Where do you invest your time?

This morning as I was reading Jeremiah 18:1-12 Where God told Jeremiah to go down to the Potter's house and watch as the man molded the clay into a pot and then change it until he liked what he was creating; like God does to perfect us...I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mentor; she told me that she is so busy she has to pick and choose who to help because she just doesn't have enough hours in the day to invest in those who are not ready or not willing to do the work required to be successful.  She does spend hours everyday helping people and inspiring those who want to work for their dreams.  I sometimes wonder if that's what God thinks when we keep trying to do it our way and will not surrender to HIM.  I know His plan is so much better than ours but we still resist.  He watches over us just as we watch over our own children. I know when I watch my children make mistakes and I know from experience that there is a better way for them but I cannot always tell them or get them to see it because they don't have the life experience to understand what can happen; this is one of the hardest things to witness.  I think our Heavenly Father might feel the same way when we resist HIM.  I find the more time I spend with HIM in HIS word the closer I feel to Him and the more he reveals to me.  It feels like the more time I spend seeking HIM the more he invites me in and the more HE invests in me.  Where do you invest your time?  Who do you invest in?  Are you spending time with people who aren't good for you?  Are you spending time with people who drain you?  Today I would like to challenge you to get in HIS word and see what HE reveals to you and where HE leads you! He LOVES you and wants what's best for you.  HE CAN HEAL what's wrong and turn it around.  REACH out and SURRENDER!
God Bless,
Nena

Whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God.

^{I Corinthians 10:31
31} So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
This is a very powerful verse for me.  Along my journey I never associated God with my eating.  Remember I ate because I loved food!  It tasted good.  This verse of course can be applied to many different areas of our lives but today as I read it, something reached out to me about honoring God with what we eat or drink and how that applied to my life.  If I am a child of God, which of course I am, then my body is a temple and I am to do whatever I do for HIS glory.  If I am stuffing myself and eating to excess then how am I honoring HIM?  I will be honest it took me a long time to realize that God was playing a major part in my weight loss.  I am embarrassed to say that I did not give him full credit for what was happening in my journey.  I was losing the weight; I was counting the calories; I was choosing to eat healthier; and the list goes on and on.  Only one problem with that...the first thing I did was to surrender to HIM and beg for his help and then things started to change.  I found the system to help me not only loose weight but to feel better, feel alive, have energy (even before the weight came off), sleep well, and feel amazingly positive with NO CRAVINGS!! Sounds like a dream and it was!! A dream come true.  I had amazing support from my family.  I had the desire and conviction to stay with it and didn't feel deprived.  And I felt VERY PROUD of myself.  Then I realized I had given it to God but then as I was being successful I took it back.  It wasn't mine to take back.  It was all God!  I had never been successful before on my own...the only difference was this time I gave it to HIM and asked him to guide me and then when he did I tried to take it back for me.  I thank God everyday that He was patient with me and waited for me to realize (with a little coaxing of course) that it isn't about me; It was HIM all along and that is why I have been successful this time and not any of the times before.  I was always doing it alone before but this time I had a Co Pilot to keep me on track and help me through it all.  Now my focus is in the right place...all the glory be to GOD!!  Without Him I am nothing.  I hope you will surrender to HIM today and let Him help you...it is His desire and He is a LOVING GOD!
God Bless,
Nena

Why are you holding yourself back?

What are you doing to hold yourself back and keep you from becoming all you can be?  I know we all have times where we struggle with Can I do ______? or _________ can do it because the they are better at that than I am.  Our thoughts and negative thinking play a LARGE part in what we are able to accomplish.  On this weight loss journey I have found that food plays a VERY miniscule roll in what kept me fat for years.  I always believed I was heavy because I LOVED food.  I was raised by a grandma who was from the south and she cooked everything from scratch and much of the time fresh ingredients.  She even bought whole fryers (chicken) and cut them up into pieces to cook them because it was cheaper.  Food and family was a huge part of our socializing.  I thought my love for good food was why I had a weight problem.  As I've shared before, when I started this journey I surrendered to God and asked for him to please help take my cravings away so that I could loose weight.  He then led me to a plan that worked for me and took away all of my food cravings and helped my stay on track.  I was able to release 134 pounds in under 13 months and he started revealing things to me.  A huge revelation was that the negative talk in my head was really holding me back.  I made a deal with myself (yes I know that sounds strange) to stop any negative thoughts immediately if they came into my head.  I also posted sticky notes on my bathroom mirror, refrigerator, steering wheel of my car, and places that I would see daily with inspirational quotes.  Immediately, when I started having the old doubts or negative thoughts I would stop and start saying positive things to myself.  What I noticed was that over time I had less and less negative thoughts and more positive thoughts and was feeling much happier about myself.  It was a very freeing experience. 
God wants to give you the desires of your heart but we tend to get in the way of that by telling ourselves things that aren't true.  We replay old tapes of what others have said to us, usually in a fit of anger (and they probably didn't even mean it) and for some reasons we hold on to the negative and forget much of the positive.  Many times when people say things in anger it is more about them than the person they are saying it to but still we grab hold of the negative and in weak moments decide to repeat it to ourselves and it holds us back from being all that we can be.  This is NOT God's desire for you.  Just for today try to change any negative thought you have into a positive one and see what happens...You can do it just for today!  This will work in any area of your life; weight loss, financial, relationships, organization, etc.
God Bless,
Nena

Super Bowl OH NO WHAT DO I EAT??

Everyone has been asking me over the past few days..."What do I do about the Super Bowl?"  "It's so hard to enjoy the party when I am limited by what I can eat."  I don't look at it as limited.  That gives me the idea that I am being denied or I will be hungry.  Much of the weight "issue" or "problem" is our mental thoughts.  When you tell yourself you are being denied, or you can't do it, or it will be hard; that is what happens.  Tell yourself what you can do.  I can go to the super bowl party and take a dish that I can eat without worrying, I can taste test a few items and not eat too much, I can enjoy the game, people and conversation without eating everything in the house.  Focus on the positive not the negative.  Another really great thing to do is to eat a healthy meal BEFORE you ever get to the party.  You won't be hungry and therefore will be less likely to eat more than you need to.  Make sure your meal is high in protein to keep you from being hungry.  I am making a crock pot full of chicken tex-mex soup: http://www.hungry-girl.com/weighin/show/healthy-crock-pot-chicken-recipes  It is healthy, tasty, and filling.  I am also having steamed broccoli, brown rice, fruit and veggie platter and some healthy dips made with greek yogurt.  The party is at our home and I have told people they may bring what they like but I find most of the time they want to eat the same things I make because they are tasty and good for you.  Whatever you do plan ahead, be prepared, and focus on what you can do.  Enjoy the day and the fellowship with family and friends!
God Bless,
Nena