FITNESS FRIDAY: JUST A LITTLE THINKING

"I will give you a new heart and put a

new spirit in you. I will remove from

you your heart of stone and give you

a heart of flesh. And I will put my

Spirit in you and move you to follow

my decrees...and keep my laws."

(Ezekiel 36:26-27)

This week Brenda gave us an open assignment. Since that means we can write about anything, I'm going to share some thoughts--after first praising the Lord once again, for his awesome and unexpected blessing that enabled me to purchase a Wii and a Wii Fit. This is so fun, it will surely keep me moving even on the hottest of days. :-) Now if only I could find something to motivate me to stick to the rest of my goals.

It seems like I've been battling the same old battles week after week, year after year, for almost half a century now, and wondering why it's so hard to break bad habits. Seems like I'm forever setting goals and declaring new beginnings, only to fall short time and time again. I can so relate to what the great apostle Paul says in Romans 7:15--"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." That's me to a tee, and I spent much time this week pondering that very question.

Well, a few days ago I took one of my neighbors to an Alpha course. This week's session was all about the Holy Spirit. Nothing new that I haven't heard or read about before. My mind started to wander a bit, but all of a sudden I was sitting bolt upright in my chair. It was one of those moments when you see something you've seen a zillion times before, but this time it jumps off the page and knocks you right between the eyes.

The Lord brought something to my attention that was so obvious, I couldn't believe it hadn't impacted me before. All along, without realizing it, I have been trying to do what the "Law" proved it was impossible for us to do. I have been trying to transform myself, when the Holy Spirit is the only one who can set me free from my various bondages. Hello!!!

The whole purpose of the law was to show us our need for grace. Nobody was able to keep all the commandments, ever. The old covenant was constantly being broken. However, God promised that one day He would make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33) and the law would become something inside of us instead of an external thing. Instead of all those rules weighing us down from the outside like a heavy sack of potatoes, we would be energized by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

The moment we come to the foot of the Cross and receive the gift Christ offers us, we receive complete forgiveness of our sins. The barrier between us and God is removed, and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, and begin His work of transforming us from the inside out. This takes time. Only rarely does it happen overnight.

Sorry if I've gone off on a tangent here, but it's been an incredible experience to have the light turned on and to finally realize (in my heart rather than my head) that all I have to do is turn everything over to the Holy Spirit and let Him take the lead. Not only is transformation his responsibility, God (through His Spirit) "who works in [me] to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13). What ever success I have is a result of His grace and His grace alone.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU LORD

For several months now I have been dreaming of some day owning a Wii. However, given my downward spiraling financial situation, that hardly seemed like a realistic dream. So imagine my surprise when a certified letter was delivered to my door, and inside the letter was an unexpected check for unpaid royalties long written off, that not only enabled me to catch up on the bills and pay off my overdraft protection loan, but there was even enough left to purchase a Wii and a Wii Fit. How awesome is that?

I have had many incredible experiences of the Lord coming through for me at the 11th hour to meet a pressing need, and I've always been very, very grateful, but what manages to really melt my heart and humble me, is when He chooses to indulge me with a totally unnecessary want.


To add a little extra icing to an already perfect cake, my bloggie friend and sister in the Lord, Valerie Lynn, sent me another beautiful award. Thank you, Valerie, for making the day complete.

FITNESS FRIDAY: THE SERIOUS SIDE

This week's assignment was to talk about the other motivators for our fitness goals, other than just wanting to look better. Brenda wants to know what we are up against in terms of actual health issues, or potential genetic ones. Mine are high blood pressure, cholesterol, and osteoporosis.

Eating the right foods, taking the right supplements, and getting enough exercise are vital to my keeping them under control without having to resort to prescription drugs, and for the most part, I do eat pretty healthy. It's the portion control that trips me up and keeps the scale from budging. On the positive though, not budging means that the numbers are not going up either, so that's a good thing.

As far as my week's goal to walk instead of drive to wherever I needed to go in town, I am happy to announce that I did meet it. and what a great feeling that was. The only day I took the car locally, was to do my grocery shopping. The weather has been so gorgeous, those walks were real mood boosters. My only challenge has been that all that fresh air really revved up my appetite too. LOL.

FITNESS FRIDAY: HMMM

Brenda gave us two questions to answer for our assignment this week.

1. Tell us how you sneak exercise in when you can't "get to they gym" or "the treadmill is broken" or whatever. What do you do at work/around the house/etc. to move more?

and

2. Let us know how your week went. Let us know your goals for next week. Not your long-term goals, just your goals for next week.

In response to question 1, I can think of many ways to move more, but in all honesty, I haven't been putting them into practice. Like the town I live in is so small that just about everything is within walking distance, and when I first moved here I would use my feet instead of my car to run errands. Now it seems I'm always in too big of a rush. And as for how I sneak in exercise, that's a big hmmm. Does doing the 10 minute Walk at Home routine on my WW DVD instead of one of the longer ones count?

In answer to question 2, I'll have to say that my week started out great, but things soon fizzled out. You see, I was so psyched up after taking you on my virtual tour last week I was raring to go. However, after one good walk along the path, it started to rain and rain and rain, and it's still raining, even as I write, and sadly, I allowed that rain to put the kebosh on my plans when it didn't really have to.

So next week, weather permitting, my goal is to walk instead of drive to wherever I need to go in town. I have already ordered a bunch of books on tape from the library to keep me motivated. And in case it continues to rain, Plan B is to do the 30 or 45 minute exercise routines instead of the 10 minute ones.