Absolute.

I have made a lot of lifestyle changes over the past two and a half years.   I am incredibly grateful for all of the support and encouragement I have received from my family and friends as I have developed new physical, spiritual, and dietary disciplines.   I have earned quite the reputation for discipline and follow through.   I made another big change back in January but have not had many conversations about it, because even I was not sure that I would follow through.   I stopped drinking alcohol, indefinitely.   In a lot of ways this has been a long-time coming.   I had already significantly tapered my alcohol consumption in conjunction with Whole30 .   I knew God and my body were both encouraging me give it up altogether, but the idea of doing life completely alcohol-free was intimidating to this True Blood Texan.   So much like Jonah, I continued on in a different direction believing this strong of a commitment was just unnecessary. ...

In anticipation of the Prayer Binder Workshop that is now FOUR days away, I am posting FOUR reasons why I use a prayer binder. Hopefully these will encourage you to come out and see what it is all about! 1.)     Transformed my time with God.   A prayer binder has t aken me from programming prayers and lobbing up a shotgun blast of requests, to hearing from God and recognizing his direction for my life. 2.)     The schedule makes me WANT to get into my prayer binder.   For example, I want to work through my binder on Tuesday because I know that it is the day that I pray for a missionary we support in Indonesia.   I love her dearly and I know that if I don’t get to my binder on Tuesday, then I miss out on my dedicated time to pray for her. 3.)     Strategic prayer has made me more aware of the needs and brokenness that surround me.   It has also prepared me for opportunities that God provided for me to impa...

When I started my “weight loss journey” I had no concept of what a realistic end goal was.   I was SO out of touch with the reality of where I was, that I had no foundation to imagine where I wanted to be.   I would kick around numbers in my head, trying to extrapolate from my high school weight what I thought a good weight goal was for myself.   I eventually settled that I could maybe get back down to the 150’s.   Knowing that my senior weight was 155 lbs. (with a LOT of muscle), even that sounded like a pipe dream.   I looked at recommended weights for my height, and thought “that’s never going to happen.”   And believe me, I had a whole series of solid justifications.   I didn’t know where to set my goal, but I looked in the mirror and I said- “I just want my belly button to be a circle.” (Not an elongated slit smashed between fat rolls.)   Yes, that is a detail but a detail that served as a metric and indication of where I was and where I w...

Here is the Full List of 70 Gains and Victories referenced in this blog post .        1.       One time, I saw my reflection in the window of a retail store and didn’t recognize myself. 2.        Having to retire my favorite pair of pants (that used to look painted on), because they would no longer stay up.   3.        I rode the zipline at my parents’ house.   I had tried to do it in the past but couldn’t support my own weight.   This was especially rewarding because it was on my list of reasons to get healthy. 4.        I took the kids to Urban Air and played dodgeball.   Not just as the parent who wanted to be out there to have fun with the kids, but I was able to COMPETE.   I did have fun, but as an athlete I reveled in having the ability to get out there and go head-to-head with the dads and high school boys. 5.  ...

Hey There! I’ve missed you, but don’t take it personal- I have missed out on quite a bit lately. We have had an exciting transition over here and an especially busy season of church involvement to go with it.   So, life has been crazy and I have not had time for lots of things.   Aside from not writing any blog posts, I have also not seen the three new episodes of my favorite television show, I am behind on my reading schedule, AND I have gone out to eat more in the last two weeks than I typically would in two months (out of rhythm).   If you have read a few posts on here you know, food is a heart issue for me.   Meaning, I have realized that my diet is directly tied to my relationship with God.   I am constantly battling to have a healthy relationship with food- not allowing food to become an idol, exercising contentment, and not placing my hope in food by expecting it to make my bad days good. For some people, food is just food .   I realize th...

Normally when I write a blog post, I have a clear idea that I want to write about.   Whether it’s persuading participation in something, sharing how God has worked in my heart, or writing a book/movie review- I have a direction and purpose.   I am looking back on something, and I can put a pretty bow on it and write about it.   I have not posted anything on the blog in a while, because I haven’t experienced closure with the things I would typically write about.   I am still walking through a season of wrestling with God and my own limitations and there is no pretty bow for that. I recently committed to a challenge- 21 Days of Discipline.   I told myself, “it takes three weeks to form a habit, commit to this, and you’ll be on the trajectory to do this from now on.”   Among other things, I committed to working out at least 3 times a week, getting up extra early to read and pray, and finishing my entire morning routine by 8 am so that I could have the whole...