When I was first presented with the opportunity to write for The Kitchen Table, I laughed. “Really,” I thought it was one of the most hilarious requests that I had ever heard in my life. Why? Well, first of all, I want to start off by saying that I absolutely love The Kitchen Table and its ability to reach and encourage women in the Body of Christ all over the world. However, my biggest worry (and the source of my laughter) is that I was asked to write about health and beauty via the Healthy Lifestyles blog. Me—Really? Wow, God and Ponnie have a great sense of humor!
However, after much prayer and consideration, I began to realize — Why not me? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that God put it on Ponnie’s heart at all to ask me to come to the table.
You see for the past few years I have been continually seeking a healthier lifestyle for myself. I realize that the process of me becoming “whole” involves good health and while not always successful and as consistent as I want to be; I am always seeking ways and working to improve in those areas. Over the years, I have even joined a couple of online weight loss support groups to help me with my struggles, to learn from those who were successful, and to encourage those who may be struggling as well. One of the latest thoughts that I had was to start blogging about my experiences...again, not only to help me but to encourage others as well—however, I never felt adequate enough to do so because who am I to encourage anyone when I have failed at this process time and time again.
However, God has shown us time and time again that He gives strength to the weak to fulfill his plan, hasn’t he? My reason for doing so doesn’t stop there though.
Many years ago, not sure when, I began to feel the tug on my heart to encourage women and help them grow in the kingdom of God. To be honest, I am still not sure what that means but the desire in me continues to grow daily. I will be the first person to tell anyone that with alllllll of my many issues, I would be the last person to think that I could encourage anyone! However that desire remained and I began to pray earnestly about it asking God to show me a clear path. I even went as far telling the Lord that while I was afraid, whatever He asked me to do, I would do it.
So when Ponnie presented the blog to me, I couldn’t help but chuckle, but my first thought was NO! I didn’t tell her no though (smile), but that I would pray about it. You see, I couldn’t say “No” because I honestly felt like it was a part of God’s plan to put in Ponnie’s heart to ask me in order for Him to continue to work out His plan for me.
So here I am....your health and beauty blogger and what a journey this has been!!
Now, I wrote all of that to prepare you for my original intent of writing to you today. When I first started blogging, my original intent was to write about my journey to become “Fit by Forty” by today, which is my birthday. Yes, today is my 40th birthday! To God be the Glory! Needless to say I didn’t reach all of my goals. The biggest one was to become physically fit and to reach a certain weight and size. Yes, I have lost some weight but not enough for me to consider it success. That’s another blog for another day! *smile*
However, I have grown so much over the past few months and I become overwhelmed with emotion when I think of the growth that I have obtained as a result of my “Fit by Forty” campaign. I just wanted to share with you a few ways that coming to the Kitchen Table has helped me during my journey towards wholeness. As a reminder, my goals were to become FIT-physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially and financially- by Forty.
Physically: I ran my first 5K! Well, truthfully, I ran/walked by first 5K...LOL. However, this is HUGE for me. I pushed myself to do something that I have always wanted to do but never had the courage to do. Honestly, if I hadn’t made a public declaration to do it—I probably wouldn’t have...LOL! Also, in trying to find information to share with you, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and have incorporated that info into a healthier lifestyle for myself.
Emotionally: Writing for this blog has forced me into being very transparent about a lot of things in my life and forced me to look at areas that still need to be addressed. Every writer at the Table has written at least one blog that made me say, “That’s Me!”
Financially: Hmmm...all I can say is, “I thank God for using Sharon (our Finance blogger) to help me with the task of becoming Financially Fit by Forty!” She has challenged me in so many ways and because of those challenges; I have created an emergency fund and started down the path of getting my mortgage (and some other debts) paid off AHEAD of time.
Socially: This one is easy...LOL! I am usually a very shy person but coming to the table has “put me out there” and I am now a little more outgoing—LOL—but as a result I have met some wonderful women.
Last but definitely not least Spiritually: I can sum it up best by saying “All it takes is one simple Yes!” “Yes Lord, to Your Will and to Your Way.” God has revealed Himself to me in so many ways in this journey toward wholeness. You can’t write a Christian blog without reading the Word of God and praying. At least I can’t. As a result of me saying YES to my willingness to write and encourage others, I have grown tremendously. In this past year, I have spent more time in the Word and in prayer so that I am sure to hear what the Holy Spirit says to me as to what I should write about. The added bonus is that the Holy Spirit was able to minister to me about some other things that I needed to deal with as well...ha ha! Not only that, the Lord has used every blogger at the Table to hand-deliver a message from God to me to help to grow in so many areas.
I’m going to have to stop there or else this will turn into a two-parter—I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what it has happened since I have embarked on this journey towards wholeness and my attempt to become “Fit by Forty”.
Before I go, I want to leave you with the Bible verse that has been my guiding scripture while on my “Fit by Forty Campaign”. I hope you will read, meditate on it and apply it to your own lives.
But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. Deuteronomy 4:29
In sisterly love,
Sasha
I will be back on Monday, October 11th, hope to see you then!
Tuesday's Blog: Ponnie has a special blog for us so please stop by.
No comments:
Post a Comment