Wednesday Worship: Praise Him

I was a huge fan of Vanessa Bell Armstrong's some twenty-plus years ago. My admiration has continued although I haven't listened much to some of her more recent CDs. But I heard this song off her new album. It's such a personal, genuine song, the kind any one might write if she simply started pouring her heart out to the Lord in song (and were as talented as Ms. Armstrong).

Praise You through my heartaches
And I will praise You through my storms
Yes, I will praise You through my wilderness
For it's You I do adore
It's You that I'm longing for.

Peace & Blessings,
Patricia

Time to 'Fess Up, Time to Choose

Haven't talked much about the whole weight loss journey in a while.

Probably because I haven't lost a whole lot of weight. In a while.

I still considerably down from where I began this year. I was over 210 then. I'm hovering around 190 now.

My goal is to get down to around 135.

Should I be applying for The Biggest Loser?

I locked into some bad habits a few months back that began to spiral toward the end of the summer. Some were involuntary, a function of circumstances beyond my control. Others were bad choices.

I'm not exercising.

I'm snacking way too much.

I'm eating fewer healthy foods and more stuff with white sugar, white flour, and high-fructose corn syrup in them.

I stopped tracking my foods and journaling about my progress.

I'm not drinking enough water.

I can do something about all of these things.

I will do something.

Especially about the last few. The exercise thing has been outside of my control. I won't go into detail but suffice it to say, it's a bummer. And I've been letting that dictate everything else.

But I don't have to.

I read on a blog somewhere, and I'm paraphrasing here because I wish I could find it again but I can't, that just as we choose to never smoke or drink or do drugs, or any other lifestyle choice we make and adhere to without thought, we can choose to eat healthily, to not put bad things in our mouths, i.e. the wrong foods in the wrong quantities.

Smoking? Had maybe four cigarettes as a teenager. Yuck! Terrible taste. That, and a chain-smoking father, pretty much cemented that I would never be a smoker.

Alcohol? Drank occasionally as a teen and young adult. Mostly to be cool, when I sat square on that fence between Christ and the rest of the world. Decided I didn't like fence-sitting, or what alcohol did to my senses. No temptation there.

Drugs? Stupid, and that's one thing I've never been.

Food? What we eat is a choice, and it should be no harder than any other lifestyle choice.

I know many will disagree with this. I do myself to a certain extent, knowing how hard it is to lose weight. Knowing how difficult the food choices become within a family. Knowing how costly it is to eat well in this country. Knowing how much we (I) don't really know about how our foods interact with our bodies, the environment, and other factors that affect our health, which often makes trying to lose weight feel like rowing upstream with no paddles. (This Sunday's New York Times Magazine is the Food issue and devotes much space to diet and food-related articles.

But at the same time, the simplicity and empowerment embedded in this notion struck me right between the eyes.

I can make good dietary choices. Without a lot of struggle and moaning. I simply have to choose.

That simple? Maybe it is.

So I'm making better choices. First order of business is to drop the five lbs I've gained since the end of August. Then, I'll make another dent in my weight loss molehill. (Don't feel like tackling any mountains, but molehills are right up my alley!) And I'll figure out something to get around my exercise limitations.

Have you had any affirming or empowering thoughts smack you upside the head lately?

Peace & Blessings,
Patricia

Wednesday Worship: Agnus Dei

Hallelujah, Lord God Almighty reigns!

Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb!

You are Holy!

That's my sister-in-law, y'all!

Peace & Blessings,
Patricia