My heart was overjoyed to spend this past weekend celebrating my soon-to-be daughter-in-law with family and friends. It was a very full weekend with our house full from Friday to Sunday , prep and cleanup for Saturday’s shower, getting to go to her “trial” for wedding makeup and hair, plus making sure everyone had enough to eat all weekend. Yet, I still found some time just to visit with my best friends and to discuss more wedding details with my son and his fiancé. I’m so very thankful for all the help I had from my family and friends and for all who attended and showered Legend with gifts and love. My daughter Jenna was mainly in charge and she so blew me away with her ideas, work, and creativity!!

How good it is to see all three of my “kids” coming into their own as adults , learning to navigate their sibling relationships as grown-ups, and all of us sharing life together in new ways. There are challenges, for sure , but overall, we are each learning, growing, and becoming as we continue to journey together.

I mean, honestly, my husband and I are still figuring life out, as well. We’ve never walked this part of the path before, either. It’s great to be real and to admit that we need help and guidance, that we’re still navigating and finding our way through unmarked territory.

As usual, with me, food was a struggle for the weekend. On Thursday night, I decided to just allow myself to have whatever food was around for all the festivities. Joke was on myself because donuts were on the menu and they are my favorite nemesis. I admit, I had more than my share, but here I am, not wanting any more any time soon.

So, what do you do to get back on track when you’ve had a big party weekend? For me, I know sugar is a huge culprit in causing me to crave and spiral out of control. This includes anything that spikes my sugar, has a high glycemic index. Therefore , eliminating those items is crucial.

That’s where I am this week, and my goal is to lead into a six week challenge for myself for Lent. I know I can’t just jump right into this challenge coming off my weekend, so that’s why this week is about getting back off sugar.

As for my challenge and Lent, I’ll share more on that in the next few days.

The Key Word is “Singlehandedly”…

Over the last several years, I had come to embrace the idea that God is not to be held responsible for the bad things in this world. Evil is at play, as well as the simple consequences from the “Fall” in the Garden of Eden, but also, our own choices and the resultant consequences. God loves, and this orders everything else that God does. God’s heart breaks from the evils, abuses, and tragedies in our world. God hurts with us.

Tom Oord’s book, God Can’t, affirmed these ideas in my heart and mind. Yet, a new understanding has begun to form in me, as a result of reading this book. One statement jumped out at me from the moment I read it in chapter 1, “God can’t stop evil singlehandedly.” This has rolled over and over in my mind as I read God Can’t, and for the first time in my life, I have a greater grasp of the importance of our cooperation with God and our obedience.

I highly recommend this book to all who have wrestled with the questions of why bad things happen to us all, but I suggest it even more to those who have ceased to believe that they can make a difference, for those who have gotten tired of “obeying” as a response to “following the rules”. God Can’t CAN open your eyes to help you see more clearly why it is important for all of us to develop habits and disciplines that foster God’s transformation of our minds and lives, and to begin to grasp that our actions in this world (as well as our inactions) DO make a difference for God’s Kingdom.

FIND OUT MORE BY CLICKING THIS LINK:

I sometimes like to pretend I’m a photographer. Phones with cameras have made this more accessible to me. I secretly wish I could have a gallery showing of my”work” someday 😉…it is a joy to me to try to capture the beauty of nature that lightens my heart and captivates me at times. So, here’s what I’ve been doing today and a few from earlier this week…

I don’t know about your life in this new year, but for me, January has been difficult. Getting back into my better health habits has been hit and miss, and I blame this on my seasonal depression as well as added job and family stress I’ve been under. Yet, there have been some successes and I want to focus on that and keep moving forward.

Success one, I haven’t had Coca Cola (or any pop) in a month! That alone is noteworthy, for me. Second, even though I feel guilt every day for having my morning toast , my carb intake has tapered off to at least half of what I consumed in December…I haven’t had any donuts, cakes, cookies, pies, etc., and the only chocolate I’ve had has been semi- or bitter-sweet. I did have a caramel three times and I ate some marshmallows. Third, I’ve only had a snack food (like chips) once/week in the last month.

So, I celebrate these successes, however, the scales have stayed the same. I’m pretty convinced the only way I can lose more weight is to go back on a mostly liquid diet for six weeks, like I did last summer. However, my emotions and mental state revolt against every attempt I make to try that method again.

I’m trying something new, started today, to combat my anxiety and see if I can get back on top of the stress I’ve been feeling. I’ll share the details here, after I determine if it works. Yet, I want to focus on a different viewpoint for a moment.

I am incredibly aware of God’s presence in the midst of my struggles with seeking to be more holistically well. I sense my Father’s love and empathy for me as I wrestle with habits and biological needs as well as the pressures of this life. I am much harder on myself than He is on me, and most of the time, if I take some moments to breathe and reflect, I can feel the Spirit’s compassionate embrace comforting me right where I am.

I pray that for you, for all of us, on a more consistent basis. May we take the time for self-care that is needed so that we can quiet ourselves enough to hear His voice and feel His arms around us, then, in that confidence of full acceptance and love and strength, find our way to keep moving forward, to just keep swimming…