ENCOURAGED IN HEART

My weekly weigh in revealed a one pound and four ounce loss!  YAHOO!  That’s something to be positive about!

This past month in particular, God keeps re-revealing that being positive is a choice and in order for me to be joyful, I need to make the choice to proactively look for the positive! Being realistic, I still need to lose weight to get to my ideal target. Being positive means to me, “look how far God’s brought me” – being negative is, “I’ll never get to my goal weight.” God used Joyce Meyer’s teaching to not just stop thinking negative, but replace the negative with a positive!

I love Philippians 4:8-9 “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (Message)

Three weeks ago, I went on the daunting task of bra shopping.  It is no small task to keep my bosom buddies (or “the girls” as Dave and I often refer to them as) “high and lifted up”.  My bra fitting revealed I was wearing the wrong bandwidth, two inches too big! There is a positive to focus on!

Two weeks ago, I began a support group journey with nine other women based on the Lose It For Life book by Stephen Arterburn and Linda Mintle. The past two weeks, I have experienced amazing support from hearing real women in pursuit of putting God smack dab in the middle of their weight loss pursuit.

I reflect on the amazing support from God, friends and family from this new pursuit of gaining health (which incorporates weight loss) and writing.  I oddly relate their support to my new bras…this girl and “the girls” are high and lifted up!

God directed me that I need to train my brain to think about the positive, not the negative!

Put God’s direction in Philippians 4:8-9 into action. What are you choosing to be high and lifted up (positive) about?

My Sunday weekly weigh in revealed a two ounce loss.  Dazzling, huh?  Well, to me it is! It is progress! God revealed a long time ago that He is much more interested in my honest pursuit of Him (aka: my progress), than my feeble attempt at perfection (which is impossible to attain while on this earth!)

This was an emotionally vulnerable week stepping out in my new “career” as a writer with my first newsletter and blog.  I choose to celebrate my two ounce loss because I can remember back to a time, revealing the”real me”, would have resulted in more of me to love (if you catch my drift)!

I can no longer focus just on the 11 pounds left to lose; I need to celebrate the past progress that has brought me to today!  Throughout the past five years of becoming spiritually, physically and emotionally healthy, I haven’t just focused on weight.  This is a taste of what progress has looked like to me:

• Having more spiritual/emotional/physical endurance:
• Spiritual – Learning how to journal and trust God with the  words I wrote.
• Emotional – Sharing my struggles with other women.
• Physical – Trying a new exercise (I love my spin classes now!).
• Admitting I was an emotional eater.
• Measuring my body, identifying I was obese and needing change.
• Making changes to my private time, eating patterns and exercise routine.
• Admitting I turned to food, not God, for comfort.
• Admitting I abused food, that I was an eating addict.
• Wearing a smaller pants size.
• Losing 60 pounds.
• Increasing my energy during the day.
• Getting off one prescription drug.
• Prioritizing my true priorities.
• Keeping off 60 pounds.
• Turning to God in prayer during tempting times.
• Identifying my need for transparency.
• Allowing myself to receive grace.
• Pressing through plateaus.
• REFUSING TO QUIT.

Refusing to quit has been my most precious progress milestone to celebrate!  Galatians 6:9 continually motivates me, “So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.” (Message)

Don’t quit! Each step of stepping out is to be celebrated! What step are you choosing (and it is a deliberate decision) to celebrate?

It’s a New Year and a new day! With God, each day is a new start, not just as the next year turns over.

I will be blogging my continued health (weight loss) journey, weekly, right here at this blogsite!  I will provide my + or – weight progress and a weekly “nugget” of insight that God has revealed.

For 2008 – I have the choice to focus on the Twelve Days of Christmas – aka: The Twelve Pounds of weight I want to lose OR focus on God.  I pray my primary focus this year is to know God more deeply. I want to worship Him, not my scale.

The first 60 pounds came off slowly as God revealed many of my vulnerabilities.  I am learning more about Him and myself.  One of the most important lessons learned is that I need to trust Him for comfort, not my former comforter, food.  I trust that through my relationship with Him, I will arrive at my destination.  My mind, spirit and body will be shaped more like Him.

What is your New Year’s focus or goal?