What do you think?

Is there a problem with your husband loving you even if you're overweight?

No.
There shouldn't be a problem with this.

But, so many women come to me and tell me that they have no motivation. They blame part of it on the fact that their husbands don't care what weight they are.

These husbands, being wonderful guys, are NOT the problem. They should not get the blame because we are overweight and seem to stay there.

Here is the hard truth.
Our thinking is the problem.

We think just because our husbands don't care what weight we are, that WE SHOULDN'T EITHER.

BUT WE ACTUALLY DO CARE. 

And, if we care, then we tell ourselves that it means we're being vain.

We go on to thinking that maybe we should just accept our overweight bodies the way they are. Because, really, we have no one to impress except our husbands.

Do you see the turmoil we create?

Now, I'm not saying that if you're comfortable in your body, that you should lose weight just because some physicians ...

A couple of weeks ago, I had a challenge going on in my private FB group. It was called "How NOT to gain 19 lbs during Covid-19". It was a fun challenge. I want to give a big shout out to all those who participated.

In that group, though, I introduced a "new" concept.

It was my 5 vitals.

These vitals are for everyone, but I think that Christian women need to take charge of these, to monitor them closely, and be careful when they start becoming less important. 

As most of you know, I was a Registered Nurse before my momentous switch to being a full-time life coach. What is a fundamental task for any nurse?  Vitals.

 
Vitals are the primary data I used to formulate predictions about the health of the patient.  From this concept, I created my own set of vitals.

These vitals are a little different, though. They are self-assessed and measured. There are no fancy gadgets or tools needed. While it does have to do with your health, it's not about the immediate but the long term.

These vi...

Life stinks sometimes.

Some of you may know, but most of you don’t. I was planning on going on a Mercy Medical trip to Tanzania in August.  

I have prayed about this opportunity for years. Yes, years. 

After 6 years of praying, I believe that God was telling me this was the time. Everything was working out perfectly. I had it all set up for me to be away. It was all falling into place...

Then the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic hit.  

Yesterday, I received the news I was dreading to hear. The mission trip is officially canceled.

Honestly, I was devastated. 

I was totally disheartened and disappointed...

but I started thinking about all of you.

Sometimes, we start a weight loss, health, work, or any other journey thinking to ourselves, “This is the time. I am finally going to do this. I’ve been waiting and praying for this!”

All of a sudden, life happens. Our expectations aren't met.

Then we look back, disheartened and disappointed that it didn’t work out as we had hoped.

I th...

Shut-up and listen.

Nope. Not to me.

To your body and your mind.

Did you know that God gave us the perfect tool to help us know when our bodies need fuel? 

It also has this fantastic feature that alerts us to the time when we should stop.

It’s highly sophisticated, using multiple messengers in our body. Yet, it is amazingly simple.

We’ve had it since birth (it’s innate). And, it has worked well for thousands of years, until recently.

But all of a sudden, very few people listen to it anymore.

Yes, I’m talking about hunger.

Instead of listening to our BODIES, now we follow books, videos, friends, or our thoughts and feelings. We use these to determine when and what to eat and when to stop eating.

Since we’ve haven’t been using our hunger to signal us to eat or not, we’ve miscalibrated it.

It doesn’t measure right anymore.

Our “hunger” now tells us to eat when we feel frustrated. Our “hunger” tells us to eat when we’ve just consumed food. Our “hunger” keeps rumbling when we’...

I’m coming up on a year. 

One year ago I quit my “amazing” nursing job.  (I use the word amazing in quotes because that is how many nurses described the position I held.)

So, I’m taking some time to reflect. 

• What have I accomplished? 
• What haven’t I accomplished that I hoped I would? 
• What could I have done better? 
• What are some things I did better than I expected?

This has been a CHALLENGING exercise for me.

Reflection is something that is super uncomfortable.  I can’t say I’ve ever really done it unless I’ve been forced to (for school or my employer). 

I don’t like it because it feels slow and tedious.

I’m not good at slow.

Maybe you can relate?  Have you ever said, “I’m too busy”?  It just rolls off your tongue.  Then someone asks you what you’ve been busy with and you draw a blank.  Or what you do think of doesn’t really sound that busy once you say it out loud.

Then you realize, maybe you weren't that busy; you've just been busy in your mind.  You see that ...

You’re not selfish unless you’re NOT taking care of yourself.

Or the proper way to put it, you’re selfish if you’re NOT caring for you. 

It’s UNSELFISH to take care of you.

Yes, you read that right.

I think when we don’t care for our minds, our temples, our health, our safety, our faith...

That’s when we become the most selfish people.

Why do I think this?

Let me explain. 

But first, hear me out. I’m a selfish person.  I consistently ask for forgiveness for my self-seeking desires.  I am not here to judge or convict.  I am writing this post to serve, to bring some loving-honesty.

Here is part of the definition of selfish (adj); concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.

Why do you overeat?  

One of the main reasons: to make yourself feel better in the moment. We are concerned with our pleasure.

We overeat to escape, check out of this world, feel better short term. We don’t like the emotions we are currently having (whether it be stress, frustrati...

Want to know something fun?

HAVING FUN!

I came to the realization the other day… I don’t have that much fun.

• There are all these big goals I’m working towards.
• There are a lot of fights and squabbles between my kids.
• There is a chaotic pandemic going on.
• There are some serious issues that need to be addressed.

I use these all as excuses to stay in a serious, un-fun mood.

God gives us warning against this though.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:13

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think we can have fun all the time. If we didn’t have the boring, mundane, or frustrating we wouldn’t know what fun is.

But, being happy, having joy, both of these are good for the spirit.

Since having fun doesn’t come “naturally” to me, I decided to make a list of joyful things I could do.  Here is what I came up with so far:

1. Do a cartwheel (even i
...

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately.

With my husband and kids being home 24/7, new information to sift through, and the day-by-day (sometimes hour-by-hour) planning because of the constant changes…

it’s made my head spin.

My head might be spinning, but here is what you won't find me doing:

I’m not going to blame or wish things were different.

It won't make me feel better nor will it help me make wiser choices. 

I refuse to indulge in it.

Rather, I want to focus on my current circumstance (things I can not change) and what I do have control or influence over.

Here is my present situation:

3 kids at home.  A husband working at home.  An extra office space set up on our dining room table.  Snow outside.  Plenty of food in our fridge.  My mom still living with us and available to help. Bins, draws and shelves full of craft projects. A sewing machine with dust on it.  A house that hasn’t been deep cleaned for a year.  Devotionals that haven’t bee...

I remember being TERRIFIED my first day of clinical practice for nursing school. 

When I say terrified, I mean literally I wanted to throw up.  Lucky for me, I have a strong gag reflex.

I remember it as such an out of body experience.  I could hear my head screaming, “This is crazy!  You don’t know what you’re doing!”  and feeling paralyzed. But yet I could still manage to get my body to move somehow.

At the time I didn't understand this, but the fear came from all these thoughts that I would do it wrong, it wouldn’t work and I’d never become a nurse. 

It really all boiled down to one thought:

“You will fail.  Then you will be a failure.”

In the end I didn't fail.  I mean I did some, but I learned from it.

I figured it out. 

I didn’t let my crazy thoughts take over and I graduated nursing school.  I got a job.  I worked for 10 years as a RN.  I never became that failure I had imagined I would.

But, all that while, I was still scared.  I was still fearful.  Fearful I would ...

OK friends.

A lot has been covered the last couple of weeks.

If you haven't been following along, the last 4 blog posts have been focused on self-confidence.

First, I talked about why self-confidence important and what it has to do with God. Find that blog here. 

Then I dove into how to build self-confidence.  First was building trust in yourself by following through.  Check it out here. 

Next was having a great opinion about yourself. Get it here.

Last, was letting go of what other people think about you.  Read it here.

One thing I want to note, it is much easier to have someone to walk with you on this journey to gaining self-confidence.  That is why I have a coach.  Having someone there to help you see what you are blinded to in that moment is priceless. 

Now, let me give you the best piece of advice that I was ever given around self-confidence.

TREAT YOURSELF LIKE YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND.

I’m going to share a post that I already published this last Christmas.  Some...