Happy Wednesday blog friends…

WOW…after writing continuously for 40 days, I suddenly feel as if I’ve abandoned my blog by simply taking a few days off. Never fear – I haven’t. Just trying to get back into “normalcy”. This is my first full work week in a month. Forgot what that was like. I’ve also been working on some of my 2010 goals, so that’s kept my focus on other areas, but so far so good. One of those goals is to improve my physical health, so here’s an update on how that’s going…

Unlike many, I didn’t re-start my diet until January 4! I never like to start on January 1, because I feel almost like it’s a setup for a failure – one of those “resolution curses” so to speak. Additionally, this year, I attended a wedding on January 1, and January 2-3 were the first weekend days of the year. So…I talked myself into one more weekend of blatant disobedience in the area of food and exercise. Shameful – I know. The holidays really took a toll on this body of mine, but I’m sad to admit that it was worse than I thought (or at least that’s what the scale revealed to me). OK – that’s in the past – moving forward (not dwelling there)…

So, I’m beginning day 3 of my adventure. So far…so good. I’m back to my low-carb way of eating. This really worked for me before the holidays, and I can’t tell you how GOOD I felt. I felt so much more energy than I recall in recent years, and the weight fell off at a reasonable rate also. Initially, I find that I lose a lot of water weight, so this first week is proving to be pretty high in pounds lost, but that will shift within a week or so, I’m sure.

In addition to the low carb way of eating, I’m also back to drinking lots and lots of water and one cup of coffee in the morning. I’ve really been failing at hydration lately, and our bodies need water desperately, so I’m flooding my system again! It shows…my bathroom trips have more than doubled!

I’m also trying to do some form of exercise daily. Something. Anything. On Monday, I went to the gym and worked out for almost an hour doing a combo of cardio and weights. However, my foot pain has returned with a vengeance (and seems to be worse on the treadmill), so last night…I exercised using my daughter’s Wii Fit! I only did this for about 15 minutes, but it was something!

Lastly…and perhaps the most important piece of this journey…I’m journaling. Right now – I’m journaling in a notebook. I’m too chicken to put it on here. I have a couple blog friends that have chronicled their weight loss journey in a blog format, and I so applaud them (especially sweet Charlie – you’ve got to check out her blogsite if you haven’t already)! However, I just can’t seem to do so yet. I hope that will change, because I think it will hold me more accountable and will be an inspiration to others on the same type of journey. We’ll see what the future holds on that…

On another note, I’m so tickled to see that some of you have decided to join me this year in a scripture memorization challenge. Kudos to you! Not only do we need to focus on our physical health, but our spiritual health needs to be kept in check also (even more so, in my opinion). What better way to do that than to focus on knowing God and knowing Him more intimately by hiding His Word deep in our hearts! I know some of you are doing this scripture memorization “thing” on your own, but I really, really encourage you to do so publicly, and I’ve given you an opportunity to join a group of us two times a month in a way that will cause us to be more accountable to each other. If you haven’t read about it yet…here’s my original post on the matter.

It’s hard to believe we’re at the halfway mark on the first week of the new year. I’m praying the rest of the week is a great one for you!

Oh…here’s a little heads up for you…I’ll be doing my first blog giveaway later this month! I mentioned last year that they would be coming in 2010, and my birthday is later this month, so I will be giving away a gift on my birthday this year! Stay tuned…check back often! Be blessed sweet friends!!!

Happy New Year blog friends!

I love this day that ushers in a new year, a new month, and a new decade. New beginnings! Gotta love ’em!

For those of you that have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that one of my focuses in 2009 was on scripture memory. I joined my “Scripture Mama” Beth Moore via her blog community at Living Proof Ministries last year two times a month to post the scripture passages I worked on memorizing. I’m not sure if Mama Beth is going to continue this in a blog format again this year, but I loved it so much that I have determined to do so. It really made a huge impact on me last year – got me deeper into God’s word and enabled me opportunities to use the scriptures that I memorized in very tangible ways.

So, I’m going to follow the same format that we were instructed to do last year. It worked very well and works even better to have friends doing it together for accountability purposes! Care to join me? Here’s how it’s going to work…

1. Go to your local Walmart, Walgreens, Target or something similar and pick up a spiral bound index card set (like in the picture below). They really are inexpensive, and will help to keep your scriptures organized all in one place.

2. On the 1st and 15th of each month, we’ll be choosing a verse from scripture to memorize. It can be as short or as long as you’d like, but I would encourage you to choose something challenging and yet not so challenging that you set yourself up for failure from the get-go. These need to be scriptures that you’ve never committed to memory before. They don’t have to be ones you’ve never heard just ones you’ve never memorized. Some of the ones that I chose last year were ones I’ve heard my whole but never took the time to memorize. If you’re struggling with choosing a scripture, then I invite you to memorize the same one that I’m doing. I certainly don’t mind sharing!

3. Then, write your scripture, book and verse(s), and Bible translation on one of your index cards. Carry that spiral around with you everywhere – car, work, bathroom, whatever it takes to write that verse on your heart.

4. After writing it down, come back here and post a comment and include the same things in the verse above…the actual Biblical reference with book and verse(s) as well as your first name, city and state. That’s it! It’s simply a way to hold each of us accountable. We’ll do this each month on the 1st and 15th, and you’ll be amazed at how God uses this discipline in your life!

Now…I realize that with this being New Year’s Day, you may not have time or desire to rush right out and buy a spiral notebook. That’s okay. Just try to do so as soon as possible. For today, you can just write the verse down on a piece of paper and transfer to your spiral later. Just start!

Some of you may happen upon this blog post after January 1 and still wish to be included. OF COURSE you may still join us. This is not a selective community. The more the merrier, and if I happen to be the only one posting on the 1st and 15th – I’m still going to do it. However, the more public I make this – the more accountable I’m going to be.

Lastly – tell all your friends to stop by! I’d love to see this scripture community grow. It’s one of my passions! I honestly don’t care if they don’t want to read a single one of my blog posts, but I’d be tickled pink to have them join us these two days a month!

So…are you going to join me? What’s holding you back? Here we go…

My first scripture passage of the month (and year) is coming from my absolutely favorite New Testament book of the Bible – James! I’ve really thought a lot about the fact that I use the faith word rather loosely. Yes, I have faith about this or I have faith about that…blah blah blah. The real question is this – am I putting feet to my faith or is it all talk? That’s where this verse comes in.

James 2:17 (NLT)
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Ouch! James gave us some pretty tough words to chew on, and I especially love the New Living Translation of this verse.

Another tool for you to use if you’d like to examine different translations of a verse to help you decide which to use is BibleGateway.com. I love that website!

So…are you in? Are you going to walk this scripture memorization journey with me in 2010? Ready to get spiritually healthier? Jump aboard! Let’s embark!