It is a tough road being a woman! Like it or not, deny it or not, horrible, ungodly acts happen to women and the image of women every second of each day. As a result, we women fight for our worth, value, dignity, true beauty, safety, and rights. Sometimes we simply can't go buy an appliance without being flirted with and being taken advantage of. Look at me for who I am - a customer. I think we also are fighting for healthy self-image and self-esteem. Some women will go to great measures to feel beautiful and receive the love they so desire. It doesn't help that we are in a culture today that is full of pornography, photo shopped images, and a policy of...if you don't like it, you can dispose it. Am I expected to look like those woman in a pornography film, commercial ad, magazine, movie, etc.? I sure in the heck hope that men subconsciously aren't expecting that. I am proud of what I physically have accomplished and will continue to work on. I feel confident in many decisions that will make me a strong woman far beyond my physical appearance as well. I have come to believe it is their loss if they pass me by. But, we can always have our days... I've been praying for a woman who's been struggling with her self-image. She is far more beautiful than she can recognize, claim, or see. I wish I could just hand her this gift of awareness and place it in her tender heart. The things that make us feel truly beautiful can be our greatest weakness as women. We must find that worth and beauty in our Creator. It must be enough. If we don't recognize this, we may always be searching and left hungry deep within our soul. Now, there is not a day that goes by that I wouldn't love to hear from my boyfriend that he thinks that I am beautiful. I will NEVER grow old from him sincerely telling me this. However, I am talking about something different. People telling us we are beautiful, having a beautiful wardrobe, having the right makeup, having an amazing man, being the "right weight," and so on, will never matter if we do not claim our beauty from our CREATOR. That is all temporary happiness. God made me beautiful just the way I am. Look in the mirror and say, "I am beautiful!" Say it everyday until you believe it. Why do you disbelieve? Claiming this truth is long-term happiness. How long can you look at yourself in the mirror? Can you do it naked? What do you say to yourself? Is it negative talk? How can you start to love yourself if it is? If God created you and you put yourself down, are you not insulting the Creator? I remember the day I looked into the mirror I saw something beautiful for the first time. My life has never been the same no matter the pounds gained, gray hairs, or who walked out of my life. So, while I was praying for this women while driving to work this morning, I was listening to a Christian radio station. I listened to what song was playing. It was the perfect song for her. It was Jeremy Camp's song, "Let it Fade." I recalled going to his concert with my cousin a few years ago listening to this song with my eyes full of tears. There was so much in my life that I just needed to let fade out and let God's grace take care of. I just needed to let go of my "old life," so I could be made new. As I listened to these words in this song for this woman this morning, it touched my heart for her. I hope it touches her as much as it touches me...and how amazing it was how the Holy Spirit worked this morning! And for all the women fighting the battle to find their worth to claim their beauty, I pray you find it someday in our Creator and you have your mirror moment! And boyfriends/husbands...tell your woman they are beautiful everyday no matter where they are on the journey in one way or another, because this world likes to bring us down in more ways than you will ever know. She will never tell you all the ways. And even if she has claimed the truth I've talked about here and her mind knows you know she's a beauty, her heart desires the passion and love you have for her in this way. Love your way...
0 Comments
I was so excited to get my results back from my lipid panel to see if my cholesterol had improved since I've been working out and eating healthier. I checked into my online account several times to see if they were there even! Finally, I got my results. To my dismay, the numbers were not what I had hoped for. I had to come to the realization that within the last year I truly allowed myself to whatever sweets I wanted whenever, and I stopped working out after I hurt my back at the end of August in 2012. Before that I was working out and monitoring my food very well. My 2012 numbers reflect this. Obviously, changing cholesterol numbers for the better doesn't happen over night, and my fitness and food habits didn't change that long ago. I started really working out at the end of May. So, I've been actively working out for about 5 months and eating healthier for two. I share my numbers with you, because I think knowledge is power. But I truly believe it is power only if we use the knowledge we obtain. We have a lot of knowledge sitting around in our heads, but we do nothing with it. This knowledge provides me with more motivation. It also made me wonder how many people are walking around without this knowledge about their own health, which is vital to their health. I did do something about my numbers before, and I will do it again the natural way! I also will look forward to my 2014 test to see if my LDL is within the range you see below in parenthesis, but also to see if the other numbers improve as well. 10-21-13 Cholesterol 164 (0-199), HDL 34 (40-59), LDL 114 (0-99) 3-19-12 Cholesterol 158, HDL 35, LDL 94. What is crazy about this, is I did not gain weight during the last year overall. If I did, it was up and down five pounds. Weight isn't always an indicator of what your cholesterol is going to be, especially if you're living a healthy lifestyle. My point is, the numbers just show you how much food and lifestyle can affect the numbers SO QUICKLY. That is scary. Obviously, I still needed to lose weight overall. Just from a quick Google search, I came up with this for ways to lower cholesterol: Most people, especially those whose only risk factor has been lifestyle, can generally get their cholesterol and triglyceride levels back to normal by:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9152.php I really like this site for explain what cholesterol is. It also has a great diagram. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hbc/ Last year I came across this AMAZING website that is for women teaching us about heart disease. I beg you to spend some time there like I did. It could CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Heart disease is the #1 killer of women! Heart disease DOES NOT discriminate. Check out these videos below from their amazing website: http://www.goredforwomen.org/wearredday/index.html (One woman was 20!) Obviously, high cholesterol, an inactive lifestyle, poor eating habits, etc., can cause heart disease. Feb. 7, 2014 is National Wear Red Day! Will you wear red and join the movement? The workout queen. We all know her. She loves working out. She is at the gym ALL THE TIME! Even if you miss a day and you have no way of proving it, there's 99.9% of a chance that she is there when you are not. She looks great and fits the part of the confident, "I know what I am doing woman in the gym," type. You may or may not know her - that really doesn't matter. What you think about is how much of your workout is not fun and for the Workout Queen, it is something she thrives off of. This week in particular, I was ready to be done after about 15 minutes of my workout. That is never a good sign. NEVER! "How am I going to make it at least 15 more minutes?!" The other day I was talking with a "Workout Queen," and she told me that she hated working out. I was shocked and asked, "Really?" She went on to share with me why. I was so relieved that someone that has it so together can still hate working out, being sweaty, and so on. Of course there will always be those that love working out, but we must never forget that everyone has their own story and what we perceive may not be reality. |
So this is me...I am a woman who lives with passion, self-reflection, and a desire to do God's will.
Archives
August 2018
Categories
All
|