You have been on the battlefield with weight gain for years.
You’ve tried so many diets you feel doubtful that there is a diet out there that can actually help you lose weight AND keep it off.
The insecurities your weight causes overflows into every area of your life and seem to put a dark cloud over your self-worth.
You feel like you are at your wit’s end and you’re just not sure what to do.
So, how can you get rid of those unwanted pounds and boost your health and confidence?
It’s much easier than it sounds when you are partnered up with God.
Prayer is the most powerful resource you have to support every area of your physical and spiritual life. So, why is it that this foundational element of success is often overlooked when...
“If you could just get down to a size 10 or 12 you’d be so drop-dead gorgeous we’d have to beat the guys off you with a baseball bat.”
A friend shared this statement made to her when she was a young adult.
The person who said this to her was just repeating what she had been told. There had been a long history in this woman’s life of others telling her what the ideal woman should look like. She worked diligently in her own life to fit this expected mold and was naturally passing it along as “helpful” advice to my friend.
My friend also shared her response to this “helpful” advice.
“I sat there for a moment, not sure how to respond. Finally, I told her ‘if they don’t want me now - I don’t want them then,’” she shared. “Even though I responded with a lot of confidence, inside I was wondering if she and everyone else thought I was too ugly to be wanted.”
My...
I have a confession …
No, I haven’t taken a trip down the Home Shopping Network lane, but I DO subscribe to a quirky and fun cleaning channel on YouTube called Clean Freak & Germaphobe.
So, here’s my confession …
While watching one of their episodes they were testing a little steam cleaner and showing how effective it was at cleaning hard-to-clean messes.. By the end of that video clip I had already added that little steam cleaner to my cart and hit the purchase button.
I’m not usually an impulse shopper, but watching that little machine steam away some pretty yucky dirt and grime was pretty convincing.
Several days after my YouTube binging purchase had arrived, I steamed anything and everything in the house I could get to.
Mind you, I had just cleaned the house from top to bottom prior to the steamer arriving, so I really thought it wouldn’t have a lot to do.
Boy, was I wrong.
I was completely...
I was in my late teens when I first heard the story of Mary and Martha.
The Bible says that Jesus was in the town of two sisters and made his way to be their house guest.
Martha welcomed Jesus into their home and immediately began to serve her guests and take care of things that needed to be done around the house.
Mary, instead of helping Martha with all of the duties, plopped down at the feet of Jesus and just started listening to him talk.
I imagine Martha to have been hurrying around diligently trying to make her guests comfortable, preparing a meal and ensuring that everyone had fresh water to drink.
As each minute passed by that Martha was bearing the full burden of host responsibilities, she became a little more bitter with every glance at her sister … just sitting there … doing nothing.
Eventually Martha had enough of her sister’s perceived laziness and turned to Jesus in pure frustration.
“Lord, do you not care that my...
That’s the answer I received from a classroom of teenage girls when I asked them what love meant to them.
I was astonished that anyone could associate love as pain.
I was even more puzzled by the fact that the entire group of young girls felt the same way.
I decided to ask the same question to a different set of girls … just to find out if this was a common theme among young people.
The same answer resonated among these girls as well.
To say I was taken back is an understatement.
Although this realization pained me, it opened my eyes to how many girls, young ladies, and even women perceive love.
It also made me ask another question.
“Why do so many believe love is pain?”
I soon learned, during the numerous conversations I started having around the topic, that the problem actually begins with each individual’s interpretation of what love is.
To the young girls and...
Do you remember what life was like when you were in your late teens and early twenties?
If you were anything like me, you had extraordinary dreams and expectations of what life was going to be like.
Almost … a little fairy-tale-ish … if I had to be honest with myself.
I remember one instance from this time in my life that left me simultaneously feeling shaken and excited.
I entered Walmart to run a quick errand. The Walmart greeter welcomed me to the store … just like he had with all those who entered before me.
After greeting me, he took a second look at me and stopped me. His face had changed from the generic greeter smile to one of serious wisdom.
“I don’t know why I am telling you this, but I feel like you need to hear it,” he shared, with an authority I can only relate to that of the “prophets of old.”
“Don’t settle for anything less than God has for you. God wants you to...
… yourself?
Yep. You read that question correctly.
I’ll ask it again, and this time, let every distraction fade into the background and allow yourself to answer honestly.
Do you love yourself?
If you answered that question with any of the following responses, this article is a MUST READ for you.
“Maybe.”
“Sometimes.”
“Yeah, but …”
“I don’t know.”
“Not really.”
Show of hands, who literally had any of these answers pop into your mind in response to the question?
I know, I can’t see you right now, but you can go on ahead and raise that hand. Put it on up there!
It seems like a relatively simple question to answer.
In reality, it is one of the most challenging questions Christian women have to face.
You spend your days working hard to model the Proverbs 31 woman.
You wake up earlier than the rest of the family to take care of some tidying up before the chaos begins.
Clothes have to be laid...
How many times have you called yourself fat in the last week? Last month? Last year?
How many times have you made “joking” remarks about how fat or disgusting you look to your friends or husband?
When you look in the mirror every morning, what do you say to yourself?
How about after an evening of overeating?
What are you telling yourself, even if it’s just in your head?
If it has anything to do with how disgusting and fat you are, you have a BIG problem.
Let me back up here for a minute. Let’s talk about the word fat.
Fat is adipose tissue in your body. It’s also a macronutrient.
But what it’s NOT is an identity.
You are NOT fat. You may have extra fat on your body, but that is NOT WHO YOU ARE.
Why is this such an important distinction to make?
If you think you’re fat, guess, what? You’ll take action to be fat.
You may...
“Ugh! I hate the holidays. I eat and eat and eat. There is so much good stuff. I just can’t help myself. Of course, I gain like 10 lbs. No, seriously. I will step on the scale after a party and be up 5. Then, I just think to myself, ‘who cares now’, and keep eating.”
I remember complaining this exact way a few years ago.
The holidays were a time I DREADED.
It was hard enough to lose weight during any normal time of the year, but then you stacked up three sugar-laden holidays back-to-back and I believed there was NO hope for fitting into those skinny jeans.
Now, as a coach, I hear this ALLLLLLL the time. Most women struggling with weight are either terrified, frustrated or dreading what is supposed to be a joyous time.
No, you don’t just come out and say this or even maybe realize it. That’s because you have become really good at pushing it away. It’s much...
What if you never feared what other people thought about you?
What if you had no problem with anyone judging you?
What if you were totally OK with them being wrong about you?
What if you took all criticism and negative remarks about yourself and learned from them?
Take a minute. Really think about this.
My guess, if you're anything like me, that your life would look drastically different.
Here are a few things I came up with if I could truly live this way.