Fruit of the Spirit - Peace

Today begins four days to devote to Peace.

This is such an essential element to life: Peace.

Ms Manning suggests that in order to survive the "storm" we need the armor of God.  This armor of God was new to me earlier this year.  My Evie did a project in preschool that was about the different parts of armor.  Such an awesome concept to introduce to little ones.  Here are the parts of armor as described in Ephesians:


Belt of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness 
Sandals of Peace
Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit (God's Word)

May God's armor protect you today and always!

The start of week 3

So I am now a vitamin/supplement junkie.

I am taking a multi-vitamin (2), an omega 3 supplement (1), and a liver cleanse with milk thistle (1) each morning.  This combination should help my body work even harder to lose fat and excess stuff that is causing my organs to tell my body to store fat.

I was very pleased that in two weeks I have lost 10 pounds.  My body is sore on a daily basis, but I know the muscle aches are helping my body become a lean, mean fat burning machine!

My trainer is on vacation this week, so I will be doing more walking with my new Cardio Trainer Pro phone app.  The program takes walking to a new level as I have set the intervals to 2 minutes walking at 3.1 mph and 1 minute at 3.8 mph.  That way my heart has time to recover and works harder each 1 minute interval.  After 45 minutes I am completely sweaty and ready for a large bottle of water!

My perception of food has changed a lot in the last two weeks as well.  In fact, I am not craving sweets or carbs.  However, the one thing I have craved is a soy latte from Starbucks.  But I have given myself 31 days without alcohol, coffee shop beverages, white sugar, white rice, white flour, sweets, and anything that isn't healthy.

Here's to another successful week!

Fruit of the Spirit - Joy 4

Do you have the blues?  I personally believe everyone goes through low points in their lives.  Ms. Manning suggests that only Christ can truly chase your blues away; through Joy.

Manning suggests that a sad song (secular in nature) cannot rid our hearts of blue thoughts.  I truly don't agree.  I believe in the very strong spiritual nature of music - secular just as much as sacred.  Music has a wonderful ability to lift spirits and allow our hearts to emote about whatever is hurting them.

Unlike Ms. Manning, I don't believe that a secular song cannot bring us closer to our creator.  But I do agree with her - we must press on.  We must continue the uphill climb, no matter how difficult (and it WILL be difficult) and emotionally and spiritually painful.

I'm sure we all have a mantra - something that centers us.  Ms. Manning has a poem she wrote.  I have been thinking about (meditating if you will) what centers me.  Is there a particular song that is my "theme song"?  I will get back to that at a latter date, because at this point I come up blank.

Fruit of the Spirit - Joy 3

When I was a little girl I learn the song, "This is the Day."  Here are the lyrics:

This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made
We will rejoice, we will rejoice
And be glad in it, and be glad in it
This is the day that the Lord hath made
We will rejoice and be glad in it
This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord hath made

I often wonder how many people are depressed or feeling helpless out in this great world.  I have a friend who shared with me her helplessness yesterday.

For all practical purposes reader, we will call this friend, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth has been dating a man (lets call him Mr. Darcy) since New Years Eve 2010/2011.  Mr. Darcy has a job with the government.  Said job sends Mr. Darcy all over the world.  Mr. Darcy is currently in Japan, and has been for almost 3 weeks.  Elizabeth is not dealing with this international job very well at all.  She said she feels helpless and lonely.

I can only point her in the direction of self-love and comfort it finding peace from within.  I found myself wondering if Elizabeth knew about finding joy through our creator.  Finding joy in life itself and not in your boyfriend or another person is essential for happiness, in my humble opinion.

However, because Joy is a hard fruit for me to cultivate, it is difficult for me to elicit the purpose and reason to incorporate the fruit in someone else's life.  I am making a very good effort to help Elizabeth, so wish me luck.

Why Weight Watchers Doesn't Work

As I sit here on the completion of day 12 of my body makeover journey, I have become quite frustrated with a diet I have been on 3 different times in my life: Weight Watchers.

Nine years ago, on July 5th, I joined Weight Watchers.  I was extremely diligent, and lost 60 pounds by January of the following year.  I kept this weight off for quite sometime, and then I became pregnant with Zoe 7 summers ago.  I was famished, and ate, and ate and ate.  However, when Zoe was a year old, I successfully lost the baby weight by walking 3 miles every day.

Then I got pregnant with Evie approximately 5 years ago.  I gained more weight with her, and when she was a year old (3 years ago), I rejoined Weight Watchers.  This time I did WW online, and had success.  Three years ago this August, I weighed in at 147 pounds.

But unlike the previous time on Weight Watchers, I was not as committed to the program.  I also found myself craving foods like never before.  It was also three years ago I went on Paxil for anxieties.

Back in March, I found myself rejoining Weight Watchers online.  Third time a charm?  Hardly.  Seventeen pounds quickly fell off...but then I plateaued, and that is when I realized that I was not really losing any more weight.  I was following the plan, but my body looked fat, swollen and lumpy.

Why was this happening?  Many reasons that are unhealthy.  My two biggest problems with Weight Watchers are: promotion to sugar free and fat free foods and the ability to choose foods as long as it "fits" in their famous point system.  All chemicals that are sugar free (nutrasweet, aspertame, etc.) are really bad for you.  Plus they give me migraines and make me nauseous within an hour of eating the food.  Weight Watcher meals, shakes, bars, etc. have an abundance of chemicals and left me craving more food.  My body was deprived.  And fat-free foods add a TON of sugar.  Remember the 80s craze to be fat free?!  Yeah...didn't work then either.

I also thought the idea of choosing what I ate was a smart solution to dieting.  Wrong!  Say a person started with 40 points for the day.  This person ate very smart all day, and had 10 points after the kids went to bed.  That person could drink two jiggers of whiskey, and still have points left over for candy or carb-filled WW frozen dessert.  This does not even take into account the extra weekly points this person has to use.  Why not another drink?  Maybe a few chips?  Maybe a sandwich?

And therein lies the issue with WW.  Portion control is great!  Counting calories, points, whatever is important to stay within a smart amount of food: great.  Journaling: perfect!  However, even though Weight Watchers does not tell people to eat poorly, the opportunity presents itself daily.  I was under this assumption that if I ate good all day I deserved to have dessert.  Why not?  It was within the points I could consume...

I have learned SO much already from my personal trainer and a great book from Jackie Warner, "This is Why You're Fat (and how to get thin forever)." 

Chemistry, Sugar, and three organs make a huge difference in your body's thinness or thickness.  I have never been great at taking vitamins, besides my pregnancies.  However, Jim and I are going to make a visit to the VitaminStore tomorrow to pick up a myriad of vitamins and supplements.  I have been drinking a protein shake each morning for breakfast (after I work out) and it has lots of vitamins and minerals.  However, I know I am missing some that are essential in losing weight and staying trim.

I am hopeful for my weigh in on Monday! 

Fruit of the Spirit - Joy 2

Yesterday I posted one of my all time favorite scriptures, and this morning I experienced it first hand.

"For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."
Psalm 30:5

I have been waking up early to exercise as part of my body makeover.  Some days I go to my personal trainer, Kara, at Elements of Exercise, and other mornings I walk/jog the neighborhood track.

This morning was no different.  However, my walk began earlier because Evie woke up at 6:20.  So in the light of dawn I drove to the school and began my walk.  I listened to the peaceful sounds of the crickets, and the occasional squawk of a bird.  It was truly magical watching a flock of birds take flight in the pinky blue sky.

If there ever was a case study for feeling connected to this earth, this nature surrounding me, it was that place in time; that moment.  Sunsets have no merit to a clear sky at dawn and listening to the world waking up.  It was completely spiritual and magical AND joyful.

Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

"For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."
Psalm 30:5

Joy is probably the one fruit I most desire to contain within my heart.  I'm sure, reader, that it is quite simple to point out those that are joyful - always joyful.  I can think of two people who are always in a state of joy: Bonnie and Nancy. 

Bonnie, as most of you know by now, is my Jehovah Witness friend.  She is always warm and full of life.  It was that light I wanted to possess.  I also assume this joy was catching, and had a lot to do with my desire to see Bonnie each week (even if we were studying the Jehovah Witness view of life).

The other joyful person is Nancy.  She is a mom at the Christian school my children go to.  She is always full of the bright light of Christ.  Her eyes, her actions, and her contagious smile.  She seems to have to do very little to convince me to participate in school activities with gusto!  

Ms. Manning, the author of Harvesting the Fruit of the Spirit, states:

"We find joy is more than a state of mind; it is a state of faith - faith to anticipate that circumstances are going to get better and God is in control regardless of how out-of-control things appear to be." (page 50).

There was a word in the book today that I had never heard before: Shekinah.  So, as you know, I HAD to look it up.  Shekinah is a feminine Greek word to mean dwelling place.  I thought it was very interesting that Ms. Manning used a very old Greek term in her writing, considering she is Baptist.  I am not assuming what Baptists say and not say, but I am surprised to see this old feminine word used to describe God's glory.

I had a furrowed-brow moment in the section as well.  Ms. Manning lists all the information in the Bible: 

"Between the pages we can find a parental handbook, a financial advisor (which should be spelled: adviser), legal services, medical assistance, marriage counseling, conclusive scientific finding, stress relief techniques, history, prophecies, and more, much more." (page 49)

I am pretty open when it comes to interpretations of the Bible.  As much as Bonnie protested, the Witnesses also draw conclusions to the text.  However, the idea of "conclusive scientific finding", as stated by Manning, was a baffle to me.  There is nothing about algebra in the Bible.  However, maybe she meant scriptures that refer to the basic scientific truths that we now hold.  At PleaseConvinceMe.com they list scientific findings with scripture, and it is VERY interesting.  

That being said, I am truly interested in being the one people call: enlightened with the love of God.  I want to be joyful and emit that joy to others.  We'll see if I can sow, water, cultivate and harvest that seed.