Taking a Stand

Ok, so all the rage among women these days is Magic Mike and the Fifty Shades trilogy. I have been both surprised and disappointed in the number of Christian women that I have heard about either going to see the movie or reading the books and I decided that a stand must be taken. My stand… I will NOT be watching Magic Mike and I will NOT be reading any of the Fifty Shades books.

“Why not?” I know you are asking that question. Well, for starters, watching/reading that involves lust…which is a sin. In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus says,“You have heard that it was said to those of old,‘You shall not commit adultery’. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is also true for women. Lusting after a man or the mental images of a man is just as much adultery as actually cheating on your husband/boyfriend.

I love my husband and I refuse to put him through the mental anguish that my reading those books or watching that movie would cause. I know what you’re thinking…”My husband won’t care. As long as I’m happy, he’s happy.” Wrong. Ladies, how would you feel if your husband openly watched pornographic movies in front of you? How would you feel trying to compare yourself to the make up and flesh and sex that they are watching, and feeling that you really don’t measure up??? Hurts doesn’t it? I refuse to do that to the man who God made for me to love and spend my life with.

So, I’m not watching Magic Mike or reading Fifty Shades of Grey or the other two Fifty Shades books. I know I may not have done a very good job of explaining myself, but I felt like I had to share my feelings on this matter. I’ve included some links to other blogs and posts that share my feelings about this at the end of this post. They do a much better job at expressing their opinion than I do. I hope you’ll read them also.

http://www.courtneyshull.com/2012/06/why-im-not-watching-magic-mike-or.html

http://www.purefreedom.org/blog/?p=320

http://intentionalbygrace.com/2012/06/21/im-not-reading-fifty-shades-of-grey/

Reading and Relying

I have prayed over and wrestled with this blog post for a while.  I knew what I wanted to say, I just didn’t know how to say it.  I pray that I use the right words as I tell about this journey.

So, I’m on this healthy living journey,  and things are going good.  I have lost 12.6 pounds so far, but I have a long way to go.  It has been a struggle.  Not just with eating right, but with getting active as well.   Both are essential with making progress. I have finally figured out something that works for me on the getting active part.  I have discovered that I love walking.  I like to put some praise music on and just walk and talk to God.  The other day I walked four miles for the first time EVER in my life!  Yay!

I have been reading Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst through out this journey, or well, I guess I should say attempting to read it.  The reason I say that is that there is one line in the second chapter that I get stuck on every time.  I’ve read the first chapter several times.  I get into the second chapter and come to this particular question in the middle of the chapter and I’ll close the book and put it away for a week or two. I just couldn’t seem to get past that question.  It made me angry, furious.  It made me hurt and cry.   I know what you’re saying.  “What kind of statement would cause you to do that?  It can’t be that bad.  What does she say?”  The question was this…

“Is it possible we love and rely on food more than we love and rely on God?”

Ouch!  Think about that for a minute.  Do we love food more that God?  Do we seek comfort in food more that seeking comfort in God?  Do we go to our refrigerator or pantry looking for something to ease our stressed out minds instead of going to God in prayer and laying our stresses at His feet?

Remember I said the question made me angry?  It did.  My first thought at that question was, “How could she say that?  I’m a good Christian!  I don’t put food before God!  That’s ridiculous!  She doesn’t know what she’s talking about!  I’m not reading this anymore!”  Each time I went back to the book in desperation for answers to why what I was trying to do to get healthy just wasn’t working.  And each time I would get to that question and I would stop reading.

Then the day came when I read the question and a flood of tears followed.  No anger this time as the reality of the question hit me.  I had been loving and relying on food more than I had been loving and relying on God.  To me, food was my comfort, my stress relief, my depression stopper, etc.  When I felt that I needed comfort or relief, I always turned to food.  As this reality became clear, I cried.  And, I continued to read.  I didn’t put the book up this time.  And I’m glad I didn’t, because I discovered as I continued to read,  that my eating habits and food journey do matter to God and that it’s something He takes seriously.

See, God never intended for us to want anything or anybody more that we want Him.  We can see that all through the Bible.  Just look at the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land.  The whole journey is marked with occasions where they wanted something else more than they wanted God and His Promised Land.  For one example, they put God to the test, demanding the food that they craved.  (Psalm 78:18).  It didn’t turn out too well for them. (Check out Numbers 11 for more about this particular occasion of the Israelites craving something else instead of God.)

So what’s the solution for all of this?  Well, Lysa made a suggestion in her book that I think is a winner.  When you feel like you are craving unhealthy things, pray.  That’s right.  Pray.  Use your cravings as a prompting for prayer and allow God to slowly tear down the walls that seem to be blocking your way, walls of impossibility, resistance, hopelessness.

So I began to do this.  And I’ve had to pray, well, …A LOT.  Now I’m not saying that every time I have felt like I wanted a huge piece of chocolate cake that I have spent and hour praying for God to remove that craving and then get up and go on my way.  I am saying that when I start craving something unhealthy.  I take it to God.  Sometimes , it’s while I’m standing in front of the open refrigerator wanting some ice cream but instead choosing an orange or grapes for a snack.  Sometimes, I get to craving so badly that I do have to go sit down and cry out to God, literally.  I’m talking buckets of tears, crying out to Him.  And, ever so slowly, He’s helping me out of my addictions.

Yes, I just called my food habits addictions.  It’s the truth.  My bad eating habits truly are an addiction that I am asking God to help me over come.  And He is.  All I had to do was ask and begin to rely on Him instead of the food.

Now, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying.  I am not perfect and I don’t claim to have it all figured out.  I still struggle daily.  I still like a big ole greasy cheeseburger and do occasionally have one.  But I don’t let that cheeseburger own me.  It doesn’t determine my worth and it doesn’t have the power over me that it use to have, because I have decided to rely on and love God instead of my food.

Any one else been struggling with the same issue or something similar?  Have you turned it over to God?

I know I’ve been very long with this post and I did ramble some.  I hope that this is encouragement to someone.  I pray for all of my readers and hope you all have a blessed day!

Frustration

I have got some frustration going on right now.  I try so hard to do good:  make healthy food choices, exercise but most of the time, it all ends up being thrown to the side.  A month ago, I was on track and doing great.  I had lost 9 pounds and was on cloud nine about it.  Then things started going backwards.  It started with one step back, then another, then another and I have just kept spiraling backwards.  It came to a head this past week when I stepped up on the scales for the first time in a month and I had gained over half of what I had lost back in less time that it took me to lose it.  My heart was crushed.  Then, I became angry at myself for allowing it to happen, for being weak and unable to stick to a healthy lifestyle.  I wallowed in this self-pity, telling myself that I should just accept that fact that I would never be able to lose any weight and I would be fat for the rest of my life, so I should just deal with it.  (Not a good attitude to have, by the way.)

In an effort to climb out of my pit of frustration and anger, I bought a book.  It’s called Made to Crave Devotional by Lysa TerKeurst.  I thought, “Well, I’ll try anything.”  I sat down and read day one and really honestly still felt indifferent about it.  Day two was about the same.  Day three came this morning.  And it hit me right square between the eyeballs.  It talked about obedience to God and how we should strive to be obedient to Him and not to our scales.  The prayer at the end of the daily reading sent tears to my eyes as I read and prayed it:

Dear Lord, I don’t want to define myself by a number on my scale or any other human value.  I truly want to be obedient to You    each day.  Help me to follow hard after You. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Being obedient to God and giving Him my best is what is important, not the numbers on the scale or the size of my jeans.  My scales do NOT define who I am…my Jesus defines who I am!

I went through the day armed with this truth.  And oh how hard it was.  Temptation was everywhere.  But, I did go for a walk this afternoon.  Then, my husband and I started back our 5K training tonight.  After that, we went to get something to eat(I forgot to set out our supper to thaw.)  I really, really, REALLY wanted a big hamburger and fries and a soda, but hubby wouldn’t allow it…good thing too.  I would have ordered the biggest burger on the menu!  Subway instead.  I wasn’t exactly thrilled with it, but it was good and it was better for me.  I made the right choice tonight.  Tomorrow will be another day.  God will be with me to help.  Hopefully the frustration will ease as I go along.

 

 

 

Be still

“Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to be still.”

 

I read this statement in a devotion a few days ago.  The devotional reading itself was talking about situations that we as parents face with our children that may cause us to act rashly out of fear if we don’t rely on our faith.  The whole day’s reading was good, but this one statement has been with me ever since.  “Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to be still.”  Many times in our lives we are faced with scary things, hard things, crazy things, and we find ourselves wanting to run in the other direction or hide or anything but be still and see what God is doing with those things He has put in our lives.  The verses that accompanied this particular devotional reading were Exodus 14:13-14, where the Israelites were sitting at the Red Sea and Pharoah’s army was coming after them.  They were facing something scary, something crazy and they were FREAKING OUT!  They couldn’t understand why their God would deliver them from Egypt only to let them be taken back or killed right here at the water’s edge.

         But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today.  The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again.  The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Hello!  The Lord HIMSELF will fight for them!  All they had to do was just stand still and God would take care of them!

I know there have been many, many times in my adult life that I have tried to face the journey ahead with my very independent attitude.  “I can take care of this myself” is what I would say and I would take off running, forward or backward, which ever way I felt was best, when what I should have been doing was standing still and watching the Lord rescue me.

We live in such a rush and run society that everything is moving constantly in our lives.  We get stressed out when something happens that is not according to the way we had our day mapped out.  So we go to looking all around us, trying to find a way out and back to our mapped out plan.   We want a solution…IMMEDIATELY.  That’s just not how God works.  He works on His time, not ours.  And we have to “Just stay calm” and trust Him and believe that He will take care of us and will do what He has promised us that He will do.  It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but “I can do anything through Christ, who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13).”

Please forgive me if I seem to have rambled a bit on this post.  I just wanted to share something that had been on my mind for a few days.  My prayer is that God will use this post to help someone else in their walk.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to be still.

 

Turning 29, Falling off the Wagon, and Bad Days

Hey everyone!  First off, let me tell you that I have lost a total of 7 pounds since January 1st…yay!

I celebrated my 29th birthday this past week.  For some people, that’s like, “OMG!  One step closer to 30!  You’re getting old!”  For me, I’m happy to be another year older.  Considering the alternative, I’ll take getting older any day.  I have been so blessed by all of the friends and family that have shown be so much love this past week. The bad part about my birthday…my car quit.  Yup, would not start at all when I went to leave work on Tuesday.  I was so embarrassed sitting in the parking lot with a dead car.   Luckily, my sweet husband had gotten off work early and was in town to come to my rescue.  My hero!  He came and picked me up and took me home and held me while I cried over something that I really had no control over, but that I felt like crying over anyways.  Not the best birthday ever, but at least it ended great…all three of us piled up on the bed after supper that night and watched a movie together.  I love my two men!

This week has been super busy and as a result…I fell off the wagon, so to speak.  I have not been keeping up with my calorie counts each day and I have eaten way more than I should have and also a lot of things I shouldn’t have eaten.  I have not exercised AT ALL and I feel sluggish.  I feel like I am failing when I mess up like this.  I get down and start thinking that I can’t do this, that I may as well give up and just be content to be heavy and unhealthy the rest of my life.  And the bad days of this week haven’t helped either.  See, I am a stress eater.  When I get stress…I eat…A LOT.  But really that is just an excuse, and excuses get you nowhere on this journey.  So, I’m picking my self up today, dusting my knees off and getting back on the wagon today.  I have to put my trust and faith in God and know and remember that He will help me and take care of me.  He is my helper and strength to finish this journey.

“I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!“

Psalm 121:1-2

 

May you all have a blessed Sunday!  Go to church today.  God bless!

 

 

General ramblings of the day

As I sat down today to write, my mind traveled in many directions, trying to decide what I should write about.  I stared at the blank screen for a while, but nothing came.  I put my laptop away, put some laundry in to wash, played with my little boy, then returned to my computer to write.  Again, nothing.  Blank.  Laptop put away, laundry out of the washer and into the dryer.  While doing all of this, I thought back over the week.  What should I write?  I could write about the 3.2 pounds I’ve lost since January 1st.  That would be a short post.  I could write about my husband getting a new job this week.  That’s great news to share.  I could tell about what we ate this week, but I have already blogged the best recipe we had this week.  In truth, this is more than likely going to be just a random list of thoughts today.

I did weigh in this past week with a total weight loss since January 1st of 3.2 pounds.  We are counting calories and let me tell you it really does work.  I had no idea how many calories and fat grams I was consuming in one meal, not to mention the whole day!  It has really changed the way I think about food and what I eat and how much I eat. I am quite sure that if I could get more active and get into an exercise routine, I could have lost more weight already. That’s another thought for another time.

Kenny did get a new job that he will be starting in a little over a week.  I’m so proud of my husband for all of his hard work and I’m happy that he is getting this wonderful opportunity.  There are going to be some changes to our routine that we will all have to adjust to and I’m sure I’ll let you all know how that goes.

I have a confession.  I have cheated tremendously over the last couple of days.  On Friday, I left for work without my lunch, my water bottle, my coffee, and my breakfast!  Thankfully, I had something on hand for breakfast (and someone at work had made coffee! ) and ate lunch in the cafeteria where the menu was a hamburger and french fries or corn dog nuggets and french fries…a definite calorie nightmare.  So, to save on calories, I didn’t eat an afternoon snack. (Not a smart choice, by the way.)  My little boy went to spend the night with his grandparents so Kenny and I went out to eat…at Huddle House.  And guess what I ordered…a burger with french fries.  I ate almost all of it too.  Then, we went to the store and got ice cream and cookies.  So, Friday…not a good calorie day.  In fact, I probably gained back all of the 3.2 pounds I have lost!  But, you know what?  Bad days happen.  It’s ok.  I can’t dwell on it, or I will never get back on track.  Get over it and move on to the next day, making it a good day.  Changing your lifestyle is not easy.  It’s a journey that is day by day.  I pray every day for God to help us in our journey.

Well, this is enough rambling for one day!  Hope I didn’t bore anyone!

Until next time, God bless!

Mexican night!

Tonight was Mexican night for dinner.  Yes, we have a “theme” for each night.  We have a chicken night, a seafood night, a crock pot night, a breakfast night, and an authentic night.  Tonight was authentic night and we had Mexican.  No, we did not go out to eat.  We cooked our own meal at home.  It was so delicious and easy that I wanted to share it with you all.

Quesadillas

1 lb. ground turkey

1 lb. button mushrooms, sliced

1 bag grated mozzarella part-skim low moisture cheese

8 Whole wheat tortillas

ground cumin

garlic powder

1)Brown turkey in a skillet on medium high heat, seasoning with ground cumin and garlic powder to taste.  Drain.  Pour in to bowl and set aside.

2)Saute mushrooms using butter flavored cooking spray in skillet on medium heat.  Pour in to bowl and set aside.

3)Warm tortilla shells according to package directions.

4)”Build” quesadillas as follows:  layer 1/4 cup ground turkey, 1 tbsp. mushrooms, 1/4 cup grated cheese.  Fold quesadilla in half, being careful not to squeeze out any of the filling.  Place on a cookie sheet/baking pan.  Repeat until all ingredients are used up.

5)Place in a 350 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

 

This recipe is great!  We loved them!  The best part….each quesidillia contains only 247 calories!  Low calorie, quick and tasty!

If you don’t feel that great about ground turkey, you can use a very lean ground beef instead and still be at around 300 calories.  If you want an even lower calorie dish, cut the meat all together and just load up the tortillas with mushrooms and cheese.

Hope you all enjoy this dish.  We loved it!