Calgon, take me ..... to Walgreens!

So, I just discovered a PATCH of silver in my hair! Metallic, glistening, silver shining proudly there amongst it's brunette neighbors. My mind cries out, "There goes the neighborhood!"

Guess I'm gonna have to find a better dye. I feel I'm going gray before my time, perhaps my momma and grandma had a day like today at some point in their lives. How could this be happening already? Where did the time go? Don't I still have a ton of life left to live?

Of course, this comes on the eve of my 36th birthday. I shall face this head on (pun intended). I can use my resources to stave off some of the visual affects of getting old in some simple ways-for as long as I can. At some point though, gray hair or not, I will have to come to terms and embrace what this season brings to my life, emotionally and spiritually. It reminds me that this world is not my home! Soon this tent will be decaying in a grave somewhere and then...for all of eternity, I will enjoy what is promised to me from before the foundations of the earth were laid! No more pain, no more sorrow, no more strife. Forever in paradise with God and Jesus and everyone else that has accepted His sacrifice and taken His name onto their earthly lives as the only acceptable payment for the debt they owe.

Time is speeding by. The window of opportunity is quickly closing. If only I could bring everyone I love along! Unfortunately, that is not to my decisions. So I do the only things I can. I can pray for them and I can show, through my life's witness, that God is a Holy and forgiving and loving Father who created us knowing we would fail Him! He loved us enough to provide a lamb because our tainted blood could never be "good" enough.

Praise the Lord!

Bible study notes: Running nowhere in every direction - Week 2

Week 1 is always the introduction and rules and such, so there's not much insight to glean. Each week we will have 2 lessons to do homework on.

The first lesson is on 'My schedule'. Boy do I have some changes to make! I need to find a better balance between working and home and all these other things that pulls me and my time away from what I want to and need to be doing with my life. It's stressful to be constantly in the beginning of everything! I feel like all these things I've always wanted to do and be are still waiting for me to start achieving. Life just gets in the way...So I need to find a balance and contentment on that journey.

The second lesson this week is on 'Expectations'. Now this is a great topic for me! Over the past few years, I have learned alot about unfulfilled expectations. There are alot of people in our lives who have certain expectations of us, including ourselves. One of the stories we studied was Mary and Martha from Luke 10. Martha had expectations of herself for all she had to get done and she certainly had expectations for what she thought Mary should be doing to help her get everything done! When she brought it up, Jesus said, on the contrary! Mary's got it right, being here with me. When you pair up the Proverbs 31 woman with this story, it seems like a contradiction but think of it like this: It's wonderful to be great at home and work and parenting...but your relationship with God is more important than all of it! Because without it, we will fail miserably :)

Parents, be careful with how many expectations you put on the kiddos. They need to do their activities out of fun and fellowship purposes...not because they are afraid to disappoint their parents and potentially lose their affection.

I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again. If you are living in a sad and disappointed hole because of the way your life has turned out vs. the way you expected it to when you were young....you have to find a way to mourn the loss of those ideas about the way life was 'supposed to be'. Only when you find ways to mourn it and get past it, will you be available to dream new dreams for yourself! Don't waste your life dwelling on what could have been. It's upsetting enough that those things are going unfulfilled, don't let years pass by with more and more unfulfillment piling up!

Finally, we read from 'The Message', Matthew 11:28-30:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythm of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

I ended my study tonight with a simple prayer that I'd love to share with you. 'Jesus, teach me to rest! To put away the burdens of this life and find you where you wait for me, the flowing refreshing currant of your river of grace! It's a happy place to arrive!'

A little funny for your day...

I got this in an email and thought it was entertaining enough to share. I don't vouch for the validity of the actual court case but I enjoyed the idea behind it.

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY

In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter & Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews & observances of their holy days. The argument was it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized day.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed."

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your Honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter & others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur & Hanukkah. Yet my client & all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do, counsel, your client is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is 'April Fools' Day. Psalm 14:1 states 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."

Interesting blog title, where did it come from?

The French Alps in route to Italy from England - Sept. 2007

I've always enjoyed flying. There's just something so special about being above the clouds looking down at the earth with awe and wonder, this is God's view! The tops of the clouds themselves are much more interesting and beautiful than the underside we can see from here.

Leonardo De Vinci once said:
"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Wow, how could he have known? It's not like they had airplanes back then! The thing is, the closer I walk with the Lord and the more I long for my real home, I know for sure, I'm living on the wrong side of the clouds! This life will be a short one full of toils and troubles, heartbreak and sorrow. Sure, there are plenty of pleasures to enjoy, for a time, but they do not satisfy my heart! I still long to be in heaven, away from this world and all it's hatred and pain. That's why I called this blog 'The Wrong Side of the Clouds'. It's about my journey from here and all that goes with it! I hope you will bookmark this page and stop in from time to time. Please comment and let me know you're there. Thanks for stopping by!

Hmm, just a tidbit.

I'm really enjoying my Bible study and wanted to share this with you from today's lesson:

Finding pleasure in Christ is what The Lord's Table course is really all about. You see, many diet groups feel successful if one of their members stands up and testifies, "I have lost 30 pounds in 60 days, have gone from a size 14 to a size 8, and now everybody notices the new me." This is not success at all. Where is the mention of the heart finding repentance and forgiveness, the soul feasting on Christ, and the joy over a life that now lives to honor the Lord, rather than to gratify the flesh? This feasting and rejoicing and honoring the Lord all come from repentance. Any change apart from this will lead to pride and will-worship. "I did it, I lost weight, I overcame, I, I, I."

No, our purpose is not to exalt the will of man or woman. Our purpose is to honor the Lord, to magnify His grace, and to show the power of God in our lives. Repentance is the only way to truly be free from the power of temptation and sin, to honor the Lord with a disciplined life, and to savor the preciousness of Jesus Christ.

This is great stuff! I really feel like I have hit the jackpot with this study! I feel changed in my heart about food and eating and this is the only way to get there!

The Lord's Table - Setting Captives Free

Today I'm about 2 weeks into a new eating plan and accompanying bible study. So far it has been great learning how to glorify the Lord with my eating and changing my eating has brought about changes in other areas of my life as well.

Physically: After even the first week, I felt amazing and am feeling better every day! My clothes already fit more loosely and I can move around much easier. At first, my body was not used to a smaller intake and continued to make alot of acid. It's amazing how quickly your body adapts to new habits! I watch 'The Biggest Loser' and I hear people talk about how in just a couple of weeks of eating better and getting active, they are able to come off of medications. Now I can see first hand how that could be true. I do need to increase my activity, I have the treadmill all set to get started! My goal was to get up early each day and do my bible study and then walk before getting a shower and going to work. Well, pray for me because I have a hard enough time getting up for work on time much less early!!

Spiritually: I have been pleased so far with the bible study portion which is an online course on the Setting Captives Free website. I love that this help is online and free for everyone to have access to. It is offered in many languages and in many parts of the world. They also have online courses that deal with many other issues than just overeating. There are other eating disorders, gambling, substance abuse, sexual issues as well as bible studies of other kinds and lots of resources too.

Phase 1 of the course called 'The Lord's Table' is a 60 day study. There are lessons you read and respond to for each day and they suggest you adopt 1 of the 2 suggested eating plans. Adopting the eating plan I chose was honestly very easy to do. In a 7 day week, you get (2) normal days (without overeating), (2) 1/2 days, (2) liquid days (with 1 light meal) and (1) day or really, 24 hour period of fasting. So from after dinner the night before, just water until 24 hours, then a light meal. You can arrange the days any way you need to in the week, as long as you don't put 2 of the same days in a row. I sat down with calender and arranged my days on a fixed schedule that seems to be working out great!

I was extremely worried about the first day of fasting, especially considering my overly acid-y issue of last week, but it went just fine! I used the time to take the focus off of food and direct my attention and desire toward God. It was a really great day! I'm reading a book by John Piper called A Hunger for God-Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer. You can read it as a PDF file online if you like. So far it has been a great resource for discovering why fasting is biblical and all the ways it can benefit your life. I like this eating plan because I get something different to do every day. It keeps me on my toes and makes me feel a little different every day. The eating plan allows me to feel more intentional than 'just watching what I eat'. The only days I have to plan anything special for are the liquids days. I just need to make sure I have some broths and other acceptable liquids around me so I am not tempted to stray. You still get to eat something everyday, even 'the day of fasting' since you consider the evening before as part of the 24 hour period! It's working for me, I feel in control and more importantly, I feel like I am walking towards God and not out here on my own trying to struggle to lose the weight. God is our hope and our helper, He wants us to be healthy, He will provide strength when I need it. I will post more of my progress as I go along. I have no idea how much weight I've lost since my scale still says 'E' (which means I'm too heavy for it!) But honestly, I don't care about pounds, I don't care about inches...God will take care of all those numbers, I'm just concerned with staying on a healthy track. Once I am fully adapted to the eating plan, I will begin to incorporate more movement and exercise into my day. I'm slowly getting there, keep me in your prayers, I will keep you in mine!