Twenty Five Minute Freewrite

I think I will give an update in all the areas today.

WELL-WATER SOUL

Who knew that I just needed permission to cut back on my "goals" for the year to get others goals finished. I was meeting on campus with Kathleen every week, but I was also wanting to just finish the Bible Book Club. She said, "Take off coming to campus on Wednesdays and Jesus Community and just write for two weeks." That is what I did! I loved the remainder of Acts and see why God had me wait until "such a time as this" as the Perspectives course was on "Acts of Obedience" in the reader (I posted a section of it in a previous post) by my old leader Steven Hawthorne. So, it fit right in to what God had been doing in my life. YAY GOD! Loved the richness of the extended time in the Word without interruption. I am a "mid-trovert" at heart. I need that balance of time alone with God and time with people, and after Jeff Johnson's visit, I was tipped over on the people side a bit too much! :)

So, now I am in 1 Corinthians and church discipline is on my mind. I have had to work through some lack of forgiveness toward my old church leadership, not for what they did against me, but what they did against my old pastor who is suffering health-wise now, and the trigger was their NON-BIBLICAL release of him in the early 2000's. It sent him into a big downward spiral. I have learned to "forgive them with Jesus' forgiveness from my gut" as Experiencing the Presence of God 24/7 would say!

I have LOVED praying through "Seek God for the City" and walking the streets of Corvallis! That has so enriched my prayer life! 

Prayer and word are balanced, and I love that!

WELL-EDUCATED MIND

I write a lot of book reviews. So I don't need to say much about this other than I feel like I have a very GOOD BALANCE in that area too. I have discontinued doing the early book reviews for people. They are very time-consuming, and most of the books are not very exciting, but every once in a while you come across ones that are lovely like Les Miserables, Getting Out of Bed in the Morning, and Of Virgins and Martyrs. So, I am glad I did that more this year, but it is time to REALLY focus on JUST the Invitation to the Classics list (along with all the other books that already get thrown at me because people think I should read them OR I see them on an NPR book review, etc).

WELL-ADJUSTED HEART

I truly feel like God's destiny name for me: BOLDLY Beloved (had to bold that word!) is coming true. I had this peaceful boldness lately that is truly OF HIM and not of my own doing. Cannot describe it, but I am very healed, and I am learning to just forgive with Jesus' forgiveness with the slightest thing like being aced out of helping Michelle with meals by Lisa. I had to just forgive and realize that God has another assignment for me and that is to focus on finishing the Bible Book Club, my family, my ministry women (Leslie, Abi, Kathleen, Eunice, Sandy, Jennifer, and Rachel - Lord, I didn't realize it was so many!), and standing alongside friends in turmoil (Teala). Teala and Michelle are on an equal footing of need right now, but others want to step in and help, and that is very appropriate for me to just focus where God has planted me. ALL GOOD! I am glad I didn't send that letter to Lisa and Michelle and just let it go!!!!

WELL-TUNED STRENGTH OF BODY 

I am at fifteen minutes but on a roll!  I cannot ignore that God has done a supernatural work in me since December 20, but it really started when I decided to take that medical leave from the Club and concentrate on physical therapy for my back. That was the turn around, and I don't even know why I did it other than I was SO TIRED of having my back be better only to have me push a little bit more in the workout area to have a set back AGAIN when I was working out so diligently!

That and the sickness in October that sent me to the doctor and having a little higher blood pressure (when normally WAY low), blood sugar (which turned out to be totally normal on the second test), and LDL's. That just is not me. So,  I have lost 11% of my body weight even though the weight chart said I only need to lose 3% (I know what my "fighting" weight is, and it was lower than that) , but I have also got a whole new mindset when eating. I am "eating to live" now and not "living to eat." I have this mind shift that I have always wanted, and I know that it is supernatural. I know that I will not go back again. I know that maintaining this weight is my goal rather than losing the same few pounds and gaining them back again. I think what helped is knowing that I was gaining them back less quickly this time, and I was encouraged that I was going in the right direction (see an earlier post about that) of just burning 80-100 calories a day  more or consuming less on the eating side. That was doable for me to prevent gaining it back. I had improved, and this encouraged me to do so. 

I also know though, that I need to record what I eat because I still don't know when I am overeating that 80-100, and my issue was not gluttony because I dealt with emotional eating a long time ago. The issue was just lack of knowledge and food recording (and the gloriously effective Body Bugg) give me that knowledge that I need to make a choice to eat that caramel and dance around the living room for 10 minutes versus not eating that caramel. It is as easy as that. Knowledge is power.

I want to harness all this knowledge in a class for overweight women. I want to use my nutrition degree and college athletics background (I am only three pounds away from what I weighed when I was playing basketball my freshman year in college - how is that for battling the middle-aged bulge. Thank You and glory to YOU, God for that) AND communion with the LORD (prayerwalks being a key in this journey) to help women FLY and be all that God wants them to be without the nagging weight in the back of their mind as a failure issue. 

Anyway, my back is GREAT too. I only had had it go out when I do dumb things (like before - I just had not done dumb things for three years before I severed my tendon and LOST all what I had achieved previously). I also do preventative chiro appointments now and massages (although I will cut back on them to every other month since my insurance does not cover them).

The regular exercises and getting up from writing have revolutionized my life. I am so grateful for a new lease on everything.

Now I am done. No proofreading. Just sending. Sorry for the mistakes.