Getting Healthy (Part 1)

This week, I have it on my heart to share my experience with getting healthy. I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that I am constantly hearing about diets, work out plans, and everything else that is health, fitness or nutrition related. It's a huge part of our culture, consuming minds of all ages and genders. 

I want to share my experience of getting healthy because I can 100% say I am finally in a place where I am happy with my health. I view my relationship with health in a similar way to how I view my relationship with God, always needing time, commitment and dedication. Just like with my faith, some days I rock it, and some days I blow it. That's just how life goes, am I right? 

But the point is, regardless of if it's a day where I'm rocking it or where I'm blowing it, I'm

happy.

And it's taken me a long time to get here.  

So this week, I'll be sharing with you my experience of getting healthy. A three part series. 

Because before I could even think about nutrition or fitness, I had to focus on my mind. 

Getting Healthy: A Healthy Mindset

For me, finding a healthy mindset was essential to ever getting to a place of lasting results. You see, for years I let my mind wander to an extremely unhealthy place, and it took a lot of time & love from Jesus to reverse that. 

I opened up about my struggle with an eating disorder once before on the blog, so if you're interested in hearing about my battle with bulimia, feel free to read more here. Bulimia had an incredibly profound impact on me emotionally. It was so much more than just a quick way to get thin. On the contrary, I quickly realized it yielded no such results. 

Struggling with that eating disorder dragged me into a very dangerous place of turning to food for comfort. And not just turning to food itself, but turning to the fact that I had "control" over that food. When things got too overwhelming, I said screw it. I'm gonna go indulge in whatever the heck I feel like, and take "control" over how it affects my body. 

The thing is, in an attempt to gain control, I really lost it. 

So, back to the main point here. How did I get healthy?

I changed my mindset. I took a good, hard look in the mirror, and realized that I am beautiful 
just the way I am, no changes necessary. 

And I'm not beautiful because of the number on the scale, the clothes that I wear, or the color of my hair. I'm not beautiful because of my complexion, my fashion accessories, or even because of how I feel when I look in the mirror. 

I am beautiful because the Bible tells me so. I am beautiful because Jesus tells me so. 

I am beautiful because I am wonderfully and fearfully made. 

And I'm here to tell you that you are, too. 

And upon learning this, my mission to get healthy changed a bit. I no longer focused on a goal weight, goal clothing size, or even a goal of how I want to look in the mirror. 

My new goal was to treat this beautiful body that my Heavenly Father made with the respect it deserves. My new goal was to treat this body with love that I had been neglecting myself for years. 

You see, changing my mindset changed everything. Because treating my body with the respect it deserves? That was a goal I was willing to commit to. 

My First Blate!

This weekend, I went on my first blate (blogger date, copyright: this gal).

I feel like I am officially a blogger now. Hooray! 

I had the privilege of getting together with the wonderful Julie, who blogs over at An Anchor for the Soul. And I don't think it could have been more perfect. 

Quick back story of how I "met" Julie in Blogland. I found her over in the comment section of The Williams Post (thanks, Kerrie!). One click of a button, a few glances at her blog, and I was sold. 

It only takes reading a few posts to know if you share the same heart as someone, am I right? And this girl? Well her words could have come straight out of my mouth. And that's how I feel with every single one of her posts. 

You know those blogger glasses that we all wear? The ones you put on before you read someone's blog, that blocks out all of the bad and illuminates the good? They either leave you feeling super dang inspired, or super dang jealous? 

Well, the closer Julie and I have gotten, the more and more we realized that both of us were wearing those glasses at first. Reading each other's blogs and thinking 'dang! this girl's got it all figured out. this whole shining for Christ thing.'

And usually I would curse those blogger glasses, because of all of the comparison, self-doubt & envy that they bring. But this time, the glasses didn't bring any of that. They brought encouragement, inspiration and motivation to shine brighter for Christ. 

And I will always be thankful for Julie and her example that she set for me, without even realizing it. Because of her, I have learned (and am still learning!) to be a confident witness of Jesus. 

***

Things I learned about Julie:

1) She is beautiful. Hands down, stunning. 

2) She has the cutest accent. I heard it in a vlog, but hearing it in person is even better. 

3) We have really similar back stories, and our families have a lot in common. 

4) She is incredibly easy to talk to. The conversation was flowing from first hug. 

5) We have the same taste in coffee. (Both ordered iced non-fat mochas, her's decaf and mine white mocha). 

6) Her and Matt really do shine for Christ. It's not just words on a page, they truly are in a Christ centered relationship. 

7) I swear we are the same age. Even though I'm 4 years older. When did that happen?

8) We really would be bffs if we lived closer. But I'll settle for Blogger bffs :)

***

Julie, I had so much fun with you this weekend. Thank you for being my first official blate! I couldn't have asked for a better one :)

I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation with your fam! And can't wait until the next time we get to meet up!

Prayer Chain // Week 12

Happy Sunday, lovelies!

 

I'm fairly certain that's how I start almost every single one of my Prayer Chain posts. But you know what, that's okay! Because Sundays are happy days, and you all are lovely, right?

 

Right!

 

Glad we got that covered.

 

Today, I am feeling incredible thankful for the sweet conversations that have taken place this weekend. Conversations with my family, friends who I haven't seen in too long, and a conversation with one lovely blogger who I had the pleasure of meeting in person! {this girl}

 

And for frozen yogurt, because an abundance of that was enjoyed this weekend.

 

I hope your weekend has been equally blessed, and that all is going well in your neck of the woods.

 

Today, I ask for continued prayer that God's will would be done in my life. I pray that He pull me very close during this season of change, and that He help me to walk in faith, not fear.

 

How can we be praying for you? Melissa Jo and I would love to know! Link up a post, or shoot us a comment/email/tweet!

 

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. 

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them 

pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 

James 5: 13-14

 



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HAPPY Friday!

Happy Friday!

There's a lot to be happy about this week, so let's get to it:

*Going home to visit the fam this weekend makes me happy!*

*Getting to go on my very first blate this weekend will make me very happy!*

Especially because it's with this girl:

*Running in Nite Moves this week and having no foot pain made me extremely happy!*

Also, finally introducing these two, who I knew would be insta-bffs. 

{They were}

*The extra lovin' that I'll see from my next paycheck because of this week's overtime makes me happy*

Bye bye flexday, see you in a few weeks!

*The unexpected blessing of a new position with more responsibility at work makes me happy*

*Finding this incredibly epic relay race and starting the process of forming a team made me happy*

Heyy Nor Cal people, any one feel like joining our team??

*The love and support of all of you always makes me happy*

*Guest posting over at my girl Melissa Jo's blog today makes me happy*

What makes you happy on this Friday?

Children

Today, I was in a room full of hundreds of children. 

Those kids behind me in the blue baseball shirts? Those are my kids. My fourth graders who have been working so hard over the past year to get ready for one event, today's Math Super Bowl. 

As I was walking around this giant room full of brains hard at work, I couldn't stop thinking about two things. 

One: how much this reminded me of AP testing. 

Man, glad that's over with!

And two: I could not stop praying for these kids. 

And not just the ones that I have come to know, but all of them. I couldn't help but wonder what their mornings had been like today. I'm sure most were filled with happiness, excitement, and joy as their parents told them how proud they were of their achievement for just getting invited to the Math Super Bowl. 

I'm sure some were filled with laughter with their siblings, and kisses goodbye before school. 

But it breaks my heart to know that some weren't like that. And today, I prayed for those kids. 

Today, I prayed that all of these children would come to know their incredible worth in Christ. That they would know that regardless of how their school placed in this competition, regardless of how pretty they felt that day, or regardless of the last time they heard the words "I love you,"

they are loved. 

I prayed that the Holy Spirit would come into this room full of 4th, 5th and 6th graders, and fill these hearts with 
so. much. love. 

And on that note, I hope you know how loved you are today. 

Fight or flight?

I was a senior in high school when I got stung by a bee during cheer PE. We were practicing our jumps when it happened, right on my shoulder blade. I ran up to our coach to let him know what happened, and sat out for a bit before sucking it up and joining the crew again. 

Maybe an hour or so later, we were practicing our stunts. As I was standing there, helping to hold our flyer in the air, a bee landed on my chest. I immediately noticed it, and without even thinking, my instincts kicked in. 

I ran. 

Yes, I ran away from our stunt group. Leaving the other two girls to hopefully catch our flyer as she toppled towards the ground {they did}. 

It took me a minute or so before I even registered what had just happened, and that's when my instincts took over again. This time, with profusely apologizing. 

***

It was 2011 and I had been working at my very first full time job for about a month, or so. It was time to figure out how to incorporate working out into this new schedule of mine, since the whole sit at a desk for 8 hours and then spend the rest of the night on the couch routine wasn't gonna do any good for anyone. 

I decided to start running during my lunch breaks. And guys, this was pre-Amy likes running days. Our office was a mile and a half from the beach, and I think the first day I probably got half way before turning around to run (slash walk) back. 

Each day I got farther and farther. One day, I'm gonna make it to that beach, I told myself. 

And one day, I nearly did. I turned around to make the run back with new confidence in my stride. And feeling on top of the world, I nearly missed that my foot was about to land on a giant snake making his way across the trail in front of me. 

My foot landed hard on the ground, just as his head whipped to look me in the eye. 

No, this is not the same snake. Really think I stopped to take a pic?

I bolted in the opposite direction. 

And that's when I signed up for a gym membership. 

***

They say when crisis hits, you are either conditioned to fight, or flight. I think it's pretty clear which of those two categories I fall in. I'd like to think I'm a fighter, I really would. But all signs point to the fact that I am most definitely a flee-er. 

It's no wonder I came to like running {insert corny laugh here}.

Lately, life has been pretty overwhelming. Mostly, in good ways. Overall, I'd say I've been overwhelmed with some pretty huge blessings. 

But the key word is overwhelmed (in case you didn't catch on by the fact that I've used that word 3 times in the last 4 sentences). A lot of change was thrown at me in a very short amount of time, and for the first few days, I rolled with the punches. 

I smiled, rejoiced over the exciting things, and brought the uncertainties to the foot of the cross. I praised God for His goodness, and prayed over the decisions to be made. 

I was walking through all of these unexpected changes as you would imagine a Christian would.

That is, until I wasn't. 

Until I found myself crunched up in the corner of my room, on the phone with my mentor, crying ugly tears. The kind that are usually always paired with hyperventilating. 

Until I found myself saying into the phone "I'm overwhelmed. I don't want to deal with this. I want to run away."

And every fiber of my insides wants that. Every instinct inside of me is telling me to run, and fast. 

Because that's how I handle stress, and uncertainty, and fear. I run. I run fast. And I'm good at it. 

But that's not how God wants me to live, is it? 

He wants to turn this flee-er into a fighter. And it's my prayer that I can put all of those instincts inside of me aside, to listen to the only one that truly matters. To listen to the one that tells me

Be still. Listen. And trust.