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2020 marks eleven years that I have been working out consistently (which is also my word for this 2020) at Bodylanguage doing barre classes. I never thought I would be someone who exercised! Though spiritual health is more important, physical health should also be important to us. It is God-honoring to be wise stewards of what He has entrusted to us and the benefits are so worth it.
If exercise of any kind is a goal for you this year here are some ways that exercise has become a lifestyle for me that you can hopefully adopt as well. 1. Find something you like. I know that it can be tough if you really don't like to exercise but you'll definitely find things you strongly dislike so maybe choose based on a likeability scale of 1-5. Sometimes the only thing you can like at first is the way you feel afterward both from the brain chemicals as well as the sense of accomplishment. 2. Community. Instructors are your biggest fans & coaches and quickly become your friends. My top two love languages are words of affirmation and physical touch. Barre class gives me both. Words from encouraging instructors and physical touch as they correct you. (I may be exaggerating a bit but they do touch you briefly to correct your form. LOL) 3. Accountability. Due to popular group classes, you have to reserve your spot and with a cancellation policy of 2 hours in advance, that last minute "I don't feel like it" is not an option. Pretty soon it becomes a habit! Making it a habit is the first goal. Everything else flows from that. 4. Results. Seeing muscles and being strong (both physical and mental) is an amazing experience! Holy Barre If you'd like to combine faith with fitness and try a barre class, join me for Holy Barre on Saturday, February 8, 2020 from 12pm-1pm. Please register here.
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I don't normally share updates but so many of you now have been through a Bible study with me or heard me talk or even prayed for me so I thought I would catch you up on the significant changes I had this past year.
Before I do share all the good things happening to me I want to add a disclaimer; going into a season of harvest doesn't mean I am more blessed or more loved by God. I feel the need to say that for a couple of reasons: Reason 1: Just today a friend of mine posted on Facebook that someone had sent her a photo and told her how great things were going in their life. My friend posted that while she was happy for them she didn't want to see or hear that when her own life was not in a good place. It only made her feel worse. I could totally relate as I'm sure many of us can. We only see the good stuff on social media and if we aren't careful it can make us question ourselves or God. While I've learned in life that there are usually good and bad things happening in life simultaneously, a season can have an overall theme to it for sure and it may be a dark season of the soul! In my own life over the course of the past seven years, my brother died, I've had financial strain as I've been building my business, which then led to marital strain and for four and a half of those years I was in chronic pain diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto's, and Mixed Connective Tissue disease. There were many times I couldn't read or hear about others in social media posts without feeling depressed and discouraged. And although I knew it had nothing to do with God loving them more or God forgetting me, the flesh is vulnerable and the enemy likes to whisper lies in our ear. It is spiritual warfare for sure! Reason 2: Around Christmastime, I read a post about little children who still believe in Santa Clause and a wrong perception they can get when they go back to school and talk about what Santa brought them. The advice to parents was to give small gifts from Santa and make larger gifts as coming from mom and dad. The reason for this was because the children whose parents couldn't afford the big-ticket items question why the other children get bigger things from Santa and then they conclude he loves the other children more since they only get small ticket items from Santa. While I would never compare God to Santa, it made me think about the same scenario happening when people get a new house or a new car (or whatever it is that we want) and say God blessed them with it. Someone not knowledgable about the Bible could misinterpret that and think their lack or struggle means God doesn't love them as much or that He isn't blessing them. But we should know that just isn't true. Just look at the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 and see the big disparity between the groups of God's people- all were blessed yet some had riches and saw miracles and some were literally sawn in two, martyred for their faith. God knows what He is doing. And we know that all things are working together for our good if we love God and are called according to His purposes. I'm all about giving God the glory for all the blessings but I never want someone to feel less than because they are waiting on God to answer their prayers. I want to be one who weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice. With that said I do want to update you on a couple of big things that happened to me in 2019!
Happy New Year!
It seems hard to believe that it's been 20 years, TWO DECADES since the new millennium/ Y2K. It was my first year bringing in the new year with my love, Steve. He was a bass player (still is) and his band was playing in Vegas. We had only been together a couple of weeks at that point after meeting when he played a show here in Albuquerque. It was after that trip our relationship began and eventually both of us would be found by Jesus. Taking the time to reminisce is good for relationships. Remembering that first love we had brought back all the feels for me. It's the same in our relationship with Jesus. Good seasons in life can lead us to wander off thinking we "got this" and causing us to become complacent while bad seasons can cause us to wander off wondering where He is. Either way, in our deepest parts we all long for that experience of love with our Lord and Savior. The new year caused me to reminisce about when Steve and I first fell in love and then it led me to reminisce about when I first fell in love with Jesus. Which I needed to do more than I realized. In Revelation 2:4-5 Jesus tells the church in Ephesus, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." What a convicting statement Jesus made. But it's also so encouraging. If you've read God's Way to Success you'll remember in each goal we look to the scriptures. And we specifically look to what we need to trust God for and what is in our control so we can plan our action steps. In this verse, Jesus' part is implied. If we've wandered off, His love for us never diminished -only our ability to recognize it or experience it. Happily, He is quite clear with the remedy to revive our love for Him and others:
Imagine how wonderful and exciting 2020 will be if you do those things! |
AuthorBut you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 Archives
January 2020
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