  ⁸ Praise our God, O peoples,
       let the sound of his praise be heard;

 ⁹ he has preserved our lives
       and kept our feet from slipping.

 ¹⁰ For you, O God, tested us;
       you refined us like silver.

 ¹¹ You brought us into prison
       and laid burdens on our backs.

 ¹² You let men ride over our heads;
       we went through fire and water,
       but you brought us to a place of abundance. (Psalm 66:8-12 NIV)

We talked about this particular section of verses today.  I am not sure that I had ever noticed them before.  I know I had never really HEARD them before.  Praise God! He put us in prison and laid burdens on our backs!  Really? We don’t think like this do we? Praise God for the hardship? I’ve been told to praise God in spite of the hardship, through the hardship, after deliverance from the hardship.  But to praise God for the hardship…I’m not sure I know how to do that just yet.

When I have found myself imprisoned by something, (my own bad choices) praising God was not anywhere near the top of the “to-do” list.  On the contrary,  I have tended to lose hope and even give up on God when I have gone through trials.  Too often I say “If God loved me He wouldn’t let this sort of thing happen to me”.  I am so wrong in thinking like that! God refines us like silver…by fire…so that we can reflect Him.

On Saturday mornings, we have been studying about Joseph.  Every time something went wrong in his life, he acknowledged God.  His life was a roller coaster of good and bad, but he never failed to acknowledge God in the events that unfolded.  Sold into slavery…promoted to Potiphar’s top guy…where he was pursued by Potiphar’s wife…and thrown into prison when he resisted her advances…where he interpreted dreams…and was forgotten by the man he helped. He eventually tells his brothers (the very ones that sold him as a slave)  “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”.  Joseph knew how to praise God for the refining fire. 

I guess James is trying to teach us this same concept when he says:

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4 NIV)

Trials do not feel like a gift from God do they?  James says trials develop perseverance and perseverance will make us complete…not lacking in anything.  I don’t want to be found lacking.  I want to be effective for God and if trials and hardships make me more effective for Him…if people will see Him when they look at me…then I want to learn to praise Him for that.  Not just endure the trial with gritted teeth and clinched fists…but to be like Joseph and acknowledge  God and to realize that even through hard times, God is in control and working to make me better prepared to serve Him.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever. (Psalms 107:1)

Today I am thankful for God’s love, patience and mercy.  He saved me, waited patiently for me to come to my senses and had mercy on me when I finally called out to Him.  He saved me again.  And put wonderful friends in my life to keep me safe and to make me feel loved.  I thank Him for each of you.  Travel safely.  Feel God’s loving hand on you.

 

Zephaniah 3:17 God’s lullaby?

       The LORD your God is with you, 
       He is mighty to save.
       He will take great delight in you, 
       He will quiet you with His love, 
       He will rejoice over you with singing.

 

I saw this verse circled in my Bible tonight as I was flipping through pages to get to the passage we were going to study. The powerful imagery of it struck me again. First of all, I love that phrase “He is mighty to save”.  Yeah! I love that. Like someone said tonight, “Jesus is the absolute best super-hero!”  But then I see  a loving Father singing to His child in order to soothe and comfort. A lullaby.  That is what I want!! I want to have that safety…that comfort…that peace.  I want to sit in the Father’s lap and hear His lullaby and rest forever in that peace. 

What do you think God would want to say to you in His lullaby? I’d love to hear from you.

 

Time flies

Waaay back in the ’80′s I had a little baby boy.  He was bright-eyed and curious.  He had such a logical intellect that he would out-think me somedays…most days probably!  But that little guy turned 20 last week.  I cannot believe that I have a 20 year old child.  I don’t feel much over 20 most of the time myself!! How does this sort of thing happen?

Another “stab in the heart” kind of moment came last month when I took my BABY daughter to middle school.  I managed to hold it together until I got back in the car after making sure she got to the right waiting place and after I made sure she had lunch money on account.  When I got to the car, I cried a little bit and one thought kept going thru my head “I just left my baby girl with a bunch of junior high boys!!” AAACKKK!

I know that the whole point of having kids is to raise them to be good adults…but wow it just seems to be happening so fast!  It honestly doesn’t seem like that long ago when I held them each in my arms for the very first time. Tiny little helpless things, snuggling against me as I held them.  My boys are now both taller than me.  ( I know, I know.  That’s really not saying much) But I’ve still got a couple of inches on my daughter. 

I thank God for each of my three kids.  They are the reason I am still alive.  They make me laugh.  They take care of the things they should (for the most part).  They are good kids.  Thank you Father for each of them…so different from one another…so much a part of me.

³ Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
       children a reward from him.

 ⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
       are sons born in one’s youth.

(Psalms 127 NIV)