Stand and Strengthen Others

#achievingprominence by @ashley.horner day 23 is in the books. Shoulders! I don’t dislike Shoulders as much anymore. Still not my favorite. But I’m learning to like it. Haha. Today was 3 sets of 12. Also had to do core and handstand push ups. I’m getting better at those handstand push ups. I’m so grateful for how much stronger I’m getting. I did have a new exercise today. Car Drivers. I loved those!   I will do an AP workout tomorrow. Then for the next three weeks I will do #RecreatingYou as I will be back on the road.

While I was lifting I still had my Bible Study on my heart from this morming. I learned today about Mephibosheth and how David longed to show kindness to anyone that was left in Jonathan’s family.

It is on my heart to say this….. We, especially as Christians mist rise up and notice people. People are hurting! There are people that need God.

The heart of Jesus is that we might come to know Him. That we would allow Him to transform our lives. And when our transformation has happened, we are told to stand and strengthen others.

So as Christians we must rise up and get out of our wilderness and speak the truth of our lives. We must allow our stories of redemption to be used so that others might come to know Christ.

Mephibosheth was so incredibly shocked that David would desire to show kindness to him. He said, “Who am I? I’m nobody.”  David felt quite the opposite. David treated him like he was his own son!

Choose today to get up and stay up!! Choose today to run out of hiding and into freedom! Lasting freedom comes through Christ and Christ only. He says, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Where the spirit of the Lord IS, there IS freedom!”

He Seeks us! He desires us! He approaches us! Yet, it’s all invitational and never forced.

Love y’all and be blessed!

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You Might Need a Pattern Change

Sometimes when the alarm goes off, you just don’t want to get up. It takes me a few minutes to CHOOSE to get out of bed. I plan for that, by setting my alarm a few minutes earlier than I really need to. I have to plan to snooze. Haha! But, I got up. Had a great time with God then I got at it with my workout. I had arms today and was extremely consistent. For kicks and giggles I thought I would push myself, so afterwards I completed a conditioning circuit of wall balls, lunges, squats, push ups, burpees and wall sits.

I continued on with the sermon series by Steven Furtick called #staythesame. Truthfully, anyone who is desiring a different result in their life can benefit from this series.

It’s so amazing to me how when I’m choosing a sermon it ends up being related (unbeknownst to me) to what I’m dealing with in my life.

Here’s the gist of what I learned through this sermon. We all look at our lives and the results we are producing. In some areas we are pleased and in other areas we begin to mope, whine and complain because we are not happy with our results. In order to change our results we have to change our patterns.

He gave a great illustration. He said, “If I take 111 x 6 it equals 666. But, I don’t like that number for what it symbolizes. Since I don’t like my result I change my pattern. So, now it’s 111 x 7 which equals 777.”

If you feel defeated stop and ask yourself why? What can you change?

Are you frustrated with your fitness results? Look at the pattern.

Your walk with God? What are your patterns?

There are some routines we have that need to stay the same and there are some routines that we need to change in order to bring better results.

Be blessed!

Be Firm! Stand Strong!

#achievingprominence by @ashley.horner is in full swing. I’m on my 3rd week. Next week I will combine #RecreatingYou as my travel and life start going crazy. I’ve enjoyed being home the last several weeks, but for a bit the travel will pick up. I’m trying to stay calm and focused and not get too over excited and stressed with the whole diet and eating thing.

You know this morning what kept coming to my mind over and over again while I was lifting were two words: firm and stand.

As #christians we have to be firm in our beliefs. It is important that we know what we believe in and what and who we represent. The world is full of so much nonsense that can easily pull us in. And if we get pulled in, what often happens is that we retreat to our old way of thinking and fall into sin. But if we remain firm, then I believe also we become rooted even deeper in Christ. It is our ability to remain firm that allows us to discover more of what God says about us.

We must also stand. We stand on his word. We stand and fight, not with physical weapons, but with our spiritual weapons. Listen, we have to get God’s word in us! Standing is not only about attending church on Sunday so we can say we were there. Church doesn’t happen on Sunday. Church happens Monday through Saturday. Sunday is for (in my mind) a refreshment and renewal of our minds with like minded Christians. It’s where we go to hear a word from our pastor so we can go back out in the world and stand strong in all things we encounter.

Be firm today.
And when all else fails, just stand!

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I Matter

#achievingprominence week 2 of arms is done. Today was different for me in that I had 3 sets of 15 of every lift in my workout. I don’t know when the last time is that I’ve done 15 reps of anything. It’s been a few months. Also completed 20 mins of hiit cardio and core.

I have several things in my heart I wish to say, whatever is not mentioned will get its own blog post. Haha!

Last night I attended a #bible #journaling art class. It was a small group through my church. You should know that I DON’T DRAW. I’m a writer. I do not have any artistic ability. In the class the leader drew our attention to Matthew 10:28-31.  The premise of the verse (for me) is saying that God knows us so well, that he knows even the hairs on our head.

We were tasked with drawing something that resembled what that verse meant to us.

In moments of stress, I want to cry. In moments that I have no clue, in moments where my best self is not exposed, I want to give up and throw in the towel.

But I pressed in. Just as the multitudes of people did the day they were eager to hear Jesus speak when He had to get in Simon Peters boat to preach because there were so many.

Now, I’m not brave enough to show what my friend, the leader of the group, helped me draw. But I drew a face. Little did I know as I was drawing, that I realized I wanted this face to look like me. So I gave her curly hair.

This is how I know however that I’m growing with God: As I was drawing, I looked at this person. I was sad in my spirit because at first I didn’t think to give her eyes or a mouth. Initially I gave no features. Just a face, and curly hair. But because I am finally slowly beginning to see who I am in Christ, it bothered me.

Just like that day many years ago when there were so many people gathered to hear Jesus, multitudes in fact, Jesus noticed Simon. He mattered to him! The same is true with me. I matter.

So I gave myself eyes and a mouth.

After this morning and processing everything I realize I do matter. No longer do I have to prove myself. I’m good enough. I can sit down and let God work for me! He can fight for me! I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t have to try to fit in or participate in activities that don’t bring me closer to Christ.

I am called to be respectful, obedient and most importantly, to build his kingdom and edify who he is!

Be blessed today!

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Let Him Stretch You

#achievingprominence by @ashley.horner day number I don’t remember is done! Had Shoulders today. Had to do handstand push ups (not the greatest at those), had to modify, but I always work on them. One day I will get them. Had standing BB OH Presses, got those at 60 pounds for 4 sets of 11. Core and several other lifts. I found myself realizing how strong I got during #hornerelite with Ash.  It was great. And I’m able to see that in this routine.

Started a new sermon series today, called #stretchmarks by Steven Furtick. It’s based off Acts 3.

Im short we must realize that it’s in our stretch that God changes us. He uses us, he positions us exactly where he wants us so that we can build his kingdom.

Several things were said that touched me. I’m going to go back and read the story on my own time. But one thing he said, “God has a dual purpose for our lives. He desires to use us to grow his kingdom and to stretch our mindsets.”

From there he said that when we are stretched, we change. Our mindsets change. And change always cost us something. There is a price we pay. That price manifest itself in various ways: lost friendships, people gossiping about you, hatred from others, having to do away with the old etc.

But here’s the deal: we can’t fear that moment in our stretching. Because if we do, we will resort back to our old ways. This is something I have to remind myself of daily. I want and desire to change and move with God. If that means that I pay a price, I’ll pay it.

As David says in Psalm 62, God is my protector, my refuge and my shelter. If I stand on his rock, no matter what comes my way, I can be stretched, changed and used for his glory!

Be blessed today!

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Don’t Let Frustration Get You

Good, strong workout today with #AchievingProminence. I had chest today. I think in my earlier post I may have wrote chest and tris. I’m so used to doing tris with chest, that I forgot. Lol. Compared to #hornerelite this program is much shorter for me time wise each day to complete. I’m enjoying that right now. Had 4 sets of 11 of several different lifts. Got my cardio and core done. Saw two different lifts that I had never done. One was a close grip bench press. Liked that one. Had to use lighter weight. I had never done them before and wanted to make sure my form was good. Also had wide grip. The second exercise wasn’t truly new, I just had never done them like this. Cable Flys. But I had to do a single fly with each arm and then both arms after that. That was 1 rep. I fatigued out on that, but will get better. I got them at 30 pounds, but then had to go down to 20.

Listened to #crashthechatterbox week 6 sermon. Today the message was about #frustration and how it’s inevitable. We deal with frustration on a daily basis.

In the message several points were given on how we can better deal with frustration as it comes into our life.

1.  Look Back.  We must have the ability to look back and reflect on God’s faithfulness in our life.

2. Look up and recognize his strength. He fights for us.  It may be hard to see in your moment of frustration, but he is always there.

3.  Look beyond and ask yourself who can you help. It often alleviates some of your own frustration to be able to help someone else.

4.  Look Out. This one is big, and I often have to put myself in check with it. Who are you hanging around? What are you listening to and participating in? Both at work and in your personal life? Are you around people who complain all the time? Be careful, because they will try to bring you in with them. Complaining and complainers have one thing in mind: how can they get you to be like them. Don’t fall into the trap.

5. Look in and encourage yourself.

Be blessed.

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Fear! Be Gone!

achievingprominence #day3 technically by @ashley.horner is done. (I skipped day 1 because it was chest and my last HE workout Monday was chest) I found myself saying, “is this all?” I feel like it was a good transition from #hornerelite to this workout on the days I’m home. For the next several months when I travel I’ll do #recreatingyou.

Hit a 5 mile run in 60 minutes flat. I remember when it use to take me an hour to run 3 miles. Then I had my lift followed by core. I nailed it all!

I listened to Steven Furtick’ s third sermon on #crashthechatterbox while I was lifting. So awesome! He was talking about fear and how we can’t let it immobilize us.  Lots of good stuff.

One point he said that I want to elaborate on. He said, “We must fix our focus and keep up our courage.” He was basing it on how we stop moving in life the moment we start to fear.

Friends, we look at our circumstances and situations and we just STOP! We allow our circumstances to determine whether we will or won’t progress.

We fear others. What they may say. What they think. What may happen and so forth. And the response, what if those things do happen? We can’t let it stop us from progressing in life. God has NOT given us the spirit of fear!

So we stand…. We put our courage and faith in God, not in our circumstances. We put our faith in the One who created us. In the one who placed us here on this earth.

We walk it out, because He said, “Never will I leave you.”

We believe because he always provides a way out! We trust, because he is with us.

We are valuable, it doesn’t matter what people say. The truth says that the more and more we seek and grow passionate about Christ, trials will come. How will we handle them?

Shrinking back is no longer an option!!! If you are in Christ we are called to do more and be more, not later, but right now!! In this moment! We must get up, dust ourselves off, and get to work!

I love Him so much!

Be blessed today!

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Learning Who I Am

Good workout today. Hit Shoulders today. I started a new workout program by @ashley.horner. It’s called #achievingprominence.

My lift consisted of 3 sets of 10 of 6 different exercises. I hung right in there and got them all completed. I also had do core today, which I completed.

In my life and walk with God right now I’m studying who I am in Christ. I have doubted myself and my potential for many years. I listened to the 2nd sermon by Steven Furtick of #crashthechatterbox.

God has shown me lately how truthfully I don’t understand my potential and my abilities. He is right. I allow the chatter of my mind to disqualify my abilities.

God is the great I Am. He has equipped us how he wants us. And where our deficiencies and weaknesses arise, God fills. When we come to Christ we take on His name and immediately we become His.

I am in the process of completing I am statements and discovering who I am in Christ. Why? Because as the chatter of my mind starts saying “I am not good enough. I am incompetent. I am weak. Etc,” then I can immediately demolish those thoughts and fill my mind with who God says I am.

God makes us who we are. We must and I must believe that!

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Look Ahead

The alarm went off at 2:31 this morning. I snoozed for 20 minutes. Crawling out of bed I realized I was excited. It was a new week and I was anxious to pick up where I left off in my Beth Moore Bible study.

Then it was time to hit the gym. Chest and tris today. One of my most favorite. I was solid and consistent. I also did the stepper today. I’ve been adding that in lately because I hate it! I still don’t like it, but I’m forcing myself to do it to bring in some variety.

While lifting I was reminded in a sermon I was listening to that we must always be about progression in our life. Not just in the physical things we are doing, but in our walk with God.

It’s so true. We can’t get so caught up in the here and now. We must be focused on improving our mind, walking and working toward what we want in life.

There will be ups and downs. There always are, but the closer we get to Christ then the more confidence we will have as we face those moments.

Praying that all who read this have a wonderful day in Christ, despite what comes our way.

Pressing In With Love

Leg day! A change up slightly. Got my light warm up in to loosen up my legs first.

Then came my lift. Today felt harder than the usual for some reason. I suppose because it was 4 sets of 10, but I also went lighter on weight today so I could focus on form.

Got in some squats, deadlifts, leg presses, walking lunges with a 45 pound plate (it’s not hard for me holding the plate, but I like doing them because of balancing issues. I feel that it helps me work on that a little). I also got inner and outer thighs in, sumo and plie squats and a few other things.

Tomorrow I’m back for cardio and core.

I love this quote in my photo collage today. I’m working on a blog post that I hope to put up later today about how I/we need to define and associate ourselves as loved, validated, approved and accepted by God. That has to be our focus. When we lose sight of that, we lose sight of everything, including ourselves.

God himself sets the very rhythm of every pattern our life follows. He wants and desires to be at the very core of our existence. We must learn to flow with that.

He is love. And he first loved us; even before we knew what that love meant. I’m excited to share with you what’s on my heart.

For now, it’s time to eat and then get some food prep done.

Have a blessed day.