II Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

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!

5 comments:

KC said...

Ok, i just typed a whole huge comment, and lost it all! argh!

I have a lot of "at home" workout ideas for you if you watn them. Rajeana and I are working out at the track 4 days a week now, and I have copies of our workouts. We change it up each week, from day to day. It is never the same...keeps us from getting bored. :)

We are also working on reading our bibles more this year. I like that idea of reading the new testament in a year! I may try to do that..thanks for the idea.

Kate said...

Jen,

Right on target with ya! My body issues certainly get in the way of my quality time w/ DH more so that they used to in the beginning (when I was skinny!). And way to get the whole family focusing on a healthier lifestyle. I've taken out my Bible as well, but I need to start from the very beginning.

That's the key to this new year - reaching inward - to cleanse our souls, our bodies, our minds, our families - b/c there are just too many distractions out their in the busy life.

Can't wait to watch BL tonight - is it motivating for you as well? I see myself in each one of them as they struggle and triumph. Should be a good one! As we used to say at Weight Watchers - hope to see less of you next time!

Tammy said...

Every part of this post struck a chord with me! From the body issues (hello - story of my life post-kids!) to realizing I'm not in control of everything. And the cleaning? Oh my goodness I can relate to that! I need to de-clutter as well... and get re-focused on what really matters. Thanks for the reminder.. and the kick in the pants!! Now I just need HIM to help me :)

Logzie said...

What a refreshing post...and good for you for making those changes!!

Jenelle said...

Glad to see a purposeful Jen with a positive outlook. Sounds like some great plans and I'm sure the kids will LOVE to work out with you. Keep up the hard work.