Spirit: Green-eyed monster

At a time in my life (40's) when I should be accepting who I am , my body, my life and my worldly possessions, I find that I am often consumed with what I do not have, what I have not achieved, how unattractive I feel and how little I have experienced.  I look at younger people and envy their position in life. I often wax philosophically about how the world is open to the young to decide how to live their life.  ...   I desperately want to be satisfied and struggle to feel good about so much in my life, even though I know that I am very blessed in many ways. Maybe it is a mid-life crisis, maybe it is a need for a deeper spiritual connection to our Heavenly Father. Maybe I really need to change my life!!! oh no! not that. Can you say comfortable????? 


If you have ever seen a thin, fit, long haired beauty stroll into the room with cute shorts and a tank while you are wearing loose capris and a boxy tee and felt less than then you have felt the tug of jealousy that I am feeling way too often these days. 


Jealousy robs me of Joy! I know this-  Does that make it easier not to feel this way ---- No


Here is a verse from Proverbs 14:30 to digest: 

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.

Well now,  (in the church lady's voice) "Isn't that special?" The truth hurts. I am going to focus on the things that I am grateful for and try to change some habits that are holding me back.  

My time to be young has passed, my time to live a content, meaningful, healthy life has NOT passed- maybe it is just beginning. 

I hope to spend time this week working on my tendency toward envy through meditation on positives, and prayer. Definitely going to be studying the Word on defeating the green-eyed monster now that I have become aware of what it is taking from me. I want to  accept myself in this phase of life. Time to grow into my age and love it. :-)

Please join me in prayer - pray for me to grow in contentment, and acceptance but also for yourself to grow more peaceful and joyful as well. I will pray that anyone who reads this will find abundance in their life through gaining a more positive perspective.

Mind/Body/ Spirit - Life is moving fast

My Life at this time: 

Lots of GroupRide classes and Zumba classes. 

My son Jake who is now 18 has had a lot going on this past month- Prom, Academic Awards Banquet and getting ready to graduate. Exciting time - He received an academic scholarship to the University of Tennessee. I am so proud and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for my baby :-)

I spend a lot of time with my friend Martie! She has become such a close friend in the last year. We work out together, go out to dinner, we text and call each other. I thank God for our friendship. 

My other son Logan who is 15 (and doing a lot of driving with my husband and myself) is looking forward to having his driver's license in August. We also have to schedule a necessary surgery for Logan (his anterior labrum is torn)- for June. This means he will  miss his junior year of football. Prayers appreciated. 

Field day is coming up this week for me and it is really going to take place over 3 school days. Wed. Thurs. and Friday. I am stressed to the max - trying to plan it, organize it and run it to an entire school family's satisfaction. ----- Next weekend I will feel like a weight has lifted. My last day of teaching for this school year is May 25 because... 

We are going to Madeira Beach on the 26th!!!!! Bring it! It will be my first time flying on an airplane. This trip is a surprise for Jake for doing so great all these years in school. 

It will be so wonderful to have all 3 of the people I love the most in the whole world all together one more time for vacation. Cannot wait! 




I am trying to lose weight by eating healthy (less than 1250 net calories a day) - and exercising a lot. I try to be a great Mother, wife, teacher, friend, daughter, sister, aunt and also try to keep learning more about Jesus Christ and my purpose here through bible study and prayer. 


Yes, life is moving fast and my plate is full- but I do feel that I am blessed to have my life. 
Your life is made up of all the small daily decisions that you make. Live in a way that you feel peaceful about. Do your best in every endeavor and you will not regret it. Have a glorious weekend!

Body: "What can this food do for my body?" mentality

I want to go back to about a year ago when I was

Looking at food from a "what can

 this food do for my body?" frame of mind.I have actually copied part of a post from June  '11,these points are important and make sense for changing my mindset:Here the following is paraphrased from

You: On A Diet;

Fiber in the morning helps control afternoon cravings. Protein in the mornings decreases appetite.

Consuming "good fats" during the afternoon and early evening can help keep your sense of fullness. Such as nuts, olives and olive oils.

Omega 3 rich fish oils decreases bad cholesterol.

Limiting simple sugars keeps energy levels stable and decreases appetite as well.

Eat as many raw vegetables as you can!

This next section of my blog entry is to remind all of us that food is fuel for our bodies. How I plan on doing that is explaining in the most simple terms some of the vitamins we need and what they do for our bodies and what foods they are found richly in-

The first one is Vitamin A: 

When we eat foods rich in Vitamin A we are helping our body processes for vision, reproductive function, immune system and helping  the body produce and maintain the linings of the eyes, intestines respiratory and urinary systems. Not to mention the benefits for our skin cell renewal. 

What foods to eat??;

brightly colored fruits and veggies, liver, milk, whole eggs and fortified breakfast cereals

The second one is Vitamin B:

Vitamin B is more complicated because there is B1,B2,B3,B5,B6,B9 and B12 that are all important to our bodies. 

Best said this way :Vitamin B promotes overall health and well-being. 

Here is some of the bigger ones- helps our nervous system, helps us metabolize fats, carbs,and proteins into energy, and helps with DNA repair also blood cell maintenance and more! 

What foods to eat??;

Oatmeal, whole grains, potatoes, liver, eggs, leafy greens, tomatoes, mushrooms, almonds, milk, cheese, fish, legumes, chicken, beef, avocados, non-citrus fruits, and fortified cereals.

The third one is Vitamin C:

Vitamin C protects the body's cells against the damage occurring during oxidation (a natural process that constantly changes cells as they interact with oxygen). 

Interpretation - helps us not get sick and maintains so many functions in our bodies! 

 What foods to eat??;Citrus fruits, brightly colored veggies, kiwi, and fortified juices

The fourth and final one is Vitamin D:

Vitamin D supports our bones, heart health, and nervous system and is so unique because our body manufactures it in response to direct exposure to the sun. 

What foods to eat??; 

Fortified milk and cheeses. Get outdoors in the sunlight a little bit every day if you can :-)

In conclusion, I would like to bring the point home that our body needs all these vitamins to work the way it is supposed to work. 

If we will look at potential meals in this way we will surely make better healthier choices for life. Changing your mentality to one in which we see food as promoting great body functionality, could be lifestyle altering forever. 

Mind/Spirit: God's punishment should be feared

The above picture is a depiction of Ananias and Paul from Acts chapter 5. The story goes that Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold property and were to give 100% of the profit to the church. They withheld some from Paul and then lied about it. Peter questioned Ananias and reported his evil choice exposing the deed. Here is an excerpt from that book of  the Holy Bible: Acts 5: ³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”⁵ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. ⁶ Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

 ⁷ About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

   “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

 ⁹ Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

 ¹⁰ At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Well here it is - God struck them dead because they knew better and they disobeyed while being so dishonest in the process of their questioning. Wow - maybe today we need to accept that God is going to punish us. Fear is a lost part of Christianity in our modern society. We are told over and over how merciful God is - but don't you think  a good healthy dose of fear is good in the light of our sinful society? I believe that just as we look at prayer and some blessings bestowed upon us as coincidental, so do we also look at misfortunes as coincidental. Maybe God punishes us with different types of hardships and we do not want to think of God that way. Here is the way I think of it; I believe God either punishes to correct us or to warn us. I think some punishments are built in- what I mean is physical burdens from gluttony, over-indulgence in alcohol, some sexual sins, etc. We have punishments that are physically painful from misuse of food, alcohol, medicines, sexual actions and even though we suffer some of us continue in one area or another. It is the great lie that the immediate gratification of any overindulgence is worth the damage done to our body. The warning punishments might just be something that gets our attention - like a fender bender, or in the form of other minor hard situations that gets you off one path and thinking about your choices.  Who knows? but I think we need to be more observant of those stories in the Holy Bible in which someone is being punished by God in a corrective fashion. We also  need to embrace the fact that God is not just punishing people by casting them into Hell at the end of their life, but is punishing them along the road of their life to give them opportunities to change, and live in obedience and enjoy the life that He has planned for us. 

One last thought- 

God instructs us through His Word and the Holy Spirit.

God lays down laws to keep (The Commandments).

God shows mercy when we turn from sin and repent. 

God punishes when we stay stubbornly in our sin and lie about our disobedience (denial).

God rewards the obedient Christian that embraces correction and strives to walk righteously through this journey. 

Romans 2:13 Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.   amen!