This Month on MustLoveGod

April 1, 2013 By 3 Comments

Spring is often reminiscent with new beginnings.  Spring cleaning.  Fresh starts.  New growth.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” Ecclesiastes 3:1

What season are you in?  This month at MustLoveGod, part of our focus is spring retreat and how that applies to our lives.

Are you due for some spring cleaning?  Do you have dust and cobwebs that need cleaned out?  Is He calling you to a place of rest?  Does He want you to rise up?  Is this a season in which you need to get stronger?

As we explore this topic and all other things related to spring this month, we invite you to join us both in the comments and on our facebook group.  We invite you to participate on twitter and instagram, using the hashtag #springretreat.

Pull up a place at the picnic table and join the link ups on Thursdays for Count Me Accountable.

We hope to share bedtime tips as many of us are trying to get out of the #insomnialounge and #get2sleep in order to find that place of sweet rest with the Lord.

We will rise up to the challenge presented by the gals over at HelloExercise to have an #awesomeApril, making faith, fitness, and good food choices part of every day.

April on MLG

I’ll get this party started. What does spring mean to you? What is your favorite part of spring?

Filed Under: Accountability, Goals, Mental, Physical, Spiritual Tagged With: , , , 3 Comments

Update from the Battle Lines

March 21, 2013 By 6 Comments

Earlier this year, I declared war on Fibromyalgia and I said I would keep you updated. To be honest, I feel a little bad using such strong words against my condition. Fibromyalgia is not the enemy. In fact, it is more of a friend. How could I call it anything less when it has brought me so close to God?

Nevertheless, my fibro-friend needs to lighten up a bit and learn to work with me a little better.

Would you like to know how it’s going?

Well, slow. That’s to be expected. You want to ease fibro into new things. If you sneak up and surprise it, you’ll regret it.

When I think back, I felt best when I was taking care of myself nutritionally. Quality vitamins are important for a body. That is where I started.Step One: Vitamins & Supplements

I spent lots of time researching what might be the best supplements for my physical and mental needs. Here are some needs I considered:

  • Energy
  • Muscle recovery
  • Joint health
  • Immunity
  • Brain function
  • Digestive health

I looked online and considered some of the well-known, more expensive nutritional supplements. After comparing prices, ingredients and reviews, I decided to go with what I could find at GNC. They had everything I was looking for with good quality, but a better price.

I began feeling a difference within a few days. I felt great within a couple weeks.  So, I knew it was time to take on something new.

This is when trouble usually comes. When I am feeling great, I believe I can do anything. Then my body tells me otherwise. So, I have to be careful.

My something “new” was to become more consistent with exercise. A fibromyalgic body should do half the work and have twice the rest. I once read that the best way to introduce exercise is to add one segment at a time over a long period. That means that you begin with posture. Once you feel confident that you have a strong posture, you can move on to stretching. After about a week of that, you can add a warm-up to your routine and then low-impact exercise a week later, and so on. It sounds like a good plan, but it is one I have never succeeded in. It is too boring and too long of a process. I have never felt like I was accomplishing anything with that plan.

This time, I decided to build up time of exercise. I started with a very short five minute routine I found on youtube with the plan of adding five to ten minutes a month, up to an hour. Even that plan sounds slow, but it is important to give a sensitive system time to adjust and strengthen.

Once I got to ten minutes, I was feeling pretty good about myself and also, a little impatient. (That’s my biggest problem in this process.) So, one day after a workout, I invited my neighbor to go for a walk. Our walks are long and leisurely, but still are a lot for me. I did not take into account that I also needed to go shopping that day and that I would be teaching ten children in Bible class that night. Oops. That set me back quite a bit. In fact, it knocked me out of commission for a few days.

Lesson learned? Be thankful for feeling good and be content for where I am.  Also, think ahead. I may feel good now, but what does the rest of the day have in store? (That should be an automatic question for most fibro-warriors.)

Now it is March and I am still feeling pretty good. Of course, I have a long way to go. More changes are to come. In fact, I am in the process of changing my diet now. I look forward to telling you more about that next time!

 

 

Image courtesy of [image creator name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Filed Under: Accountability, Battles, Goals, Physical Tagged With: , , , 6 Comments

Staying Healthy

March 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I’ve gone all winter without any cold or flu.
I tend to not go out much. Bible study, Youth Group, and Church. Of course the grocery store.
We have a wood stove so I am able to air out the house often.
I get fresh air by going to feed my chickens.
I don’t want to get sick. Moms don’t have time to get sick.
This last weekend I got the chance to ‘run away’ with The Principal to Whitefish, MT.
Monday morning, you guessed it, A COLD!

I posted on Facebook I would be playing hermit until it passed. I was being selfish and didn’t want to share.
I got a couple of thank you’s.
I had one friend say she does the same…She’s not being a sissy. She just doesn’t want to spread it around.

So I am taking my Emergen-C. Keeping my tissues with lotion near by.
I will embrace this down time with reading.
I will be researching natural cold remedies and stocking up on those herbs and vitamins.

 

  • Andrographis
  • Elderberry
  • Ginseng and Eleuthero
  • Licorice root
  • Zinc

Source

 

Do you have a go-to remedy for the common cold? Do you avoid crowds during the winter and early spring to avoid catching one?

Filed Under: Physical Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment

The Cupcake is a LIE. Here’s Why:

February 21, 2013 By 3 Comments

Henry Leo's 1st Birthday CupcakesCreative Commons License Kelly Sue DeConnick via Compfight

Last week on Valentine’s Day, I arrived at my office to find a single long stem white rose on my desk.    What a  sweet gesture!  Wondering who had left it for me, I quickly learned it was from one of the super cute little men in one of our preschool classes (well, truly his mama gets the credit).

One of the biggest perks of my job as the front office admin at my church is getting to see and wave to all the adorable preschoolers as they pass by throughout the day!  Oh I love listening to them pass by pretending to be a choo-choo train or a bunch of ducklings on their way to the gym or outside to the playground!  It’s so much fun!

It wasn’t long before that white rose had company either…  A box of Valentine chocolates, a gi-nomous red velvet cupcake…invitations to join them for lunch and parties and more.

My coworkers got the same royal treatment.  By afternoon, while we each enjoyed and appreciated the thoughtfulness behind the sweets, none of us really wanted to eat them.  We were each trying to find someone to pass the sweets to, and avoid the temptation.  It became like a game of Hot Potato.  Whoever wasn’t in their office got stuck with the sweets.  Our poor youth director stepped out for a bit to take his son home from preschool and came back to a desk piled with boxes of chocolate and extra cupcakes!  When he came back, we told him he had missed (and lost) a great game of Hot Potato. :)   Can you tell we have fun at work?

That whole afternoon got me thinking.  We’re ALL trying to eat healthy. Not just at work.  Here in the MLG Community.  Over there in the rest of everyday life. Everywhere.  We do our best to pass on the extra sweets, grab a healthy lunch, drink more water.

And yet we also still find ourselves thinking “I deserve a cupcake”.    I’ve had a terrible week, I’m stressed out, exhausted, and I deserve a cupcake!  

Many of us have grown up with the mentality that food is a reward for a job well done, or a band-aid for a day gone wrong.

It’s something we need to change for our children, but that’s another post (or series) entirely! 

The problem with the ‘I Deserve a Cupcake” thinking is that it’s a LIE.  Not a little white lie either.   It’s a WHOPPER. And the enemy has been so successful in promoting it that we all think it’s truth!

Here’s my real TRUTH behind the cupcake: 

  • It’s just one cupcake.  But when I eat it, I want another. And another. And before I know it I’ve eaten 6 cupcakes.
  • The sugar load makes me feel awful physically, almost as soon as I’ve eaten it.
  • Then there’s that lovely blood sugar crash afterward.
  • The more sugar I eat, the more my joints hurt.
  • It’s a downward spiral.  It’s not just one cupcake that turns into six.  It’s also the cravings that come later for super sweet tea, CocaCola, chocolate, and more.
  • Obviously there’s the weight gain…
  • The fuzzy brain…
  • And the tired fatigue that just won’t go away…

The TRUTH behind the cupcake, is that it makes me FEEL awful.

And so I’m here today to tell you:

You don’t DESERVE a Cupcake!!  

You Deserve to feel WELL! 

  • You deserve food that acts as fuel to help your body perform and feel great!
  • You deserve to feel energetic, and happy, and full of life!
  • You deserve, after a day well spent, to put your feet up at REST!
  • You deserve, when you’ve had a terrible day, to take time for yourself and find grace.

You deserve what God has planned for you,
not the enemy.

 

Let’s work on holding each other accountable to that standard, shall we?

You deserve it!

Join me?



Filed Under: Accountability, Physical, Thought for Today Tagged With: , , 3 Comments

Uncovering an Idol

February 20, 2013 By 11 Comments

Two years ago I went to a “wellness check.” To mine and my husband’s surprise, there was a discovery. Very high cholesterol.

It would take me another full year before I was willing to admit I needed to make changes.
In a heart-to-heart with my doctor last September, I accepted that even though high cholesterol alone doesn’t mean I will develop heart disease over the next 10 years, it does mean I don’t want to wait another 10 years to address the issue.

The immediate diagnosis: get “heart healthy.”

  • Quit smoking for good.
  • Exercise regularly, emphasis on cardio.
  • Eat real food, way less processed food.
  • Lose the excess weight and keep it off.

I started tackling the list. The current results?

  • Jan celebrates my 4th consecutive month of not smoking.
  • Exercised regularly..until November. Cardio is anything but regular.
  • Ate much better..until November. I crash landed into the “cycle.”
  • Gained back all of the weight I’d lost since August.

The cycle: I have food addictions. When I feel blah, I stuff. When depressed, I stuff. When agitated, I stuff. Sometimes, even when I’m happy, I stuff. Not eat until satisfied–push past the point of satisfied, past the point of comfort, to a stuffed, uncomfortable, sometimes miserable bloat. Then, I feel the other “S” word, shame. Shame I’ve done what I’m not supposed to do. Shame I’m not taking better care of my body, or my heart. Inside of that shame I hunker down, giving up exercise, better food choices, and the physical health of my heart.

Fast forward to these last two weeks, where in prayer with the Lord I have come to a convicting realization.

The cycle of emotional stuffing followed by shame,
also covers my heart spiritually with a heavy covering, weighing it down.
What’s worse, my food addiction is more than just a food addiction.

You shall have no other gods before me. ~Exodus 20:3 (ESV)

When I turn to food before God for praise and thanks,
When I turn to food for comfort over feeling failure before going to God,
When I turn to food to find joy, instead of to my Savior Jesus,
I am making food an idol.

I’m realizing my heart health is both a very real physical, and very real spiritual matter. I need to protect my heart spiritually, and I need to care for my heart physically. “What do I need to change first, and what do I need to change most?” is a question I’ve been taught through discipleship to ask myself. And the answer for me this week has been painfully clear.

I have to give up these food addictions first,
in order to reach the “most” of my health
physically and spiritually.

photo c4136b52-4225-406d-8271-4750f8edcf3d_zps4877a55d.jpg

My “one word” this year is “Redeemed.” I believe, I know, Christ can redeem me from my addictions. He’s already done miraculous work overcoming my nicotine addiction, and this year is the year I need to give Him my emotional battle with food.

I’m using this month to battle my food addiction head on. I’m using it as a time to really take my heart before the Lord spiritually, before turning to food. To take my joys, my sorrows, my failures, and my hopes to Him first instead of food.
To strip away the layers of bondage my heart has been caught up in for years, and breathe in the true freedom He offers. To get my heart the spiritual strength and healing I need, so I can care for my heart physically.

Are there any addictions or idols blocking your heart to spiritual and physical growth and/or healing? If so, I hope you’ll join me this month in bringing them before the Lord so He can take away any weights, that our hearts can beat with the freedom of His enduring Love, and we can care for our hearts physically, giving that glory to Him.

In Love & Faith,
RaZella

Filed Under: Battles, One Word, Physical, Spiritual Tagged With: , , , , , , 11 Comments

Lifestyle Changes

February 4, 2013 By 2 Comments

Last month I wrote on a new diagnosis that my hubs had received.
On January 1st we started Whole30. Basically, Paleo on steroids.

I’ve done great….except for the cheating. I have been using ‘real’ creamer in my coffee, and we had a total bust weekend where we threw caution to the wind and ate what we wanted.

Hubs and I have done Body for Life. On their system you get a cheat day. Well. Let me tell you. My body was NOT HAPPY! My, ahem, plumbing specifically.

This Whole30 is going to be our new way of eating. Paleo actually. We may do Whole30 once in a while to reset if needed.

The positives outweigh the negatives. I’ve had more energy. I’ve had less bloating. I lost 8 pounds in a month with hardly any exercise. Think of how well I could have done if I had worked out too!

I am here to encourage you! You will NOT regret doing Whole30!

 

Filed Under: Battles, Goals, Physical, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , 2 Comments

Fibromyalgia? Bring It On!

January 28, 2013 By 16 Comments

This is the year I kick Fibromyalgia in the tushie. I proclaimed it in the MLG community and have since repeated it elsewhere.

For most of my life, I have lived with pain. I sat on the sidelines as a child and was ridiculed for it as a pre-teen. During adolescence, I learned to suck it up and move on. In young adulthood, the pain began to control most of my days.

Several years ago, pain was keeping me down most of the time. Despite prayer and medication, I felt like I was being swallowed up by Fibromyalgia. Everything I did, every choice I made, was determined by how it would affect my body. It ruled my life.

I tried to take my life back. I researched and planned. I grew zealous and got busy. I tried to beat Fibromyalgia several times, but I failed every time.  Every time I failed, it felt like a failure in trying to live.

To be honest, it felt that way because I was trying to be someone else. I was trying to remake myself or become the ideal I had pictured in my mind. Instead of submitting my will to Jesus and allowing Him to lead my make-over, I was taking control.

When you give your life to Jesus, however, it’s His.  Sure, you can take it back, but nothing will be the same. Your spirit knows better and will not feel good about it. Thus, I failed at my attempts to take my life back.

It was not until I surrendered control of my health to Jesus that I began to see the gift that Fibromyalgia is. I wrote an entire series about that journey here. In short, because of Fibromyalgia, I learned to surrender the beginning of every day to Christ and to live fully in His strength.

Fibromyalgia does not control my life now, but it does affect most of my days. I hope that when people look at me, they see a girl who lives in Christ and not a girl who suffers, or even a girl who lives by her own strength. I believe that Christ has done a good work in me. Of course, I get impatient and try to run ahead of the Lord, but He quickly pulls me back and reminds me to follow.

I am confident now that it is time to step things up a notch and experience greater health. It will be tempting to take this fight against pain into my own hands. I will be honest about that, but I will also do the following to make sure this is by Christ’s leading:

  • Continue to submit every day in prayer
  • Humbly accept my weakness as a door to God’s strength
  • Believe that His grace is enough
  • Prayerfully consider the advice of others and weigh it against biblical principles
  • Be willing to try new things, but not take it personally when they do not work
  • View my body as the Lord’s temple and treat it accordingly
  • Take each step slowly and listen to the alarms God has given my body
  • Recognize bad days as times of rest, but not as reason to give up
  • Give glory to God for the success He grants

I look forward to sharing this battle with the community at MLG, as I hope to report my progress every month.  I pray that in this battle you will see the most important thing: We Must Love God.

Image courtesy of [image creator name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Battles, Physical, Spiritual Tagged With: , , , 16 Comments

A New Diagnosis

January 4, 2013 By 10 Comments

 

A new diagnosis in our family. Type 2 diabetes.

With it a new awareness. Changes. For the person diagnosed and for the whole family.

Changes in diet. Changes in exercise.

This isn’t just a diagnosis for one person, but for the family. To support the person we will all adjust our lifestyle.

I am researching. I am researching menus. I am researching lingo.

  • Ac1 levels.
  • Plate method of portion control.
  • Red rice yeast for cholesterol
  • Control your sugar intake
  • Control starches
  • What are Ace inhibitors?
  • Checking feet daily
  • Aerobic heart rate

I am overwhelmed.

I am not alone.

He will sustain us. He will guide us.

He will use this ALL for good.

 

I will continue to share our journey…..Please share any knowledge ….

 

Filed Under: Battles, Physical Tagged With: , , , , 10 Comments

Dear Body of Mine…

November 8, 2012 By 3 Comments

Dear Body of Mine,

I owe you an apology.  For years and years I’ve been trying to change you.

I’ve been trying to force you to match the skinny image in my head while cramming junk food down your throat and piling on layer after layer of stress and depression.  I’m so sorry. I’ve mistreated and neglected you in so many ways.

What I should have been doing was loving you.

I’m so sorry that I haven’t been loving you all these years.

I promise that’s changed.  I love you now.

Just the way you are.  

The extra 50 pounds doesn’t matter.  I love you.

And I’m going to start treating you like I do the people I love.

No more trying to force you to change.  

Instead, I’m just going to treat you right, and let you be however you need to be.  I’m going to feed you piles of delicious, healthy fresh, clean foods.  Fill you with water, give you a break with plenty of rest, and keep you moving with regular walks, yoga and exercise.

I’m going to listen to you, and let you take charge.  

We can do this together.  I’ll treat you right, the way I think God intended me to, making all the best choices I can for you.  Consistently. And you?  You can decide if you need to hang on to those 50 pounds, or if you’re being treated well enough to let a few go.

Either way, I’ll still love you and treat you right.

Finally.

Love,

Me



Filed Under: Accountability, Mental, Physical Tagged With: 3 Comments

For such a season as this

October 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are times when everything seems to be moving forward, yet standing still at the same time.

That is where I am right now.  My diet is under control, I’m actually exercising regularly, I’m knee deep in my Bible studies.

Yet on Thursday I couldn’t get out of bed.  I was overcome with anxiety.  My husband, bless his heart, helped me out and let me have some time to work things out.

I lamented all day, wrestling with my thoughts, crying out to God to take away my panic and fear.  I tried all the weapons in my arsenal, music, prayers, journaling…nothing calmed the storm that raged on my heart.

I put myself in survival mode, that’s what we moms have to do, right?  I put my kids first, got dinner on the table, and quieted my heart before God.

“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Esther 4:14

Now I know that I’m no Esther story.  This down time in this mom’s life doesn’t compare to a princess in training that saves her people.  But I know that God has set this time aside for me, for a purpose.  There are lessons to be learned, as well as dishes to be washed, faces to be wiped, and hearts to pray over.  The overwhelming sense of fear and anxiety do not make sense right now, but I know I’m being refined in the fire.  I know this is a time of preparation for something, and even right now, in this moment, I see Him moving.  No, I don’t think He has placed this anxiety in me, but I believe He is using it to grow me for Him.

What season of life are you in right now?  Do you see these moments as moments for Him, no matter if it’s a hill or valley?  I believe each of us, no matter what season, is being prepared for such a time as this.

Filed Under: Emotional, Mental, Physical Tagged With: , , , , Leave a Comment
Next Page »