3 Baby Steps to Get Back in Shape

Trying to work out when you have an auto-immune disease that primarily attacks your nerves and muscles can be nearly impossible.  If I don't work out, the scale keeps climbing and the extra weight amplifies the symptoms of the disease building a vicious cycle of trying to stay as healthy as I can.  I started up again a few months ago and could barely make it through 3 minutes on the Elliptical and IF my muscles were up to it I could lift between 25-30 pounds on any given weight machine.  Gradually, I was able to increase those numbers to 10 minutes on the Elliptical and 80 pounds on most machines!  I was so proud of myself to see growth!  Then, we went to New York City for a week.  Didn't work out while I was gone other than a few squats a day to make myself feel like I was doing something.  Then, we had to replace our washer and dryer and decided to paint the laundry room when we returned.  Didn't work out that week either.  Then, I went with my husband to a weekend martial arts camp he was leading.  Didn't work out again.  When I finally got settled into my normal routine, I went back to the gym and was so discouraged that I had declined in what I was able to accomplish!  Thankfully, this break in workout was fairly short and it didn't take me very long to get back to where I was before.  Today's workout was back to 10 minutes and 80 pounds!

As I was reflecting while I was pushing myself this morning, I was reminded that this is exactly how our spiritual walk goes.  When you accept Christ as your personal savior and become a Christian, you begin a spiritual journey called sanctification.  As you learn and grow in your walk with Christ, your spiritual muscles are being trained and getting stronger.  Just like my auto-immune disease though, your sin can fight against your growth if you allow it to.  Unlike my auto-immune disease, there is a cure for sin and as a Christian you can have complete healing and victory over your sin!  If for some reason you do stop learning and growing, your spiritual muscles get cold and weaker so you have to kick start them again.  Just as in physical exercise it's necessary to stay faithful and consistent in your spiritual growth.

If your spiritual muscles are weak and cold, here are a few baby steps to get you going again in your spiritual strength training!

1.  Make a commitment now to attend a church that preaches the whole truth of the Word of God, not "feel good" preaching.  Then, go to church no matter the excuse.

2.  Find a reading plan and schedule 15 minutes a day to read your Bible and jot down notes of any thoughts or questions that come up.  (I like to pick a book of the Bible, read it, make notes in it, mark it off in my table of contents and then pick another book.  When all the books are checked off, I get a new Bible and start again!)

3.  Grab a $1 tablet from the store and schedule 15 minutes a day to write out your prayers to God.

If you do these 3 things, faithfully, you will QUICKLY see yourself growing by leaps and bounds and your spiritual muscles getting stronger and stronger.  That 15 minutes will quickly turn into an hour before you know it.  As you grow, push yourself more and more by doing deeper Bible Studies, listen to sermons online, listen to christian music, join a life group, serve in your church.... whatever your next step is, take it. 

If you fall away for a time, get back to it as quickly as you can.  The longer you wait, the colder those muscles get and the harder it will be to get going again. 

YOU CAN DO THIS!  If I can do 10 minutes on the elliptical with massive, incurable muscle pain, you can read your Bible for 15 minutes a day.  Join me in the journey of spiritual exercise, won't you?!

P.S.  I was doing 30 minutes on the treadmill but I get a much better workout doing 10 on the elliptical.  Quality and consistency is a much more important than quantity.

The Real Me

Who am I?

This question has been plaguing me lately.  Not because I don’t know who I am, but because I don’t know that others know who I am.  You’re going to have to stick with me here to follow my train of thought, because I’m pretty sure the conductor of this train went on strike….

When you turn your life to Christ, He gets in there and starts to do a work on you that transforms you into someone you didn’t even know existed.  It is a glorious, beautiful, supernatural, amazing process that starts the day you got saved.  Those who knew you before you were saved will witness this transformation.  They will see the power of God in your life, whether they accept it for themselves or not.  But, what about those who didn’t know you before?  They didn’t see the hot mess you were before.  They didn’t witness the struggles in your life to appreciate the transformation that has begun.

Have you ever met someone and thought, “that girl has got it together, she must have an easy life.”  You compare her joy to your sorrow.  Her confidence to your brokenness.  Her blessings to your pain.  Maybe it’s a teacher at church, or at a conference you attend, or maybe it’s the Christian girl at work.  You look at her and think nothing bad has ever happened to that girl or she wouldn’t be so happy and peaceful.

Are you sure about that?  Do you think that about me?

Who am I?

I am a broken mess of a woman.  I have 38 years of TRIALS.  I know what it’s like to feel abandoned; over and over again.  I know instability.  I know what it’s like to have a father who couldn’t stay out of jail most of my life.  I know grief.  I know what it feels like to lose the ones closest to me.  I know poverty.  I know how it feels to lose a baby in miscarriage.  I know health problems.  I know the fear of thinking your son isn’t going to make it through the night the day he’s born.  I know what it’s like to grow up in a broken home… twice in my childhood.  I know loss.  I know abuse.  I know what it’s like to have alcoholic parents.  I know the feeling of lying awake all night worried about where they were.  I know fear.  I know pain.  I know brokenness.  I know hopelessness.  But this is not who I am.

Who am I?

I am a child of the One true God.  I am His masterpiece, created to do good works that He has established for me.  I know JESUS.  I know HOPE.  I know JOY.  I know PEACE.  I know HEALING.  I know CONTENTMENT.  I know POWER.  I know CONFIDENCE.  I know TRUE LOVE.  I know FORGIVENESS.  This is who I am.  This is the woman that you think doesn’t have any reason to be a bitter mess.  I have plenty of reasons… BUT GOD.   This is the woman that looks like she has it all together.  I don’t… BUT GOD.  This is the woman who is witnessing transformation happen in her parents lives and I am so proud of them!  I get to share their joy because their past is not who I am.  I know REDEMPTION.  I am a child of the One true God.

So, who are you?

Are you broken, or are you healed?  Are you hopeless or hopeful?  Are you bitter or joyful?  I am living proof that you do not have to live in the shadows of a broken life.  Through Jesus Christ and HIM ALONE you can be made whole.  He will make you more than a conqueror as you continue to submit to His will and allow Him to transform you into the confident Christian woman that you never thought you could be.  It all starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Ask Him to forgive you.  Give your life over to Him and then OBEY what He says in His Word to do. 

I’m here to help.  If you need to talk, please send me an email to Melissa@myanointedlife.com I would love to pray for you!