Saturday Sabbath - Psalm 118:24

Get Fit Friday - Firming up My Faith - Tithing

People are like diamonds. The truly beautiful ones are multifaceted and full of fire.

There are so many parts that make up a whole person. When any of those parts are weak, it weakens the whole. 

While "Get Fit Friday" started out as my attempt to keep a weight loss journey diary, it has morphed into an all encompassing attempt to record how God is shaping me into who He created me to be.

For the next few weeks, we're going to go on a little side journey. Well, I'm on a journey and you are going with me by default simply because you are here reading my ramblings. Thank you for that. Really. I mean it. Thank you for traveling this road with me.

Anyway, for the next few weeks, I'm examining my Spiritual life. I feel like the Holy Spirit is working on me, growing me, and stretching me...challenging my beliefs. There are things that I'm working through that I'll need to see in print in order to properly process them. I'm just wired that way. Getting things out of my head and into print helps me to be more objective...maybe.

The first thing I'm examining is tithing. 

Scripture says give a tenth. In the Old Testament, this was an offering to the Lord...it was The Best that was expected...not left overs. Scripture even addresses how God reacted to offerings that were not one's best.

In our society, where so many of us work tirelessly and often find ourselves with more month than money, it's easy to see why we have rationalized tithing away. "I don't make enough" is the most common answer given to why we don't tithe. Many of us give out of what's left over. The problem is that we spend or commit to spend (through debt) our tithe, not that we don't have the money to tithe. I am convicted that I need to improve my financial situation so that I can give a tenth.

What do I expect to get from tithing? Nothing super natural or spectacular. I know that God has blessed my heart every time I  have given something I love to Him. These aren't tangible, physical blessings and may not be things that are socially accepted as blessings. God blesses my soul. He gives me peace and joy and fills me with love and gentleness. He soothes my heart and gives me rest. These are the sorts of blessings God gives me when I am obedient to His Word. 

I need those things.

I'm not testing Him....

I'm trusting Him. 

I'm trusting that, as I increase my giving to a full tithe, God will meet our financial and physical needs and that He will give peace to my soul in the process. That is all. I'm trusting him to do what I cannot... trusting Him to make the ends meet.

There are other things that I'm working through that I'll  share in the weeks to come. I'm convicted about the Sabbath. Maybe "convicted" is not the correct word to use. I feel a need to observe the Sabbath. Maybe I'll be in a place to share my thoughts on that next week. I'm also looking at my prayer life, and the time I spend in God's Word as well as the way I prepare for worship.

Please understand, I am not approaching ANY of this as a way to plant seeds of pride or cultivate "Pharisee - ish" behavior. These are areas where I believe my faith and dependence on God are weak and need to be strengthened. This is strictly between me and God, building our relationship and strengthening the bond I have with Him. I'm not making a list of things to check off.  Instead I'm recording things as I work through them so that I can look back and see where God has stretched my faith and blessed my obedience. That make sense?

Much love and big hugs,

K

Thursday Thoughts on...life...and waterfalls

Last Friday, I wrote about how my thoughts have changed concerning my body and what I believe about myself. I won't revisit all that here, but the thoughts that follow do build on the thoughts I had last week.

I have often told other women "Be who God created you to be." I have believed that God created them exactly as He wanted them to be in order to accomplish what He wants through their lives. 

Sadly, I have only recently embraced this for myself. Recently... as in last week. This change has made a huge difference in the way I think about myself. I have let go of who I have always thought I "should" be and have embraced who I am. This is huge. So huge. I'm not sure I can even put it into words, but I'll try.

All my adult life, I've believed that I should be bolder, more assertive, braver, and stronger. I've believed that I should demand respect, take what I think I deserve, watch out for my own interests, and do whatever it takes to get what I want. While I believed that this was how I should be, it just never felt right. (and i have never been very good at it either)

I've finally realized that's just not who I am. God didn't knit me together that way. The me that God created is kind, gentle, nurturing, encouraging, optimistic, introverted, creative, full of empathy, tender hearted and peaceful. I've stopped believing that these traits are flaws and weaknesses. I've stopped trying to be anything different. 

This feels really good.

Where most of my life has felt like a hurricane, this feels...peaceful...easy... like gentle waves lapping against a pier. 

I don't feel torn apart, ripped open, and bleeding. 

I don't feel broken, weak, damaged, flawed, or "less than" others. 

I have felt like a rock under a crashing waterfall for so long...like my life was crashing around me, drowning me, beating me into what it wanted me to be. 

This is no longer true. 

I still think of my life as water, but today I feel more like a boulder, with the water breaking around me. I feel solid, sturdy, peace-filled and strong...unmoved by life's struggles. The image in my mind is of a boulder outside the immediate pounding waterfall. The water is the same, but the boulder has been moved to a different, safer, more established place. Rather than being beaten and broken by the crashing flow of the falls, it's gradually shaped by the river...jagged edges are softened over time and the surface is gently smoothed. There are times of course when the river rages and the falls overflow, and in these times the boulder is pounded by the rushing water...but the is not the same as the constant beating received at the base of the falls. 

Yeah, that feels right.

That feels...like freedom...like restoration and redemption and forgiveness.

I feel whole....and I like it.

Big big hugs,
K

Wednesday's Weekly Recipes - Veggie Kabobs

MMMMMMMM - don't these look amazing?!?!?!

The fantastic thing about skewers is that you can put what ever you want on them! While my people are carving and devouring parts of cow, I can enjoy a skewer loaded with the veggies I love most!

You can load your skewers with anything you want. My people will want steak and chicken and minimal vegetables. I will load mine with onion, tomato, squash, mushrooms, and broccoli...maybe some pineapple just to be different.

Once you know what you want on your skewers, all you have to do is grill em up!
Here are some "official" directions from allrecipes.com:

1. Soak skewers in water for 10 to 20 minutes.
2. Preheat grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate. Alternately thread zucchini slices, yellow squash slices, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, pineapple, and bell pepper onto the skewers.
3. Whisk olive oil, basil, oregano, salt, and black pepper in a bowl; brush mixture over vegetables. (or whatever seasoning you like)
4. Cook skewers on preheated grill until vegetables are tender, turning and basting vegetables with olive oil mixture occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes.

Tuesday Tips on.... making a bucket list

Yesterday, the motivation was to do something your future self will thank you for.

Why not revisit and update your bucket list?

Don't have a bucket list? Then now is a great time to start one!

There are several ways to put your list together. I got most of this from a website - found here. I'll give you my synopsis of her ideas, mixed in with a few of my own...

1. Name your list - It helps you focus... and it's kinda fun
 Her suggestions sound something like this:

• Life List
• Dream List
• My Lifetime Goals
• Things to Conquer
• The Life Plan
• My Life’s Must Dos
• and obviously... My Bucket List

2. Find a place to store your list.
     This sounds silly, but really, what good is the list if you can't find it?

3. Pick the length of your list.
     I did not do this, and can totally see where maybe I should. I just add to (and delete from) my list as I feel the need. As I've gotten older my goals and values have changed and so has my list.

4. Find Ideas
     I have come across several different articles lately that speak to writing your own eulogy. While this may seem a bit cryptic, it is actually a very interesting exercise that helps solidify what you want your life to reflect. While this seems like a morbid and even alarming thing for me to do considering my history, it actually helped me realize that I do not want to die by my own hand. I really do not. I absolutely do not want the last memory the people I love have to be "why?" Thinking about my own funeral, who will be there and what I want them to be left with, made me realize that I do not want them to be filled with confusion and despair. I want them to be filled with happy memories.
On a much lighter note... a Google search on "bucket list ideas" will return pages and pages of ideas.

5. Create categories
   This is a must for me. Partly because I have a terribly difficult time focusing on big picture sorts of things and partly because I obsess about things. So, If I am dreaming of travel, I will update the travel section of my list. If I am stretching my creativity, i will update that part of my list.


The thing I like most about my list is that it has grown over time to be a pretty accurate representation of what I want my life to reflect. It is a decent picture of who I am and what I'm about. Sometimes I need to be reminded, ya know?  My list is deeply personal and is in no way a suggestion of how you should do yours. I've been adding to mine for years.

Okay, so here is mine... just as an example... oh - I highlight things as I "mark them off" and I put the things I'm working on or plan to "mark off" in the current year in bold print. So, if something is highlighted and in bold, I did it in the current year. Obvi you can do yours however makes you happy.

BUCKET LIST

Be a Better Me

Live so that it truly matters that I was here and leave a legacy that will carry on when I’m gone

Be “that person” who changes someone’s life

Apologize to someone I wronged terribly - 2010

Go on a mission trip overseas

Be a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Mississippi - done 2011

Pay for a strangers groceries (actual groceries, not just gum and milk or something)

Donate my hair – 2015

Give my car to someone who needs it rather than trading it in on a new one

Make Christmas Cookies and take them to the ICU waiting room on Christmas Eve-2015,2016

Write an encouraging letter to someone in prison- done 2014

Serve food in a soup kitchen – 2016, 2017

Tape a dollar bill to a vending machine with a note that says...”this is a random act of kindness, your snack is on me today!” Done 2014

Adopt a missionary for a year and send the family gifts, letters, cards, etc. to encourage and support them.

Win someone to Jesus - 2015, 2016, 2017

Write a letter to myself and open it in 10 years (Open December 2024- it’s in the lock box at the bank)

Complete 24 Thirty Day Challenges in 12 months
Dissolve negative opinions about myself- 2018

Say “no” to those who abuse me or my time and mean it.- 2018      

Get the house clean and organized (If your house is a mess, your insides probably are too) 

Do something I’ve never done before once a month for 12 consecutive months     

Create a personal Mission Statement

Start a business –KW Hair Design 1999 - Southern Breezes - 2016

Fire my most annoying client, team member, or nasty friend- 2018

Thank God for 100 things in one day

Go Offline one day per week for 52 consecutive weeks

Start a support group for Suicide attempt survivors

STOP lying to myself- 2018

Identify and write a description of my ideal self - 2018

GET OUT OF BED before 5am every single day for 30 consecutive days

Try something that I don’t think I can do every month for 12 consecutive months

Identify and work on negative traits-2018

Figure out something I’ve wanted for a long time…and get it

Find a role model- 2014

Be confident

Family

Make my first marriage my only marriage

Have a 50^th anniversary

Be a mom –-1999, 2005

Raise confident, independent kids who love Jesus (Brian – 2018) (Izzy isn't grown yet)

Keep Learning

Read the entire Bible

Memorize the Sermon on the Mount

Read 52 books in a year

Take an IQ test – Done 134- 2015

Learn to speak Spanish

Learn American Sign Language

Learn how to Crochet- done 2014

Learn how to tat- Done 2015

Learn to decorate Cakes – Done – 1994

Type over 50 WPM

Learn to play the piano

Learn a new skill every month for 12 consecutive months
Figure out what I want to do when I grow up- 2018 - counselor

Go back to college

Get my Bachelor’s Degree

Get my Master’s Degree

Painting

Sell my paintings in a store – Done 2013

Sell paintings in a craft show

Have a painting featured in an art exhibit

Paint with oils

Paint with watercolors

Paint a landscape- Done 2017

Sell a painting for $100 – Done 2017

Sell a painting for over $250

Crafting/Hobbies

Make a quilt

Crochet an afghan- 2016 – baby Afghan counts, right?

Sell a cake I decorated –2009

Sell an Afghan – 2017

Learn to knit

Learn to sew

Take an art class - 2010 - Easely Amused counts, right?

Learn Calligraphy

Beat Cancer

Survive Cancer – done – 2009 and 2011

Sing in a choir again (post cancer) done 2013

Sing a solo (post cancer) - done Easter 2014

Be 2 years Cancer Free- August 31, 2013

Be 5 years Cancer Free- August 31, 2016

Be 10 years Cancer Free – August 31, 2021

Writing

Be a regular contributor to an online devotional site- 2015-2017 (ICDevos)

Be a guest contributor to a magazine

Enter a writing contest

Blog once a week for 52 consecutive weeks

Settle on title and idea for book – Joy in the Valley (When God’s Plan is Painful) – done 2015;  The Day I Didn't Die - 2018

Get laptop and writing program

Set a page per week goal for book

Write book
Have book published (goal – 2025)

Buy my own book off a shelf in a bookstore

Be a guest contributor on online devotional site(s) – 2015, 2016, 2017

35,000 visitors on ITB –December 2017
50,000 visitors on ITB
100,000 visitors on ITB
50 followers on ITB 2016
75 followers on ITB

100 followers on ITB

250 followers on ITB

500 followers on ITB

1000 followers on ITB

Write an e-book

Random

See Trans-Siberian Orchestra- 2017

Finish a whole tube of Chap Stick –May 2015

Have my Christmas Shopping done by October 31

Make a gingerbread house-2016

Get a small tattoo that means a lot December 2015, 2017 (not so small)

See a tornado – on purpose, not because it is heading for my house

Learn to use chop sticks - 2017

Sing with the Mississippi Chorus – Done 1996

Have a Christmas Cookie Decorating party with my kids (and friends)

Lay in the middle of a road in the middle of the night– done – 1985

Go on a vacation with my friends –January 2013

Be in a theater production

Host a cookie exchange- 1999
Be a class officer my senior year - 1990

Tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue- 1989

COMPLETE Project 365

Sit on a Jury –  2017

Try all 31 flavors of Baskin Robins Ice Cream
Be Section leader in Choir -1990

Have a cutting garden

Have a productive herb garden

Have an outdoor living space (covered porch, fire pit, chairs, table, etc.)

Have a vegetable garden – 2016

Make compost for my gardens.

Build raised beds for gardening.
Have all the "divas" greatest hits tapes - 1993
Design and Build my own Paint Shack (goal for 2020)

Physical

Climb a rock wall – Done 2002

5k –2012

Color Run (Color Me RAD) - 2013

½ Marathon (Goal 2019)

Warrior Dash (Goal 2019)

Tough Mudder (Goal 2020)

Have my dream body (again) (36/24/36)

Weigh 140lbs (again)

Drink 128- oz. of water a day for 4 weeks.

Go to the gym (and actually exercise) for 6 weeks straight 2015

Go to the gym (and actually exercise) for 12 weeks straight 2017

Size 6 (again)

Handstand

Travel

Float in the Dead Sea

Walk the Via Delarosa

Sit in the Garden of Gethsemane 

Visit the Grand Canyon

Go white water rafting – Done 2002.2003.2004.2014. 2015.2016

Climb a waterfall – Done 2003. 2014. 2015. 2016

Touch an iceberg

See the Northern Lights

Take and African Safari

See Cats – on stage -done - 1990

See a musical on Broadway

Visit Ground Zero

Visit a volcano

See Whales (live ones - not on Animal Planet)

Go on a Louisiana Alligator / swamp tour – 2013

  

Read :

1.      Huckleberry Finn

2.      Absalom! Absalom!

3.      Schilinder’s List

4.      Chronicles of Narnia

5.      David Copperfield

6.      Old Yeller

7.      A Tale of Two Cities

8.      The DaVinci Code

9.      Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

10.   Winnie the Pooh

11.   Life of Pi

12.   20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

13.   Mary Poppins

14.   Delirium

15.   Dune

16.   Count of Monte Cristo

17.   Oliver Twist

18.   Dracula

19.   Ulysses

20.   A Christmas Carol

21.   The Color Purple

22.   Charlotte’s Web

23.   The Velveteen Rabbit

24.   Braveheart

25.   Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

26.   Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

27.   Interview With a Vampire

28.   The Outsiders

29.   A Game of Thrones

30.   Jane Eyre

31.   Gone With the Wind

32.   Alice in Wonderland

33.   The Wind in the Willows

34.   Crime and Punishment

35.   The Divergent Series 2014

36.   Hunger Games Series 2014

37.   Great Expectations

38.   Harry Potter Series

39.   Wuthering Heights

40.   1984

41.   Animal Farm

42.   Catcher in the Rye

43.   The Hobbit

44.   The Lord of the Rings

45.   To Kill a Mockingbird

46.   The Grapes of Wrath

47.   The Great Gatsby

48.   The Never-ending Story

49.   The Princess Bride

50.   Where the Red Fern Grows

51.   Unbroken

52.   Of Mice and Men

53.   The Lord of the Flies

54.   Little Women

55.   Pride and Prejudice

56.   Moby Dick

57.   Hamlet

58.   Twilight Series 2015

59.   The short second Life of Bree Tanner

60.   The Sound and the Fury

61.   The Pursuit of God - Tozer

Complete my bucket list



Well, that's all I have for today!
Let me know what you put on YOUR Bucket List!

Much love and Big Hugs!
K

Motivation Monday

There have been many things I've had to face these past 12 months that were difficult. Quite honestly, at the time it seemed like everything hit me at once and it would have been easier to not deal with them. However, I believed that my "future self" would thank me for dealing with the hard things sooner rather than later.

A year later, I am certain that I was right.

What can you do this week that your future self will thank you for?

Have a great week!
K

Sunday Scripture - Colossians 1:13-14

What a wonderful promise from God's Word. Not only has God RESCUED us from the dominion of darkness, but He brought us into the Kingdom of the SON (Jesus) whom He LOVES, in whom we have REDEMPTION, the FORGIVENESS of sins. 

OH! My soul is soothed by this today. Thanks be to God for the gift of Salvation and the promise of eternity in Heaven, free from the bondage and painful consequences of sin!

Christian, It is my prayer that you will hold this verse close to your heart this week. Let it be a reminder of whose you are.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)