Sandpaper People

I've been doing some research on sandpaper. It amazes me how sandpaper can be so similar to difficult people in our lives. Sandpaper comes in different sizes of grit. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper. The higher the grit, the smoother the sandpaper. I think I would be safe in saying that we all have people in our lives that "rub us the wrong way"

There is a term when talking about sandpaper that is called "Going through the grits". It refers to the process of sanding where a woodworker uses progressively finer pieces of sandpaper to get a smooth finish. By going through the grits each progressive piece of sandpaper removes the scratches from the previous piece. Skipping grits to save time is not necessarily a good idea. You will often end up sanding longer just to remove the scratches left by the previous grit.

I don't know if this is as amazing to you as it is to me but I find it very helpful in understanding why there are "difficult" people in my life. It isn't about them at all! It is about what God is doing in ME!! Sometimes when these "Sandpaper People" come into our lives, we try to run as far away from them as possible. We do everything in our power to avoid them. But God will always just bring them back around again or someone else who is JUST like them.

Do you have a "Sandpaper person" in your life? Stop for a minute and ask yourself..."What is God trying to teach me through this person?" By doing this, I truly believe that God will show you and you will grow by leaps and bounds. Be obedient to what he is showing you and then act upon it. And remember, YOU too are someone's Sandpaper person and are rubbing them the wrong way as well!

Runaway

I want to run. I want to run away as fast and as far as I can possibly go. But when I imagine doing this I wonder to myself "Where would I go?" How do you run away from your own thoughts. How can you run away from your own mind?

Do you ever experience this? The mind can take you to some really scary places. And the interesting thing is that you can "appear" like everything is perfectly fine on the outside. We have become masterful at masking what is going on in our hearts and minds. We put on a big smile, we put on our make-up and fix up our hair and pretend it is all totally fine. But no matter how hard we try, you just can't cover up yourself to yourself. And you can't run away from "YOU"

So what can we do? Well, the only thing I know that works every time is to run to the FATHER. He is already aware of everything you have been thinking. He knows your heart and mind. He knows YOU better than anyone else because HE created YOU.

Pray, pray, pray. God is so faithful. I find that my thoughts get carried away when I am only running to God on empty. If I spend time with God during the good times then I have something to draw on when I'm struggling. When your heart is heavy and your mind seems crazy, hang in there. I have gone through this many, many times and it always, 100% of the time, passes. Yes, it can be extremely difficult in the thick of it. But don't give up!

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' Isaiah 41:10

Noises

I am sitting here blogging while listening to my husband "crunch", "crunch", "crunch" on chips and salsa. You cannot begin to imagine what it sounds like to a person like myself. It sounds like each bite is being magnified right into a major microphone. This used to really bother me. I mean, it still bothers me, but not near as bad. Because I realized that it is just me. I can hear multiple conversations going on around me at any given time. I am very sensitive to other peoples feelings. Over time, I have realized that this is just unique and has something to do with the way God made "ME".

I just have extremely sensitive ears. I wonder what it would be like if I was that sensitive to the nudging of the Holy Spirit? What if we just listened and "got it" the first time he told us? I think life would be lived with the greatest blessing. Let's learn to hear the voice of God instead of shrugging it off as some annoying noise that is getting on our nerves.

Be blessed as you listen for the sweet voice of your heavenly daddy!

21 Day Focus

Okay, so I am going to start a 21 day focus starting tomorrow. A 21 Day focus is where you come up with a goal of doing something for 21 days. It takes 21 days to form a habit. It could be anything that you are trying to do. Like eat smaller portions, exercise, work less, say "no", stop complaining, etc. Once you come up with your goal, you have to make some S.M.A.R.T. goals to be sure you get your main goal accomplished. Here is the definition of this kind of goal.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

My goal is to eat right and log my calories. In order to make that happen, I have to decide on smaller goals to make sure I accomplish my big goal. Here is what I'll do.

1. Log calories on www.sparkpeople.com each time I eat
2. Will have smaller portions at each meal
3. Will not eat sweets
4. Will not eat anything fried

When will you start YOUR 21 day focus???

Choices

Okay, so today I am watching some show on the t.v. and this lady is just going on and on about Oprah and showing pictures of her at the Texas State Fair about to take a bite out of a corny dog. She just keeps talking about how if Oprah really cared about her weight loss she wouldn't be making choices like that. It just really got under my skin! You know, this lady didn't have a clue, she was skinny and probably has skinny genes!!

Living every day healthy and making healthy choices at every meal is hard. Anyone who has ever struggled with their weight would agree with me. Sometimes, I can make great choices when it comes to eating. But if I am being honest, most times it isn't so easy. It is something I have to talk myself out of. It is a decision I have to make EVERY time I eat. I wish it was easier but it just isn't.

I am guessing that I am not alone. I think other people, most people who struggle with their weight have these same issues. What do you think?

Worry

Tonight I had every reason in the world, or so it seemed, to worry myself sick. My hubby was out of town and someone was driving him back from Houston. They were supposed to get home around 11:00 pm so I figured I should be able to call him around 8:00 or so. I tried his cell phone and two others and they all went to voice mail. Things were fine until around 8:30 or so and then my mind started getting carried away. I felt myself coming up with all the horrible possibilities as to why no one was answering their phones.

I caught myself thinking about all the things I have learned about worrying and how worrying doesn’t do me any good whatsoever. I decided then and there that I had to CHOOSE not to worry. That I had to “practice what I preach”. I decided to send out an e-mail to all the women at a group I lead. The very moment that I sat down to start writing the e-mail my phone rang. It was my husband of course telling me he was fine, they had just left a little later than expected.

There will be so many opportunities in your life that you will have to worry about something. You will have to decide to either worry or trust God. Think of all the things God has brought you through. And here you are reading this blog, you’ve come a long way! I hope you will choose to trust God and give HIM your worries.

I love this verse in The Message-

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track.

Have a blessed week!

The REAL me

You ever wonder why it is women are afraid to be themselves? We walk around "pretending" everything is okay when we are falling apart on the inside. We act like we have it all together when we are really a total mess! I think if we actually took a risk and were more transparent with people, we might be able to change someone's life.

I have taken risks like this and it felt so wonderful. But there have been other times where I have done this and I did not see the results. I just have to trust God that he is using my story to touch other peoples lives. I think that the greatest impact that we have on others we might not ever know about. So all we can do is just do our best, follow our hearts, and be true to ourselves.

That being said, I don't think we have to "bare all" to every person either. I truly believe that God will guide and direct us to who and what we are to share. Some things about my life I will probably never share with another human being for as long as I live. But there have been times that I have been prompted to share certain things and I knew deep within me that it was for that person and it had to be shared.

There is POWER in YOUR story!! And we ALL have one.

It's a new day

I am sitting here at the end of my day wondering why I choose to eat when I am not hungry. You ever feel that way? I sure do. You know, the chips and salsa are on the table but they are baked chips so it really doesn't matter how much you eat, right?

Ugh! I hate that. And even worse is that even now, I am thinking about what I could snack on. I don't understand why we want to eat when we aren't even hungry. It is so hard to try to keep the flesh in line.

Tomorrow is a new day!

How did I get here?

Boy, I'm not even sure where to start, so here goes. I have struggled with my weight for a long time. I was over weight in junior high and then battled briefly with anorexia. After that, I didn't have any problems with my weight until after I had my first child. Funny thing is, I gained exactly 20 pounds with that pregnancy and could fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans 6 weeks later. It was after this that I learned to cook. I started teaching myself how to make awesome desserts. Well, the pounds started packing on.

Things went from bad to worse really quick. I ended up overeating and cooking more and more things and got up to 202 pounds! I saw that number on the scale and new right then I had to make a change. I joined a program at my church called Weigh Down and that is how I lost the majority of my weight. That was almost 10 years ago.

However, I have gone from my goal weight back up 25 pounds and back down and somewhere in between during the course of that 10 year span. Each time I blog, I will share more about my journey from 10 years ago to where I am today and the progress I am making. I hope to be an inspiration to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog.