THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!!!

Yesterday, on my commute home, I was talking to a girlfriend about foods that we don’t allow in our houses for one reason or another. These reasons included allergies, intolerance, and challenges with portion control. Ultimately, choice. I realized in the midst of the conversation that I was running low on petrol so I disconnect from my girlfriend and stopped to get gas at Kennydale…yeah…the Chevron with the little grocery store for you local folks. So let’s get it out of the way and talk about the elle in the room…there are NO good choices at this little store…LOL!! FOR REAL. Knowing I am hours away from food and due to poor planning and a headache, I buy a bag of Ritz cracker and peanut butter sandwiches. You know, the little bag of goodness?! Yeah…The bag said that there were three servings in each bag (12 little bite sized sandwiches made up a serving.) and so I ate my one serving. I call my girlfriend back and quickly note to her that I may have found something that CANNOT be in my house. These little ditties were distracting and I could have SWORN that the bag was calling to me!! Seriously. My girl, GINA, says, “Well yeah, it’s PB between butter! Throw it out the window, I don’t care if you litter!!!”

WHO DOESNT LOVE THAT?!

I tossed the bag in the backseat and out of reach but WOW, that was close! I would have eaten the whole bag!! It’s disposed of now (In the garbage) but my point is twofold…One, who is your support that screams, “Throw it out the window!!!”?! Is your issue food? Toxic relationships? Negative self-talk to the one in the mirror?

Let me say it in case you don’t have that support, “THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!!!!”

It’s not serving you well, get rid of it! Jesus said that he came that we might have life and life more abundantly…toxic living, at any degree, isn’t abundance, Tribe. His desire is for us to get freedom and victory in these areas and trust him in the process.

He’s got you.

While I could just stop there…let me press in just a bit further…in regards to food alone. What are some food items in your house, car, or office that perhaps are no longer serving you? I challenge you today to be brave and discard just one item and choose to not allow it to enter that area again. Just one. Nothing more. For today. 🙂 God loves you so much, Tribe…He began the good work in us, let’s trust him today to complete it. I’m praying for you!

Keep Sweeping!

 

With a Heart of Thanksgiving…

A quiet house.  A quiet dog.  Husband at work and the kids out for the evening.  Work sits silent.  And the voice of my Creator, my Father, the One that knows me best…beckons.

“Come talk to me…or just listen for awhile…I want to share some things with you…”

And He did.  And I will never be the same.

November 19th, 2011.

I hear you, Lord.

Ever have that moment where it all comes to a head?  Ever have that moment that everything builds to a place that you think its all going to implode?  Or you will?  Ever feel like “If one more things happens?” or “If I get one more bad report…”  Yeah…I know that place.

The details of where I sit right now dont matter.  He knows.  The place my heart sits right now?  Yeah, He knows that too.  Too vague?  Maybe but He says that the details dont matter, only my response to them does.  He says that in my weakness He is strong, Im counting on it.  He says the time for half ass compliance is over and putting all that is behind and pressing on is the new lense we are looking through now.  Total obedience, regardless.  No matter what the doctors say, He says YOU SHALL LIVE AND NOT DIE!!!!!

What do the days ahead look like?  I dont know but I do know that starting tomorrow…it will be different.  I will be different.  I know the steps and I do know that He has put everything I need inside me to live and succeed and be compliant with everything He says.  And I am going to walk it out.  And I am going to journal it here…for you and with you. 

230…Its my weight.  I am 41 years old.  I am very sick.  They say I will be blind and not walking in 6 years.  They are wrong.  My body shuts down at 7pm every night and I can barely walk.  They are still wrong.  My husband helps me to bed every night.  I love it but they are, most certainly, still wrong. 

My entire life I have asked God for 100,000 women to stand before and tell them He loves them.  Every vision of this that He gives me is of my walking to the podium and standing.  WALKING and STANDING and I could SEE them.  That hasnt happened yet and my destiny says its mine.  I WILL be there on that day.  I WILL WALK.  I WILL STAND.  I WILL SEE.  And NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER. 

Tomorrow.  Like never before I feel a fire ignited within me and I cant fail for great is His faithfulness to me and I shall be faithful in return.  One year from now…on December 31st, 2012.  I will see the fruition of my steps.  I will see the victory over sickness, addiction and half ass living.  My family will walk in unity, joy shall be my fruit and love be my guide.

Will you join me?

I’ve picked up my broom once again, friends…its dusty but its usefulness never went away….I did.  We start sweeping in 2 hours and 30 minutes.  Get your rest, its going to be a great adventure. 

And we will do it with a Heart of Thanksgiving.

I love you and am praying for you and ask the same in return.

Start Sweeping!

Cinco De Mayo

  It was a long time coming.  I was an addict.  I was married to it, in a sense.  It was my comforter.  My security.  I couldn’t eat certain things without inviting it along for the ride.  It consumed me.

Too much you think?  What am I talking about?  Pepsi.  That refreshing, addicting, wonderfully tasting drink that held me captive for years.  Too much again?  Seriously.  For those of you that love soda, pop, Pepsi, insert drink of choice that you can’t walk away from…its a definite love affair.  And one that has to go.  Or had to go for me.  I had tried for years, my doctors had told me ages ago to quit, my friends who were healthy talked and talked about it not having any nutritional value…ummm…yeah…THATS why I drank…cause I was looking for good nutrition!!  Seriously…really?  Yeah…I was pretty clear this divine substance was nowhere close to being good for me.  It wasnt and I knew it and I couldn’t stop.  How much did I drink you ask?  Really ready for this?  At least a six pack…a day…if not more.  I would stop at the AM/PM for gas…HAD to get a soda.  I would get up in the middle of watching a movie or TV show and get one from the fridge…and if I didn’t have one in the fridge, I would go to 7-11 and get one…no matter what time it was.  Yeah…I was hooked.

My attempts at quitting weren’t any better.  I would stop drinking it for a week or two days…if I’m being honest.  I even went 6 months once…then found myself somewhere, eating something that I had always eaten while drinking a Pepsi and there I was…unable to eat or move on without it.  So I ordered one with the idea that I would have “just one” .  RIGGGHHHTTTT….but the time I had gone to bed that night, I had stopped on my way home and got a fountain drink and a Pepsi for the fridge.  Pathetic, you say?  Sad?  Relating anyone?  I know you are out there…reading this…because I read someone elses thoughts…and it got me thinking about restoration….It started with a trip to the dentist…

SO I went to the dentist and he says to me…”Do you drink a lot of pop?”  Let’s just stop right here for a moment.  I really don’t care of the term “pop”.  Its something I do with my bubble gum…or on the fourth of July with the little ditties that come in a box…but its not my Pepsi…noway…its soda for me…How SILLY is this?!??!?!  Seriously.  Anyway…back to the dentist…So he asks me and I tell him yes and he says “I can tell, it’s affecting the enamel on your teeth.” Whoa.  Not good.  I have never had anything wrong with my teeth ever….not even a cavity and this new dentist could tell I had been drinking soda??  See..it was my secret…or so I thought.  Those around me can tell you of my struggle and love affair with Pepsi…and it wasnt such a secret…as is the case with most addictions.  I never went back to that dentist.

But I couldn’t get it out of my head.  If it was tearing the enamel off my teeth, what else was it doing to me?  And why did I need it so much…or why did I think I needed it so much?  Hmmm…tough questions to ask an addict…even tough to ask the girl in the mirror.  She would have to look deeper to answer such questions and that would require looking past the mirror and into the heart…hmm…wow…was I ready for that challenge?  *nod*  I was…so I did.  Some of the questions I had to answer was…

Why was it soda I reached for when my circumstances got tough, emotional or stretched me spiritually? 

Did the soda mixed well with the “new wine” that God was trying to download into my spirit?

Was this soda affecting my life to a point that it could aid in actually shortening my life?

See…Im a diabetic.  Yeah…2.5 years ago…two days before my wedding….I got sick…well…had been for awhile but was to the point I had to go to the doc before I got married.  They called on our honeymoon and that sparked the next six months of doctors appts, surgery, losing my hair, etc…I was sicker than I knew…and Pepsi was helping me end my life…slowly.  There really is no nutritional value…but to a diabetic, Pepsi is lethal…really…the sugar, caffeine…its not good. My blood sugar was out of control and every time I drank a soda, I would go to sleep for hours…no really…HOURS…I could sleep for 10 to 15 to 17 hours….and Pepsi was like a coma-inducing elixir that I paired with the wrong food choices and was more than happy to continue. Diet soda, you say? Not on your life.  It was all or nothing.  So I continued….

Til God said…”You know you are worth more than this, right?”  Did I?  Did I really know that?  Yes, I did. 

So I started the work.  I didn’t stop drinking the soda right then…but I started the heart work.  The Whys, the surrender process…and on May 5th, 2009…I stopped drinking Pepsi.  My Cinco De Mayo…Im goofy…I had to have a day that I remembered…at least for now…to celebrate the milestones…1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 weeks, 6 months.  Yesterday it was 8th months since I’ve had even a taste of Pepsi.  I’m better for it…so will you.  Im bigger than soda and I have a God that is bigger than an 12oz can or 32 oz Big Gulp. 

Will you think about it?  Will you start your dialogue with God about it?   Maybe it’s not Pepsi…you know what it is. 

See…The scriptures say that I am the apple of His eye…if thats the case, then He is more than about my business…He is the author…and its time to talk about the next chapter of your walk…

I was recently in South Africa and had an orange soda as the water wasnt good/fitting to drink and I took two drinks and gave it to someone I was traveling with…I didnt want it…I wanted something wet…I had a couple swallows and that was enough…I didnt think about having more or continue to drink it.  See…I have been transformed by the renewing of my heart and mind about the things that are true about me.  And the only things that are true about me are the things HE says are true.  Dont get it twisted, sisters…Im a work in progress…*smile*…and clearly have not arrived…Thank God.

I look forward to celebrating your “Cinco De Mayo” with you…no matter the substance.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…