Construction Day 1

Yesterday was a pretty easy day. I filled my thoughts with these truths and prayers....

 

"God, give me a desire to be healthy"

"Help me to feel satisfied with healthier choices"

"God, I recognize I am made for more than the vicious cycle of being ruled by gods. I need to eat to live, not live to eat. So I am asking for Your widsom to know what to eat and Your indwelling power to walk away from things that are not beneficial for me."

"Lord, help me to find fullfillment in my relationship with you"

"God has given me power over my food choices. I hold the power - not the food. So, if I'm not supposed to eat it, I won't put it in my mouth."

So basically I had each of these as a "note" on an app called "Bug Me" on my phone and set them up to come up as a notification every hour or so. Choosing to eat healthy wasn't hard at all, I even skipped my afternoon trip to the (free) fountain drink machine at work!

 

Going to the gym was also as easy choice thanks to some new work out shoes I wanted to wear and not having cable at home! I am a sucker for the Bachelor and Bachelorette. I usually watch it on hulu the day after it airs but since last night was the finale and I really wanted to watch it live. Since I don't have cable my best option was to go to the gym when the show starts and do cardio for as long as I could. I made it for 90 minutes. The show is two hours so I missed the end (I got my mom to watch it for me while I was on the phone and she gave me a play by play).

 

I started my cardio on the bike. I knew I was planning on staying for as much of the show as possible so I didn't want to overdo it. I did an hour on the bike then moved to the treadmill (or as my dad called it today, the "walking machine" ha!) where I did week one's 30 minute walk/jog routine from the book "Run for God"....getting ready for Race for the Cure in October! When my legs were sore while I was doing the jogging part I kept repeating these two things in my head, "I'm not in pain, I'm just sore" and "God, give me YOUR strength right now b/c I feel like stopping!"

I tracked the food I ate and the exercise activities I did on "The Daily Plate" website and app. I highly recommend doing this!

 

All in all I'm happy for the way my first day went. All thanks to God!

 

Temple Rebuilding

I know I dropped off the face of the earth again, with Africa, Guatemala and adjusting back and forth to/from the two, well, I've just been busy, but I hope you've kept up with my Africa blog, not sure when I'll get Guatemala posted!

 

Any who, this blog is going to serve as a "temple re-building" blog for awhile. What does that mean? Well, I hate the word "diet" but clearly I need to get in a better eating and exercise routine so I decided if our bodies are the temple of the Lord, this temple needs some construction! I'm embarressed to God at my lack of taking care of His temple. So I'm going to try to do a short blog post daily to track the temple rebuilding progress to help keep me accountable.

 

One thing I've learned from being in other cultures is that a lot of people rely on God for their daily survivial. In America we tend to think we can survive without God because we can "provide for ourselves" but there's something about standing in front of a weeping woman with 3 kids in her dirt floored home hearing her say she prayed that morning that God would provide food and you've come to bring her food that changes you. I want to believe God the way that woman does. I want to trust Him in all areas of my life. I want to turn to Him when I'm weak and vulnerable.

 

It was easy for me to eat well and exercise a few years ago...I had a personal trainer keeping me accountable ALL THROUGHOUT THE DAY (cause he was my boyfriend, too). Seriously, it was on my mind all the time and I worked out sometimes twice a day. I didn't turn to or have a need for God, I put my trust in man to help me reach my goals. Ultimately that got me no where really. So as a way to help me become more intimate in my relationship with Christ I'm going to put my trust in Him and fill my time in prayer and reading His truth to help me on this journey. I want to turn to Him daily... even hourly to help me when I struggle with eating choices and not wanting to exercise the same way that lady trusts Him for food.

 

Two books I've started reading for encouragement are, "Run for God" and "Made to Crave." I love both of these biblical perspectives on weight loss and exercise. As corny as it may sound, I've written truths from these books, scriptures and prayers on stickie notes on my iphone and am setting them as "reminders" throughout the day as encouragement. I don't need a personal trainer to keep me accountable, I've got God! His strength and power are much more powerful than man's! 

 

So I'll mention some of these truths, scriptures and prayers and be talking about my daily walk with God on this journey on days to come.

 

P.S. - Two extra motivations - possible cruise in September and Race for the Cure in October! 

Who wants to join???