PHAT FAITH WITH FRIENDS:                                                         The Courageous Choice Lysa TerKeurst

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” Philippians 1:20 (NIV)

I had the most interesting conversation with a friend who lives in Hollywood. Although her family lives in the midst of glitz, glamour and extreme excess, she said they are determined to teach their kids something rare… the courageous choice.

You see, there are two kinds of courage. There’s the courageous act that makes our heart beat fast when the knight fights the dragon or the firefighter rushes into the burning building. These are extreme events most of us won’t ever face. And because most of us aren’t put in positions to participate in a courageous act, we don’t necessarily think of ourselves as courageous.

But there’s a second kind of courage that, dare I might say, is widely available but not widely embraced. It’s the courageous choice. This is the decision to do the right thing even when it’s unpopular, uncelebrated and probably even unnoticed.

Have you been faced with one of these kinds lately? Probably one of my toughest courageous choices has been in the area of my food choices. It was my hidden struggle. The one I didn’t want to deal with or talk about. Not with my friends and certainly not with God.

But then I started coming across verse after verse in the Bible that spoke directly to my issue. Though I didn’t want to talk to God about it, God certainly seemed to want to speak to me. Verses like Philippians 1:20 as well as many more:

Deuteronomy 2:3, “You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north…” (NASB)

Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (NIV)

2 Corinthians 7:1, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (NIV 1984)

God assured me He loved me exactly how I was, but He loved me too much to leave me in a state of defeat.

I made a courageous choice to read the Bible looking for God to speak to me about my struggle. I made the courageous choice to walk willingly on the path of discipline. I made the courageous choice to pick something healthy even in the quietness of my pantry when no one else was looking.

I made the courageous choice to put a stake in the ground and say, I’m more than the sum total of my screaming taste buds. My heart doesn’t want that junk food. My arms don’t want that junk food. My legs don’t want that junk food. And my soul certainly doesn’t want that junk food.

It is possible to layer one courageous choice upon another and find victory in your area of struggle. No matter what your struggle is, are you willing to make one courageous choice today?

Make that choice.

And then make it again.

And then make it again.

You are courageous. Now, go out and prove it to yourself.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I need Your divine help with each choice I make every day. I don’t ever want to step outside Your will and direction for my life. I am courageous only with You, in You and through You. Please help me embrace Your courageous choices for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

A Little PHAT Idea

How do you keep up with how much water you've had in a day?  Do you try to keep count in your head, or do you have some tricks?  I HAVE to have tricks.  I do not have enough brain cells to keep up with things in my head anymore.  It's sad, if it's all downhill from here then I won't know who I am in three years... anyway.

Just thought I'd share with you how I do it.  I use fridge magnets.  I have 8 magnets with water glasses and numbers on them that I keep on the front of my fridge.  Every time I drink a glass of water I move one down.  That's it.  Super simple.

Right now I can glance at the refrigerator and see that I've only had four glasses today and I need to get on it.

They don't have to be cutsey.  For the longest time I just had 8 random magnets that I kept in a row, but when you have a six-year-old crafty daughter who likes things "pretty", then you come up with "pretty".

Feel free to grab my image below and use it.  I printed it out on card stock and super glued them to kid 1-2-3 magnets I already had.  Like I said, simple.

Do you have any tricks?  Leave a comment!  Keep at it, Phattys!  

The Dreaded Word....

Ah, February.  The month of love.  The month of chocolate and king cake.  Stay focused, people.  If your husband brings you chocolate for Valentine's Day, you have my permission to bite him (just kidding, sort of...)

So, how's it going?  Are you drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day?  Did you set manageable goals that you are reaching to attain?  What about laser-focus on your diet, did you think of a few things you could start doing right away that could make a huge difference in your health?  I would love to hear about it!  We need some encouraging stories, so get on our Facebook Phattys page and tell us all about it!

This week we're going to talk about a touchy subject.  Some people consider this a dirty word.  Some people do all they can to avoid this thing.....

Yep, I said it.  If I just caused you physical pain, I'm sorry.

The fact is, if you don't move your body you will shrivel and die.  Yep, I said that too.  Muscles atrophy, organs get sluggish, extra weight hurts joints and causes disease.  God made our bodies to MOVE.  And I don't mean move your hand up and down as you change channels.

You cannot be healthy without exercise.  You can get skinny without it (by drastically reducing calories which is NOT good for you either....), but you cannot be HEALTHY.  All the good eats, vitamins and water in the world cannot make up for a lack of physical movement.  One thing cannot work without the other.  It's healthy eating PLUS exercise that puts us in a place of balance and HEALTH.

Now, no need to weep right now over your lack of desire to power lift.  I don't want to power lift either.

Although, a little muscle tone would be nice, muscle does burn more calories than fat....but I digress.

BUT, can you walk?  Well, then, you can exercise.  There are SO many different ways of working exercise into your day that there is NO reason not to.  People generally think if they can't join a gym and go to a class, then there's no point.  If they can't buy a machine and spend 45 minutes a day on it, then there's no point.  This is all a LIE, and it will get you no where.  Everything counts.  Find something you enjoy doing, and do it.

 If you hate aerobics, then steer clear of Jane Fonda.  If the treadmill makes you want to punch someone in the face, then give the dang thing away and stop hanging clothes on it and feeling guilty.  BUT, you like walking?  Go for it!  You used to love to ride a bike?  Go for it!  Team sports is your thing?  Then join a team already!  Just do something!!!!

The general rule for maintaining health is 30-45 minutes, 3 times a week.  BUT, we're here on this team because we want to lose weight, so we have to step it up a little.  Let's go for 30-45 minutes, AT LEAST 4 days a week.

Weight loss really is simple math, people.  One pound is 3500 calories.  If you want to lose one pound a week then you need to find a way to cut out 500 calories a day.  45 minutes of steady-heart rate raising- exercise will generally burn 250-300 calories.  This morning I burned 300 calories on my machine, if I find a way to cut out 200 calories from my diet today and keep doing this all week I will lose one pound.  This is how it works.  Burn calories with exercise, create a calorie deficit with diet, LOSE WEIGHT.  Not rocket science.

But, it sure feels like rocket science when our bodies would rather take a nap....

Learn to take your heart rate, and find your target heart rate zone HERE.  Aim to hit that target heart rate, 30-45 minutes, 4-5 days a week.  You can do this.  We can do this.

Now, get off your butt and MOVE.

Even if you feel like this....

Month One Total Weight Loss.....

162 POUNDS!!!!!!

My hysterical sis-in-law has made us a PERFECT picture of our first month weight loss.  We lost an entire person.....so...... this picture is titled:

"I think we lost Jackie Chan!!!!"

I am still laughing.  Hysterically.