My Aha Moment

God has been telling me that my life is about Him and not me. I keep responding by, "I know. That's what I want. How do I live that way?" Weight loss is all about you, not anyone else. We are told to take time for ourselves and love ourselves. Studies show that people who are successful at weight loss do it for themselves. So now I've been trying to figure out how to make weight loss about God not me.

I believe He wants me to get healthy and lose weight. I started this blog for the motivation, but also to tell people how weight loss fits into a Christian life. Even with this in mind everything has still been about me. I enjoy the few comments I've gotten on my posts and I have 9163 page views! I even have 3 followers (let's pretend that they aren't my aunt, mom, and brother, haha).  I keep checking to see if any of these numbers are growing. Tonight I did devotions that I hope changed my thinking from myself to God.

Isaiah 6:1-8

1.       In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2.       Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

3.        And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."

4.       At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5.       "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

6.       Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7.       With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

8.       Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

I read this a few times. The first time I got to verse 8 saying to God, "Yes! Send me! I'm ready for a change. I want to get out into the world and show You to people!" Then I read the verses again. Verses 1-4 describe how intimidating this scene is; God is "high and exalted." The train of his robe actually fills the temple by itself. I pictured myself kneeling on this soft red robe that is now covering the floor and hearing the seraphs praising God, resulting in structural damage and smoke. I then related to the words in verse 5, "Woe to me!" I'm SO not worthy to be in his presence. Despite that, in verse 6-7, He takes away my guilt and my sin is now atoned for. Then, in verse 8, He asks who is going to go for Him.

This time when I respond, "Here am I. Send me!" I'm not saying this because I'm bored and want to get out of this town, I'm saying it because I'm excited about what God is doing and I want to be a part of it. Then ...the light bulb went on. He already sent me. I'm writing this blog. God is doing something new to me. I'm just excited that God chose me to honor Him. I'll struggle with making good choices, but if that shows you His power I'm just fine with that.

2Cr 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2Cr 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong

  God has been telling me three things.

1. It's about God, not me.

2. In my weakness He is strong.

3.Trust Him.

I haven't really known how to implement these facts into my life. Being reminded that serving God is an honor helps me grasp how everything is about God not me. When I grasp that I don't care if I'm weak because it shows God's strength. Also knowing that everything is about God makes me trust Him for some reason.

Reasons

I've been overweight since junior high. I've lost and gained weight over the years. So, what prompted this round of motivation? Well! Let me tell you. Reasons to Get Healthy/Lose Weight 1.       I started getting heart burn. What twenty-two year old gets heart burn?! That's just scary and makes me wonder what else is my body suffering from?! 2.       I'm not going to lie; looks are a part of my motivation. I'm going to be the maid of honor in my sister's wedding in less than a year. I'm significantly younger than my siblings and their significant others. I'll be standing between my sister and my sister-in-law. My sister-in-law has lost twenty-three pounds! I REFUSE to be the fat kid up there among all the great looking old people! 3.        I hate summer because it’s hot. It’s muggy. It’s sticky. It’s death on a red hot stick. Fat is an insulator, I wonder if I wouldn't hate summer as much if I didn't have fifty pounds of insulation on me? 4.       I've got a lot of things I want to do in my life time so I need all eighty years and then some. If I keep living the unhealthy lifestyle I am now I may not make it to eighty. I even want to go the extra mile and be super healthy so I can live past 80. I think 100 would suffice.:) 5.       I want to honor God and I don't know what this looks like as far as living healthy. I don't remember ever hearing a sermon telling me to eat my veggies. So, I'll be researching this and letting you know what I learn, or bringing you questions. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 6.       My pride. I hate failing and currently I'm failing in the health department. I'm not sure if this is good or bad pride. My gut says bad it is bad pride. Either way it is motivating me until I figure out which it is and what to do about it. I'm sure there are more reasons that I can't think of off the top of my head. Comment and tell me why you want to be/stay healthy.

Ice Cream, Doughnuts, and Lates, O My!

It has been an emotional few days for various reasons and this is never good for eating well. I had a bowl of the world's greatest comfort food; moose tracks ice cream. Anything is good in moderation, but there was nothing moderate about this bowl! This thought raises a question… I swear I heard a Bible verse that said that everything is good in moderation. I went to find it to put a link in here for you, but I couldn't find it. Am I wrong? Do you know what verse I'm thinking of or is this not scriptural?

After my bowl of comfort I went to bed only to wake up still upset. So, even though I had a fridge full of yummy healthy food I went to the grocery store to buy a doughnut, banana, and a venti skim latte. I was going to go to the gas station to get a doughnut, but I went to HyVee just to get fruit...and there is a Starbucks there. Regardless of my motivation for going to HyVee, I'm proud that I had the banana. On the way to the store I called my mom and with some perspective on my emotions I ate my banana. Then...I didn't eat the doughnut! I threw it away. Yes, I wasted money. Yes, I wasted food. Yes, I'm pretty pumped. In a perfect world I would have stayed home to have a free protein filled breakfast but instead I adjusted to my first mistake of leaving my apartment.

I brought my friend Katie her latte and I had another good talk with her. We then had an unhealthy lunch. This was only because it was free. If I had planned I would have brought healthy food, oh well. At least I threw away a doughnut!

Right to left: Me, Katie, and our friend Schultzy. We've been friends for 8 years! This was our first picture together. Awww.

I need to take more pictures. This is a year an a half old, but it is the best I could find.

The rest of the day was no fruits or veggies, just a lot of saturated fat and sugar due to not planning. Then being all sad again I got another latte and had another good chat with Katie. Then I went home to have a great devotion.

 

I've been in a much better mood for the last twenty-four hours. Today I had veggies, lean meat, whole grains... Today wasn't even a good day. I went to the ear doctor. I forgot how much I hate the ear doctor. I even cried and my ear is sore. It turns out I have hearing loss. My options are: do nothing, hearing aid, or exploratory surgery. So, as if I wasn't cool enough, I have an appointment to learn about the possibility of a hearing aid.

I'm always amazed that even if I have three good conversations with people in one day what really helps is a good conversation with God. I find it interesting that carbs are comfort food and Jesus is the "bread of life." John 6:35 So, the lesson here is plan ahead and spend time with God.

One of the reasons for my bad mood is my "little brother" leaving for the Navy this week. I hate this picture of me, but this is the last one I have with him. We are at his grad party.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us. He was so little! We've been family friends for 14 years... I think.

Why a blog? Why "Coffee with Sher?"

Welcome to my first ever post on my first ever blog. Odds are if you are reading this you know me; if not, check out the ABOUT ME.  Either way, let me explain why I’m doing a blog and what inspired the name.

 When on Pinterest, I tend to look at the "Fitness" section. I started browsing there because I had pretty much covered the DIY things one day so I moved on to a different category. I found it to be inspirational! There is definitely some bogus info, some solid info, and I kept finding weight loss blogs. Now, I'm addicted to some of them like a good book; I feel for the characters. I enjoy watching them evolve, grow, and learn; I can't wait to see how it ends! I kept pouring over their blogs, facebook profiles, and I even follow one on Pinterest. This whole time my arrogant self kept thinking, "I could write that." I did get almost all A's on my high school AND collage papers; I think this qualifies me. Haha! Then I saw one blogger said that she highly recommended having your own blog for motivation.

One day someone asked me, "What would you do if you weren't going to be a nurse?" and I had to think… which is weird for me because I'm always changing my career. All of a sudden I realized that ALL I wanted and all I could see myself doing was nursing. So I said, "Um...I don't know...a writer...maybe..." They said, "What would you write?" Ever so eloquently I said, "Um...I don't know...a novel...or...a blog?" Then we laughed about how I could write a blog about being a nursing student. The problem would be my blogs would just say, "Still studying. I might check my e-mail later."

I haven't searched out many blogs, but I haven't seen any from Christian nursing students. With all of this on my mind I thought, "What could it hurt? Everyone can relate to trying to be healthy and lose weight while being busy. Also, with my background in exercise and nutrition, and my current ongoing education in nursing I could provide some sound information on health and weight loss. On top of all this, being a Christian, I want to know what the Bible has to say about how to treat our bodies."

And with this, “Coffee with Sher" was born. I kept coming up with dumb names for my blog. I asked some friends and they came up with more dumb names. So, I decided to just use a dumb name because if I waited for a name with meaning I would never get started. And, wouldn't that be your loss?! ;) Last night I went to bed, this morning I woke up and I rolled over and thought, "Coffee!" Then I sat up! "Coffee with Sher!" Duh! It's what I do. It's practically who I am. Baristas at various coffee shops know me by name; some even know my order. And, I have had some really great talks over coffee. So grab your coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and let’s chat!