In the Backseat

Usually alone in the back seat.  Not THIS time!

 This quote from one very gifted, contemporary author 

sums up my life the past three years...
"How surprising to discover that devotion to God often grows best from the backseat, 

in hidden years, and in deserts." (Alicia Britt Chole)
Since my father came to live with us, 

I spend most travel time in the back seat!
Often alone.

It has provided an interesting perspective.
I'm not sure how to measure growth in devotion to God, 

but I AM trusting in His power and ability to "grow" me...

Heavy Loads

It's been two years since I'd been to my family doctor.

One of my prescriptions needed updated.  The office nurse called and told me that
(naturally) before he'd refill it, I needed to see him.

Fortunately, there was an early morning appointment available.

I took it.

I'd been putting off the inevitable knowing that when I stepped on the scale,

I'd be met by hard, cruel facts.

I was.

Our doctor is a good one.  He listened.  He didn't lecture.
He didn't HAVE to.
I left with a new prescription and fresh determination.
Then I was on my way to feed Mother her noon meal at the nursing home in Ohio.
I was stopped at one point by this train hauling tank cars--
a line that stretched beyond my view and just kept coming!
As I waited and watched, I smiled to myself
at the reminder of a few heavy loads I am currently bearing--
not the least of which is LITERAL and PHYSICAL extra weight
(which doesn't make the OTHER loads easier to bear)!
THIS challenge is not impossible.
My determination is fresh.  I have a plan.
And I started.  Yesterday.
The "train" is in motion - which is sometimes the most difficult part of the "haul"!

Hell - Real and Final

Some of you may know that I have been on an intentional health/weight-loss journey since February 2012.  I am practicing what some call intermittent fasting - which is not NEARLY as difficult or austere as it sounds.  The Fast-5 lifestyle calls for eating within a 5 hour "window" each day while "fasting" the other 19.

On Fast-5's facebook page the other day, I posted that I was going to be paying attention to and  limiting the amount of sugary foods that had crept back into my "5".

Someone commented:  "Low carb and Fast 5 is easy.  High carb and Fast 5 is HELL!"

I couldn't let that go by.  I promptly responded:  "It would be nice if HELL was only 'high carb and fast 5'!  But that's another story...What I personally have liked is that Fast-5 is not exclusively high or low ANYthing.  (At least that is my understanding and experience this past year...)"

This snowy morning, I baked 6 raisin-bran muffins from the batter sitting in our refrigerator.  

We will enjoy them later.
 Carbs and all--thought I did cut the sugar back by about 1/2.

 But my heart is heavy for a society that flings the word "hell" around 

without any concept of its reality and finality.  

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

John 3:16

Perishing.  That's what hell is.

Dying but never actually being able to die...with an ETERNAL death wish...

in the pain and pangs of death forever;

while those who have believed and received the gift of God's eternal life

live without another thought of death,

forever rejoicing in the presence of life's Creator and Sustainer!

Heaven is not the ONLY thing that"is for real"!

Why IS This?

I found this exercise here and tried it. It's true! Why IS this?  It reminds me of a conversation my friend and I had at the kitchen table yesterday morning...

We've both been struggling with gaining weight lately. I identified MY problem as being a "cluster" of challenges--difficult to separate one from another. Each influences the other challenges -- kind of like the foot and the hand thing!

My friend and I expressed our determination to address our individual issues and check in on each other.  My work will be to get my hands and feet cooperating with my mind and emotions to correct some bad habits that have replaced HEALTHY and  WHOLESOME ones including:

•  Substituting blogging for daily hand-written journaling
•  Neglecting 30 minutes of daily exercise
• NOT neglecting sugar
•  NOT neglecting breads and pasta
•  Neglecting daily times of prayer

If confession is good for the soul, then it is well with my soul! 

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God's steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:11-14).

How'd You Do It?

Rebecca,  I'm so impressed with your healthy living venture and I'm wondering if you can point me to just HOW you accomplished this weight loss...did you follow a specific diet or what?

This question was posed to me recently in a comment on my Power, Love and Self-Control blog.  Here is my "long" answer.  At the age of 60, I am no newcomer to diets.  I have tried many.  Almost all of them have been successful in proportion to my diligence.  Therefore, it is no surprise that when my diligence diminishes, I have gained weight.

My  30+ pound weight loss in the past 5 months has happened as I have made fresh vegetables and fruit the mainstays of my diet.  Each day I have tried to have 3-4 ounce of lean protein (usually chicken breast; sometimes lean beef or turkey sausage).  I've tried to include fish at least once a week--and often twice.  I have eaten very little bread, pasta or desserts. I have also been quite consistent in walking 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Early on I vocalized my commitment to lose weight and asked for prayer in the small, home fellowship group my husband and I meet with every other week.  I believe this has also played a large part in my weight loss.  I journal daily, pray daily, and write my goal weight every day at the beginning of my journal entry for that day.

Summing it up, I've synthesized what I know nutritionally, tried to be honest about my portion sizes, prayed, and exercised.  That has been MY part.  God's part has been the larger part.  I am aware that His power is at work in me; His grace is available to me; He has given me the spirit of love and of power and of self-control.

Where I Lost a Pound

This was a SIGNIFICANT pound, too! See my Power, Love and Self-Control blog if you're interested....