Anchor Friday

Thank you, Joan, for your post for Anchor Friday. If you haven't read her post yet, please click above and read it!

Eating is the most basic necessity of life, and so there are a multitude of references to it in the Bible, and as Joan said, God has had a lot to say to His people about it. It is not an easy thing to conquer the lusts of our bodies, overeating being one of them.

1 John 2:16 For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world.

Philippians 3:19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

1 Thessalonians 4:4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,

I just did a search on lust, stomach, and control, and these are the verses I found that really struck me.

We need to remember that we are not of the world anymore, if truly the love of God is in us, and that we belong to Christ now. That lustful, gluttonous person that Claudia used to be, no longer is. She has been set free. I am now a child of God, and a slave to righteousness. And if I find myself living according to my old nature, it's only because I consciously choose to.

Let us learn to control our own bodies in a way that is holy and honorable!

~Claudia

Emotional Eating - confession time

Hi Everyone,

Since this is Natasha's and my online journal, which we have invited you to read, there are times when I just sign on, and just dump. This is one of those times.

I had a little altercation today with someone close to me and I got upset and angry. So, I went to the refrigerator and ate some chocolate chip cookie dough--about 6 spoonfuls. I am still ruminating. So I thought I'd let you all know, and ask you to pray for me.

Thank you so very much!

P.S. I have walked 3x this week so far (yay), and I was going to walk again today but time got away from me and I got busy, and then this thing happened....maybe I'll get a chance to do it tonight.

P.S. did I use that word 'ruminating' right?

Food Talk on Girl Talk

I don't know how many of you have ever been to GirlTalk.blogs.com, but it is a really great blog for Christian women. Very solid. They did a "food talk" series a couple years ago, which I am just now discovering, and thought you might be interested in it too! Topics include healthy eating, exercise, bulemia, anorexia, obesity and more. All from a solidly biblical perspective.


http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2007/10/foodtalk-with-k.html

Here's a short little bio of the writers:

One-Line Bio
A mother and three daughters who love the gospel and aspire to biblical womanhood.

Biography
Carolyn Mahaney is a wife, mother, homemaker, and the author of Feminine Appeal and Girl Talk. During her more than 30 years as a pastor’s wife, Carolyn has spoken to women in many churches and conferences, including those of Sovereign Grace Ministries, which her husband, C.J., leads.

C.J. and Carolyn have three married daughters and one fourteen-year-old son, Chad.

Nicole Whitacre is the wife of Steve Whitacre, who serves as the youth pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Fairfax. They have a four-year-old son, Jack and a five-month-old daughter, Tori. Nicole co-authored Girl Talk with her Mom.

Kristin Chesemore and her husband Brian are the busy parents of three boys. Andrew is seven, Liam is four, and Owen is three. In the little spare time she does have, Kristin supports Brian in his role as a pastor in Family Life Ministries at Covenant Life Church.

Janelle Bradshaw and Mike have been married for four years. Their beautiful daughter Caly turned one in February. Mike serves as a pastor in Children’s Ministry at Covenant Life Church.

Together, the girltalkers have recently published a new book: Shopping for Time.

Need encouragement

I first want to say great job on your walking daily Claudia. Unlike you, I have not made the time to exercise, and my eating has either been really good or really bad depending on the meal/day.

I spent time in prayer today and realized that sometimes we work so hard at earning grace, salvation, holiness and we don't have to. Let me explain...I know we are to strive for these things, but sometimes I feel like I am trying to earn them from God, not just thanking and praising Him for these things already. I get so focused on myself, my victories, my failures, not on how AWESOME He is. How Jesus has completed the work already. How God just desires a relationship with us. I am a sinner, and will be this side of heaven. He knows that, He is not surprised by it. However, He expects us to give Him our all. Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Matt 22:37. I get so wrapped up in DOING things and not just ACCEPTING His free gift of His Son. If I would spend half the energy that I do with obsessing about myself and would be at His feet instead, I would fall more in love with my Lord and Savior. I would desire to please Him more, it would be more natural to do that.

What are your thoughts on that?

Thanks for reading.

Natasha

Mid-Week Check-In

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to tell you all that I am praising the Lord because I have been exercising everyday this week so far. I have enjoyed taking a 20 minute walk everyday since Saturday. I try to walk quickly and briskly to get the most out of it. Tonight I went a little longer, and actually sweated. I never sweat. It takes a lot to make me sweat. And it was chilly out!

So, I just wanted to stop and publicly give God praise for helping me to make this a priority in my life!!

~Claudia

Anchor Friday

Sorry for the (yet again) late Anchor Friday post. It's been a busy weekend and the time that I did have I took the opportunity to relax and do nothing! I don't get to do that very often. But, thank you Joan, for your faithfulness to post every Friday! It was a great post. Check it out!!

Weigh in

Happy Valentine Day! Claudia and I had a good week, with a one pound lose for Claudia and two for myself. This is definitely a huge Praise! We are both still working through many kinks in this journey. Claudia was not feeling well physically this week and was not able to exercise much. She is trying to get back into that routine. I did exercise 4 days this week, and felt wonderful. Of course, working out takes time and I find myself staying up later and not sleeping enough. It is a combination of having adrenaline from working out and trying to get all the other things done that I would have done in that time I was exercising. I used to go to the gym in the morning before work, which is like 5a.m. But, I didn't do anything in the evenings then. I would go home, eat dinner, watch t.v. Now, I have a house to maintain and church activities, and most important my personal time with God. Then, there is t.v. and many shows to catch up on. So, I am praying and seeking how to manage my priorities and time.
Another struggle both of us are having is journaling our food intake. That is just pure laziness on both of our parts. No excuses. We need to be more diligent about this. Studies also show that people are more successful at weight loss when they journal their food.

Claudia and I are so grateful for those who read this. We are praying for you!

Praise you Jesus!

Natasha

Sick today

Hey Everyone,

Natasha and I agreed that we would take turns posting every other day, but I have been so sick yesterday, and mostly today. So I just wanted you to know, and since I'm not doing anything except lying down, I am praying for all my friends, including you!

God bless,

~Claudia

Weigh in for Natasha and Claudia

Hello. This week Claudia lost one pound and I stayed the same. We are in the midst of changing our scales around, so we will truly see the new number next week. Isn't it funny how we have tricked ourselves into believing or trusting a certain scale even if other scales do not say the same. For example, my scale is about 3-5 pounds lighter than my doctor's scale. OF course, I am upset when I see the doctor and that scales says 5 more pounds. Like it makes a difference, being that I am still 150 pounds overweight. Like my doctor isn't going to yell at me if he would have seen what my scale said that morning.

The point is, I am way off the mark in my weight. I have confessed this week to Claudia that I didn't even try to fight my flesh this week. I just ate and ate. Whatever, whenever, however. So, now after reading some of your posts, I am encouraged and realize that I must get serious again about this. It is a sin. I am truly tired of feeling miserable. I hate how I look and want to be healthier.

Thank you for your encouragement! You are truly a blessing!

Natasha

Anchor Friday - Discipline and Integrity

Happy Anchor Friday to you all! I just read Joan's post and it was great. It's hard to be transparent and honest, but, as I am learning, that's the way to grow and change! So, thank you Joan, for opening up to us, your fellow bloggers ; )

Joan picked out some great verses from Proverbs for us. I always love it that she uses the NLT. I don't have that version at home, and it's nice to read from it from time to time.

10:17 People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.

It is so hard to accept discipline from the Lord. But, He is our loving Father, and when He sees us rebelling, He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:10).

This is something I thought about alot this week....my Father loves me. He really loves me. And that is why He disciplines me. He wants the best for me. He wants me to share in His holiness. How awesome is that?? Me?? A sinner, who hated God, rebelled against Him, rejected Him....and yet, He loved me. And He continues to love me. So much so, that He will spare no expense (including painful discipline) to make me holy, like He is.

But, if we ignore His correction, what will happen to us? We will go astray. We won't share in His holiness. We will continue to follow our sinful flesh and will not experience His blessing. We'll be racked with guilt and shame and we'll be left feeling like hypocrites.

Is that what we want? No. So, when your Heavenly Father corrects you and disciplines you, do not ignore Him. Do not shrug Him off. Accept His correction with humility and thankfulness, and expect God to do something awesome.

10: 29 The way of the LORD is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked.

If we do accept God's correction, guess what will happen to our character? It will develop an awesome thing called, "integrity." When I was a teenager, I heard a youth leader explain integrity to us like this, "Integrity is what you do when no one is around."

That has always stuck with me. If I can obey Christ, and surrender myself to Him at home, when I am by myself, then I have integrity. And when I have integrity, the Lord is my stronghold. I am protected! I am strengthened. I am safe. It's not easy for the world, the flesh or the devil to get in and hurt me.

That's what we want, ladies. Let's keep that goal in our sights when we are at home alone in front of the TV with chocolate chip cookies calling our name from the kitchen. Or when we are in the potato chip aisle at the supermarket and you don't recognize anybody around you. Keep it in your mind that if you resist sin in this moment, and in the next moment, and tomorrow, and next week, God will become your fortress and your protector and it will be easier and easier for you to resist temptation.

I want to hear from you. I want you to comment and share with us what particular thing you know you will face this week that will make it hard for you to be a woman of integrity. Share it with us (be specific), and Natasha and I will pray for you this week. And then you can come back next week and let us know how it went!

Can't wait to hear from you!

~Claudia

Checking In

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I feel really bad about it! And I've missed it. There's just always so much going on in my life, and there are certain other issues to tackle that take me away from this arena sometimes.

So, I just wanted to say hi, and tell you I'm doing "okay." Natasha got us new dieting journals that I really like. We're back to writing everything down again, because we (*I*) need to be more disciplined and more accountable.

I have NOT been exercising! My goodness. It's crazy. I'm feeling pretty yucky because of it, too. Even though I'm eating a little better, when I don't exercise it just leaves me feeling blah.

I weighed 2 days ago and was down 1 pound from last week, but not sure what the scale will say Friday. We'll see! And hopefully I'll get back on the bandwagon here, and do my weekly weigh-ins and Anchor Fridays.

God bless you gals!

~Claudia

Obedience vs. Disobedience

Life is happening! Life is full of choices. Each day we are faced with many decisions and challenges. Some choices are minor, should I wear my hair up or down? Other choices are more life-altering, such as do I stay at my job or look for another one? Do I eat another candy bar or is two enough?
As I continue reading "Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges, he makes a good point that leaves me very uncomfortable. He notes that sometimes when we make a decision and choose the wrong choice (like the third candy bar), we like to think of it as a failure to our temptation. We like to play the victim. In reality, we are being disobedient. I hate when I am slapped in the face with the truth. I can no longer be the "victim". When I know my choice is wrong, I am being disobedient. I have not failed; I am being rebellious. I know the right thing to do, I understand it, I have been convicted of it! It is disobedience. Plain and simple.

I must remember this! I really do not want to, but Jesus tells us in John 14:15, If you love me, you will obey what I command. If I truly love Him, I will obey Him. Even when I do not feel like it.

Praise you Jesus!

Natasha