Learning History......

I can be the first person to tell you that the subject "History" was never my favorite.  I always had boring history teachers and I would lose interest right away when they started talking because I was bored.  My thought was always "Why, do I need to know stuff that already happened?"  I was ignorant and didn't know any better.  God knew this of course, because my husband loves History and knows everything about it.  I am able to learn from him when he teaches me and I can honestly say that I wish I paid more attention in school.  Recently, my Husband and I decided to have a "date" day.  We went out to Breakfast and talked about what we were going to do that day.  We came to the decision that we wanted to go to a Museum.  There are many Museums in our area so we had a good variety to choose from.  We decided to go to the Holocaust Museum.  I thought this was a great learning opportunity for me considering I couldn't name anything about the Holocaust.  I just knew that people were imprisoned and that there was barb-wire.  I didn't know what countries were involved or why it started or how long it went on, etc.  We arrived and took our time going through the three levels of this Museum and even had audio that we could listen to.  The entire exhibit takes 2 hours, when you take your time.  I can honestly tell you that my eyes were opened and I was absorbing everything.  People think the Holocaust happened thousands of years ago, when in fact it wasn't that long ago.  This event lasted for 5 years and millions of Jews died.  Germany was led by Hitler and he got everyone pumped up and thinking that it was the Jews fault, so they started invading different areas and killing them.  They sent the Jews over in train cars when usually you would sit 40 people in one car, these German soldiers would stuff 140 Jews in each car.  Many suffocated because there was not enough air, and people were killed on the spot.  They would arrive to a destination and then separate the children, women, and men.  People were led off to gas chambers, people were shot in the head and thrown in a ditch, and children were buried alive.  They were preparing the concentration camps, but the camps weren't ready yet, so they sent the Jews to these ghettos.  In these ghettos they had little money received from government, poor school teaching, and little food.  When the camps were ready, they would then lead them over and imprison them.  They would work for hours at a time and were starved and freezing.  During lineup some survivors actually said they would pierce their own skin and take their own blood and put it on their cheeks so they looked "healthy."  During these lineups the soldiers would kill anyone that looked weak.  The survivors wanted to appear healthy and fat and well.  There goal was to just survive another day.  They had hope that one day they would get out.

Are you getting a History lesson right now?  Don't feel bad because you are not alone.  There are MANY Americans and young people in general who don't have a clue on what happened and don't care to learn.  We need to learn about History so the past doesn't repeat itself.  Hitler didn't do this all over night, he started little by little.  It takes time to develop total devastation.  It blew my mind on how ignorant I have been living and how common it is in our generation today.  Parents, educate your children on history!  Your kids need to know what has happened in the world!  Adults if you don't know alot, spend some time doing research on the Internet or read a book.  Don't fall into the typical American category.  It seems like our generation knows everything about music and celebrities and these things are all superficial and have no substance or meaning.  It does nothing for our mind or spiritual growth.  We need to start asking questions and looking for the answers.  I can honestly say it was one of the best date days we have had.  We were able to learn History together and sit down and talk about everything we saw at the Museum!!

Weight Loss Update......

I just did my weigh in and I have lost a total of 15lbs!!!!  I am on my way to my goal weight and become healthier for my husband and children!!!!

Here is a picture of me below after my workout yesterday!  I am finally starting to see results and I know that my workouts are paying off.  This motivates me to keep on doing them but to really step it up and start increasing the workouts and nutrition.  I am now going to be having two protein shakes a day (Breakfast/Lunch) and for dinner eat Chicken.  I am going to have little mini snacks throughout the day to keep my metabolism working hard and start to really increase my training!

                                                                                            

Doing Lot's of Sit-ups because I want to be strong in my abdominals.  It is so important to have a strong core because it helps with your posture and balance.  

My goal is to have toned arms and be able to build muscle.  I know that push-ups work many muscle areas that I am trying to target, so I love to do Push-ups!!  I like to do several sets, during each workout.  When you want to really increase the workout, move your hands closer together and you can feel it working other muscle groups, and set your timer to see how many you can do in a minute!

Love when my workouts are over!! The feeling of pushing your body to it's limit and feeling your muscles get stronger really is the true reward!  

I am not planning on doing anymore updates or posts until I reach my goal weight!! When I have reached my goal, I will then write a blog post about it and post pictures!!  The reason I started blogging about my weight progress was to motivate other women who had children and wanted to getting healthy for themselves and for their children.  What motivates me during each workout is that I am one day closer to being healthier and having more energy to where I can run and keep up with my children.  There are so many people that aren't able to play with their children because their weight holds them back, and I don't want to be one of those people.  I want to set an example in my home that it is important to be active and healthy and take care of yourself because your body is a temple that the Holy Spirit dwells in, and we are to honor him.

Listening To God...

We need to be quiet in our prayer time and listen to what God has to say.  We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and let him lead us.  There are many times the Holy Spirit tries to whisper to us but our lifestyles are too loud and noisy and we can miss it.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss out on the Holy Spirit leading and directing me.  You can get that feeling in the pit of your stomach to where you know something isn't right or that you shouldn't do something.  We should not try to question or analyze on whether or not we should do something.  If it doesn't line up with Gods Word then we need to not follow through with it.  We have to ignore our emotions and feelings and align ourselves up with Gods Word.  We cannot trust the roller coaster of feelings because there are too many highs and lows.  We have to learn to listen to God on our good days and bad days.  Is your lifestyle too busy?  Do you have alot going on?  Maybe it is time to sit down and start making a list of priorities of what needs to be dropped or what needs to be higher on the list.  God can end up getting lost in the shuffle at times, and we need to seek him for discernment so we know what we are to do.  If you have peace about something then you know you are walking in Gods Will, if you do not have peace then you know it's not Gods way.  Our main goal should be Peace!!!  How often do you find yourself listening to God in your prayer time?  Maybe God has been trying to speak to you for months but you have ignored him.  Today I urge you to spend quiet time with God and listen to the Holy Spirit!!

Making An Impact For The Cause Of Christ...

This needs to be every believers number one goal!  Our purpose here on earth isn't to live for ourselves and give ourselves pleasure, but we are to seek out his will and fulfill his plan.  We have been so blessed with having the breathe of life in us that so many people still today, take for granted.  God gives us life each day to have us serve him and make an impact for him.  So many people look at God as "controlling" when in fact he has nothing but LOVE for us!!  To think about it, he loved us so very much that he sent his Only Son to come down here to live on earth with us, and to sacrifice himself for us when he didn't deserve it.  When I picture "controlling" I picture someone forcing us to do something, and only giving us one option.  This is what the enemy does, he tries to force things down our throat and back us into a corner in panic.  Our loving God gives us free will where we get to choose to either serve him or not.  He waits on us patiently while we do our own thing and he is waiting with arms wide open when we decide to come to him.  When you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior you understand the price that was paid for you, and all you want to do is give back.  You want to use your life as a walking and living testimony for him.  You want to tell others that you come in contact with about Jesus Christ because you don't want to see others perish.  We cannot be afraid to offend people, we need to share what Jesus has done in our life and share the Word.  We can remember that Gods Word never returns void, so when we give scripture then seeds are planted in that person and God can start working in their heart.  We live in a fallen world and lost society to where there are many people on their way to hell and don't even care.  People want to fulfill every selfish desire and don't care what it costs.  We cannot be surprised to see so many people living for the flesh, because we know that only a few truly follow the Lord.  We are responsible to do our part, and that is to be a walking testimony to Jesus Christ.  We are responsible to know what his word says by studying it, and to actually walk it out in our lives.  We are to forgive others that have wronged us and walk in love.  We are to stand bold and hold God to his word because he puts it above his own name.  So what are you doing in your life to make an impact for the cause of Christ?  Have you taken any bold stands lately?  Start somewhere, and start looking for people to pour into.  God sets up divine appointments daily, we just have to take our eyes off of our busy lives, and look around to others.  In your prayer time start asking God to open up your eyes so you can be used fully for the cause of Christ!  God will give you wisdom and revelation when you ask according to his will.

True Enlightenment.....

I needed to write this blog post to explain the enlightenment I received last night during a Bible Study!  I had such a move of the Holy Spirit to where I felt the very presence of God himself.  We have been learning "Blood Covenant" and this was something I didn't know much about.  When I grew up in church, blood covenant was never explained to me.  In this class we went through the Bible to where we could see "Blood Covenant" throughout the entire Bible and went through the process of what they would do.  We learned the symbolic meaning behind this covenant and can see that "Marriage" mirrors the concept of blood covenant.  While reading Gods Word I am literally seeing words come to life now, and able to see it from a different perspective.  I have never been in a class before where I had so much enlightenment from the Holy Spirit himself to where I couldn't contain the way I felt.  The Bible is the only book that can do this.  The more you read it, the more things are revealed to you, and come alive to you.  I am on fire for God and I don't want this fire to go away, so I am on a mission to keep seeking him and learn more about the Blood Covenant.  The enemy wants Christians to be lukewarm and now know EVERYTHING that we have received from being Abraham's descendants.  I am so thankful for this Pastor for taking the time and doing such an in-depth study on this subject.  All the Glory to Jesus Christ!!!!

New Running Plan......

Everyone who has been following my blog knows that I have been training for a few months now and it has been a success!! I have been documenting my journey throughout these past months and been giving updates.  This update is my new running plan that I have recently discovered and it works!!!!  I am 5'2 and not a fan of running because obviously I don't have long running legs.  I am a better sprinter.  I know that with my body type I need to do cardio because that is what my body needs the most.  So on the days that I do not work out in the gym with my trainer, I go to the gym and do cardio.  I did my running plan lastnight and I wanted to share what I do and post a few pictures.

    My running program is this:  I walk at a pace of 2.0-3.0 for 2 minutes

- At 4.0 I run for 1 minute then I increase it each minute as follows
       4.5 run for 1 minute
       5.0 run for 1 minute
       5.5 run for 1 minute
       6.0 run for 1 minute
       6.5 run for 1 minute
       7.0 run for 1 minute
After you complete this one time, go back to the pace of 4.0 and run that for 2 minutes then repeat the entire cycle for a total of 5 times through it.  The key is that you run the entire time and don't stop to walk.  By changing the pace it gives you more challenging workout where you will see results.

Here I ran for a total of 45 minutes without stopping and burned a total of 461 calories.  

As you can see: You will NOT look pretty afterwards but your muscles feel amazing!!  For someone who doesn't like to run and gets bored with running, this is something that I am able to do in a short amount of time and see results!!!

I WILL POST THE NEXT UPDATE SOON WITH MY WEIGH IN!!

I AM ON THIS JOURNEY AND WILL NOT STOP UNTIL I REACH A HEALTHY GOAL!!!

We Are A Work In Progress........

We have to remember that in this life, we are a constant work in progress.  This means that we need to change our mentality of thinking "It is too late;" "Things are too bad."  Everyone has a past and everyone has baggage, but it doesn't mean we have to keep it.  We need to remember that we all have sin and come from the same place.  Nobody is better than anyone else.  The only person who could brag would be: Jesus, but he is too humble to do that.  We need to strip down the "expectations" we have built up in our minds of not being realistic.  We build up these imaginary things for people/things/goals/pleasures/etc.  When we make "life" all about living for these expectations then we end up making them idols and become slaves to them.  We are going to be constantly focused on them and never satisfied.  The enemy would love to get us in this cycle and keep us running around in circles.  When you pick up Gods Word you can see that are value is not based on what others say about us, it is based on what God says about us.  When we become saved we understand that the old man has passed away and we are a brand new creature in Christ Jesus.  This means all of those generational traits/cycles have been broken and die with you.  The traits will not pass onto your children.  Every morning when we look in the mirror we need to remind ourselves that we are BRAND NEW in Jesus, and that EACH MORNING we have a BRAND NEW FRESH START!  God gives new blessings each morning and he doesn't remember yesterday.  This should give us so much confidence that we can come boldly to him and make our requests known.  As long as we are alive we are never done and finished.  There are going to be days when we mess up but we can't stay in that messed up mentality and drag it out for days at a time.  There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus!!!!  We receive conviction from the Holy Spirit, but no condemnation.  If we start feeling this, we need to confess Gods Word out loud and shout "I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus."  It takes time to develop this boldness and recognizing attacks from the enemy but it is ok because we are a work in progress.  Jesus is not finished with us yet, so as long as we are breathing, he will continue to mold us.   The main key point of this message is to keep God first in every area of your life.  Keep him first individually/dating/married/family/work/friends/finances/etc.  He needs to be at the top of every area of your life.  He cannot be in certain areas and left out of certain areas.  In order to receive Gods blessing and be in his perfect will, he needs to be at the center of our life.  If you are reading this and this message is speaking to you, there is good news: You can make changes and start right now!! You can start making God first in your life and start making him important.  We are a work in progress so there is time to make changes!!!  Forget your past, Keep your head up and eyes fixed on our risen Savior!!!