Don't wait!

Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh Lord, please leave me--I'm too much of a sinner to be around you."  NLT

I have been a believer all of my life.  However, I "became" a Christian when I was 21 years old.  All of this time, I've had a hard time feeling like a Christian.  I want so badly to be who God wants me to be, but when it comes to meeting those expectations, the words "epic fail" come to mind.  But, I have found that those expectations of perfection, those expectations of following the "rules" to perfection, those expectations of being an expert at the game "Jesus Says" (stolen from Pastor Chris), those expectations, those debilitating expectations, those expectations that told me I had to pull away from Jesus because I wasn't perfect, because I didn't have it all figured out, those expectations that made me miss out on all that God had to offer me for the last 16 years...those expectations were MINE.  Did you hear me?  God didn't expect that of me! He expected that I would accept his gift of LOVE, of GRACE, of FORGIVENESS and allow His sacrifice to be worth something.  My expectations make his sacrifice become a sacrifice in vain!  I need to accept His gift.  The following are notes I took during a sermon at South Hills Corona: 

"Don't wait to get all of your sins dialed in and "fixed" before you start letting God bless parts of your life.  He will bless the parts of your life when you obey God.  Don't push away all of you because you have sin. You will always have issues that need work.  If you wait to become perfect, you will never see the blessings of God. WOW.

There is no one too small for God to use only people who are too big: people who think they've got it all under control and have it all figured out."

Best message ever!  My head gets it...now I need to hear it every day until my heart believes it! 

what diet?

I have not been doing well AT ALL in reality.  I've almost gained all the weight back.  Summer is beginning and I'm fatter than I was last summer.  I'm wasting my youth being a fatty.  I really need to get it together or I'll never get married or have a family and I'm starting to panic that I'll miss out on the life I've always wanted....Why can't I stay motivated?

Optifast over...reality begins

So, I lost 35 pounds on the Optifast plan. I had a pretty good go of it for about 12 weeks, but I fell off the wagon during the transition period. I gained back 10 pounds and now I'm having difficulty getting back on track! I need to get my motivation back.  It was a LOT of work losing those 35, I'm so disappointed in myself for gaining 1/3 back, and I'm on the road to gaining it all back.  I need a plan. I need to forgive myself and get back to business.

So, here goes:

1. Start tracking!
    Reward for tracking 1 full day = Sticker
    3 stickers in one week (Sun-Sat) = new song
2. Eat 3 Optifast products a day
    Reward for eating all 3 products = Sticker
    3 stickers in one week (Sun-Sat) = new song
3. Drink all of my water (64oz+)
    Reward for drinking all of my water = non-water beverage
4. Walk the dogs 4 laps every day
    Reward for walking = heat/ice treatment on neck