A break from the norm: Fitness 101

Recently, I was talking to my brother about my fitness routine. He was wondering how I get the motivation to get up and go to the gym and lose the weight. The reality is, I'm no fitness guru and I'm definitely not an expert but as I was talking to him, I realized that I have a lot of knowledge on the subject and I want to share a little of that with you.

 A couple of years ago, after I had just had Riley (my 4 year old),  I realized I wasn't going to retain my youthful, slender bod. So I got a gym membership and started going. I tried classes and cardio on the elliptical. However, I just didn't have a goal. Other then really wanting to get my body back. So finally I decided to try something I had never done before. Run a 5k. You have to understand, I love sports, love playing basketball and football for fun, but I regret to say that I never did sports in school. I never learned the discipline that comes from playing one. So when I decided to run a race,  it was actually quite challenging for me. I started training.  The day of the race came I ran it in 39 minutes. I was kind of disappointed. My husband was so proud of me. He said you did something you have never done before. So when the next year came, I adjusted, trained harder, and cut my time to 33 minutes. I learned the value of having a goal and of pushing myself. That second race felt so awesome and I felt so accomplished.

There is something about working out that makes you evaluate your mindset. You realize that you have to beat your body with your mind. Past the pain of the run, or the weight, or the exercise. You have to focus and push yourself. Something that I never really had to do. Running that race was a huge breakthrough for me, that same year I tried P90X which was amazing. So hard, but so rewarding. I learned how to eat better, how to work out different, how to push myself.  So I wanted to give some advice to those of you who might be thinking about working out or losing weight. I want you to know that if you put your mind it you can do it.

1. Have a goal in mind. My goal was my 5k, it changed my life and helped me feel accomplished. So whether it is a weight loss goal, or a lifestyle change, or a physical challenge (like a race) Make sure you have a clear idea of what you want.
2. If your willing to invest financially, make sure you don't waste your time or money.
3. Pick something that you like to do. (For me running is hard, but I like it. The longer I run or the faster I run the more accomplished I feel, not to mention the cardio advantages). It might be playing a sport like basketball, rock climbing, or doing some Zumba. Its much easier to start if it is something you like.
4. Weight train. Okay so this doesn't necessarily mean become a body builder, but building muscle makes your body into a calorie burning machine. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. I focus on my legs and do workouts for them twice a week. On off days I do arms, chest, and back. 
5. Having a partner is great to. If you work out with someone and are accountable, its easier to keep focused.
6. Don't say I can't. Anybody can work out, anybody can have a goal. You just have to make one and you have to start. 

After giving my brother the advice I gave him, I realized something about working out that has really changed my focus. Working out is a battle. When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, that we need to run as if to win the prize, that is the mindset you need to have. Even when I woke up this morning after having a couple days off I said to myself, "Man I really don't want to work out." But I got up and tied my sneakers and headed to the gym. There is something to be said about overcoming your feelings, overcoming your urge to sit on the couch and eat food all day. 

²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I hope that today you can reflect on the spiritual implications of this scripture, but also the value of doing something to better yourself. God gave us the bodies we have and it is our responsibility to do the best with what we have been given. Have a great day!

Parenting for Sissies

I have found in my parenting journey that I'm kind of a sissy. When you are young and you have everything figured out. You have nothing to be afraid of, nothing to worry about, and nothing to lose. Then you have children and all that changes.  The way you thought it was going to be is shattered into a million pieces and you begin to realize who you really are. You realize how self-centered you are, how impatient you are, how strong you really are and all because of the little infant that you hold in your arms in the hospital. How could something so small cause so much self introspection? The answer is, it doesn't end in that place, it is just the beginning. Now 6 years and 3 boys later, I'm still learning. 

Recently, I read an article about a woman who wrote a column saying that having kids was the biggest mistake of her life. Many people praised her honesty while others were disgusted by her lack of sensitivity. The truth is it takes courage to be a parent, and I'll be the first to admit that my courage has faltered often, more than I like to own. The desire for everything to appear perfect plagues me. I find myself getting frustrated because I just want my kids to be good, not struggle, to listen, to be perfect angels. I think I have mentioned in the past that I'm worried what people think about my kids. Maybe that is the way I was raised or just my own personal insecurities. Thank God He doesn't see me the way I see myself.

The truth is, I was supposed to be Caleb, Riley, and Carson's mom. I forget this all the time. God saw me and saw them and purposed that we walk this road together as Mother and sons. It is the plan of the enemy to make me feel unworthy or afraid. If it was truly God's plan for me to be their mom, then I have everything they need to become all that they are supposed to be. Does that mean I'm good the way I am? Probably not, I have a lot to learn and a lot to change, but the fact remains that my children were a gift from God and it is my responsibility to take care of this gift. 

So courage to raise them comes from my Father. I might not have all the tools or all the strength or all knowledge, but I do have a Heavenly Father who does. We have to remember that whatever God gives us to do, He WILL give us all that we need to complete the task. Even something like parenting. Sometimes, it takes laying down our own ideas about how it should be done and trusting the Word of God to give us all the wisdom we need. It gives us resolve, not to give up or call it quits or whine or complain but to trust that we will make it. That our children will make it. 

So even if I have been a sissy as a parent, the truth is I don't have to stay there. I don't have to be afraid. I have everything I need to be the parent I'm supposed to be. 

Sometimes it hits the fan....

So ministry comes with many ups and downs. The last two weeks have been on the lower end of the two. I often remember my parents telling me when I was a little girl, that the families of ministers come under great attack. When I was young I didn't completely understand this or really want to since it seemed scary. However, as I have gotten older and being in ministry for over 10 years, I have begun to see that there are forces at work above us that seek to kill, steal, and destroy. The scripture in Ephesians 6:12 says that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood but with powers and principalities. This helps me to put into perspective the events of the last few weeks.

It all began about two weeks ago. My husband and I had just come home from an awesome weekend with our students. It was at our annual youth convention that we saw a lot of breakthrough in our kids. They experienced God like we had not seen up until this point. It was awesome! So although we came home exhausted and worn out, we also came home with a lot of joy and victory in our hearts.

I want to preface what I say next with a little background. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but I want to explain that our financial situation has not always been easy and these last two months we have experienced a lot of freedom in this area of our lives. This has been a huge victory for us. So when our furnace broke and not just one but both of our vehicles broke down equaling over a 1000 dollars in damage, its safe to say we were feeling frustrated. Now many people might say this is just bad luck or just a coincidence. But being back in the same financial position we were before after having such victory was no coincidence. Then humanity seeped in and the WHY GOD questions began. I called my mother-in-law and just broke down. I was sobbing on the phone. What she said snapped me back to reality. She said, "You are being attacked. You think that the devil is happy with what is happening?" All I could think of was that he was pulling out the big guns. I'm not one to chase after the devil or to see every bad thing as an attack from the pit of Hell, but at that moment, what she said resonated with me. I realized that this was an attempt, by powers and principalites, to steal the joy that comes from the inside and not from things on the outside.

No financial security can become a substitute for the joy of the Lord and the peace that comes from knowing that He is in control. The attempt from the enemy was to steal that from me. When I realized that, I had the real victory. There was a part of me that was saying "bring it on". I now know that like Jeremiah 29:11 says the plans of the Lord for us are good and that He has a great one. It makes me look forward to the future because God has AWESOME things in store for us.

The end of the story is even greater. As I am writing this most of our savings has been restored and God has provided. In the midst of the fight, we don't always see the victory in sight, but God gives us the strength to keep fighting.  He never leaves us. Just writing this today has strengthened my reserve to continue to trust and serve the Almighty God. Be victorious today!

Women's Rights

This week, in covering my USA category for the blog, I thought I would discuss my feelings on Women's Rights. I like to listen to a lot of political radio, read articles, and research the events that are occurring in our country and the implications it has for people. I get very passionate because I really believe in America and all that it stands for. I'm very proud of my country and very patriotic.

After that introduction, I just want to discuss something that really gets under my skin. Women's rights in our current culture has become extremely distorted. Now, I am deeply pro life, however I want to point something out, when Roe vs Wade made abortion legal in our country decades ago, the law didn't say "Women can now do whatever they want and we the federal government must pay for it". So my frustration comes with lawmakers who make free birth control, free abortion, free services a women's rights issue. ITS NOT! 

Women's rights, as I have come to understand it over the years is about being able to take responsibility, to work, to vote, to go to college, or to have a family. It means we have equal opportunity in the work place, to go after our full potential. In reality the purpose of Women's Rights has missed the mark in our day and age.

Hollywood makes it all about sexual freedom, being with who ever you want, politicians make it about providing free stuff in order to get a vote. Our "rights" have become deluded and misrepresented. Lower expectations have been placed on us. Its no longer okay to be a virgin, if you are you don't have experience. All of these messed up views of women's rights have caused confusion in us. Who are we supposed to be? Will I ever be good enough? Am I really ready to have a baby right now? Should I be a mom or work? Can I have both?

Women's rights in our country started as a noble thing, it started with being able to vote. It started with opening opportunities for women to discover their full potential. How then has it become all about sex? How has it become all about being able to get abortions for free? How has it become all about birth control pills and forcing others to pay for them? It boggles my mind that our culture can take something like women's rights which originally was about empowering women and raising them up and degrade it to be all about "sexual freedom."

Proverbs 31 is the ultimate picture of the well rounded woman who has balance in all she does. Its the ultimate Biblical view of Woman's Rights. Of an entrepreneur, a mother, a wife, a talented woman, an attractive woman, a creative inventor, a caretaker, a speaker. Its all that we can be. Our country, politicians, Hollywood has reduced the value of a woman, they have created a distorted view of God's original plan. I am constantly trying to find the balance of being a wife, mom, a worker, a minister, cook, cleaner, and the list goes on. Striving to be all that I can be which is far beyond what I can even imagine. I refuse to be defined by a culture that has devalued my sex and has made it into something far below God's original plan.

I sincerely hope that if you are reading this today you will realize that you were made to be so much more then what this world tells you. Don't allow this degraded and distorted culture define who you are.
³⁰ 

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

³¹ 

Honor her for all that her hands have done,

    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:30,31

Discipline is all about love.

Let me start by saying that I don't really see myself as a great mom, more often then not I feel like a failure. My kids act up and I feel (emphasize the word FEEL)  like its the end of the world. The expectations I have placed on myself as a parent are extremely unforgiving, and I am often worried more about how others see me. All of these thoughts and ideas are of course wrong. . 

This week I had been praying that God would help me. I had come to Him and basically said, I can't do this without Your help. On wednesday, My son Caleb came home from school extremely busy and wound up which can make for some interest conflicts. I made dinner and everyone was doing fine. Then I called for them to come eat and the antics began. "I don't like this" and "I don't want vegetables" and "I'm not going to eat this." So I began my normal course of action, threatening to take away snacks, timeouts, etc. Needless to say nothing was working. I got to a boiling point, neither son was touching the dinner and I had had it. I got so angry that, after putting Caleb on timeout, I looked at him and said "Don't talk to me, I'm to angry."  Then the God questioning started. "Why aren't you helping me?" "I told you I can't do this and now look." I was out of patience and out of love.

By that time, I had to get everyone ready for church. I got everyone bundled and in the car and headed over. After dropping everyone off in the nursery and in classes, I went up to the youth sanctuary and was suddenly aware that it was time to put my game face on. I had to let go of what happened at home, let go of my frustration, let go of feeling like God wasn't helping me and focus on ministering to the teens. 

The service was one of the best ones we had ever had. My husband spoke on compassion. At times, as he was speaking, I wondered if this message was just for me. I realized during the worship and the message, that God was available always even if I was at the end of my rope. I felt as if, He filled my empty tank up. That all the patience and love that was gone, He restored. I asked God to forgive me for my anger and once again help me. I realized that when it comes to parenting, its not enough to just ask God for help and then leave it there, its about going to Him as the source. Asking Him to help and then doing it my own way just wasn't going to work anymore. 

 That night when I got home, I revoked all my threats and did not punish my children, instead I apologized for how angry I had been and allowed them to have the snack that I had threatened to take away. It was in that act of mercy that I felt peace. The Lord brought me back to the scripture I had read that morning.

 Proverbs 13:24 

Whoever spares the rod hates their children,

    but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. 

 He had answered my prayer. He showed me, that it is out of love that I must raise and discipline my kids not out of my own expectations or view of myself.  So my prayer changed. God I need your help to love my children enough to discipline them carefully, not just to punish them when they do wrong. It takes the anger and the frustration right out of it. God is the same with me, He disciplines me and corrects me because He loves me. That has to be my motivation with my kids. I challenge those who read this to recognize that our motivation in all we do must be love. It changed my perspective and I pray that it will also change yours.

Be blessed today! 

From Now On...

So I have been pretty random with my blog up until now. I really want to be able to put more thought into it and share more. So on a weekly basis I'm going to share based on my title for the blog. So this week would be ministry, next week motherhood, and lastly the USA. Then I will start the rotation again. We will see how it goes.

Being in the Ministry is one of the most interesting professions to have. Unlike other professions, ministry requires a life. A life dedicated to honoring God in everything I do. Honoring Him with my kids and raising them. Honoring Him in my marriage, by loving, helping, and honoring my husband. Honoring Him by doing the very best I can in my workplace and being a woman of integrity. Honoring Him when I lead the congregation in worship and being sensitive to God's leading in those moments.  Honoring Him when I pray for a lonely teen at an altar, or spending time with students that desperately need to know God and know He loves them.

I love my life, the Bible is so clear that we shouldn't love our lives else we lose them. But it is not that kind of love. I am extremely grateful for the call of God and for all that He has given me because of it. Many people look at ministers and may see people wasting their potential or giving up worldly things and fame. The reality is that dedicating a life to God is the most fulfilling life one could have. Whether gifted to play a sport, or debate in a courtroom, or operate in an ER, or teach in a classroom. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we are blessed.

This doesn't mean life is a bed of roses and I could tell you that from personal experience. There is nothing like being right where God wants you. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all else will be added is certainly true. When we dedicate our lives to knowing God,  He adds what we need and what we desire. He makes all things beautiful. Ministry is a great profession and one that requires everything I have. I would venture to say that every profession when it is done unto the Lord is ministry. Whatever it is God has gifted you with, know that He has given it to you and has a great plan for you if you seek Him.

Be blessed as you seek Him today.

Happy Valentines Day!

So typically, my husband and I don't really celebrate valentines day to the fullest (Dinner, candles, flowers, roses, hand held walks on the beach, romantic getaways etc). For the most part, one or the other forgets, there are last minute clearance chocolates involved, or a whipped up cake.  You see there are a 5 February birthday's right before including a brother, a niece, Bill's father, Bill's and mine. So valentines day is sort of like a last thought. So this year this is kind of how the story went. 

Wednesday afternoon, I'm sitting on the couch catching up on Facebook and completely distracted when  Bill comes in the door from work. No real surprise there. He heads to the dining room with three boys wanting his attention. Caleb and Riley ask what he's doing.A few minutes later Riley comes up to me and starts talking to me. Now bear with me everyone, sometimes I tune my kids out and I don't even realize it. So when I finally realize he's talking to me I hear the tail end of his sentence.

 "...surprise."

 I looked at him.  

"What?"

 "Mmmmm, Chocolate." He replies. 

From the dining room I hear, "Shut up Ry."

 I chuckle.

 My husbands walks in with that annoyed look he gets in his eye when his plans have been foiled (which isn't very often). He gives me a beautiful card and a big box of chocolates. Both of my sons start jumping on me.

"Open the chocolate mom. Its your valentine." My thoughtful loving husband was foiled by my sons, it was so funny.

Wait, it gets better. So fast forward to Valentine's Day. I'm in the supermarket, and I head for the valentine's cards. I look at a few and then see this bright purple, velvet monstrousity. I think. Hmm, lets check it out. So I open it up and read it and I love it. It says everything I want to say to Bill. Its all about how strong and wonderful and great he is. So I think, Well I know this is ugly, but I love the message. I'm kind of amazed that the card doesn't say Happy Valentines Day on it, but I figure I can write that in. So I take it home, write a quick message in it and sign it. I'm super excited, I haven't found a card this good in years. So Bill comes home from work and I give him the card. The look on his face when he opens the card is priceless. What the heck is this? He jokingly strokes the velvet cover. He opens the card and starts to read the message, then starts thumbing through the card.

 "Uh, Erica did you know there were two more pages to this card." 

I looked at it and was like.

"What?"

 So, there we were reading the last two pages of the card, which I didn't know were there and at the end was the phrase Happy Valentines Day. I looked at my husband who at this point was laughing hysterically and say "I was wondering where the Happy Valentines Day was." 

He laughed harder. It was a definite blonde moment. 

I love my life, I love my sons, and I love my husband. I love that we can laugh and that we can celebrate the love we share even in the most unexpected ways. Life is not perfect, and plans don't always work out just right, but sometimes its in those moments that we find the most joy, and funny stories to. Have a great weekend!