Month: January 2011

Not always am I so spiritually driven.  Sometimes, more often then I’d like to admit, I focus on things completely unspiritual and find myself obsessing over things that will pass away.  But alas, as we live on this earth these things will creep up and they need to be dealt with in healthy ways.  Therefore, I submit to you today a couple solutions that I have unashamedly found to make the outlook on this earth a little brighter.

Lately I’ve noticed 3 things….

1.  I have grey hair…it gets worse each month, but I’ve found a quick low cost solution:

2.  My butt fell

I noticed it this summer, it was sitting lower then usual and I realized that, as I approach 40, the years of gravity have pulled my butt down.  This is a concern of mine because if it falls anymore it will be dragging the ground and I already have enough people riding my…..well you get the idea. I’ve been in search for the perfect exercise to pick up the butt and this is what I found.  I apologize in advance for the entirely to perky chest in this video but the exercise is worth getting down and lets be honest….any  motivation we can get is welcomed! Plus I love her accent, makes me want to travel somewhere.

3.  Crows feet, sagging eyes, wrinkles….each day they seem to taunt me more and more.  I’m not sure any of the million dollar creams work and I’m 100% sure no one will ever be cutting my face and stretching it back to where it belongs.  So, I’ve decided to HYDRATE!  This is the number one reason our eyes droop and our skin shrivels up.  At minimum I intentionally drink 48 oz of water a day!  When I don’t get the water in my body, the first indication is my eyes.  I’m not sure why the eyes think they can be the first part of my body to go with out water, I’m sure the cells in my belly could go without being gorged with H2O, but the eyes always seem to take one for the team.  HYDRATE people!

So next time you see me, I hope you don’t notice my roots, that you do recognize my tush is tighter and perhaps offer me a glass of water!

Cheers,

Tracy

READING!  Love it!

I usually have a handful of books going at one time.  Always a fictional fun book and then a couple character, faith building books thrown in.  Last year I started many books and didn’t finish them.  Oh the tragedy of an unfinished read!  Here is what is in the hopper and will be conquered before spring:

So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore:  I made it to page 131.  Its all very pertinent to my long standing wrestling match with ‘People Pleasing’ and perhaps the reason why I didn’t get through the book.  It is very well written and full of a-ha’s that need to be churned over carefully if they are going to send roots down that will  bring lasting change in my life.  Think I’ll read a chapter today!

The Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink.  Talk about a sticky, slow ya down like molasses book….this one takes me prisoner every time I read a paragraph!  Its definitely one I have to take time with.  “To say that God is sovereign is to declare that whatever takes place in time is but the outworking of that which He decreed in eternity” ~ Think on that for a bit and then you’ll be taken prisoner to the place of no return, the sovereignty of God!  A.W. Pink or the Pinkster, as I like to call him, wrote this classic piece in the early 1900’s.  The man lived from 1886-1952.  At first I thought he must have lived a long, long life but then realized that is only 66 years of life and he wrote the book in his early 30’s….proof that God will even use the YOUNG to influence generations!

Fathered by God by John Eldredge.  I’ll be honest I’m reading this book for my son.  He doesn’t know I’m reading it but I’ll share it with him some day.  There is a path leading to authentic manhood, but by men who have gone before us, sons following footsteps of their fathers,generation after generation.  There are perils along the trail, even disasters—all the more reason to rely on the guidance of a Father who has gone before.  The path of manhood—not more rules, not another list of principles, not formulas, but a sure path men have followed for centuries before. If I can give my son  THE FATHER, everything will be ok.

Primal by Mark Batterson.  I picked this up because I loved Mr. Batterson’s book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  Primal is about finding the raw form of Christianity and living compassionately, creatively, courageously for the cause of Christ.  Its basically what I’m striving for in my life and Mr. Batterson seems to hit the nail on the head in his writings. I can’t wait to get back to this one!

So, in addition to all these that I’ve started, I have 2 Ted Dekker(Christian thriller fiction) books that I would love to devour and these 5 beauties on the back burner, waiting to be opened:

Fight by Kenny Luck, My bangs look good and other lies I tell myself by Susanna Foth Aughtmon, God’s Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd, Forgotten God by Francis Chan, Wasted on Jesus by Jim W. Goll.

OH AND ALSO, Daily reading my man Oswald….My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.  Not that this really needed to be mentioned, I mean, who ISN’T reading Oswald these days!  If you aren’t you should…..anything you think I should be reading?  Give me a heads up so I can get it into the 2011 line-up!

If I seem taller it’s because I’ve decided my number one New Year’s resolution is to stand up straighter, walk taller, don’t slouch.  Silly resolution perhaps, but it beats an exercise program or a diet!

I saw too many slouching, weighted down with the worries of the world people this holiday season.  Seemed as though lots of people put more weight on their shoulders the more things they bought at the store or the more baking they intended to do for the holidays.  There were shoulders curled forward, heads down and backs hunched.  As I began to contemplate such things, I sat up straight!  I pushed my shoulders back and lifted my chin as I walked.

I thought to myself, If what is on the inside of me is gonna make it to the outside of me, I better offer up some posture that shows off my Daughter of the King status.

As I walked taller and sat up straight and tilted up that chin….I sensed my inheritance rising up.  I wondered….if we all really believe we are heirs to the throne, would we all walk a little straighter and stand a little taller?!  If we really beleived it wouldn’t we stand tall?

For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared ~ Proverbs 3:26

The inheritance is yours…STAND TALL!