The woman with the issue of blood thought, “if I could touch his robe.” Mark 5:28

These two stories have one thing in common. Both hid from the Lord in shame. One naked and the other unclean.

Shame can be triggered by failure or inadequacy, as well as guilt. It is a powerful emotion that, if not dealt with, keeps us in a place of self-isolation or hiding. It becomes the way we either punish ourselves for our mistakes or feel we “protect” ourselves from the judgment of others.

For example, you are trying to quit smoking. However, you cave and buy a pack of cigarettes on a particularly stressful day. Instantly you feel guilty. Your mind races with all the people “you have failed,” from God to friends. You will wash your hands, spray perfume, and hide the smell, so no one finds out. Then tell yourself it was only one time and “they wouldn’t understand it won’t happen again.”(hiding)

If God does not condemn or shame us, why do we do it to ourselves or others? 

There is no freedom in shame. There is no growth in self-condemnation or shaming others. It’s an unhealthy tactic that leaves us isolated and broken.

Scripture says, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5

Something powerful happens when we admit our faults, we experience freedom from guilt that causes us to live in a place of shame. God is a God of grace, mercy, and love. Not one of shame and unforgiveness. So next time you feel you failed and are too ashamed to show face. Ask the Lord to lead you and guide your steps as you overcome the bondage of shame. 

Solution– Don’t try to make too many changes to your diet at once. Instead, make small manageable changes that, if consistently applied, build new habits. Once you have mastered that, choose the next thing you wish to change. Smaller changes over time lead to more significant successes because it is easier to adhere to.

Food prep allows you the ability to:

• Keeps money in your pocket with less take out
• Snack less on junk
• You will be eating balanced meals
• Eating correct portions
• Keep blood levels stable, so we don’t have spikes in blood sugar.’
• Reduce time in the kitchen cooking diner
• And keeps us in control of our eating habits

Prepping does not need to be overwhelming or take all day. Here are some simple tips to help you stay on track.

1. Create a diner menu for the week.
2. Shop your menu, and a few healthy snack options (cottage cheese, PB, veggies, yogurt, fruit)
3. Have food prep containers with different compartments; you can also get snack-sized ones.
4. Decided if you will be saving the night before dinner as a lunch and which day

After shopping and putting away food, get to work.

• If you plan on having a leftover dinner for lunch, I would suggest making that meal first and start portioning the lunch container
• Then for other days, you can make a large salad for dinner. From that portion, three more food containers for lunch. (now you have salad for three days)
• For quick protein on that salad, I purchase a rotisserie chicken. Cut the breast and remove skin and place the sliced breast on salad. 
• You can put fruit, cottage cheese, boiled egg,  avocado, or measured out dressing in the third compartment.

Tada! Lunch for three-four days.

Here are some great tips when food prepping dinners, especially if you’re a busy working mom.

• Prep veggies and store in a container (cuts prep time night of meal)
• Pre-make your salad if you’re eating that during dinner. (a paper towel on top and bottom of the container will keep moister from making leaves soggy)
• If cooking pasta, cook it over the weekend and store it in a container
• If you have a slower cooker, use it dinner will be ready when you walk in 

Meal prep can help you on the go for breakfast and lunch; It can also shave time off our cooking for dinners. The options are endless and can be as easy as prepping scrambled eggs for breakfast to saving leftovers for lunch. The trick to successful prepping is figuring out what works best for your lifestyle and sticking to it.

So get planning and have some fun.

Being a leader means you can cast vision, inspire change or greatness, motivate, solve problems, and get the job done. However, while there are perks to being in a position of influence, there is also a price to pay.

Leaders are held to a higher standard, must walk above reproach, and at times, will make less than popular decisions. But, unfortunately, those decisions can lead to tremendous amounts of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty.  

If you’re in this position, you may have the skillset and drive to make a difference. But skill set and drive are not enough to sustain you in adversity. We need something more. Something to feed our soul when the fire is running low. Something to help us keep on the right path and push on.

Joshua 1:5-9 says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1:5-6 (NIV)

In this chapter, Joshua (Moses’s assistant) was charged to lead the people over the Jordan after Moses had passed. He went from assisting the leader to becoming the leader—all responsibilities for these people and decisions were now his to make. I am sure the stress was great as he thought of finishing the work Moses had started.

Joshua was there when the Israelites complained and watched as Moses interceded. He saw Moses act in his strength and witnessed all the times he got before the Lord for wisdom and guidance. He watched Moses both mess up as a leader and seek forgiveness. Joshua understood the weight of responsibility and so naturally had some fear.

But God encouraged him. In verses 7-9, He said, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:5-9 (NIV)

I love the end of this verse, “Have I not commanded you?…” see If God put you in a position of leadership. If he opened the door for you to lead a company, a team, or a ministry of some sort, Then He has already paved the way for you to walk in that call and do it well. It requires strength and courage and complete confidence and trust in God, especially in our weakness. And it requires obedience.

 So, if you are in leadership and you are at a crossroads, I would encourage you to

1. Seek God in all circumstances and obey the direction he puts before you. (Even if it’s not the popular choice)
2. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, not on circumstance
3. Meditate on his word. Allowing it to come alive inside of you so we can pour it out.
4. Never compromise your character. The greatest leaders of the Bible followed God’s word. We are no different. Read and walk out the word. This way, you may be above reproach.

Lastly, remember God Commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous and told him that he would not leave nor forsake him. Like Moses & Joshua, he will also be with us. In our weakness, we need to choose to trust in the Lord and lean on him for understanding. In that posture, we will find strength, courage, and the ability to walk in peace. In our obedience, God will prosper us.

These last few weeks, we have been lightly (I use the term lightly because there are many layers in each barrier that can hinder a person.), covering how to break some of the obstacles that hinder us from our health or fitness goals.

So far, we went over: time, unrealistic goals, and support. Today we will chat about Convenience.

About three years ago, I weighed almost three hundred pounds.  I remember waking up and saying, “how did I get here?”

The answer was simple.  I chose to put everyone else before myself.  I am highly driven, and I want everything I set out to do, done with excellence. So, I kept a tidy house, cared for my tribe, and made sure they had time for sports and anything else on their list. Then, I gave it to my husband, friends, & family; everyone except me.  When family encouraged me to go to the gym, my line was, “I’m too busy to get to the gym. My kids have sports; I work then have to keep the house; I need to spend quality time with the husband.” I honestly did not know where or how to “make the time”; it was too much work.

After almost hitting three hundred pounds and health issues popping up, I had no choice but to make adjustments and reclaim my health. I finally made myself a priority, and trust me, that was not easy, but I did it one step at a time, and you can too.

Living busy lives and caring for so many people around us, it becomes easy to neglect our own needs. So often exhausted and thinking of grabbing another coffee to keep us awake, we are not thinking of hopping on a treadmill or bike.

So how do we set ourselves up for success by cracking through the “busy barrier?” Start by making ourselves a priority.

Here are a few simple tips to help make getting active easier.

1. Keep a gym bag in the car: extra clothes, an empty water bottle, and a towel.
2. If your gym is near your house, take that root home, so it’s on the way.
3. If you are an earlier riser and plan to work out in the morning, try setting out gym clothes out the night before.  It makes rolling out of bed and getting ready easier
4. Find a thing you love.  It can be biking, walking, yoga, HITT, swimming, CrossFit.  The list is endless.  But if you find one thing that you love, it makes it easier to “want to do it.”
5. Schedule 30 minutes at least three days to do that thing you love. Before you know it, you will be adding time or days. The keyword is a schedule.  If you do not set a time for it, something else will take your time.

Practicing these simple tips will limit our excuses for not working out.

Have a good weekend and stay moving.

For along time I had asked my self those same questions while feeling defeated when standing on the scale and not seeing results.  

When I started my weight loss journey a nutritionist said to me.  How can my husband or friends support me if I cant help myself? At first I was annoyed at her comment and then she explained.  

“In order for someone to support you fully they need to have clear direction.  If you don’t have clear direction on what your goals are and how you plan to achieve them, How do you expect them to hold you accountable.”

That afternoon I went home and wrote out why I was unhappy with my self, what I wanted to change, why I wanted to change it and tried to make a plan the best way I knew how.  

I shared it with my family and close friends explaining that if they saw me straying from my plans they needed to keep me accountable.  All of a sudden I had a support system I never had.

The solution was communicating my problem, explaining my position, presenting my game plan then asking for help and accountability.  This showed my friends and family I was serious and they understood how they could help. See our friends and family want to help they just need clear direction on what that will look like for you.  

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Lastly, if we feel our support failed us.   That does not give us permission to fail our selves.  We have chosen to trade the unhealthy habits for healthy ones.   So we need to commit to the process regardless of who is cheering us on. We need to chose perseverance and keep going no matter how hard it gets.  

So, stay focused, stay committed, and stay connected.

See you next week

Welcome back, ladies. 

Last week we talked about breaking the barrier of time.  Time is a constant problem we all face; there is always something to do and never enough time.  Well, after last week, you should have discovered you’re why, set days and times for physical activities, and protect that time with your “NO.” Learning not to sacrifice the only time we make for ourselves will be vital in breaking the first barrier.  Time management will be an ongoing battle, but trust me, it gets easier.

So here we are at barrier number two, unrealistic goals.

How many of us set out on a significant weight loss journey, set big goals (I want to lose 5lbs a week), went to extremes like starving ourselves, and failed after two weeks?

Or we set goals to improve our physical activity.  Invest in a gym membership or equipment for our home “promise ourselves” we will use it every day for at least an hour. Only to start strong, and after a couple of weeks, it comes to a crashing stop.  Our gym membership is barely used, or home equipment is collecting dust. 

You’re not the only one that has been there. We all have.  We have good intentions, think we should handle the workload, have the motivation to get it done, set the goal, but something happens.  Our motivation dies, and we are left feeling stuck, like we failed again. That is what the crazy cycle of unrealistic goals does. It causes shame and defeat.

The good news, we did not fail; we just overshot our goals. Setting a successful plan is key to results.

What does that look like, you ask?

It starts by looking inward at where we are in life—accepting our limits and learning to get around them.  Remember, this is your goal.  So, what works for your friends or people you follow on social media may not work for you.  Keyword YOUR goals = YOUR lifestyle. 

So take the time to set smaller goals that fit into your current lifestyle.  As you meet those goals (and you will), the goals will change, and you’ll begin to see progress. The key is creating something that you have no problems adhering to.  Make it part of your lifestyle, not another thing to check off your to-do list.

I hope this was helpful.

If you want to talk about goal setting and need help setting goals you can adhere to, I would love to hear from you.