October 16, 2012 - Talking to Myself

Good morning all, We are on point for our women's conference starting Thursday. YEA! I did speak with Lady Joy Hill last night who is experiencing some physical challenges. I would love for you to cover her in prayer - while in Atlanta 10 days ago (preaching and leading worship for Woman Thou Art Loosed) she collapsed in her room and had to be taken to the ER. She was experiencing extreme hydration issues. Prior to coming to Atlanta, she had been preparing for a 2 week journey (she came to Atlanta, flew to Seattle, then to Texas to be on DayStar and now back here this weekend) and was exhausted from all the prep and not been hydrating herself. That caused the collapse of her body. That's a great reminder that we need to MAKE CERTAIN that we get our water in daily and give our cells a chance to produce life. She was better and laughing when I spoke last night. She is now carrying a water bottle and a bottle or gatorade everywhere. I don't know if there's a natural alternative to gatorade - if you do, can you share with the family? Join us for the conference if you like, all are welcome, and you can pay at the door. :) Does anyone in this group EVER speak to yourself other than me? While in the grocery store yesterday, I was having this conversation about the healthy contents of jicama and whether or not I could justify the price of the crab legs (even though they were 40% off) and last night I caught myself having a "challenging" conversation with someone ALL BY MYSELF. I was giving "this person" my best arguments and then I caught my husband staring at me. I thought, "what a waste of time - what a distraction!" It's hard enough to have a difficult conversation ONCE, but do I need to practice it on myself and the air????? YIKES! Our bodies don't need any extra tension; they need to relax and enjoy life. Life is too short to have the same intense conversation twice. Maybe too short to do it once? :) Being healthy, for us, has to encompass all areas: water, attitude, tension. It just does. I wish the journey wasn't quite so complicated, but it is. The Bible says, "when it's up to you, live at peace with all men." And guess what, most of the time it's up to me. Tension is an emotion that causes a response that most of us don't like.......either anger or hunger. Neither is good. But it is OUR choice. Today, let's get to the end of this day and compliment ourselves on dropping the small things and minimizing the large. In the long run, living in peace and finding JOY IN THE JOURNEY is the real winner. PK

October 15, 2012 - Humility to Ask

Good Monday morning to you! The power of the storm awakened me last night, but the freshness of the water on my grass and plants this morning brings a smile to me face. Sometimes it's just a good soaking RAIN that brings life to areas of death in our spirit. How many of you know there are those "suddenly" moments in the Bible? One soaking rain.......and suddenly! I truly believe that sometimes God allows a period of time before he answers our prayers so we don't become spoiled and accustomed to snapping our fingers and seeing the answer. And then I believe there's the SUDDENLY. Me personally, I like suddenly. :) But God is all-knowing and TRUSTING him requires that we KNOW he HEARS, he CARES, and he has a PLAN. That's when it gets hard, right? We know God desires us to be free, and in Jesus we are eternally free RIGHT NOW. But, in many cases our freedom is challenged DAILY and requires that we work to maintain the fruit (or evidence) of that freedom. Sometimes we get out of balance and start "working" on our own, in our own power and might. Maybe we feel God is tired of helping us in this ONE AREA. Can I tell you that's NOT true. God knows us - he knows our hearts. He knows we desire to walk in health and that we struggle with remaining FREE at times. Can I tell God is ready everyday to help each of us - he NEVER gets tired of us coming and asking for help. Let's say this - if Jesus came and said, "I will grant all your prayer requests from yesterday," what would be answered???? Let's ask the Lord for wisdom and help and care for others and laughter and passion for the Lost and total healing. Let's smile during the day knowing her HEARD every word. Let's thank him at night for His help and when we awaken tomorrow........ASK again. My prayer for each of us is that Jesus would help us be the BEST we can be IN HIM this day. Don't get tired of asking for help. It shows humility NOT WEAKNESS! Proud folks don't ask.......... PK - and remember our Women's Conference begins this week (you can still come if you like) but I won't be blogging on Thursday or Friday. Too busy.

October 12, 2012 - Outlasting Boredom

Hey gang - sorry this is late - I haven't stopped since 6:15am. Pausing now for a moment to bring a reminder to each of us prior to the weekend. :) Isn't boredom a trap sometimes? I, like many of you, get bored easily! But, we cannot allow that emotion to control our lives. Yes, being bored can serve to push us to expand and explore, and that can be good. But when we explore and want to abandon the very thing that has kept us - it becomes a weapon! We cannot become bored with our spouses and trade them in. God's Word speaks against this! AND.....we cannot become bored with our health plan and submit to the flesh who is always screaming, "give me the french fries." I love a line spoken by Lady Guinevere in the movie First Knight - "it is my will that keeps me to my course for it is stronger than my emotions." Boredom can be a huge giant, but we cannot allow it to conquer us. If you are bored with healthy eating - find some new recipes, get in a healthy cooking class, go to the market and search for new foods - but don't get bored and quit. Boredom is EXPECTING that from each of us. It's strength........IT IS VERY PATIENT. So, moral of the story, let's not allow boredom to pull us toward defeat but propel us to victory. :) Have an amazing Friday - we'll chat again Monday. PK

October 11, 2012 - The Fruit of my Mouth

The Power of Words (Proverbs 18:20–21) 20From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. 21The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. How many of us need to be reminded everyday that our words are powerful? They can bring a smile to someone's face so quickly or tears to the eyes of someone being slapped by the sharp tone of our voice. I also wonder sometimes if we are careful around others with our words and yet will say anything about ourselves, especially that which is negative. I have a BAD habit of saying something ugly about me. My husband and Shelly remind me that the phrase brings a cloak of darkness to my life. I know as soon as that phrase rolls off my tongue, it's not good. But it really is a BAD habit. Great news: habits can be broken and redirected! My husband is really challenging me in this. So today, every time we consume a piece of natural fruit, let's pause and say something uplifting about OURSELVES and our health journey. Let's speak life and smile with our eyes. And the next time we start to make some negative comment about ourselves, OR SOMEONE ELSE, let's remember that Proverbs teaches us that our words have such power. Declare that your body is healthy. Declare that your cells are operating at maximum capacity and fulfilling their God-given assignment. Declare that you shall LIVE and not DIE to declare the words of your God. DECLARE it today. Eat your natural and spiritual fruit today with a smile! PK

October 10, 2012 - Can Halloween Look Different?

I know many of us are planning our fall festivals and gathering our candies for the BIG Halloween event. I am really proud of my granddaughter who is now living life without sugar. She told my daughter recently that she didn't want to "do" Halloween because of the sugar. How many 9 year olds do that? I know MANY adults who can't go a day without sugar, let alone an event. :) How cool! But the truth is we really should be looking for an alternative to candy for ourselves and our young ones. I was thinking we could give out small tubes of Spry gum? All natural and most kids love gum. Yes? And for you, while handing out sugar-free gum, if you like vanilla yogurt, here's a new trick. Take a small container of Chobani yogurt (fat free, sugar free, 100 calorie, plain) and add 2 teaspoons of Truvia and a tsp of clear, vanilla extract. Still it up and return to fridge for about 15 minutes so the sugar can dissolve and mix well. YUM x20! Again, I know so many of us will have dress-up days, staff candy days, etc to celebrate Halloween. Be a trend setter and take something healthy. One of the ladies at Life Group Sunday evening told of a man in our church who was recently diagnosed with cancer and they injected him with sugar water as it "would lead them to where the cancer was." They said that sugar seeks and finds cancer, and then perpetuates it. OMGoodness. So, can we declare that this Halloween is a SUGAR FREE DAY? Now, that doesn't mean go grab aspartame products - let's grab an apple and all natural peanut butter or make a trail mix that's healthy. And, when the kids come - give them some Spry gum. :) God has given us wisdom in the area of our health, let's share that in subtle and not so subtle ways. Giving a non-sugar treat for Halloween is not very subtle, but certainly much more healthy. :) How about we share additional things we could give away on Halloween (if you participate......our church has a festival)? Got any ideas? I leave you with this today - your life is a gift, your body is a gift, your mind is a gift. When someone gives us a gift, how do we treat that gift? Do we place little to no value on it and re-gift it? Do we place some value on it and place it in a box in our closet? Or.........maybe if it's a SPECIAL gift we display it for all to see as we are proud to be the recipient of such an amazing gift. Where are you today? Where am I? Let's take the gifts given by God and keep them in perfect condition and display them proudly as a testimony of the gift given and the AMAZING giver of the gift! Amen! Lord, we rejoice in this day! PK

October 9, 2012 - Judge Well

Good morning to you all, Love the fall! The cooler temps and beautiful colors bring such a smile to my face. I also love the apples in abundance. However, my favorites are not as yummy and are hard to find this year. pink crisps. I found them last week in Portland and they were YUMMY - sweet and very crisp. The ones I bought here Friday evening had very little taste. UGH! But I ate them anyway because they help keep my cholesterol down. One study reports that one apple daily can reduce your overall cholesterol score by 20 points. That's a lot. One of my devotionals this morning focused on judging. Now for Ezekiel, God was asking him to evaluate and discern. The word judgment can be used in a couple of ways. God allowed him to see CLEARLY the situation in order to bring a word of correction and wisdom to the people. I thought about how as a family of healthy trend setters (THAT'S WHAT WE ARE), we are sharpening our skills to discern whether foods are supportive of our plan or not - whether people are going to support or lead us into temptation. :) We really need to clearly evaluate all "new" food items; reading carefully each of the ingredients - then judge wisely. Yes or no? Thanks, Linda, for having your phone ready to look up words we couldn't pronounce on Sunday night. I learned some new things to avoid. I know that my dad used to say, "a little bit of something is NOT going to hurt you." As I child I bought into that - not now. A LITTLE BIT of poison can hurt me terribly. Companies are getting REALLY smart. Someone made me a coffee with No Sugar Added hazelnut coffee flavoring from Kroger recently. They were excited to have something other than half and half. One sip - too sweet for NSA??? Second sip - "can I see the container, please?" While there was NO SUGAR ADDED, the second ingredient was corn syrup. Really???? In the health food section????? Really? Then I had to gently hand the coffee back and I felt bad. More than that......I loved the TASTE and wanted it so desperately! But God has given us the Holy Spirit to help our eyes "see" and judge and then make a tough call if we have to. I applaud you for making the tough calls - when we celebrate our 100th birthdays, and our bodies are still walking 2 miles a day, we'll smile and know we judged well. :) God is for you and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! PK

October 8, 2012 - Some See

Good morning - I'm home. My trip was more than amazing and I appreciate your prayers! The schedule was rough by God was ever present and I saw Him touch, heal and deliver. Thanks be to God for His presence and your prayers. Life Group last night was "off the chain." We had a great group and some new people who were "checking out" the eating healthy journey. They wanted to see if healthy food can taste good and get a feel for what a healthy life style entails. I think they were pleasantly surprised. :) Healthy stuffing with the turkey? Healthy pumpkin spice muffins with pumpkin spice cream cheese icing???? Healthy cranberry relish and millet flour flatbread with no starch or sugar???? And the surprising factor..........it all tasted AMAZING! We laughed and said most healthy stuff tastes like cardboard but we CAN LIVE LIFE and eat healthy and not sacrifice taste. Win-win for us. Yes? That's the strength of our group, right? New foods and recipes EACH month - WE GOT THIS! :) I thought about this morning how people can view the same journey so differently. SOME see our fight against obesity as denial - "you can't have that; you can't eat this; you can't go here to eat; you can't eat sweets." SOME see our fight for obesity as a passing fad. SOME see our fight against obesity as a genetic condition we'll NEVER REALLY conquer. BUT SOME see this as a journey that offers life, hope, and endless possibilities. I imagine it depends on how you choose to view the situation. I choose life! We had a great meal all within the "legal" boundaries and yummy taste. That's not denial. If it is........bring it on. There was laughter and joy and excitement. That's what I SAW. I'll take that perspective all day long. So when the nay-sayers at work are trying to put you back into the obesity box - remember that SOME See is a choice, and you choose LIFE. Love you all - I'm glad to be home. :) PS - if you ever have a devotional you'd like to share, please send it to me. I'd like to start sharing some of your thoughts as well. There was such energy in the room last night that POURED out of people.