Summit & a Commitment

Oh my, my, my, my, my. The First Place 4 Health Summit was wonderful! Even though I did have to wake up at 3 am Friday morning, it was so worth it! I received so much valuable information and encouragement this weekend. I am honestly having a really hard time processing it all! The speakers were excellent. The food was great and healthy, not to mention I didn't have to think about food at all!

The sessions I went to were: Choose to Change, Emotions and Eating, Happy, Healthy Family, and Share Your Tips. Each one was (you guessed it) great! I learned so much that I could write multiple posts from each and most likely will.

My favorite part of the Summit was hearing the testimonies of the men and women who's lives have been changed. As was said of the program this weekend, its not about addition or subtraction--adding this, taking away that--it is about TRANSFORMATION. You just become a different person through First Place 4 Health. God changes you, when you are willing. Or even when you are willing to be made willing, as has been the case with me.

The hand of God has obviously been on this organization from the very beginning, which was 30 years ago--just about the time I was born. Hmm... I just wonder how many pounds have been lost in that 30 years. I wonder how many lives have been changed. God knows.

As we were leaving we had the opportunity to accept a challenge. The challenge was this:

I signed my name on a little card and turned it, but I wrote the words down in my notebook so I would remember just exactly what I said I would do. I am committed to do whatever it takes to reach my goal this year. Join me?

Once again, Lord, I come to you admitting that I am not willing. But I am honest when I say that I am willing to be made willing. I want, with all my heart, to be obedient to you. I am serious and I am committed to reaching this weight goal, so that I might serve you in the special way that you planned from the very beginning. How I long to do your work! How I long to serve you in the way that you see fit! From this service will come my deepest joy and peace. Your name will be glorified. Make me a vessel worthy of your calling; do what I can not do. Change me, Lord, always. Amen.

What a Day!

Heard testimony today from two different women who have each lost right around 200 lbs through First Place 4 Health! We're talking way more than weight loss here! Life TRANSFORMATION. That is what we all truly desire and the good news is--it's possible. Praying for surrender in the lives of all my buddies(and myself)!

So blessed. So much to share when I get back. Nighty night.

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Two Things

Mom and I are headed to the FP4H Conference in Houston this early morn! I'm looking forward to learning a lot and having a great time. I'm trying not to think about the fact that I woke up at 3 am ((yawn)). Two large cups of coffee are doing the trick so far...

Thought for the weekend: There are two things that no one else in the world can do besides you:

1) take care of yourself
2) nurture your relationship with God.

No one else can do those two things. Just you. What are youdoing that someone else could be doing so that you could have more time to do the things that only you can do?

Think about it...

Have a great weekend!

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I Interrupt this Program

Everyone breathe a sigh of relief. This is going to be an upbeat post! My PMS is over. Ha ha ha.

Seriously, it was pretty dark in my head for a few days and I attribute much of that to my hormones. However, hormone-induced or not, there is purpose in darkness and the darkness always gives way to light. I have learned to trust that part of the process. The great thing is that I always emerge with a new depth of knowledge and a closer relationship with the Lord. Knowing this gives me reason to praise and thank Him even in the darkest of days.

This is what I took away from my "weird time" :

I'm not God.
I'm glad I'm not God.
God loves me.
I'm glad God loves me.

Now that we got all that figured out, I'm ready to continue on this journey. Weigh-Ins, trackers, running, blogging, picture-taking and heck, maybe even some WEIGHT LOSS! Oh yeah!

We now return to regularly scheduled program...

Open Letter to Everyone

Dearest Everyone,

At some point, I made it my chief goal in life to fix you. I've always been good at recognizing just what needs to be fixed in someone else's life (like yours). Family, friend, acquaintance, fellow blogger, the person who slaps their kid in Wal-Mart, the cashier who is rude (and seems to be on something), the person who doesn't believe in Jesus, the ungrateful, disrespectful student, the lady who wears her skirt too short, the obese person who is alone and eating a super sized combo in the food court, the person who has hurt me so deeply that the wound will not heal. All of you and more--I want to fix you. There is something wrong with you and I want to be the one who has the answer you need to be fixed. I will talk and type and think for hours...about what needs to be done to get you fixed. I will suggest, I will prod, I will remind, I will shake my head in disgust. Why can't I fix you?

Why can't I make you the way I think you should be? Why won't you listen to me? Why won't you do the right thing? Why won't you at least try to change? Why won't you make an effort? Why won't you grow up? Why won't you just get over it? Why won't you admit that you are wrong? Why won't you just get fixed so that I won't have to be bothered by your problems, imperfections and weaknesses? Why won't you get fixed so I can feel good about fixing you?

I am so tired of this. My chief purpose in life, to fix people, is hopeless. I give up. I quit focusing on everyone else and their issues and faults but what I am left with are my own. Oh yeah. I need to be fixed, too. I am broken just like everyone else in the world and I need to be fixed. It makes sense now. If I need to be fixed I can't possibly fix anyone else. That's the problem. I must fix myself so I can get to the hard work of fixing everyone else. Yeah! I need to work hard to get fixed. I need to get fixed fast because there are so many people who need me to fix them.

Mission: Fix self. There is something wrong with me and I want to be the one who has the answer I need to be fixed. I talk and type and think for hours...about what needs to be done to get me fixed. I suggest, I prod, I remind, but in the end I shake my head in disgust. Why can't I fix me?

What is wrong with me? Why can a dang french fry bring me to the brink of insanity? Why do I yell at my kids for laughing and running joyfully around the house? Why do I sit and think about something that needs to be done for 3 times as long as it would have taken me to just do it? Why have I hurt people so badly that their wounds are still gaping? Why do I still think that somehow physical beauty is going to help me? Why do I fall into the same destructive patterns over and over and over again? Why do see the worst things in others? Why do I see the worst things in myself? Why do I try and try and try but nothing changes?  What is wrong with me? Why can't I just get fixed so that I won't have to be bothered by my problems, imperfections and weaknesses? Why can't I just get fixed so I can feel good about fixing myself? Why can't I fix myself so I can get on with my life?

I need to be fixed. But I can't fix me. You need to be fixed but I can't fix you either. Ever. I think I get that and now...I must learn to stop trying. I need to truly grasp that "being fixed" is not a prerequisite to living.

I believe there is a prerequisite for living, though. It's Love. I will choose to love and receive love. No judgement, no analysis, no expectations. Just love. I will love myself and others because I know that He loved us first, even though He knew we would need to be fixed.

Love is what binds us together and we need to be bound. We need one another. Loving one another is the closest to fixed we will ever be here on earth. 

1 Corinthians 13

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

We will be fixed one day, when we see him, the Ultimate Fixer, face to face. This is our hope, this is our faith. I'm so sorry I tried to fix you when I could have been loving you. Because loving is the most important thing--the only thing--that will matter for eternity.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

So sincerely it hurts,