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.

The Proof of Discipline - Part Three

Can't believe it's been two months since I've written!! Busy? Yep. Slightly uninspired? Yea, that too.

So: back to proof of discipline. Number three was:

3) My clothes fit better (or I need new ones)

Well....I can unequivocally say that I have had to buy some new clothes!! Getting in shape has been costly - hundreds of dollars spent on new dress slacks and shirts for work. But I LIKE the way the clothes feel and fit.

So how about spiritually? How do I relate 'clothes fitting' with spiritual matters and discipline? I'll know that I'm being disciplined in my walk with God when all those loose, baggy clothes, worn specifically to hide what I didn't want people to see, are replaced by clothes that show off the new me. These clothes are a joy-filled smile, not a plastered on one. A spirit of warmth lightly draped over my shoulders as opposed to a big heavy sweater that provided some false fuzzy feeling. Yep, there are new clothes. Woohoo!!

The Friends We Choose.....

This thought has me a little twisted up, but felt the need to share.

This morning in Sunday School, our teacher touched briefly on some old testament history. He mentioned that 'back in the day', when a King didn't like what a prophet foretold, he would often go find a different prophet that would tell him what he wanted to hear. Sounds funny and silly, doesn't it?!!

Well...that made me think. Yea, I know. Happens every once in a while. I started thinking about how we today surround ourselves with people that will tell us what WE want to hear too. We don't necessarily think of our friends as 'prophets', but don't we tend to gravitate toward people that do/say/think similarly to ourselves?

So this isn't always a bad thing, right? No, but it can be. I'm thinking of 'at church'....maybe even (yep) at the church I attend. As a Christian, I may feel as though something I do is fine, it's just a little bitty sin. Surely lots of other people feel the same way. And it's really ok....I mean...it's not really a sin. Maybe this itty bitty sin is GOSSIP. I'll bet that the friends that I keep, especially those at church, ALSO believe that gossip is just an itty bitty sin. So here I am, at church, with my church friends, and we're all having a blast gossipping. It's fun, and we're all doing it, and we're all good church-going people, so it's all ok! Woohoo!! Therein lies my point.

Here's the part that has me twisted up. 15 years ago, that itty bitty sin for me was drinking. I stayed the pious, quiet, sweet little girl at church until others that shared the same itty bitty sin bubbled up around me and *POOF*! Guess who my church friends suddenly were?? We were all good little Christians at church but our afterhours fun probably didn't qualify at good, healthy Christian living. BUT...a couple of these friends have turned out to be my most beloved friends in the world!! Interestingly, we've all pretty well moved past those partying days, kids and old age will do that and maybe if we hadn't we all wouldn't still be such good friends. Either way, I can't feel TOO badly about our becoming friends initially because I love these ladies like sisters.

My eyes are open though.....gotta watch how I congregrate and who I choose to surround myself with. I need to make sure that those that I choose don't just happen to be people that support my bad habits. Not that I have any. Not even little bitty ones.