Sometimes things are just hard...

Swimming upstream, fighting the current, falling off the wagon, an uphill battle! I'm sure you can all relate... and for us female species, a day can go from fine to abominable in a matter of a few minutes! I'm going through this at the moment, but rather than drag you down with the details, I'm choosing to bolster myself again with the Word of God right here and now, so yáll can have the benefit of it too!
OK, hmm, what scriptures can I find to help me continue fighting the good fight?? Here we go:

Ephesians 6:10-11 Be strong in the Lord; draw your strength from Him. Put on God's whole armour, that you may be able successfully to stand up against all the strategies and deceits of the devil.

Galatians 5:1 In freedom Christ has made us free (and completely liberated us); stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the Holy Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit); then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh.

And here's a great one...
Philippians 4:6-7 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known before God. And God's peace which transcends all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I just read Darlene's blog, at
and she talked about the same scripture and theme. Although sometimes we have physical things that come against us in a big way, a lot of the time our battle is in our minds! At those times, the Bible reminds us that GOD is our strong tower, our refuge, and our help in times of need. So, even as I preach to myself here, if you are also going through a battle of the mind, draw your strength from the Lord, stand fast in HIM, and remind yourself that He is the one who will help you to stay free from bondage. You can't do it in your own strength, or with your willpower alone. And lastly, when those thoughts start getting to you all over again, remember to pray and praise, and leave your cares and burdens in His hands.

So Father God, I thank you for your grace. I thank you that YOU are my help in times of need, my peace, my HOPE. And above all, you are my Father; you have declared that I am good enough for you to love and even delight in!, because Jesus paid the price for me to receive your love! Father, I have been struggling today with my confidence and sense of worth, but I'm reminding myself that you love me and see me as precious! I run to you. When my emotions are frail and I'm feeling weak, I am coming to you where I am safe. I ask that you will give me confidence and more strength to help me win over my struggles. You know what they are, you know what the roots of my problems are. Please reveal to me what things need to change, and what actions I need to take. And while I wait for further instructions, I'm going to rest. I'm not going to worry about my problems, and I'm not going to try to figure out what I should do (that never works!) I'm going to wait for you and trust in you! So thank-you Father for the peace that has settled in my spirit even now as I've written this prayer. Help me to remember to hand things over to you always. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Thank you dear friends for sharing in this prayer time with me. I hope you have done your own form of giving things over to God today! If not, I've gotta say, I highly recommend it!
Have a blessed and worry-free week!
Much love in Christ,

The new game plan...

Hello again everyone! Well, it's time I spilled the beans about my new game plan to lose 25kg this year, and adopt a permanent healthy lifestyle in the process!
Last week, after a whole lot of reading and feeding my spirit, I came up with the following commitment to myself. I've pasted it here without further editing, so this will be a very long post, but here you have it... this is what sits on my study wall and also resides in my handbag, for me to consult whenever I feel weak or tempted!

To lose 25kg by the end of 2008, and maintain a permanent healthy lifestyle, I commit to:

Ø Continuing to drink 4-5 bottles of water per day.

Ø Consistently choosing healthy options for my meals and snacks.

Ø Restricting and keeping a careful watch over the amounts of unhealthy foods I consume each week.* (Right now, a set limit of 10 UF per week.)

Ø Being consistent with exercising a minimum of 4 times per week.

Ø Putting in due effort when I exercise, and increasing the intensity or duration as my body adjusts.

Ø Ensuring I have adequate sleep on most nights.

Ø Maintaining good nutrition.

Ø Having regular dental and medical checkups.

Ø Addressing stress and worry whenever I am being affected by them.

And when I am feeling weak, tempted, or unable to continue these positive behaviours, I commit to:

Ø Going to God as my Source.

Ø Seeking the support & counsel of godly friends and leaders.

Ø Reading Joyce’s books on this issue, reading other articles and listening to messages to bolster my faith and strengthen me to continue on!

Ø Diverting from temptation and abstaining from negative behaviours until I have gone to these supports.

Statement:

I will not comfort eat, I will seek comfort from God my source, and support from my Resources. (people, books, messages, etc.)

So there you go, that's my game plan for weight loss and a healthy lifestyle in 2008. I've kept most of my commitment this week, although I allowed a bit of slackness on the food choices at times, simply because it was my birthday week. Never mind; tally ho, people... onward we go into a new non-birthday week, and we're going to do our darndest to make sure that we live well! Thanks for your comments and support everyone... I'm believing for great change and personal improvement this year!
God bless!




P.S. I am an


Click here to view my personality report! (Reasonably accurate...)
My personalDNA Report

Moms for Modesty

Hello Beautiful People... (Sorry Pastor Shane, I borrowed your line!)
I've just spent the past hour chomping through a dozen or so blogs, and I've found a few more purposeful women! The most challenging thing I found was an agreement about boycotting revealing fashions for our darling daughters. Although it's not something we've been faultless in, this is something that has concerned my husband and I for quite some time. I've posted the agreement here to continue to challenge us. If you wish to add your name to the statement, you can go to http://momsformodesty.blogspot.com/ , but note you will need a blog url to be able to do this. Even so, it's worth a visit to the page to reaffirm why it is important to encourage modest dress in our daughters, and also to remind ourselves that it's the way to go!

Moms for Modesty Mission Statement
(BTW, it's Mum, here in Australia!)

• As a Mom for Modesty I believe in common-sense modesty for girls and young women.
• I believe in refraining from sexualizing our girls and young women.
• I believe that it is unwise and unfair to taunt boys and young men by permitting my daughter(s) to dress in an immodest manner.
• I believe that true beauty comes from within and I strive to teach my daughter(s) this truth.
• I will loyally shop at retailers that provide girls' and young womens clothing that is modest, affordable and stylish.

Changing trains here, (of thought, that is!), I know last post I promised you that I would spill the beans on my plans and commitments for change in my life! Unfortunately for you (and me) it is now 11:23p.m., and one clause of my commitment states "I will ensure I have adequate sleep on most nights." So I'm afraid I will have to leave you hanging on... (I feel a song coming on!) until next post.
Sweet dreams everyone,
J.
(P.S. Apologies to all graphics minded people for the low res image... it's bugging me a bit too.)

Standing up again...

Hello everyone! I'm happy to be back, not from holidays, but from the emotional rollercoaster ride that I've been on for the past few weeks. Nothing has gone horribly wrong during this time, but I guess I have been having a few challenges, and sometimes responding to them the wrong way.

The biggest difficulty by far has been with my thought life. In starting a new business, in trying to lose weight and adopt a permanently healthy lifestyle, and also in starting a "Search for Life" course at my church 3 weeks ago, I've found my dormant WRONG self-beliefs have been rising up like killer weeds, trying to defeat all my attempts at change, and strangle all my hopes and dreams. (If any of you have watched the animated movie "Joseph, King of Dreams", I'm thinking of the scrawny, ugly grains of wheat in Pharaoh's dream, that devour all the good grains!)

Well, today I've thoroughly neglected the house, and all of my "must do" duties, but I have fed my battered spirit, and I believe again that with God's help, I can be consistent, change my mindset, and win in all those challenging areas of my life!

But one thing I do need to do is have a plan. In "Develop a Game Plan", in Christian Women Online this month, Darlene Schacht challenged us to be specific in identifying our goals, figuring out what they will cost us, and committing to consistency in these behaviours. The really funny thing is that I went to a business building seminar last night, and I heard the exact same thing in very succinct terms- "Decide what you want, decide the price, and pay the price."

So that's the plan: I'm going to spend some time reading, praying and thinking, and develop a strategy to stick to so that I can achieve permanent change and victory in my life.
Dr Frank Smoot, of Weight Loss God's Way says "The good news is that you CAN be free! But there a few things you will need to do to get there. First, you will have to take a proactive role in the process. " Things just don't change by accident, at least not for the better. I need to be purposeful in what I do and the behaviours I choose to take on!
Reading from several godly sources today, one key theme has stood out: that I need to transform my mind by renewing it with the Word of God. My mind has definitely been the number one problem here, so I will definitely be incorporating that as a daily strategy for success. I was so encouraged in this by Darlene's blog entry from last week: Get Set to Soar, Feb 6th 2008. She wrote:
"“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8, NIV. These are the things that will help us rise above our strongholds. These are the thoughts that will bring us closer to the person God created us to be."
I encourage you to read the whole article at http://www.christianwomenonline.net/live_well_wednesdays.html .
I'm sure you'd love to know the plans and strategies that I come up with, but that's going to take a little while, so tune in maybe Thursday for an update. :o)
Perhaps you also need to do a reassessment of where you're going, and how you're planning to get there. If you've been as haphazard as me, then why not decide to use this same time frame to ask God, read, and re-focus too?
It's time to move forward in victory.

Until next week,
Keep on smiling!
:o) Juliet.