Obedience brings blessing.

I've been ruminating on this phrase ever since I read it a couple of weeks ago in an article by Becky Kopitzke.

It keeps popping into my head.
I decided to write my thoughts to you so I could maybe tackle this for myself.

First, let me ask, what do you think?
True…false…sometimes true?

I love my definitions, so I had to look it up. Obedience is a noun. That means that is the THING that is being produced when we are OBEDIENT. The definition of obedient, the verb, is complying or willing to comply with orders or requests; submissive to another's will.

Basically, when we follow through on an order or request, we are obedient.

Let's ask the question, what is God requesting of us?

Like I said last week, love God and love what God made (including our enemies and ourselves).

But, I'm finding that hard to do lately….

There are so many areas where I am struggling to be obedient. Today, I'm just going to talk about God's will for my life and the...

I didn't know how to write it, so I thought I would just say it.

Blessings!

We’ve been lied to.

Over and over again.

It has been so steady and constant, that we don’t even know what the truth is anymore.

Now our heads are spinning in confusion and overwhelm. 

What is it that I believe?  What is truth anymore?  Who is right?  How do I figure this out?

I get it. I’m right there with you. 

It’s so exhausting that I just want to shut down and shut out.

Especially with all that is going on in this world right now.

I know resisting the world and resisting how I feel is not the answer. 

It won’t make things better.  It won’t make me feel any less confused and overwhelmed.  Confusion and overwhelm will just keep me stuck in the muck of feeling miserable.

I know I need to move forward.  But where do I go?

The Truth.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

For the law was giving...

I just read an article today. Maybe many of you have read it also since it was floating around on big FB.

It’s titled, “The Happiest People Are Those Who Realized That God Is Enough,” written by Rania Naim.

Catchy, right?!

After reading it, it’s not only catchy, it's true.

I am going to stress that I just came off of having a WONDERFUL week last week. I felt GREAT! I truly believe that God knew I need last week to restore after a couple of awful weeks.

Looking back on the week, I know exactly why I felt so great.

God.

Last week, God was enough. It wasn’t a week that I got a whole bunch of things done. Nor was it a week that was filled with a whole bunch of happy events. 

Nothing extraordinary happened. Actually, I had a couple of big disappointments.  

But it was still AWESOME.

How can that be?

The world tells us that to be happy, we have to have good things happen to us. We need to have those brand-new shoes, the perfectly kept house,...

Can I just say, my clients, are amazing?! They have done some pretty spectacular things. All of them. 

Not just a few.  

Every. Single. One.  

But "watching" my clients' self-sabotage, at times, is so PAINFUL for me. I just want to shake them awake. I wish I could just infuse them with the confidence I have for them.

I know they have to experience their own journey. I get that. 

I understand I can't make decisions for them. But it's excruciating. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I know I can't control their actions (which really is a good thing; I get this), so now I use their lessons to help teach others.

It is a beautiful thing about how God can use anything to his glory!

So, let me cut to the chase here. I can tell when self-sabotage is coming for my clients. I want to share what I know with you. This way, you can be on the watch for your own self-sabotage and hopefully not fall into this trap the enemy is so good at catching...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...