I have started eating before workouts, and Nancy, this is brilliant.  It has truly made me workout even harder!!  I have a ton more energy and am able to workout longer.  Having more stamina is always nice.  I would really like to have at least 25 more lbs. gone by the end of May.  I think this is possible, but I am not completely sure.  Do you all think that is a possible goal.  I don’t want to shoot too high and be dissapointed!  ^_^  I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Yesterday at church my wonderful and inspirational pastor delivered a sermon on hope. I realized shortly into the sermon…it was something I really have been needing to hear. Sometimes I don’t think we realize, as people, just how much hope we have lost or how much false hope we are harboring until someone puts it out there in our face and says, “Hey…trust and hope!!”.

“In this world today it is very easy to be frightened and scared. We as people need someone to love and love us back, something to do that matters and something to hope for.” This is paraphrased, but this part of the sermon really had me going. I began to relate this to what I do in my own life…I am a musician and I began to think about musicians from the past and how many of them, while alive, had no popularity but today are remembered as some of the most influential people of their time. I think sometimes it is hard to see the validity of what we all are doing right now. It is hard to see the importance of the stories we tell, the poems we write, the people we talk to, the gifts that we give, the smile or hand shake, the time to listen to someone who is having a bad day. We are hope bearers to our fellow man on a daily basis, yet we sometimes forget to have hope in ourselves and that something great yet unknown experience of being with God one day. “Grow where you are planted, set roots, and pay attention to what is important.” I think the important things my pastor was speaking of were our friends and families, our relationship with God, our unique gifts — not our selfish wants and desires — but more the things we have already been blessed with.

With the up and down cycle of our world today it would be safe to say most people are praying a whole lot more then they have before…which is sad, because prayer should be something we choose to do. I love my quiet time with God, I have it each day…it is humbling to feel and know I am loved always, no matter what else might be going wrong in my life. Many people I know have been laid off from work, over-spent and under-saved, have procrastinated or just simply refused to face reality — and they are praying for a miracle, for a hope to come and illuminate them. But I believe when we pray for something, God does not simply grant our wish he gives us the opportunity to make it happen. Maybe this crazy mixed up world is our opportunity to find hope again…maybe this is our time to realize we are not what we can spend and buy but who we are on the inside.

I have hope and I will keep on hoping! I find hope in every person I meet I know people with much more and much less then I will ever have but I believe there is an underlying good in everyone. I thank God everyday for the wonderful people in my life my family, my pastor, my man, my pets, and of course my wonderful friends both in real life and here on buddyslim! If I could tag every single one of you on this note I would…so if I left you out I am sorry, but know I love you and care! I will never stop caring…you are all in my heart.

I believe people come into our lives disguised as angels, and sometimes angels come into our lives disguised as people. It is possible to see God anywhere. All it takes are open eyes and ears and the willingness to see miracles. They are everywhere. God is as available as we are. Having people that inspire me to rise to higher and greater levels on a daily basis is an awesome gift. Thank you!

“Grace and Nothing More”

I thought while on this voyage long
My strength God would increase
And at some point along the way
My struggling would cease
I fought with boldness, wind and wave
And yet the skirmish lost
Exhausted, all provision gone
The channel still uncrossed
As lifeless I in stillness drift
Just strength enough to pray
It’s only then I feel the surge
That speeds me on my way

By His own hand and faithfulness
He steers me toward a distant shore
And the wind that billows in the sail
Is grace and nothing more
Yes, it’s grace and nothing more

I seek the bloom of holiness
He leads me deep within
Reveals the hardness of my heart
Unearths my hidden sin
My barren soul groans in despair
In brokenness I cry
Oh, God, I find no hope in me
A smile His sweet reply
For where the tears of brokenness
Have soaked the fallow ground
The tender shoots of holiness
Now spring up all around

Strength in my weakness
Joy through the pain
Hope when I’m helpless
Loss my greatest gain

By His own hand and faithfulness
He steers me toward a distant shore
And the wind that billows in the sail
Is grace and nothing more
Yes, it’s grace and nothing more

Words by Jon Mohr
Music by Rob Mathes and Phil Naish

I have been having a great couple of days (over the weekend) with my diet and I have really been able to beef up on the green veggies!  It has helped my constipation dissipate and I have  felt my energy leves increase which is great.  I hate feeling tired (although with chronic fatigue it is hard not to) so all the greens has been great.  Lately I have been having a difficult time fitting in all of the fruits I know my body needs…it is just hard to find them up here during this time of the year.  However, I will perservere!

I am excited because next week I am going to be starting a six week long intro to floor and step class!  I have never done step before, but I think I will like it.  When I go to the gym and pass a step class I always feel intrigued and wonder if I could do something like that, so I signed up for one.  Wish me luck!

Thanks once again for being so supportive everyone!  I love you guys!!

I had a good week…stayed on my diet…made it to the gym three times and maintained what I have lost.  Feels really good!  ^_^  I hope everyone else has had a great week too!

There is not much else for me to say right now…hmmm…school tomorrow…off work tomorrow…math homework tomorrow…sucks.  CSI MIAMI TONIGHT WHOOT!!  ^_^  Sorry for my randomness…oh yeah…meatloaf is yummy…LOL…and damn the ice cream store for getting love potion #31 today…my weakness…so good though.

I maintained through Friday this week, but of course, woke up Saturday and weighed myself just to see if I had lost something and low and behold, lol, one pound gone.  Of course the day after weigh in.  LOL  Just my luck I suppose.

I am starting a jogging challenge with Bobbie tomorrow.  Hopefully I will feel a little better and make it to the gym.  If not I can always walk/jog in the halls of my apartment building.  LOL  GO WILDCATS!!

every time you think you won't make it

and each time you're convinced that you can't take it

picture me in this light

think of me, you can fight

i've been chewed up and spit

i've been big, i've been hit

i've been burned but i have learned
that we survive, we get by
we take the hit and we learn to fight
we collide, but we don’t die
trying to put out wildfires

when you get the feeling that it’s not in you
and all those times remind you of what you can’t do
remember me, i’ve lost and loved
and i am not giving up

though i’ve been torn, i’ve been used
i’ve been fooled, i’ve abused
all my rights to living, but i’m alive

’cause we survive, we get by
we take the hit and we learn to fight
we collide, but we don’t die
trying to put out wildfires

let them come, i’m going to let them take me
let them burn up everything that’s made me
’til the end, i swear, i’m never going to let them break me

though i’ve been crushed, i’ve been killed
i’ve been scared, but god, i will
keep on trudging up this crazy hill

we survive, we get by
we take the hit and we learn to fight
we collide, but we don’t die
trying to put out wildfires

when there’s no doubt how it’s going to turn out
let them burn out, never put out wildfires

I also pushed past the temptation and said NO to ice cream!  WHOO HOO!!  It was a good day for my diet and an even better day for my workouts!  I went to the gym directly after my rehearsal (it was the only class I had today) and walked/jogged on the treadmill for about an hour before work.  I was sweaty and gross, but it was so worth it.  I will sleep good tonight.  :)  My actual classes tomorrow do not start till 10:30 AM so I am going to hit the gym before I go and hopefully feel energized the rest of the day.

I am going to also buy a new plastic jug for my water that way I do not have so many plastic bottles to waste.  I feel like I could build a house out of the plastic bottles I have stacked up for recycling.  LOL  So a hard and washable plastic water jug is on my budget list for the week!  Today was a good, no, great day and I am looking forward to tomorrow!! I hope everyone else has had a good day too!