Category: Health

19 New Year Prayers for Yourself

Little did I know when I planned this week’s topic that I would find myself in profound need of it!

 

Last Monday, just as I was walking out the door (literally) to drive to Phoenix to attend a 3-day Critical Incident Stress Management program for first responders and chaplains, I tore the outside meniscus in my right knee. At least that’s what the Physicians Assistant thought I did, although I’m unconvinced that’s the only thing I tore.

Anyway, much pain, an icy pack of corn, and two hours later, I was all crutched and braced up and driving up to Phoenix. I know; I’m a stubborn masochist. But the seminar was wonderful, and it was good to escape the distractions of unfinished work at home and be stimulated by learning (one of my favorite things to do).

The swelling subsided a bit, I did get to the point where I could put some weight on it, and I snagged a front-row chair where I could spread out and prop my leg up on a crutch. Sleeping was a bit more challenging, though, since moving around caused pain.

So I definitely felt the need for prayer! I needed a MRI as fast as they could get approval and schedule it (I had it very late last Friday afternoon), and a doctor’s read of it. (As I write this, I’m still awaiting that.)

So, with my big toe bone spur removal still in recovery mode, and this new injury added to that, my year is shaping up to be much different than the one I envisioned. Thankfully, we hadn’t made any specific plans (which is unusual), and most of my next several months is wide open and free to deal with it all.

 

But I really want this knee to heal well, so I can return to Spain to walk more of the Camino and visit my aunt and two uncles this summer and maybe do some hiking around Big Bear, Northern California, and Oregon. Those goals will require a delicate dance between my medical providers and me—in treatment, rehabilitation, patient adherence, and my old body’s healing response. I’ll need to be vigilant and rein in my tendency to overdo and push.

And I’ll need to be praying focused prayers, rather than just looking at the entire event pragmatically.

 

New Year prayers—

You may have already thought of many things you can bring before God in prayer, specifically for this new year; you may have already received specific prayer requests—like the young girl at my former church that was hit by a car after getting of the school bus this past week and is still unconscious; and a dear, older friend in the hospital for heart problems. And another friend’s sister-in-law who fell and hit her head on New Year’s Eve and never regained consciousness. Her husband had to make the decision last Monday to remove life support. Now the family is confronting profound, unexpected grief after the shock.

A lot of things have already gone very, very wrong in this New Year, and, so far, it’s been pretty rough for many people. And you likely feel a burden on your heart to pray for them.

 

Praying for yourself—

Truly, there is much to pray for.

But what about more general prayers, the ones we should probably be praying all of the time?

These would be personal prayers specifically for us, the ones that draw us closer to God, that delve us into seeking His heart, knowing Him better, being more like Him, preparing ourselves for the tough, ugly parts of life that get slung our way. The tough, ugly events that get slung in the way of friends and others.

 

Below you’ll find some ideas for self-prayer. I’ve developed them from Gospel for Asia founder K.P. Yohannan’s praying for yourself material. Hopefully some of them will touch your heart.

 

You could pray for:

  • mercy that you may endure, no matter what the year brings your way;
  • grace to be an encouragement to others;
  • strength to stand for God’s truth and justice in your home, your workplace and the public forum;
  • an extra measure of love so you can demonstrate God’s love and give hope to those around you;
  • help in seeing and loving people as God sees and loves them;
  • help in being an encourager to those despondent in spirit or frightened by the world’s precarious state;
  • help with believing in others’ potential;
  • help in living with an open heart and hand—in being generous as our Heavenly Father is generous to ALL;
  • help in loving others when no one else will;
  • help in knowing how to take care of yourself;
  • help in extending grace to others, as God has extended His grace to you;
  • help in believing in the seemingly impossible;
  • help in expecting God to show up and do great things;
  • help in deepening your prayer life in order to have a better relationship with the Father;
  • help in removing any unbelief or a jaded, cynical spirit;
  • help in self-discipline and holy living;
  • help with trust that God will meet your every need this year;
  • help in being obedient to God’s call and direction in your life;
  • help in developing a more thankful, worshipful heart, in all things.

 

These are just a few ideas. Nineteen of them to be exact. I’m sure you can add to the list.

I invite you to re-write them in prayer form, personalize them, use them as daily devotionals, or focus on the ones you know you really need help with.

 

NEXT WEEK we’ll explore the impact on your life of praying the Scriptures. And I’ll give you an example of what I’m specifically doing this month in that area.

Until then, don’t neglect to pray for yourself as you pray for others. Your relationship with the Father, and depth of it, depends upon it!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

The Science of Weight Loss: Rethinking Your Dieting Programs

Did you see the recent news report about the famous Keto diet, which is the big diet craze right now. While some extol its virtues, others claim it’s dangerous.

So what and who should you believe when it comes to healthful eating and lifestyle?

While anecdotal evidence can be helpful, it’s best to follow what the current research says, as long as the research you’re reading isn’t funded by special interest groups or the chemical or food companies promoting the food or protocol. (Beware, some information you find on “reliable” sites is also tainted by big money.)

 

So what are the recent findings?

Like a breath of fresh air, the recent findings are…(drum roll, please)…

 

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL!!

 

Hallelujah!! The research is validating what most of us have known all along.

Everyone is different, and my diet plan may not look like yours. And it probably shouldn’t.

 

What the recent findings tell us about diet and exercise—

A Time magazine Special Edition* supplement (2019) reports the U.S. weight loss industry to be 66 billion dollars annually. No wonder marketers push so hard for us to buy their new programs!

Some of the ways Americans try to lose weight are through:

  • Coordinated diet programs (Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc.)
  • Bariatric surgery
  • Week or more of expensive stays
  • Calorie and step-tracking apps
  • Fad diets (they list Paleo and keto in this category)
  • General high protein diets, like South Beach, etc.
  • Vegan

 

And yet, with all of these diet choices and dollars spent, more than 70% of Americans still tip the scales into the overweight or obese range.

And that’s a problem health-wise and finance-wise, for all of us. Why? Because more than 70 illnesses—like heart disease, Type II diabetes, and some cancers—area the “direct result” of being too fat!

But shouldn’t losing weight be easy, simply a matter of burning off more calories than you take in?

You would think so, and that’s why I was taught several decades ago. In fact, until just recently, that was the belief. Now scientists agree that isn’t the case. Losing weight, and keeping it off, is hard.

And anyone who has tried to lose weight knows it isn’t true. And 80% of us dieters are aware of another discouraging truth: we’ll regain all of the weight we lost and probably a few pounds more in two years. That sad fact is a finding of a UCLA review of 30 studies on the matter.

As Louis Aronne, director for the Center for Weight Management and Metabolic Clinical Research at Weill-Cornell Medical College says,

 

“Obesity is a real disease, with real physiological consequences: when you gain weight, the nerves in your hypothalamus that conduct signals from your fat cells to the rest of your brain become damaged. As a result, your brain doesn’t realize that you’re full, so you keep eating.”

 

If that’s the case, any over-fat person would probably need to stop eating before you get to a point of satiation or fullness.

In short, you probably need to religiously count calories so you don’t risk overeating!

 

But isn’t a calorie a calorie?

 That’s what I was taught in college, and that belief held for years in the scientific community. Now we know that’s not the case. The body handles and digests food differently depending upon the food’s chemical make-up.

One thing I learned 30+ years ago that still holds true, however, is that when you lose an extreme amount of weight—defined as 10% or more of your body weight—your body starts preserving energy by switching specific hormone productions and sending your body into starvation mode. Result? You’ll be walking around feeling constantly famished.

Is that what it comes down to, though, always feeling hungry? Some researchers say yes, while others say there is a better way.

 

What about exercise?

When trying to lose weight, we can’t avoid exercise. It’s is a key component of the weight loss puzzle. But what type is best, aerobics or resistance training?

That answer hasn’t changed in some time.

For optimal health and successful weight loss that you can maintain, you need both.

While aerobic exercise increases the number of calories you burn off, resistance exercise improves your metabolism or metabolic rate. And a higher metabolic rate means your body burns more calories even when you’re in a relaxed state. You could say you “burn hotter.” You get more bang for the buck.

As my son would say, “Sweet!”

 

So what should your overall goal be for good health?

Scientists and doctors say your focus should be an improvement in overall health, not just an aim for a number on a scale, or weight poundage pumped in the gym.

But don’t despair! Researchers do know from their findings that It doesn’t really matter whether you’re on a low-fat or low-carb diet, because the end result for both types of eaters is the same amount of lost weight! That’s the opinion of Caroline Apovian, a weight-loss specialist at the Boston University School of Medicine. She’s also president of the Obesity Society.

Hallie Levine, the author of the chapter “What a Healthy Diet Looks Like” in the Time supplement also quotes Apovian as saying,

 

“I usually encourage patients to eat as much protein, fruits and non-starchy vegetables as they want, while restricting starch intake to one or two servings a day.”

 

Why is that? It’s because protein is essential to growth and healing and muscle mass building. That’s important because it’s the muscle that’s primarily responsible for your metabolism level.

Another critical take-home message is that

 

a lower carb diet (30% or calories from protein and the remainder from low-glycemic foods—the kind that cause your blood sugar to rise quickly) is much easier to stick to because it’s less likely to trigger those nagging hunger pangs.

 

So what would fall into the low-glycemic column? That would be foods like:

  • non-starchy vegetables, like carrots, peas, sweet potatoes
  • nuts
  • beans/legumes, like garbanzo beans, white beans, black-eyed peas and lentils
  • some fruits (Beware: many fruits will spike quickly your blood sugar! And fruit juice almost always will.)
  • eggs, dairy, meat, fish and fish oils

(For more in-depth information on low-glycemic foods, see the American Diabetes Association website.

 

And the Time article mentioned one more important fact:

 

When you do have carbs on your plate, try to eat them last.

 

Eating this way, rather than chowing down all of the hot bread the server delivers to your table to keep you occupied before the meal arrives, helps keeps your blood sugar down and those all-important insulin levels low

So you could eat your bread, if you eat it for dessert!

 

So how much weight loss is enough?

Evidently losing just 5% – 10% of your body weight results in positive health gains. Your risk for diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease can drop. And that’s great news!

So maybe before we make grandiose plans to whittle our tummies and legs into a size 6 jeans, when we’re currently wearing (comfortably!) a size 12 isn’t what we should aim for.

How many pounds lost would that be?

Unfortunately, because clothing manufacturers’ sizes are all over the map, it’s no longer easy to tell. But, in general, the consensus is that you would need to lose 8 -10 pounds to drop one pant size.

For a 150-pound woman, that’s within the 5% – 10% range.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

 

As we go forward, we’ll look at a variety of important findings, like what scientists learned from the reality show The Biggest Loser, why your particular diet may not be working for you, finding your dieting sweet spot for health, weight management and fitness, and what Blue Zone model living can do for your health longevity.

We’ll also delve more into the exercise component.

Exciting stuff!

See you back here next Wednesday with the next installment.

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

(*If you want this information in more detail and in your library, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Special Time Edition The Science of Weight Loss at your local drugstore or bookstore. It’s on sale until April 5, 2019.)

Using the New Exercise Guidelines: Easier to Achieve Success

Even if you’re not a big exerciser, you probably know exercise, or physical activity, is a critical component of good health—both physical and emotional/mental. Even the Health and Human Services Department of the United States government thinks so, and they get in on the act of improving our nation’s overall health by establishing exercise guidelines.

They recently made some guideline changes you’ll be interested in, if you’re concerned about maintaining or improving your and your family’s health.

 

A little history—

While I’ve been studying guidelines for some 40 years, doctors and scientists have been writing about them and trying to establish norms since the 19th century. As research improves, the guidelines change. They’re never perfect, but they usually do set a good foundation for people to aspire to. (I wouldn’t count the current food pyramid among those aspirating tools, though. Companies and special interest groups had too much influence in its development.)

 

Why exercise?

 God created our amazing bodies to move in a variety of ways. When you keep that in mind, you realize that exercise can be a form of praise and worship to the One that created you!

But for those of you needing some extra motivation, remember there are tremendous benefits to exercise. Exercise can:

  • prevent chronic diseases
  • improve mood
  • improve overall health
  • improve quality of life
  • sharpen mental function
  • boost concentration
  • improve sleep
  • get you connected with nature (if you exercise outdoors)
  • increase your metabolism, which can help you lose or maintain a healthy weight
  • remove toxins from your body through metabolism and sweating
  • increase lung capacity
  • improve heart function
  • tone muscles and sculpt body, which can improve balance, increase metabolism, and improve your body image

 

Some background on the new guidelines—

The United State’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has designed new guidelines (updated from 2008) that are better tailored for age and ability. This is great news because we’re rapidly shedding the one-size-fits-all in exercise and dieting myths!

The new guidelines wrap around the idea that the amount of exercise you should aim for and get, and the mix of activities you engage in, depends on your age and ability. Essentially, the exercise becomes more personalized. That’s great, because we’re all unique.

Do you have a preschooler at home? Then you need to make sure your bundle of energy gets at least 3 hours of run or jump-around activity. Shutter the video games and television and get your charges outside or to a pre-school gym. Mommy and me classes are also great to get their activity and yours in too.

Are you an “older” adult? You’ll want to aim for at least 150 minutes a week. (Since people say 80 is the new 60, I’m going to guess that a lot of technically “older” adults don’t feel old, but the technical definition is anyone 65 years or older.)

 

Does 150 minutes sound like a lot? Years ago we would say that amounts to 30 minutes of exercise, 5 times a week. Then more recently, experts said exercise needed to be done in no less than ten-minute blocks.

But based on the current research, we now know that the exercise doesn’t have to occur in those compulsory, 30-minute chunks, or even the smaller ten-minute and can actually be racked up in much smaller increments. Little batches throughout your day seem to be just as effective as the dedicated blocks.

 

Exercising enough? Great, but you’re in the minority.

If you travel to Seattle, Honolulu, or the California coast, you’d think everyone in the country is an exercise addict, but that’s not the case. According to Harvard Health Publishing:

“Eighty percent of the population is not meeting the guidelines. Each year in the U.S., an estimated 10% of premature deaths and $117 billion in healthcare costs are associated with inadequate physical activity.”

If that’s true, encouraging exercise—and bringing it back into the schools!—would improve our nation’s health and have a positive effect on all of our pocketbooks.

 

What’s changed in the new exercise guidelines?

The primary change in these new guidelines is—

 

Move more, sit less!

 

We’ve heard a lot about the health dangers of sitting in the news the last couple of years. No matter what your age, you’ll benefit from exercise, although the benefit may emerge in different ways.

 

For a young person, exercise aids normal growth and development, both physical and mental. It strengthens bones and muscles and improves their lung and heart (cardiovascular) health.

For an older adult, it can keep muscles and bones from deteriorating and weakening and can help improve balance, which helps decrease the risk of falling and serious injury. In turn, that helps seniors maintain more independent and active lives for longer durations.

One of the critical components to the new guidelines is that it bases your dose of physical activity on the activity’s relative intensity.

 

For example, a brisk walk could count as a moderate physical activity. But what’s moderate physical activity? It’s working at an intensity high enough that you can speak comfortably but not sing.

Not in shape? Your intensity level might be reached sooner than someone who’s more trained or younger, so make sure you DON’T compare your efforts with someone else’s!

 

How to begin an exercise program or incorporate the new guidelines—

If you’re just starting out, you will definitely want to begin more slowly and carefully. Then you can increase the exercise duration, intensity, and frequency.

But as I’ve cautioned many times, DO NOT increase all of these factors simultaneously!! Increase one of them at a time, over a period of several days or weeks. You’ll notice more rapid improvement at the beginning and then a slow down. At the slow down point, you can choose to maintain the status quo, or you can mix things up by changing the intensity or frequency.

 

For example:

You’ve decided to walk your neighborhood every day. If you’re huffing and puffing after half a mile, you’ve gone too far. If you don’t feel as though you stressed your system much when you return home, you probably didn’t work hard enough during the activity.

 

Let me give you a more personal example.

My husband decided to take up our older son’s challenge to run a 5K race with him. (An easy length for my son who is a former high school long distance runner and now half-marathon competitor.) So, my husband consulted me on how he should go about training for it.

Since he’s really in good physical condition, (a recent stress test showed him to have the heart function of a trained athlete 20 years younger than his chronological age), I told him to run up the main street near our house—which heads uphill—and then back down, in a loop. Round trip from our garage is 1.2 miles. I told him to do that at least three times a week at a comfortable pace to see how he felt, and how the post-arthroscopy knees felt.

Things felt good after a week, so I told him to either increase his mileage by 10% OR increase his intensity by 10%, which would essentially improve his mile-a-minute time.

Things were going great, until he had chest pain, which curtailed his activity until we could determine the cause. It turned out to be a spasming esophagus, which can mimic heart attack pain. So after his down time, he had to start over.

Then he injured his ankle downhill skiing with our younger son right after Christmas, which has set him back again. He is just now returning to training, and plans to do so at the gym on the treadmill. We’ll see how it goes. I suggested he test his ankle strength and stability by doing heal raises, wind sprints, figure eight drills and high knee jogging and fanny kick running. But he’s bypassing those for straight-on running.

He’s also just returned to work after two weeks of holiday vacation, so it could be slow going due to mental fatigue (just being back to work!).

 

What type of exercise is best for your age?

What about straight forward, or single direction/single plane type of exercise, like running?

While it might be great for cardiovascular health, it’s not going to give you improvement you might want in balance or muscle strength. And therein lies the challenge:

To have a good, overall fitness level, you need to incorporate a variety of exercises, like—

 

Aerobic activity— walking, running, cycling, swimming. Something done for sustained periods.

Muscle-strengthening activity—resistance training with weights, bands. Something that improves your muscle mass, endurance, strength, power and muscle health.

Bone-strengthening activity—Critical for post-menopausal women, or women who have suffered from eating disorders and low weight. Exercises like running, resistance training, jump roping, dancing, or impact exercises (keep it reasonable and on the low side), improve bone health and reduces your risk of fractures.

Balance activity—Another critical component for aging people, balance activities improve coordination and reduce the risk of falling and injury incurred from falls. Tai chi, yoga, dancing, walking backward, one-leg (stork) standing, standing or walking on your toes, skipping frontward, backward, sideways, and diagonally all help improve balance.

And surprisingly, doing some of your lower-impact exercises or calisthenics with your eyes closed can improve your balance. Just don’t be skipping around the house or gym with your eyes shut!

Multicomponent physical activity—Selecting several physical activities to keep your brain sharp and on its toes (along with your body) is the way to go. Play tennis and swim; hike and bike; dance and jog. It’s okay, and better, if you don’t limit yourself to just one exercise. For us ADD types, that’s a winner!

 

I really can’t stress enough just how important it is to find exercises that incorporate ALL of these components. I’ve personally learned that the frustrating way.

 

When I was a gymnast, my cardiovascular health was good, even though I wasn’t a runner. (I really loathe running, which is good, because I’m primarily a power muscle athlete; and my feet and ankles don’t tolerate running.) And my balance was superb, upside down or right-side up! When our high school psychology teacher had us do this little experiment of putting vision-warping glasses on and trying to walk a straight line, I had no problem. Super easy! I could walk a straight line with my eyes closed. I’d spent most of my life doing that; I knew where my body was in space almost all of the time it was moving, upside down or right side up.

When I played competitive racquetball in college and grad school, I was zigzagging all over the court, improving my hand-eye coordination (which wasn’t always good) and improving my reaction time, power, and balance.

But when I became a body builder, my physique and muscle strength improved, but the constant one-direction activity nearly destroyed my coordination and reaction time.

Now, years later, after sitting way too much every day and just walking or weight training, (I had to drop tennis after a nasty Achilles tendon injury several years ago), I’ve noticed that my balance has plummeted. (The fact that my hearing has plummeted too hasn’t helped the balance issues.)

So now I’m walking, hiking, and dancing. Doing morning calisthenics that wake me up while working on breathing, muscle tone, and balance has helped immensely.

I’m having to learn to regain my balance with my left foot too. For two years a bone spur in my big toe has caused me to walk primarily on the outside of my foot. Now that the spur is gone, I’m re-strengthening the big toe (I was amazed at how weak it had become) and stretching out the joint capsule and tissues.

It feels good to be able to put weight on that toe again, even though it screams at me before settling down for the exercise ritual.

 

And that story can help you as you select your exercise:

 

Know your body and your interests and tailor your exercise program to meet those personal goals and likes!

 

Keeping those things in mind will help you stick with your exercise program and find other, like-minded exercisers to workout with!

 

The basics of the new guidelines—

Keep in mind that these new guidelines are “evidence-based,” which means they’ve been drawn from an overview of scientific study/research results.

 

Preschool-age (3 through 5 years): physically active throughout the day with the goal of three hours of activity daily

Children and teens (6 through 17 years): at least 60 minutes daily of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; include vigorous activity, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activity three times a week

Adults: at least 150 to 300 minutes weekly of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or 75 to 150 minutes weekly of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent combination of both, plus muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week

Older adults: multicomponent physical activities that mix balance activities, aerobic activities, and strength training can help prevent falls and injuries; reduce overall sitting and replace it with light (or when possible, moderate) activity

Pregnant and postpartum women: at least 150 minutes weekly of moderate-intensity aerobic activity

Adults with chronic conditions or disabilities: follow adult guidelines as able, including both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities

 

I’d like to tack on one caveat for pregnant women: Please follow your doctor’s advice and keep a close tabs on your blood pressure and heart rate during exercise. I had to curtail my walking toward the end of my older son’s pregnancy due to my blood pressure soaring too high.

 

 

I hope you found this overview of the new guidelines helpful, and you’re ready to get started!

NEXT WEEK we’ll start taking a closer look at the science of exercise and dieting and how you can improve your success rates in both areas!

Until then,

get moving, even if you haven’t moved much in a while. You will enjoy the many benefits!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Getting Unstuck: Starting Your Year With Prayer

I encountered a lot of grief last week. Not my own, but the deep-seated, clinging grief of others. Overwhelming grief that came in wave after wave after wave of drowning torture. Fellow believers baring their souls.

And it wasn’t just loss of a loved one grief. It involved loss of a dream, loss of a job, injuries that curtailed work and careers, mental illness in loved ones, anxiety and depression, self-esteem issues and fear.

Some of the grief was fresh, some of it lingering. Some of it was being clung to like a mantel, and it produced a soul-breaking shame.

 

It reminded me just how much all of us need prayer, and how little time we usually devote to it.

And it reminded me that just like getting your day started right, getting your year started right means beginning it with focused prayer.

 

But what do you pray for?

 

Taking stock of what you can take stock of for your year—

There are certain things we know will likely happen in the year, and things we hope to happen. It could be continuing in the same job, having to interact with the same difficult co-worker that was a thorn in your side in 2018. It could be a new semester of tough professors; or a new job. A wedding, a joining together of two families.

Whatever is already on your 2019 calendar, it’s not too early to start praying. Or too late. God is still on the throne and He majors in the business of changing lives—yours and others.

And if you really don’t know what to pray for, then spend your prayer time asking God to reveal that to you. He will. He wants us to pray. Praying for the right thing in the right way with the right motive is a sweet aroma to Him. And just sitting in His presence, listening to Him can reveal a plethora of insights and new directions!

 

I’ve been blessed to be a witness to some pretty powerful results of prayer, both as a recipient and a participant. What I’ve learned over the years is:

  • EVERYTHING needs to be committed to God in prayer.
  • Prayer should be our first resort, not our last.
  • While you’re making plans, He orders your steps.
  • Unless the Lord builds your house, you labor in vain.

 

But what about all of your past failures? Are they holding your prayers back?

It’s so easy to get mentally and emotionally stuck on our past failures. And that can affect how we view our futures and how we set goals, make plans, and pray.

In pastor, author and writing coach Cecil Murphey’s January newsletter, he offers some advice on how to flip the outlook and enjoy more—and better—results.

 

“In 1987, six of us talked about the year ahead. We were good friends, met regularly, and decided to meet New Year’s Eve and read from a list that began with, ‘I resolve to . . .’ 

Each of us read our list and *Joel was the last, but he hadn’t written anything. ‘I just can’t do it. Each year I start out with grand ideas and strong determination of things I want to achieve. By the end of February, I’ve failed.’ He talked for a couple of minutes about individual fiascos such as developing an exercise program and being on time for appointments.

One of the others said, “But even if you failed, you tried.”

I didn’t see that response as helpful to Joel and was trying to figure out what to say. Then, in one of those rare moments of clarity, I said, ‘I’ll bet you never learned to ride a bicycle.’

“I certainly did!”

‘But didn’t you spill a few times?’

‘Everyone does—‘ and then Joel started to laugh. ‘I get it! I don’t have to remember my past when I plan my future.’ 

I thought of Joel’s words today and how well he had said them. Then I pondered several times where I’d fallen short of my goals last year. Although I struggled with guilt, my lack of success hadn’t crippled me. 

‘I didn’t succeed in everything last year,’ I said aloud. ‘I don’t have to focus on what I didn’t do right. I can concentrate on what I want to achieve.’

 

Are you like Cec Murphey’s friend, Joel? Focusing on the past failures rather than the times when you tried and tried and tried again and finally succeeded, like when you learned how to ride a bike? Or when you learned how to walk? You probably don’t remember that one, but you undoubtedly fell repeatedly on your diapered fanny and kept at it until you successfully toddled around and then sprinted.

Do you approach your prayer life like that kind of persistence and trust in the One who hears your prayers?

Or does your past keep worming its way into your memory and soul, dragging you down and short circuiting your prayers, robbing you of your future hopes and dreams?

 

Getting your year off to a great start with prayer—

 Because our prayer life is so important, and we need to get 2019 off to a great start, ll of the January Meditation Mondays posts will be dedicated to prayer.

Some of the prayer topics and ideas we’ll look at include:

  • Prayer and Relationships
  • Discerning Prayers
  • Using God’s Word to Breathe New Life into your Prayers
  • Imparting (and Teaching) a Heritage of Prayer

 

And while I’m a firm believer in parking yourself in a quiet corner of your home with your Bible, journal, pen and maybe some prayer beads, to spend quality, undistracted communing time with the Lord, I do realize that sometimes schedules make it difficult if not impossible to get on your knees in solitude. And when that happens, we usually throw our hands up in despair and are overcome with guilt.

For those times, we’ll look at some effective and satisfying options that let you multitask your prayer time with another, beneficial activity. The ideas will help you practice the encouragement St. Paul gives us when he says, “Pray without ceasing.”

It will become a sweet, fruitful habit. And in the process, you’ll find yourself becoming more receptive and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s voice. And that’s a benefit all of us need!

 

Until next Monday,

start brainstorming all of the things you could—and should be—bringing to the Lord in prayer.

And start by praying for yourself!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

*Not his real name

Are Your Standards Higher than God’s?

Most of the stories the group members relayed were full of anguish and turmoil. Pain heaped upon pain. And as I listened to them tell their stories, a couple of thoughts crossed my mind.

It was clear that some had told their stories before. Many times. And a few of them seemed to enjoy telling their stories. I wasn’t sure if they went on and on because they were nervous, or they wanted or needed to be heard, or they had gotten so accustomed to the attention they received when telling the story that they craved it, had become addicted to it.

Certainly, being Christians, they expressed joy in the Lord, and gratefulness for His salvation. But the peace He promises seemed to be missing.

And then there was the shame. The deep, profound feeling of shame they projected over their weaknesses, failures and hurts they’d caused others. Some had confessed their sins and turned from their evil ways decades ago, and yet they still wept over their behavior.

They seemed to focus more on their shame and sins than they did on the dismantling and destruction of their chains. Their cleansing.

 

They still struggled with feelings of unworthiness.

While they possessed the head knowledge of their new lives in Christ, they clung to the pain and sins of their old lives. They identified them.

They didn’t focus on being a new creature.

They forgot that when God forgives sins, He will remember them no more. As far as the east is from the west is the distance God has removed our transgressions from us.

They didn’t seem to want to let go.

They weren’t going through the process of renewing their minds.

And they were beating themselves up about it.

 

In short, it comes down to what Dr. David Jeremiah told a young lady who just couldn’t get from the God-forgiving-her-stage, to forgiving herself,

 

“So your standards are higher and better than God’s?”

 

Wow! That’s looking at through a different lens, isn’t it? And He’s right. When you stop and think about it, it’s ludicrous what we project onto our loving, tender, long-suffering and forgiving God.

Does all of that sound too familiar?

 

Can you picture this scenario?

Jesus tells you: “Your sin is forgiven, but I’m going to be banging you in the head over it for the rest of your life. Just so you don’t forget how awful you are and awful your sin was, and how much you owe me for My sacrifice and salvation.”

 

Can you imagine Him doing that to you?

Well, he doesn’t and He wouldn’t.

 

So why do we act as thought He does?

It’s becoming more painfully clear to me that so much of our mental, emotional, spiritual and sometimes physical anguish is self-inflicted. And it shouldn’t be that way. In fact, I think it grieves our Saviors heart to watch how we punish ourselves, and others who have also asked for and received forgiveness for their confessed sins.

 

How about you?

  • Are you stuck in the self-infliction pattern?
  • Have you set higher standards than God has for you?
  • Are you continuing to beat yourself up over some failure you confessed and know you’ve received forgiveness for?
  • Is your behavior threatening your mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health?
  • If so, what will you do to change your attitude and behavior this year?
  • Do you need to confess to Him that you’ve been punishing yourself and seek forgiveness for self-harm?
  • Do you know anyone who needs encouragement and maybe some enlightenment and correction in this area?

 

My prayer is that we can all take the Savior at His word, rest in His peace and joy, walk through life with a light step, and reject the self-incrimination that can bind our hearts, minds, emotions and actions.

Let’s make sure we allow God to set the standards for our lives!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

 

BLOG SCHEDULE NOTE: As 2019 has dawned, it became clear that, in order to complete my memoir manuscript this year and prepare it for publication, and complete all of the writing set before me, that I would have to reduce my blog posting schedule.

To accomplish that, Free-for-All Fridays will be reduced to once-a-month posts, which will be published on the first Friday of each month.

So I’ll see you back here the first Friday of February, which happens to be the 1st!

Until then, walk lightly, and be forgiving—of yourself and others.