My Fitness Journey: From Defeated & Discouraged to Hopeful & Healthy

November 15, 2018 by

Well, my friends. Tomorrow is my birthday. And I turn 33. #YayYikes

I don’t mind birthdays. And I don’t think there is really anything extra significant about turning 33.

Except this year, God has been on the move. A lot. 

Actually, He has been at work hardcore for the last 11 years. Actually, most of my life.

But I digress.

This year was a year of freedom. Of breakthrough. And so I want to share my story and celebrate it. (This is probably going to be a long-ish post. So get comfortable). #YouveBeenWarned

I do not write this post as “WOW, look at me! I’ve arrived!” Because I haven’t. Not hardly. I absolutely celebrate the victories large and small that I have conquered through the years, but even more so, I rejoice that God was behind every mile ran, every pound/inch lost, every reset moment, every positive food choice.

I also do not compose this blog as a weight-loss how to. This is about my spiritual journey more than anything. Yes, I know (in my head) that God loves me no matter my pant size or that pesky number on my scale. (He loves you too, BTW). I know (in my head) that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I am beautiful, etc.   This is my journey of getting my heart to really believe those truths and LIVE them out. To live as a Jesus girl capable of victory in this area of my life. To be able to go to the doctor’s office and not be completely terrified of what the scale is going to say. To turn to God instead of the fridge when things in life get stressful.

I’m still learning more and more about WHO I am and WHOSE I am. I have Jesus-gut feeling that this will probably be a lifetime process.

And so, here’s my fitness story and how God has transformed me from feeling defeated and discouraged to hopeful and healthy. [Read more…]

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Find Freedom, Fearlessly Focus & Flourish in Faith (Part 3)

August 31, 2018 by

(If you are just joining us today, get caught up on this mini series by reading Part 1 and Part 2).

I believe that complacence is one of the most dangerous tools of the enemy within the church today. The status quo is not a threat to Satan’s plan. That is where he wants us to stay, and let me tell you—it is very easy and comfortable! We can fall into the trap of “Maybe tomorrow” or “I will start Monday.” Well, guess what? Monday is coming!  [Read more…]

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Find Freedom, Fearlessly Focus & Flourish in Faith (Part 2)

August 29, 2018 by

(If you are just joining us, hop over and read Part 1 of this mini-series).

Spiritual growth is not something that will happen by “accident.” We have two small kiddos, a kindergarten girl and 18-month-old son and as cheesy as it sounds, they do grow up so fast. Sometimes I feel like they wake up in the morning and their clothes don’t fit anymore because they seem to have grown overnight!

Unfortunately, spiritual growth isn’t necessarily “natural” for us. We have to be so intentional and seek growth every single day, which can be a little bit intimidating. If we aren’t seeking to grow every day, soon we are once again stuck, just now maybe we somewhere with slightly different scenery. [Read more…]

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Find Freedom, Fearlessly Focus & Flourish in Faith (Part 1)

August 27, 2018 by

If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know I’m a military spouse. Before we moved to El Paso about three months ago, we were stationed at the 5th Ranger Training Battalion in North Georgia which is where the 2nd Phase of US Army Ranger School takes place, also known as Mountain Phase. I’ve been working on my health and fitness for a solid 11 years now, and during that time I have been on a quest to become a pseudo runner. Don’t worry, I won’t be winning trophies anytime soon, because my primary running goals are to finish the race, not break my face and not meet Jesus in the process.

Before we moved, I signed up to do the Ranger Run at Camp Merrill’s Open House. It was my first trail run, but I wasn’t TOO worried. [Read more…]

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Whole30: Week #6 Reflection

June 12, 2017 by

Another legit week of doing this Whole30 gig… Once again, food was pretty tasty and I had some cool Non-scale victories (Read on for more.)

Weekly Ranking (1-10)
9

Felt pretty good and I was grateful to have time to food prep adequately last week. I tried a couple of new recipes (which were a success) and minus a few moments of tiredness (something about having two kids, doing the ministry/educational things I do and a my hubs continually intense work schedule I think…

On My Menu

I kind of “created” a Cauliflower pizza casserole– and it was uber tasty. I’ve attempted actual cauliflower pizza a few times, but can never get the “crust” correct– so this time I just made it into a casserole since I knew I had to eat it with a fork anyways. Still tastes just as good and a whole lot less time consuming. Also, it converted into a pretty tasty breakfast dish halfway through the week by tossing a couple of over-easy eggs on top if it.

Also, I busted out the avocados this week (for some reason I haven’t been capitalizing on them much.) I had toad-in-a-hole for breakfast one day, then made some guacamole to go with my prosciutto-wrapped beef/veggie egg muffins (don’t be intimidated by the name… I just used the Prosciutto as  the muffin “liner” and scrambled some eggs with part of the cooked ground beef/bell peppers that I was using for Cauliflower pizza casserole. Easy peasy.

Oh, and taco salad– AH-MAZ-ING! I had cilantro-lime cauliflower “rice” for the first time and seriously– I bet if you didn’t tell a non-whole30er about it, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Victories

I got a chance this week to do some “benchmark” workouts to see if/how I have physically improved since starting Whole30. Well, let’s just say it was super encouraging! I improved my 2-min time limit sit-ups by 8, push-ups by 5 and (get this!) I took a whopping 3 min 4 seconds off my 2 mile run time! I am being realistic knowing that I likely will not be taking that much time off in future months per-chunk, but definitely a (huge!) step in the right direction. Thank you, Jesus.

Struggles

Nothing too major to report here– there were a few nights that I really wanted to just grab something on the way home, but the fact that I had food ready and waiting for me in the fridge was a huge keep-me-accountable factor. (Again, the major importance of food prep!) Also, I had a few anxiety flare ups (Charis briefly had a headache/fever thing going on for like a day and, like a moron, I googled her symptoms. #WhenWillILearn #UG) Brandon’s super intense schedule/long hours/non-sleepingness wasn’t helpful… So I had some lightening cravings of “I WANT SUGAR” or something to make me “feel better” but thankfully, knowing that I needed to remain accountable to our Facebook Group AND Jesus kept me on the straight and narrow.

Tweaks for Next Week

I really don’t think I have much that I am doing differently– Kroger Clicklist is still my BFF in this season and splitting up food prep over a couple of days has been really helpful and less frantic/stressful. Also, I have yet to get sick of Madras Chicken Salad… Pretty sure I’ve eaten 5 out of the last six weeks for lunch.

So friends– until next week– stay strong!

To the Glory of God alone,

 

 

“I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.” ~Psalm 143:6

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Whole30: Weeks 4 & 5 (Month #1) Reflection

June 3, 2017 by

You know, after all this time of following Jesus, I really shouldn’t be so surprised with Him. But alas, He keeps rocking my world.

I have completed a full month of Whole30 lifestyle (again) and couldn’t be more pleased. Probably the greatest revelation I’ve had in the last couple weeks was this thought: “I am so freaking busy right now. WHY did I decide to do Whole30?!?!” Which was immediately followed by:“I’ve needed more energy, contentment and legit-Jesus attitude more in the last month than I have in a very long time. I don’t NOT have time to keep this up!”  [Read more…]

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Fat Free-Dom (Wives of Faith)

July 20, 2015 by

Since becoming an adult, I do everything I can to avoid the F-word.

Wait, wait– not THAT F-word. (This is a Christian blog, for crying out loud! Avoiding THAT word is surely implied.)

This F-word:

FAT.

For some reason, back when He was drawing up plans for heaven and earth, God saw fit to make me struggle with physical fitness. For as long as I can remember, I turned to food when I am stressed. Or happy. Or lonely. Or… you get the picture.

Food and I were BFFs. 2-gether, 4-ever. Until…  [Read more…]

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Now That’s Some Heavy Metal!

July 6, 2015 by

This month, I celebrate 4 years (YEARS!?!) since my call to ministry. 

And as I travel down Nostalgia Lane, I can’t help but think how far I have come– yet how God has walked with me through it all. 

So here is a blast from the past– literally my fifth-ever blog post (I have more than 700 now!) but one whose truth’s still ring true…

Enjoy! 

***

When it comes to my iTunes playlist, my iPod, my Pandora account or car radio preset stations, you should know that there is no pattern, rhyme or reason to any of them. People have told me (on more than one occasion) that I have quite an eclectic variety of songs in my collection. I can’t really blame them for the loud exclamations of shock when my computer shuffles from Alison Krause to Asian techno to Broadway show-tunes to christian praise, back to classic country and yes, even over to a very-small-G-rated-collection of heavy metal favorites. [Read more…]

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Practicing What We Preach: Forgiveness

December 1, 2014 by

We all have to deal with it.

Releasing it brings freedom, only good things come from experiencing it, but sometimes we refuse to submit and we cling to it like a two-year-old hoarding a piece of candy.

Forgiveness. I have forgotten the number of times I have unofficially coached people to dig deep and forgive someone.

Here at 7 Days Time, it has been quite the topic for discussion. We have an entire page in our Scripture Library dedicated to forgiveness. We have multiple blogs about forgiving ourselves, finding the faith to forgive, and even forgiving in the little, tiny, everyday moments.

Funny thing is, as much as I preach it and write about it, God still places this forgiveness issue on my own heart. [Read more…]

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Four Steps to Freedom (EverydayJesus Link-Up)

November 20, 2014 by

Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day! 

***

Blackness is all around me. The mechanical sound of artificial rain fills the room. I stand, towering over her, willing my heart to slow because I am sure she can hear it.

My nose itches but I don’t dare scratch it because she detects the slightest hint of movement. My lower back starts to ache and I listen for the rhythmic sound of her breath. For the next two and a half minutes, I argue with myself as I cling to the top rail of the crib. Is she asleep? Can I escape undetected? Wait, did she just squeak? Maybe I should wait another minute or twelve? 

I breathe a silent prayer. The time is right. Stealthily, I engage my mama-ninja stills and silently turn to face the bedroom door. Ok, Jesus. I have just four steps to make it out of here undetected by this anti-sleeping, cry-puking tiny human. Please, God in heaven… Make it happen.  [Read more…]

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