Trip to Oxford

I am so disappointed that I couldn't go to church. As I sit here, as the church service is going on, I wonder what I am missing. What is the pastor preaching about that would help me in stay faithful to my healthy life. Buggie threw-up all night last night. Even though he seems to be doing better, I don't want to go to church and then he throws up all over the pews. Well, I will read my daily proverbs and look at writing some more inspirational scriptures for my gym readings.

Oh, I forgot to post for yesterday's run with the Team in Training. Well, our first run was 3.5 miles. We ran at Shelby Farms park in Shelby county, TN in Memphis. I have been there several times, but not with the eyes that I have now. The park is beautiful. As I ran with the team, I noticed the beauty of God's creations. The life in the trees, leaves, bison, birds, the grass and the ponds. I saw Him in everything. It reminded me of His stability. Where I am inconsistent, Him living in me gives me the power to be consistent. Just as he is consistent and faithful to the trees, bison, leaves, grass, birds, he is consistent with me, He is faithful to me, He will always be there to help me. Always.

My fellow team members all are excited and encouraging. We spent time getting to know each other. I feel like completing the marathon is the goal that I will attempt to reach. This was due to the encouragement of another team member. She suggested that I train with the full marathon runners and if I feel that I want to change we can go down to the 1/2 marathon training. I agreed to this with her as we both are first time marathon runners.

Yesterday, we also went to Oxford where I saw my long time friend from college, Tameshia and the rest of my in laws. Tameshia looks great. She is a fellow speech-language pathologist who has managed to lose weight and keep it off by recognizing her need to be healthy. It was great seeing her. She is such an inspiratin to me. I was greeted with tons of compliments on my weight loss. Everyone was telling me how great I looked. With that came tons of excuses for why they aren't doing what they need to to be healthy. I heard the words "Lose weight". Everyone was saying "I want to lose weight", "I need to lose weight". The need to lose weight can't be your focus for attaining a healthy life. That is where I went wrong the hundreds of times, I set out to lose weight. Once I get there...to my goal or near my goal and the weight wasn't my "reward" anymore, I lost focus. I lost the drive to continue...because I had the wrong reason as my driving force.  You've got to purpose in your heart to be healthy for God. Your purpose has to be to serve Him. To have others look at you and see God's discipline and self-control working in your life. That's the reason for long term weight management success. That's it. That's the bottom line. Anything outside of that is not permanent and won't last.