Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Journey of Change...

I have asked myself and God, why every time I sat down to write on my blog the words wouldn't come. I seemed empty of anything to say or share with my readers. Great things were happening in my life...but, there were no words. Today I realized I have been on a "Journey of Change."
I found myself stepping out into areas that were totally out of my comfort zone. God stretched me in some areas, giving me the gentle nudges I needed..at times I felt like they were more like a shove off a cliff...but all in all...He stretched me and I didn't break!
The one change I made this year was my commitment to get healthy. It seemed like a full time job planning my meals around healthy recipes rather than my old stand by comfort foods. I had grown accustomed to making comfort foods ...I thought it would make me feel better. It was a bad habit I had let myself nurture living with chronic illnesses. A friend introduced me to Daily Plate.com. it's an online calorie tracker through Livestrong. As long as I faithfully tracked my calories, I'd lose weight. I hadn't factored in getting older and I thought I could lose it like I did when I was younger. Not so! I lost weight very slowly...very slowly...I had to fight discouragement along the way. My husband joined me on this leg of the journey and we tracked our calories together. We'd shop for fresh fruits and vegetables and we walked this road together.

My friend who introduced me to Daily Plate also shared the most wonderful book with me. Made To Crave, Satisfying Your Deepest Desire With God, Not Food, by Lysa Terkeurst. This book may not be for everyone but it was for me. I'll share more on that book in another post. This friend also made a scripture/quotes booklet from the book to go to in times of temptation...I love it!

I didn't exercise at first. I actually lost most of my weight without it. But when I started walking the track I loved it. As I walked to Chris Tomlin's worship and praise songs I could see the entire San Bernardino Mountian range as I soaked in God's Majesty all around me. I was really feeling victorious! Then... I tweaked my knee on Christmas Eve..I just moved wrong. My exercise has come to halt. This week I am going to start on an exercise video of chair exercise. DONCHAKNOW that makes me feel really old?? With my DVD and weights that will be my new journey until this knee heals, surgery or God's amazing touch.


This is where I have been on part of my journey of change. As of today, I am not going to say.."I wish I could have lost more in this year's journey." Instead I am saying...I lost 53 pounds this year and I give God all the glory! My husband lost 40. He's at his goal..I am not..so the journey continues. To those of you have encouraged me to come back and write again..thank you. To those of you who have left comments and I did not reply...I am so sorry, but thank you! To my friend who encourages me in this journey and to my husband..I couldn't of done this without you both....This was just one part of my "Journey of Change." I'll share more in my next post.

5 comments:

Mrs.T said...

Patty,

I am so happy to see this post. I just know that the Lord is going to use this journey of change to encourage many other women ... including me!

Thanks so much for letting Him use you in the lives of others.

Love,
Mrs.T

Renee said...

wonderful to have you back and read another encouraging post from you. Amazing news on losing so much weight. Gives me encouragement to keep going on my own journey with weight loss..mine came from a bad stomach, but I now hope to continue on with it and get down to a healthy weight. Thanks for sharing~

tea time and roses said...

Oh Patty this is wonderful! I have indeed missed you and so happy to be reading your lovely post!:o)

Our God is awesome, so good, so kind. Your journey has and is bringing you to a good place. I smiled when you said sometimes Our God pushes you right in, oh my so true.:o) It is sometimes at those moments our footing is not sure, but oh my what a blessings when we simply follow. Congratulations on your weight loss my
friend, simply wonderful!!:o) Continued blessings to you dear Patty.

Welcome back and thank you so much for sharing. I am certainly inspired. By the way, Honey and I have been on a journey to better health. It certainly has been a good thing.:o) Happy weekend to you and your family dear Patty.

Smiles♥

Beverly

sherry said...

how wonderful are His ways...
thank you for sharing your heart and your continuing journey. may He meet you where you are and draw you even closer into His embrace.

love,
jAne

Kim said...

I just checked that book out from the library! I will check out Daily Plate.

One of my favorite healthy food blogs is SkinnyTaste, all Weight Watchers friendly recipes.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/