You'll be seeing less of me...

More of HIM. As I decrease, HE will increase.

I am actually using this in two different contexts: By "less of me" --first of all I am talking physically. I am on my WEIGH down (to 135) 146.4 today. I have decided to begin a journal. Not just of what I eat and how many calories I consume, but also of what exercise I do and how I am feeling about my body and myself each day. I've realized that part of what's changed in mine and Matt's relationship is the amount of self-confidence I have. I have gotten so self-concious that I try to hide from him if I am naked or in my undies because I am so ashamed of how I look. I don't feel pretty nor do I feel healthy and energetic. It's time for that to change. I know it's "carnal" but it makes an enormous difference in how I handle myself--especially with him. I am going to write down a "Game Plan" this afternoon. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, I will go to the gym and do my classes as always. On the other days, I am going to have a little work-out session at home WITH THE KIDS. We will do lunges, jumping jacks, push ups, crunches and jump rope as well as a few other fun (hard) moves I've learned recently. I am going to turn up the music and set the timer and we are all going to work out as a family on these days. I am also going to limit the desserts in our house. We have gotten so bad that everyone expects a dessert after lunch And dinner EVERY DAY. That's unnecessary and certainly one peice-of-the-pie so to speak of why we are all getting a little chubby around the middle. My goal is to bake only one dessert per week.
Now...the other "less of me--More of Him" I am talking about is emotionally/spiritually. I am so consumed with how I FEEL and how I LOOK and how I stack up against other moms that I am forgetting who I am in CHRIST! My value is found ONLY in HIM. Without Christ, I am nothing. I can do nothing. I am a failure...but with Christ, I can ONLY triumph. I can ONLY be victorious. There's no chance of losing when you're on God's team! Hooray! Everybody breathe a big sigh of relief because you can hang up your boxing gloves and let God fight this game of life for you! (You woulda lost anyway!) I am gonna quit trying SO hard to show God how capable I am and let HIM be the one in charge.
One way I plan to do this is by following the lead of my friend Teya @ www.itsyourbffteya.blogspot.com who challenged us to all read the New Testament in a year. Since it's only January 15th today...we are just a teensy bit "behind" but it will be easy to catch up. All you have to do is read a chapter in the Bible 5 times a week beginning in Matthew and you'll have the whole thing read by Dec. 31st! I am going to make this a family devotional time where we all sit together and do this as well as have some family prayer time. I want the kids to take a minute to pray for their friends at school or whoever they want while Matt and I show them (by praying aloud) the things that we are hoping/believing for also. It may be tough at first, but I would also really like to take a few seconds to pray in the spirit together as well. It should be second nature for us (and the kids) and not something we feel awkward about...so we're gonna work on that.
I am going to attempt to de-clutter my life some by not committing myself to SO many activities and duties. I know that schedules work for me...so I am going to really try to adhere to a cleaning schedule at my house so I can quit feeling like I need to be cleaning 24-7. If I have a schedule and I know what day it has to be done..I can be "off the hook" on the other days.
Okay, well, time to get up and get all this stuff planned out and put on paper!
I hope some of you will join me in these endeavors!