So Long, Fear Bone!

Hey Y'all!!

This week has been one that has changed how I view myself forever and I want to share this story with you. 

It has to do with FEARS. We all have them. Those little things we just can't let ourselves do because we would just die! But this story is about how God is helping me over come those little fears in a mighty way!

 I realized that I still had many of these little fears that were holding me back from doing some things that I really wanted to do. Things like meet with my pastor's wife, call a supporter or even eat something that wasn't made with flour, all just required me to walk up to someone I know relatively well and open my mouth to speak. But I couldn't. I couldn't find the courage in me to do this simple thing. 

I am a girl who has traveled to India by herself, really wants a second tattoo, lived in Africa for 2 months with a bunch of other girls and thinks a 7 hour drive alone is a  "Short trip" and I was afraid of asking the girls staffing the kitchen if the soup had flour in it? 

"Who Am I?" I thought and then proceeded to go get my rice mac out of the freezer with my head hung in shame. 

During our afternoon break I began writing down all the things I was afraid of and as I prayed about it later with God, he asked me if any of these things that I was so terrified of had ever actually happened. I realized just then as I went down the list that none of them had ever actually taken place. Stunned and confused I sat there asking God "Well how do I stop feeling afraid if these aren't even actual fears that have any substance?" 

then... a beautiful blonde friend from PA gave me this next verse as I was talking with her after an amazing worship session where we sang about God's love for 2 hours with our new church family. 

     

   "There is NO FEAR in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love" 1 John 4:18

As I read this verse it just hit me... I am choosing to fear and it is hindering me more than I realize. So I decided to choose not to fear, and everytime that I felt fear or anxiety about a situation or action I should take that I MUST just do it. No matter how much I think I fear, If I walk in the opposite spirit, meaning I do what I do not want to do, then I realize that that was in fact a false fear. It was like an operation where he cut me open and took out my Fear Bone. I don't have the "abilty" to fear anymore because He's removed it!

(google images)

This realization has brought so much freedom in the last few days and I can only imagine where God's going to allow me  to go and what he's got up his sleeve for me now that I've got this under my belt.

Pray for me. This is going to open some big doors that I always thought were locked but God was just waiting for me to try the handle and see!

Unti Next Time!

Chels

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone!

I have been crazy busy these past few weeks with a stateside tour, Graduation from Discipleship Training school, and a seminar and we have only been back in the states for a month! I can't believe it!

Over the next few weeks I plan on catching everyone up on what I have been doing these past few months as well as sharing about our time in Uganda. God has some major plans for me and has given me the opportunity to be part of an awesome team that will be bringing sustainable food sources to a very impoverished nation. I cannot be more excited about this opportunity.  This next week looks busy as well as a couple of us from the team will be doing some traveling to discuss our plans with some of the people who have invested in us during our school. 

A blog post is getting itself ready for tomorrow so just come on back!

Tonight I'm gonna keep it short and sweet and give you a couple of my fave photos from outreach to enjoy!

Love Y'all!

Chelsea Lou

Little boy who joined us for our
first week of Kids camp in Kampala.

Angela, the sweetest and craziest half mzungu
you'll ever meet! Miss this girl so much!
Notice the banana leaves she made into a wig? smart girl!

Two boys from Okoa Refuge, a children's
home just south of the Equator!

This is Robert.
Yes I fell in love with another one!
This one has a great story and I will share it later!

Travel in Uganda is always efficient...
Not the most safe but ALWAYS efficient!
(YWAM Nashville team joined us)

Group photo outside of Amecet,
a baby home who cares for children and babies
who are HIV Positive.

He Is Alive

He is ALIVE !
No really he is A L I V E!

He went to heaven a man... And he has stayed a man for over 2000 years!!!

two .
thousand.
years.

That is a REALLY long time for a man to be waiting for his bride. And she/we are just taking our sweet time, not making preparations, not sending invitations or buying a dress.

You know what it says to me about the bride if she refuses to set a date or pick out flowers? That she doesn't really want to get married to this man... Is this true of his bride? Are we purposely avoiding the wedding because we are so comfortable with the feelings of freedom and independence that will be submitted to him in the marriage covenant?

We keep asking if he loves us and he says "Yes! Of course! More than you could ever know!" And we say "Great! Thanks! Could you do this or that for me?" And we take the blessing he freely gives and go about our everyday lives coming back only when we need him.

We are his bride. He will do anything we ask of him. But do we the favor?

We say we love him but our actions don't always show it. He's asked us all to love one another and make disciples, but most of us don't even know what those words mean.

And all this time while we are just dilly dallying along, he is before the throne of his father who is waiting for the day to come when he will send his son to get his bride. He is kneeling there, pleading on our behalf for just a few more days because his bride isn't ready yet. Surely, surely this time She will get herself together. Surely she'll soon start making plans and preparations. 'Just a little while longer... For me?' He pleads with his dad.
And Father God keeps waiting, watching, and challenging the bride to take action... But every generation starts something with so much zeal and begins the process but then they get distracted by life and the worries of this world.

But this generation... WE MUST BE DIFFERENT! We must be willing to go to the hard places, we must be willing to spend hours on our hands and knees in the dirt to bring others to him. We must be his hands and feet. We must prepare ourselves to be the best bride we can be. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, we must begin pouring out our love for our groom as often as possible.

I have a part in this too. For years I was selfish and kept hold of his love for me while refusing to really bring others to him because I wanted my dreams to come true before he came back to get us.
But get this... True love means that you're willing to give up your dreams and plans to make your loved one's dreams come true.. And His dream is to come get his lovely bride!
So ... I WILL go to the ends of the earth..
I WILL be radically, immediately obedient to what he says to do.
I WILL work to make Jesus more like the one he's seen in his wildest dreams
Every moment of every day he is waiting on me.
He is waiting on us.
He wants to see his bride so badly, but He is willing to wait for her to be complete and perfect because that is how he already sees her(pssst... She is us!)

Wake up oh beautiful Bride of Christ! Your wedding day is near and there is much to do!

-Chels

Small victory

Today I accomplished something big for me.... God got me up at 6:30 to exercise because Tuesdays a busy days... And if you know me... Sleep is something I don't give up easily.

And today I ran for 3 full minutes and accomplished my fastest mile to date...

 

It's not a fast mile by any means but even a few seconds off and the fact that I'm building up my endurance is a big deal because I have something big coming up at the end of the month... 

I'll tell you about that a little later when I get back to a computer. 

Have a terrific Tuesday !! 

Chelsea Lou !!  

24 Day challenge: week 1 update

 First.. This is my 100th Post! Aahh! I couldn't believe it. As a little happy to commemorate this post I want to do a give away. Since I'm saving up for my YWAM adventure it'll have to be handmade by me. So the first person to text me " 100 Posts!!! " will get a painting with a quote of your choice on it! I'm sorry if you don't have my number.... but this way I know I'll be able to hand deliver it rather than having to mail it (like I said broke)... Next give-away will be open to a broader crowd!

You can even have this one!

Ready, Set, Go!

Now on to the update!

This Challenge has gone much better than my last. Probably because it was paid for with my hard earned money and I'm just in a better place in my mental and spiritual  and all around life to be able to commit to a program like Advocare. I'm already down 3 lbs.

The Spark energy drink mix is really helping with my desire to be sedentary. Its like watching tv and scrolling through pinterest are less important so I need to find something else to do. Which is great for my goal of exercising  every day. I've found that I only need one Spark a day, even though the challenge says you can have 2 a day. I can't get to sleep at night if I have two. You've also seen the effects of Spark on this Blog! There's been some changes here in the past week and its from the mental energy Spark provides.

All in all I'm feeling much better in general. I don't feel like sleeping until 10 like I used to (I don't get off duty until 12:30 so its not like I'm sleeping an extreme amount of time.) but I did feel like I was sleeping the day away. Most days I have been up before my alarm clock by an hour and unable to go back to sleep because my body was ready to get started. 3 of the days I've gotten up and been finished with my work out before my alarm clock went off.  I like that!

A Couple of other neat tricks:

My Blender cup and A Quart Mason Jar are my best friends:
The blender cup makes sure the Spark and Fiber Drinks get blended well.
The large mason jar helps me measure my water intake. Each one is 32 oz. and I just need to drink 4 of them a day to be right on track with my water consumption. I keep 2 in the fridge so They are ready to go. I've found that If the water isn't sitting out next to me I will forget to drink it.

I put my blender cup with the right amount of water or juice into the freezer about 30-45 minutes before I need to blend my spark or fiber drink and it helps make it super cold and kinda slushy, which helps immensely when it comes to drinking the fiber drink.

My Advocare distributor Amy suggested mixing the fiber drink with Orange Juice. GREAT IDEA!! This makes it much easier to tolerate. Its just like drinking very pulpy orange juice (which I love) rather than orange flavored mud... haha.. its not that bad.. but I have a texture thing when it comes to food.

So there you go. An update on my 24 Day challenge.
I am an Advocare Distributor and I'd love to answer any questions you may have. or you can visit my Distributor Page to order products yourself.

Thanks for reading! 

-Chels

Trying this running thing... again and a Happy Mother's Day!

What a beautiful Mother's day here in the Golden Triangle. A Cloudless sky with a nice cool breeze! It doesn't really get better than that! (unless of course you're at the beach... the beach is always better)

I am so super thankful for my great mommy! and her mommy and all of my aunts and cousins and friends who are mommies! I've learned  so much from watching and interacting with you and your little ones! 

May God bless the socks off of each and everyone of you today!

Now on to the running.....

I decided I'd really like to try running again... and it was never an issue of hating to run but always an issue of going a little too far, a little too fast and injuring my back.

I've started the Couch to 5K program several times.. I get to about week two and then ~*!BAM!*~ my back goes into spasms and I'm totally out of commission for anything except laying on the floor with my legs resting on the couch...

You see, I have a couple of vertebrae in my back with compression fractures from a boating accident in Destin, FL back in 2004. I still get anxious when we drive over that big bridge into Destin. So now I'll have back problems for the rest of my life thanks to some jerks in a BIG boat that don't know what IDLE: NO WAKE ZONE means.

Sorry... I'm usually not ugly like that but its really changed the way I have to live my life and I've missed out on a LOT of opportunities and big events because of back problems and it makes me sad because it was totally preventable, if only the rules would have been followed. I still love being on the water and boating but it did take me a long time to be comfortable riding in my dad's boat again. That's why I usually volunteer to take one of the Jet Skis when we're heading to a sandbar or something.

MoW and me in Destin July 2012 

My sweet cousin and My pretty sister

 

With that being said... I'm trying out a new method of training myself to run. I found a post on Runs For Cookies, a blog by Katie who changed her life through running and lost 125 lbs. Its a plan that is for people who HATE running so it starts you off nice and slow... a 30 second run and a 29 min 30 sec walk at your own pace, bumping it up by only a little bit every other day.

Sounds doable right? Right!!

I've completed days 1 and 2 and feel great! I'm also on day 6 of my Advocare 24 day Challenge and I'm feeling good. I'll post an update on that come Tuesday after completing an entire week! I'm so excited summer is so close!! I'm definitely going to take in as much of the sun and sand and salt water as possible as I'll get to experience a Wisconsin winter this year!

Until Next time!
Chelsea Lou!

Preparation Under Pressure

Isn't it funny how God prepares us for things and we don't even know it! He's just constantly acting in our lives and many times its through the things that are so aggravating to us. But... we if push through and listen to our gut those are the experiences we look back on and are so thankful that He ordered our steps in that way to prepare us for the here and now.

This has become very evident in my life this busy busy weekend. I'm sitting here in the dark typing this post on my phone. It's almost 2 am on Tuesday morning and my mom is sleeping since its my shift to stand watch over my grandmother who is in the hospital as they are checking her out after a fall this past Sunday.

But ... My amazement starts back on Saturday morning.

If you're my Facebook friend you know we had a couple of dear friends get hitched this weekend and the baking bride and I were helping run the show. I decorated, and did hair and just about any of the forgotten tasks that needed to get done (ex. Covering the ugly black planters and downloading the exit song while the mothers were being seated) while She did such an awesome job coordinating the people and the plan side of things. Anyways, Friday I had a lot of stuff I had to get done so my mind wouldn't stop so I was up after just 5 hours of sleep. We worked until 12:15 am sat getting ready then finally got in bed around 1 am and set the alarm for 7:42( this time allows for 2 snoozes before 8 am actual wake up time) but alas the mind wouldn't stop once I half woke up to turn the pillow to the cold side at 5:30 am. After about 45 mins I decided I'd just get up, get ready, and get a head start. So at 8:15 I loaded my bag in the car and headed to the church where I was the lucky one to discover a default in the alarm(it has since been fixed so don't go trying to break in the church ... You WILL regret it!) after an hour and a half of our earsplitting alarm the techs made it out and fixed us up. At some point in there I realized how gracious God was in letting me get an early start so that satan didn't have the opportunity to steal ANY of the bride's joy or stress her out. They got most of it fixed before she even arrived and we were able to laugh about it while rolling her hair instead of sitting in the car and crying together.

Also the running on just a few hours of sleep the past few nights prepared me so much for this hospital experience being that we were in the emergency room at 2 different hospitals for 14 hours Sunday night. My mom, aunt and I took turns sitting with Mamaw Dot and sleeping while the other kept guard over our stuff. We all got just about an hour total of sleep in that waiting room but it kept us going. If my body wouldn't have been conditioned to the lack of sleep it would have been a much harder task to stay awake and in good spirits.

And finally ... without too much detail... There were several skills I learned last year teaching little ones that have come in handy while caring for Dot that the weak stomachs of my mom and aunt haven't been forced to handle in 10-15 years!!

This fact that God is constantly at work in our lives is one I really needed to experientially learn here lately. The "Why me?" and "Why not me?" questions come to my lips far too often.  God has given this realization to me as encouragement to me to press on through some unpleasant (and they are simply that.. just not as pleasant as I would like...not awful or dreadful or even hard) things right now so I'm better prepared and can handle things in high stress situations later on down the road. Also it's further proof that everything happens for a reason, and although a situation may really stink while I'm living through it, all things work together for those who love Him. And I do! :)

Grace and peace to each and every one of you. Take time to thank God for the experiences in your life that have done some sharpening to make you a better more efficient tool to further his kingdom, and be open to the spirit's work in and around you so you can be a useful tool as well.

Until next time!
Chelsea Lou

A blog I found the night after I wrote this post. It is kinda long the same lines and has a very encouraging video there at the end. Check It out!!
http://brookeespinoza.blogspot.com

Weigh In Week 6

Alright guys!! I'm officially only 100lbs from my goal weight! 

For some reason my brain thinks that this number is much more defeat-able than the 108lbs I started at. And I feel encouraged because I'm on a roll.

One weird thing that has happened this week is that I've woken up the last 4 days feeling fat. Its not that my clothes are tight or anything like that, I just feel HUGE!! and then I get on the scale and see it down a point or two from yesterday and I spend all day convincing myself I really am looking better even though I feel blah today. 

Also ... I got off my exercise wagon after day 1 last week, but I got back on yesterday so maybe I'll stick with it this time. I took a nice long walk around campus yesterday before/after dinner... I'm trying to decide what I will do today... maybe I'll try out the gym here this afternoon/tonight... who knows!? (*God Does*) 

Here are the stats:

Weight Loss this week: 1.4 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 8 lbs

Total Loss To-Go: 100 lbs!

Days without soda: 7 of 365

Days with Exercise: 1 of 50

Thanks for reading! 

Have a good Monday!

Chelsea-Lou!  

Weigh In Week 4

Good Morning!!
I'm happy to say that I'm back on track from before the yucky cheat weeks! Yay!
And whats more beautiful, I am starting to feel better, I don't hate getting out of the bed and I actually don't mind taking the stairs. Score and Score!
Here are my stats this week:

Weight Loss this week: 2.1 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 6.6 lbs

Total Loss To-Go: 101.4 lbs

See.. I'm back on track! Yay!

I found this encouraging pin the other day and its really stuck in my head.

 I hope it encourages you in your weight loss journey as much as it has me!

Have a Happy Week! 

Chels

p.s. I am working on a really exciting post that will be up sometime this week! I can't wait to share it with you!

BAMM!!

Its weigh in day! 

I hope every weigh in day feels this exciting!! 

I have lost 6lbs this week. 

Wooo Hooo!! 

Thank you God!

I did a 2 minute silly happy dance when I got off the scale, I'm glad no one could see it because I looked ridiculous.  

Also another thing I'm celebrating today is the fact that I went a whole weekend without cheating even once, which really is a first for me! Its only by the grace of God that I was able to do it... Half the girls in the dorm performed at the opening of Krispy Kreme in town and received 2 boxes of doughnuts for free and wanted to give them away. I was able to say No thank you with no problems! 

Now I have something to show you. 

This is my inspiration wall. I got the idea from Pinterest and will adapt it to my life accordingly. Its a visual reminder everyday of my goal and how far i've come and milestones to look forward to. I'll be adding things to it as I go along and I'll share it with you from time to time as I weigh in and reach goals.

This is what I promised to show you yesterday, These are the next 3 goals to meet with their predetermined rewards. A mani-pedi at 10lbs (I'm almost there!), a haircut at 15lbs down and to schedule the massage that I won at a silent auction for half price at 20lbs. Once I reach one goal, I'll set the next. I know I'm gonna really stick to it this week because these nails of mine need some loving!

Thanks for reading!

Until Next Time!

Chelsea-lou

There is surviving and then there is thriving

God is revealing to me this morning the things he has been trying to get through my head the past week or so. He is teaching me about surviving and thriving and the difference between the two ... and that sometimes (most times) we ask for help to survive when we really want help to thrive.

Here are the definitions of the two words.

To Survive:

1. To remain alive or in existence.

2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere

3. To remain functional or usable

To Thrive:

1. To make steady progress; prosper.

2. To grow vigorously; flourish

I am a person that is very used to thriving. I do very well at most things I attempt (other than spelling). I thrive and have thrived in most of the settings of my life... but then this week came along and I was miserable...My back went out, my phone was broken, my only source of contact with my support system was facebook and with the time difference I kept missing the people I wanted to talk to the most.

I began to pray to God to give me the things I"needed" to "survive" ... and he gave them to me... a phone that stayed broken, an understanding supervisor and his wonderful wife, pain meds, some amazingly encouraging conversations with my dearest girl friends and lots of time to cry and be by myself before Him... and I did just that... Survived.

But I didn't feel like I was surviving... I felt like I was going crazy and dying on the inside because I am so used to THRIVING that i think my SURVIVING is me actually THRIVING.

It wasn't until this morning after 5 days of praying for strength and healing to survive that what I really needed to be praying was for the strength and healing to thrive!

God is teaching me that sometimes as a child of his he sometimes needs us to be only in survival mode so that other children of his own can thrive, so that his love will be shared with exactly who it needs to be shared with. He needs us to be broken down with no clue what to do next to make things better for ourselves so that he can grow us in a new way that we never even imagined.

Although this week has been the most miserable physically that i can remember (simply because there was so much i wanted to do but couldn't) It will always rest well in my mind the week that God taught me exactly what i NEED to Survive!

All my love

-Chels