Tag: fit

Hold on, it’s not over.

I love plants!  I don’t have a lot of space for them so I only have five.  I try to get plants that are low maintenance because I don’t have the gardener’s touch that my mama had.  I talk to my plants.  Research says it’s good for them.  I have given my plants names:  Tangy, Grapefruit, Sunshine, Blossom, and Rae.

One summer day a few years ago, I decided to try to prune Rae’s leaves cause she was getting too big and I didn’t want to put her in a bigger pot.  Then I had this bright idea to just take some of her leaves out of the pot.  I ended up taking her completely out of the pot, and she kind of fell apart.  I put her back in after removing some of the leaves.  She didn’t like it.  Her leaves started withering one by one.  I was sad to see that she was dying.  I took her outside on the back porch.  She’s an indoor plant but I thought that maybe being outdoors would help.  It didn’t seem to help.  She continued to wither away.  I saw little gnats on her soil.  I placed her in the corner on the back porch and stopped watering her.  I figured it was over.

All her leaves withered and turned brown.  She looked completely dead to me.  My feelings were a little hurt because she had been with me for a long time.  You may be saying, “My goodness, it was only a plant”, yes, but it was my plant.  One day I was getting ready to throw everything out of the pot, I saw something green.  Now remember all the leaves were withered and brown.  I immediately pulled out the brown, withered leaves and there it was: a little green baby leaf.  I asked myself, “How could this possibly be?”

I added some dirt to the pot and left it outside.  I noticed a few days later that she seemed to be doing just fine.  I cleaned up the pot and took it back inside.  Everyday Rae grew a little bigger, and then I saw another leaf.  I smile now every time I look at Rae.  She seems to be doing just fine.  What would have happened had I just dumped everything out of the pot without looking closely at it?  Yes, it was just a plant, but I think God used that plant to remind me and you that, it’s not over until He says it’s over.

Are you on a quest to be fit for the Master’s use?  Have you been on a quest to be fit for the Master’s use and have given up and quit?  Have you been letting healthy living information that you have heard about go in one ear and out the other, thinking that it’s too late to change or improve now?  Well my friend, it’s not too late!

Let me share two examples of when it looked like it was over, but God said it wasn’t.  We read in the 11th chapter of John about three people whom Jesus loved: Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus.  One day Jesus got the message that Lazarus was sick.  Jesus didn’t go see about him for two days.  Lazarus had died and had been buried by the time Jesus arrived.  Now you’ve got to admit, this was a hopeless situation.  It was indeed over!  When Jesus arrived, they took Him to the tomb where Lazarus was buried.  Jesus took time and spoke to God the Father.  He then cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth and in the first part of the 44th verse we read: And he that was dead came forth.   God showed everyone that it was not over!

We read in the book of Exodus about the freedom of God’s people from slavery and the beginning of national identity.  Pharaoh had finally let the people go in verse 13, but later had a change of heart.   He took his army and went after them.  They had gotten as far as the Red Sea when they saw Pharaoh and his men.  This situation looked hopeless.  I’m sure they thought it was over.

God said it wasn’t over!  He divided the waters of the Red Sea like a wall in two directions at once (north and south).  The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground.  The Egyptians pursued and went in after them, like a bunch of fools.  God released the waters once the children of Israel had crossed to the other side.  That was the end of Pharaoh’s army.  They drowned in the Red Sea.  Can’t you just imagine God saying, “Now, it’s over“!

You may be sick in your in your mind, in your body, in your spirit and/or financially.  It may seem like every time you lose five pounds, you gain back eight.  It may seem like trying to live a healthy lifestyle is just too difficult. You may feel like you will never get to where you desire to get to in life.  You may have already said, “Just forget it.”  There have been many times when I have said those words – but God is saying, “It’s not over.”

Job 22:28 reads, “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.”   We want to decree and declare these words:  “It’s not over, it’s not over, it’s not over until God says it’s over.”  Family members may say it’s over.  Circumstances may say it’s over.  You may have said before you read this blog, that it’s over.  My friend, it’s not over until God, the author and finisher of your faith says it’s over!

You can still experience peaceful living if you have a right relationship with God.  You can still learn a way of eating that is simple, balanced, and easy to understand.  You can still make time to do some form of exercise. You can still stop smoking and drinking.  You can still stop speaking negatively.  You can still be delivered from any habit.  You can still have the victory. You can still give your life to Christ and let Him use you.

When I think of Rae, I am reminded that it’s not over until God says it’s over!

A little humor

Jonah and the Whale

One day, a teacher was talking to her first grade class about whales when a little girl had a question.

Little Girl: “Do whales swallow people?”

Teacher: “No, even though they are much bigger than a person, they have throat pleats that filter their food of krill and plankton.

Little Girl: “But Mrs. Thurston says Jonah was swallowed by a whale.”

Teacher getting angry: “Blue whales cannot swallow people.”

Little Girl: “Well, when I get to heaven I’ll just ask Jonah if he was really swallowed by a whale.”

Teacher, still red with anger: “What if Jonah went to hell?”

Little Girl: “Well, then you can ask him.”

Do you want to go to Heaven?

Father Flannagan was diligently trying to win souls for the kingdom of God. One day he had a fine idea. He would go to the local pub to evangelize the local drunks and bar flies. He walks into the pub and notices one of his flock from the local church he preaches in. “John!” he screams, John! do you want to go to heaven!!!! John answered,” Father Flannagan,, why ,,yes! of course I want to go to heaven.”” Then, get over here behind me now,” says the father. “Patrick!, Father Flannagan screams out again.. “Patrick do you want to go to heaven?” Well father,, yes… yes ,, I do. “Then get over here with us now… so Patrick joined the two men..

Father Flannagan spotted anouther and said,, ” you! do you want to go to heaven? The third man paused. No answer! Flannagan again asked the man,” you sir! Do you want to go to heaven!! The man paused again and then shouted,” no!” the Father was dumbstruck and asked the same quesion,, What do you mean you DON’T WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN?? The young man then stated, ” no,,not today ,, it seems as if you’ve got a group to go today and I don’t want to go today!!!!

Bye for now.

Jonah and the Whale            http://www.jokesclean.com/ChristianJokes/

Do you want to go to Heaven?     Submitted by Evelyn  http://www.christian-jokes.net/Jokes/Heaven-and-Hell-Jokes/404-Do-you-want-to-go-to-Heaven.aspx

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A Healthy Lifestyle

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
James Allen

“There is always something to be thankful for. If you can’t pay your bills, you can be thankful you are not one of your creditors.”

I hope this video blesses you.  This is one of my favorite songs.

Six components of living a healthy lifestyle

There are many reasons to try to live a healthy lifestyle:

To lower the risk of disease.

  1. To relieve stress.

  2. To have increased energy.

  3. To increase the length of your life.

  4. To increase the quality of your life.

  5. To be fit for the Master’s use.

I am not trying to increase the length of my life, but I am trying to increase the quality of my life. I don’t do everything right. Some days are better than others. I love food. I love to eat. The problem is I eat too much. Anyway, I’m working on it.

If I had to pick the most important reason for striving to live a healthy lifestyle, I would choose #6. We all have a destiny to fulfill. We have been given gifts and talents to use for God’s use. I don’t think most of us truly grasp that. If we did, we would be doing more for Him.

Everyone won’t write a book, be a movie star, the president of a large corporation, or a great artist. The greatest accomplishment that any of us can do is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior and be found trying to fulfill our destiny. Life passes by so swiftly. We have only a limited number or years. I don’t want to die without at least trying to discover and use my gifts and talents. What you do may not be on a professional level. My videos and my blogs sure aren’t. But at least I can say – I tried.

I want to share with you six components of healthy living.

 Air is a component of health that we totally take for granted. We don’t go to bed and say, “I sure hope that I won’t run out of air while I sleep tonight or I wonder if I’ll have enough air in the morning.” We just assume that we will have air.

It is possible to go weeks without food and days without water, but six minutes without air and you’re a corpse. Air is so important because of oxygen. The blood and trillions of cells that make up the body perform the functions of life. They must be oxygenated regularly or death occurs. We receive our supply of oxygen by extracting it from the air we breathe into our lungs. This is called respiration. In tiny air sacs in the lungs, the blood is purified, supplied with oxygen, and sent on its way to the rest of the body. When we breathe out, we exhale carbon dioxide gas and a lot of other waste materials.

Even though it’s practically impossible to have really pure air in this day and age we can still do what we can to make the best use of the air that we breathe.

Deep breathing         breathing     is a component of health that supplies us with the fuel that keeps us alive. How we breathe affects how we absorb oxygen into our bodies. The oxygen feeds the brain, the nervous system, and every cell of the body.   Normally, we should breath abdominally. There are enormous benefits that accompany breathing the way the body is designed to breathe. Most people breathe totally from the chest.

Abdominal breathing clears your mind and relaxes you. It balances you. It’s the key to relaxation and to the correct oxygenation of your body. Abdominal breathing takes pressure off the heart, and has an amazing effect on the nervous system.  We want the abdomen to expand as we breathe in, and then we want the air to move up and out as we exhale.

Exercise    exercise    is a component of health that greatly assists in the oxygenation of your entire body, especially aerobic exercise, which accelerates the heart’s pumping action. There is an exercise routine for everyone. Bones are alive, and just like every other part of the body, they benefit greatly from exercise.

Life depends on the flow of blood in our bodies. Every drop of blood circulates through the entire body, every minute! A larger heart is a healthier and stronger heart. Any good exercise routine should address basically three areas of fitness: (1) cardiovascular, or aerobic, (2) strength, and (3) flexibility. Aerobic exercise is the form that strengthens the heart.

Water: There is not one function of the body that is not dependent on water. Approximately seventy percent of the body is water. The brain is 80.5% water, the lungs 80%, and the blood 90%. From the minute food enters your mouth, every process necessary to transform it from a food to blood, bone, muscle, and tissue – depends on water.

Water holds nutrients in solution and transports all food necessary for life to the various parts of the body. The body uses water to extract the vitamins, minerals, proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates, fats, and the other basic nutrients of life to the proper place and drops them off in the exact amounts needed at exactly the right time in the body.

Water holds wastes and toxins that it picks up from the cells and carries them to the organs of elimination. Water carries them to the four organs of elimination – bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin for disposal. Water brings in what we need and carries out what we don’t.

Without sufficient water you would have no saliva. You wouldn’t be able to swallow! The organs that perform the functions of life are all more water than anything else. Water is the chief agent in regulating body temperature, like water in the radiator of a car.

As to how much and what kind of water to drink, well the experts have different opinions. One thing is for sure, the less you get from your food, the more you have to drink.

 

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