You look great!!

I have to tell you....it's been nice hearing that sentiment over the past several months. Since November 2010, I've lost 30lbs and went from a size 12/14 to a 6/8. The outward change has been incredible in so many ways. BUT....there's been an inward change too. One that I'm afraid has NOT been as evident. It's a change that's brought me closer to God and closer to my friends. It's made me a better friend, a better co-worker, a better wife and a better mom.

In fact, I think that this inward change happened FIRST....and maybe enabled some of the outward to occur. The change is this.....I've not only realized what a treasure I am in the eyes of God, but I've accepted and embraced it.

As I've thought about the weight loss....I have to be honest and say that I've tried to do this at least a dozen times if not two or three dozen. I've tried all sorts of diets, pills, websites, calorie counters, etc....and pretty much failed every time. The ONLY time I had similar results was after Sara was born and I did a Christian program called First Place - lost about 25# then but proceeded to get pregnant again and lost all that progress!

So what was different this time? Back to the thought of being a treasure in God's eyes. I spent the Fall of 2010 in a discipleship class at FBC Olive Branch where we got down and dirty into the simplicity of what our life's purpose should be. That was, in case you're uncertain, to KNOW God, to GLORIFY God and to BE LIKE God. We dug into those things week after week, becoming a disciple of sorts, or as much of one as you can be in the 21st century. That class threw me into some intense Bible study, some deep prayer and the kind of understanding that I'd always looked for but hadn't had much luck in finding. So my big takeaways?? That God loves me no matter what. That God treasures me in spite of all my failings. That my purpose on Earth is to make known His goodness and that His power will help me succeed as I go forward in that quest.

Those learnings, coupled with a wonderful friend that believed in me, coupled with an exercise and nutrition program that made sense, coupled with the confidence and knowledge that I could indeed to all things through Christ who strengthens me (love that verse....Eph 4:29), catapulted me into a 6-week period of intense determination that I have yet to fall away from. I believe that my heart and my soul were cleansed, that they had become so much more fit, and that that was what enabled me to get my physical self in such better shape.

A three-legged being? Physical, emotional and spiritual? Absolutely. A winning combination? Oh yea.