ABC's and 123's..

On another discussion board that I belong to some girls were discussing how they easily lost track of all their laps they were swimming because its hard to remember the number you are on when your swimming, you loose track easily especially in long distances, its hard to count 26 laps or even 32 laps for that fact, (which is approximently one mile)! so one person mention that they took the alphabet and started counting laps by it, only for each lap they used an animal for each letter, and thought of that while going, which kept their mind busy while swimming which sometimes can be a task, its amazing what you think of while swimming, like how many times can i count to 4 or 6 or 3 becuase that is the number of strokes I normally take before I take a breath.. however I decided this was a good idea, but I didn't want to do animals.. so I have been working for quite sometime on the charactheristics of God so I did that.. WOW it was refreshing!!

Here's what it pretty much sounded like!
- A - Amazing, God is Amazing! He has made me into an amazing person, I can do some amazing things but only through God. hmm I wonder what B will be ohh flip turn..

B - Beautiful, God is Beautiful! God made me beautiful, he sees all his children as beautiful and lovely in his sight. I wonder how many people actually think they are beautiful.. ooh flip turn

C - Child! - I am God's Child and he LOVES me for just that, he is my father, my dad, my saving grace, he is the one I can run to when I need help, or when I just need an ear to talk to..

D - DAD! - God is my dad! He loves me right where I am, he loves me for just who I am, he cares about everything I do, even just swimming, he loves to watch over me.

E - Everywhere, God is everywhere! God is present in all his power everwhere and all the time (PS 139:7-12) He is the God of all the earth!

F - FAITHFUL, GOD is faithful! He is faithful with everything, he follows thru on all his promises, I can trust in his goodness, and his grace and his mercy, and his love, ooh I got a good G

G - GOOD, God is GOOD! He is good in all he does, he loves and cares for all of us, and he is GRACIOUS! and full of GRACE! hmm I h..

H - HOLY, God is HOLY! He is perfect in all he does, and he is pure! (Habakkuk 1:13) hmm a b c d e f g h ohh yes I

I - IRREPLACEABLE, GOD is IRREPLACEABLE! There is nothing on this earth that could replace him, there is nothing that can fill my life with such great things as him, there is nothing as good or as great as him he is irreplaceable.

J - JESUS - God sent us JESUS!! God sent us JESUS to save us all, becuase he loved us so much! and wanted to see us again! He sent new hope and love into this world his only son, JESUS!

K - KING, God is KING, God is king of my heart! He is the king of all kings! He set me free from this world, from the sin that I live in..

L - LOVE - God is LOVE!! HE loves me.. yes me.. (1 John 4:8) He really is LOVE!! GOD LOVES ME SOOO MUCH! HE is faithful in his covenant and his is faithful in his love that rains down on me!

M - MERCIFUL - God is MERCIFUL, (Psalm 57:1) I can take refuge in his mercy!! he is rich in his mercy and his provisions, in all he does!

I went thru the whole alphabet, I think the only letters I couldn't come up with something were for was Z. It felt so rerfreshing to remind my self of all the amazing charactherstics of God and it help me keep track of my laps, and keep my mind on all good things! I had a great swim, which means, *drum roll* I got approved to go back to swimming!!! like real swimming! PRAISE GOD!!

Anyway.. so if there is any task that you do that you have to do over and over again maybe you could try it, since then I've also done how God sees me, and all that Jesus has done for me! It reminds me while swimming why I am here, and how amazing God is and that I am a child of his, and it is truely an honor! My identity in Christ is amazing and if you are a child of God, so is yours, even if you just haven't seen it that way yet!!

Wanna Workout! :)

I have a new passion, okay. so maybe not quite so new.. but its still newer.. I love love love to workout with people and I love to train them!

I love to push people to their limits and then just take them a little farther than where they think they could have gone, I love to push them just slighty past their mental limits in efforts to gain a healthier perspective of workout, feeling amazing, loosing weight, etc etc..

You say this may sound so cruel.. nonsense.. how do you get anywhere physically in life or with your health if you are not just slighty pushed past your comfort zone? :) oooh I know I would have never gotten where I was if someone would have never pushed me out of my comfort zone! so I am very eagerly and thankful to pay it forward!

Last night I got to train 3 people all at once whew! what a workout for me in and of its self and a challenge, but I sooo loved it, We did circuits, I had one or two people on the treadmill and one person with me on a machine doing either triceps, or biceps and then we would switch out, the people on the tredmill were at a comfortball walking pace, however at an incline of 3.0 and when I had a second I would run over and up the incline.. ooh so much fun.. then we would rotate!! I loved every minute of it! We also did skull crushers I think they were everyones favorites!! I love them, they work your triceps so well and you can do them at home! The picture on the right is similar just do them on the floor with whatever you have.. 5 pounds is usually enough for people to feel it and dumbbells work great! keep your elbows in to your body! and when you get tired.. try pulsing instead of going up and down at a certain spot for 30 seconds.. you should feel it in your triceps!

Then.. we got to work our abs! We did some normal ab work and did some throw downs..

While lying down grab your partner's legs as he stands with his feet on both sides of your head. While keeping your legs straight or slightly bent (but locked into place) bring your feet to your partner's chest as fast as you can. Remember to use your abs as much as you can and don't let your hip flexors and legs do the work. Your partner should then throw your legs down fairly hard. Your partner can also throw every other one to the sides after you get the hang of it. Your feet should NEVER touch the ground before your bring them up for the next rep and always bring them back up as fast as you can, try doing it for a certain time instead of so many.

The best part of the night was when one person said congratulations you just survived your first Leslie workout, it made me smile, I apprecaite them so much for letting them allow me to help them! I only hope they don't hate me to much afterwards, in the gym, I mean business!... most of the time :)

wanna workout? :)

North Liberty Biggest Loser

Last night we had our second weigh in for a competition that my roomate and I are doing with the North Liberty Rec Center. The competition is called Biggest Loser North Liberty, and has provided new opportunities new excitment, new motivation! The whole deal is there were 16 women to start with and we split into two teams.. however.. my roomate and I are on seperate teams.. I am on the Blue team ( GO BLUE!! ) and my roomate is on the Red team. The teams each consist of 8 women which I am totally praying that somehow God will use both my roomate and I throughout this time through March to be lights there and just maybe open new doors to relationships, I am encouraged!

We weigh in every Monday night, I being an ultra competive person that I am, and knowing that my roomate was on the other team, worked SUPER hard this past week full out knowing that it would be and will be harder for me to loose more weight since I am getting down there and I've been doing it for quite some time... I watched what I ate, but ate healthy and never eer cut my self short of my days "points" (I am using weight watchers for my eating) and I worked out like a mad women! Okay.. so I can't run.. which would be the easist way to loose weight, so instead, I went to the gym every day... 4 days I lifted weights upper body, I can't do lower body just yet and also did abs.. I also swam and aqua jogged 5 or 6 days.. All was good, I felt good about the week, and was nervous getting through the weekend, but made it through..

The weighin! - I ended up loosing 7 pounds!!! infact I was so excited I threw my hands up on the scale as she was weighing me, and she was like.. ooh hold on a sec, I am like.. oops.. sorry.. It was just soo exciting!! My work had paid off, and the even better part was that everyone and I mean everyone in our Group was supportive!! we all clapped and cheered as numbers were said, it felt sooo good! Everyone in our group that should up to weighin lost weight! how awsome is that!!! I am so encouraged, and motivated! - My roomate did amazing as well too.. I am so proud of her!!! It was her first week that I really didn't help her as much and she went to it!

Losing weight is hard work! and there is no easy short cut to it, but I was so encouraged after we just weighed in together, it made me want it even more, and it makes you really accountable, after all if your not there next Monday, thats just as bad. I know that each choice I make throught the week will affect the scale next Monday.. and even though I am competivite,.. I can't wait to see everyone in the group succeed!! :) - yay!!! And I am just now 2 pounds away from hitting my 75 pound mark! soo I am pretty sure that I'll hit it next week.. WOWZERS!! I can't even imagine.. I am trying to think how much that really is.. but I am pretty encouraged by just that thought.. its amazing to see how far you come when you look back :)

Beauty the Eye of the Beholder!

Beauty is definitly in the eye of the beholder!

While I was at faithwalkers, I had a revolutionary thing happen! God showed me how beautiful I truely am! WOW!!! So over the past year I have been working out, trying to loose weight, trying so hard to simply make my self "prettier" but also healtier and all at the same time in the back of my head thinking.. I am fat, I am ugly.. am I ever going to get anywere with this struggle?

I've struggled wtih it for years... and I've worked my buns off litterly this past year to do somethign about it, and while I have lost over 60 pounds.. my view of myself had never changed, I still saw me as I think some of this world may see me.. I still saw myself as 60 lbs heavier with a long way to go... I saw myself as someone ugly, not worthy of anything or anyone.. but it all changed on December 30th 2006!

We were playing the family game with some friends from Colorado on the last night at Faithwalkers and having a great time! (I miss them already) Anyway.. were in a room with a large mirror, we had just got done playing and I got a ball thrown at me from a friend because I won the game, I beat him, and he was doing it out of a joke I am sure, anyway.. so I went to go throw the ball back and saw my self in the mirror, normally I would immediatly think.. wow that shirt is no good, or wow your hair, or wow look at that impeffection.. but it was different.. I ignored it, running back and throwing the ball back at him, we left the room to talk.. i dunno.. its kind of fuzzy.. but then I came back to pick up my stuff..

I picked up my stuff.. stood up and looked up at the mirror and thought.. WOW i am really beautiful, why have I never ever believed what God has been telling me is so true the past year, that I am beautiful in his sight, that he created me and can make nothing wrong, that I am his child and he LOVES me.. yes ME!!

Wow, i felt a huge sense of emoition just wash over me.. it was like I was standing in the rain and God was pouring down his LOVE and feelings for me!! yes ME!!! I felt as though I might just be his favorite! :) WOW..IT was revolutionary.. I felt so loved... and even though my friends.. who are amazing have been telling me for the past year and a half that they love me. that I am beautiful that I am amazing.. I could never see it.. because I did not believe it for myself.. I knew in my head that God thought I was beautiful but i never let it into my heart.. I had built so many walls and told my self so many lies.. that I was simply not beautiful.. I was believing what this world was telling me!

I haven't been able to run for a long time now.. and it will be a while before I can run again.. but I know that God has a plan.. and I know that not running right now is his plan.. I don't think I would have seen this beauty if I was running, running from past hurts, emotions, all the things that I could run so easily from, but I also know that he knows my heart.. I still want to run again someday! soon I hope.. but I also know now that God loves me right where I am.. I know that God thinks I am beautfiul, for years I have longed for that outside acceptance, that my emotions relyed on what other people thought, or how they treated me or what they said.. Like while I was loosing weight, my head would say.. I wonder if anyone will notice today.. will they say something, will they tell me I look good... I longed for someone anyone to accept me.. but now..

I have God's acceptance.. and I can see it.. He loves me.. yes ME>. and he loves you too.. yes YOU!!! He sees you as beautiful!!! YES YOU!!! WOMAN! I want to scream this from the mountain tops.. I want every woman who struggles with being accepted and felling not beautiful enough, or fat, or ugly, or torn up by this world to understand that God sees you as BEAUTIFUL!!! more beautiful than anything!! He created you.. he loves you!! and all at the same time.. i know how many times i could tell you this and you might say yes.. i know but i know that your heart might not accept it..

Verses come to mind as I see how amazing I am in Gods eyes..

I am God's child - John 1:12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

I can't be seperated from the love of God - Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

God views me as beautiful! - Song of Soloman 4:7
All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.

Psalm 139:13-16
13For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.

So yes!!! God thinks your beautiful, he thinks your amazing, he loves you!!! I hope one day you will feel this rain down on you as I have.. for it is amzing!! it sure is a lot harder to have a negative thought about my beauty, or body in my head now.. I haven't had one since I think..but I am sure I might.. but I also know that God Loves me and he thinks I am amazing!!! yes me!! little old me! I see my self as a new person, I was looking in hte mirror the other day and thought.. wow I have come so far.. and last night.. wow I am beautiful and cute.. and funny.. and oh its so much more fun to think pleasant loveing thoughts, than negative lies.. God is so good... he is so loving, he is so rich, he is so giving, I only hope that others can some day see this too.. I love standing in the rain of God's love! I don't think there could be anything better!

Small nudges.. big steps

I was over at the Hospital this morning waiting in a sea of people to get an x-ray taken for my foot, as X-ray was way behind, and it turns out, that I didn't just sprain my ankle a week adn a half ago, I also sprained my actual foot.. who knew you could actually sprain your foot.. anyway.. they wanted to make sure that it wasn't broken.. so I was waiting..

A nurse whelled in this patient, an ederly woman on a gurnee, she was alert, lying there, and all alone, I felt God nudging me to talk to her, but instead I sat, silent, and smilied, she smiled back, I felt God nudge again, I am thinking.. okay.. so maybe I should talk to her, but what in the world do I say.. I have no idea how to even start a conversation with her.. how is it possible.. so I ignored it.. I got into some other coversations around me, and then.. she spoke.. I stood up, taking a step closer to her, and asked what did you say.. she said she felt like she was in the way of it all.. .. I smiled and laughed and said nah.. I felt such a blessing over come me as I took a step of faith and wonder if there was any way that God would be blessed by the conversation I was entering into.. could I use this for his glory, did he have a plan for all of this..

We began to chat about the holidays you could see her smile over her relief as she shared her story of troubles yet you could still see that she felt okay, comfortaed, I felt like I was God's hands working, We talked for probably 10 minutes or so before her name was called it was such a blessing to me, it reminded me of my mom, and my grandma, and wonderful people I know. I felt like God's hands working. As her name was called I said Good luck and God bless, she smiled brightly, and said you too, thank you.

I've never been so open to say God Bless, or talk to someone like that, but I truely felt blessed by God, and I truely felt God blessed me by her. I was so thankful that I might have been able to be his hands and his feet by obeying his little nudges. She also helped me feel more at ease taking my mind off of the other things that were going on.. I also realied that maybe its really not so hard to start relationships or converstaions or to show Gods love for people.

If I was able to reach out here and show love and compassion to a complete stranger, to someone that I knew nothing about, how much easier can it be to reach out and show love to those that I already love around me.. I felt so blessed to show love to someone that I did not know. I felt as though God had truely blessed me with all the right words and I could not thank him enough, I felt empowered by him..