My weekly weigh-in revealed a seven ounce loss.  Perfect, as I go into Thanksgiving weekend, I’m at a “loss” so I can snarf away! And the survey says, “XXX”, wrong answer!

I used to think just that way and it sure hasn’t helped me get to my goal weight!  As I enter into this Thanksgiving, I have so much to be grateful for. My focus is to sure, eat and enjoy, but the main thing is relationships and the gratitude I feel towards God for those relationships.

My nugget this week is, reach out and touch someone.  And I’m not talking about the same “reach out and touch someone” as when the stranger on the express check out lane, behind you with two items, asks if they can, “just check out quickly before you” because you’re ten items might take so l-o-n-g….

I’m talking about something entirely different!

God has blessed me with an amazing family and friends! Despite my numerous imperfections, I feel loved and accepted for who I am, and that is a precious gift from God.

“Reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in the sweltering heart – refreshing!” Proverbs 25:7-20 (Message)

Okay, some friends are refreshing…and some just make for more sweltering. The refreshing ones, those are the ones I need to reach out and touch, instead of being the independent tough girl!

God revealed I’m too independent for my own good and it’s limited my growth and progress.  My independence has not helped me break through this plateau. In fact, I believe it is the very same independence that has kept me here, in the midst of my longest plateau yet…did I mention lately HOW LONG….MONTHS!

God also revealed, what carried me to this point is not going to be what carries me to my goal weight.  In the words of Emeril, I’m going to have to, “kick it up a notch!”

I prayed.

God used the book (that I keep talking about), The Shack by William Young, to deal with me about “me”.  God talked to the main character, “People are tenacious when it comes to the treasure of their imaginary independence.”

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The main character then replied, ”But I didn’t succeed.”

UGH.

I didn’t succeed to my goal weight (YET!) because I refused to be entirely dependent on God. My “imaginary independence” has done the opposite, plateaued me (and I’m not just talking weight here!)!

If you’re thinking, “big deal!”  It is a big deal.  This independent turkey,

does not like asking for help because, like my three year old son says, “I can do it all by myself”.

So, I reached out and touched some friends…

(No, not like E.T. phoning home…)

I asked our next door neighbor if she’d like to be morning workout partners.  She said she was in! YAHOO!  Not to sound like a war veteran here, but, there we were, it was 5:30am and 26 degrees.  We looked like…

I don’t want to put words in Jess’ mouth, but after our workout I felt like…

Next up, reach out and touch someone…milk.  Big tough girl, got the drugs and groceries after tucking her Cal into bed, but I forgot the milk…UGH! When I got home, my friend Jo called to check up on Cal. She said she was off work the next day and to call her if I need anything.

I hate feeling like I’m bugging someone.  I like being “bugged”.  If I can help a friend, I want to! So, within the hour, Jo brought over a gallon of milk, a big smile and hug and left me with, “if felt good to be needed.”  I felt like a weenie.

I can’t go to where God wants to take me, “all by myself”…sure, there will be some roads traveled alone, but not all of them! I need to stand down on the tough girl-ness and step up my interdependence.

How about you, are you a tough girl too? Will you choose to reach out and touch someone today to experience God’s love in another dimension?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and yours!

I just had a “Shack Attack”! No, I’ve not been attacked a gi-nor-mous (Steph slang for BIG) NBA basketball player, I just finished reading the bestselling fiction book, The Shack by William Young and I want to share about it!

I won’t lie, the intense emotional urges I had in the beginning few chapters nearly required that I abandoned this book, never to be opened again.  But I hung in there…the middle to end chapters were incredible!  This book continues to act as a fleece blanket that embraces both my spirit and mind on a cold winter’s day.

I’d love to know what you think about it too – good or bad…just to enter into a discussion.  To learn more about it, click below:

http://www.theshackbook.com

For any of my local, Northern Virgina/DC friends, I’ll be at the “long table” sucking down some decaf java at the South Riding Panera Bread on Tuesday, 2 Dec 08, from 7:30pm to 9:00pm, for a book discussion. Please come and bring a friend! Anyone in?

Panera Bread is located at 25042 Riding Plaza Drive South Riding, VA 20152, the phone number is: 703-542-2408.

*If you’re interested and can’t make it on the 2nd, let me know as I want to talk about The Shack until there’s no more talking to be done!

For my virtual friends, please post a comment or email…as the book highlighted, life is all about relationships with Him and one another!

My weekly weigh-in revealed a three ounce loss. I guess shaving my legs is helping my weight loss efforts!

This plateau has been my longest yet.  I keep asking God for help.  Each and every time, He’s loved and encouraged me.  He’s spoken through the ooodles of reading I have done. My recent comfort is that my body needs time to regulate, and balance out before losing more weight.  My spirit and emotions need time to adjust too.

I’m a remote control freak.  And it appears, the “affinity for remote control gene” was not mutated in our offspring.

Jake wants to fix the remote ASAP when it is not working properly…

Cal hasn’t the foggiest idea how to use it, but he wants to hold it…he knows the power…

As I drafted this blog from my private time chair, I ran to get our camera.

There’s my honey, who paid an additional $10 for a remote, so we could remotely turn on our “faux fireplace” that rests no more than six feet from any couch butt imprint. (I use it more than he does and I love it!)

Truth be told, I’m the household remote control freak.   Yup, it’s true…She’s a freak, yeow…

When I do watch TV, I L-O-V-E watching 2-3 shows at a given time (commercials are for the weak!). And Dave snuggles in, with out a complaint.

Unless, he gets the remote first, or the WVU Mountaineers are on TV, that’s a no longer discussed item, after a dozen years of marriage, it’s just understood…I instinctively know to grab my book and snuggle up to him!

But remote control is just that.  Just a slice of control from a distance away.  And there’s my nugget.

It is when I feel remotely in control that I start pinging.  A great example of was this Wednesday when Cal morphed into a vomit fountain. Talk about feeling remotely in control.  I felt a lack of control that even the drops of water I gave him came up and I couldn’t make his suffering stop.

After a pediatrician appointment, x rays at urgent care, a dozen vomit sessions and intravenous drugs and hydration at the local hospital, he’s recovering from pneumonia amazingly well! Thank you God!

Not just in parenting or in weight loss, it’s everything – I can’t control everything and since I can’t,  I can do my best, aka:”my part”…and God does the rest.  I prayed, cared for Cal and did my best by bringing him to the specialists and saw God deliver.

And I will do the same in my weight loss program.  During this plateau, I’ve thought So what’s a girl to do while waiting to be at her goal weight?

The answer: Keep on…keepin’ on.

In my private time today, I felt God wrap me with a hug and tied up this nugget with a beautiful bow.  He said to keep on keepin’ on, doing my best and trust that it’ll be Him that will bring the victory.

I have control over my decisions and choices….and, over a period of time, each drop of good choices add up to an ocean full of victory.  The Bible and God guide me in how to decide which choices to make.  I will keep doing my best (and wait….), and trust God to bring the victory!

Do your best…then trust God to bring the victory. Proverbs 21:23 (Message)

How are you doing when life is remotely in your control? Do you believe if you do your best, that in time, God will bring the victory?