I’m Full! Now What?

God day Planners   

As you hurry through your day, remember that planning is the key to success for maintaining a healthy eating and exercise lifestyle. Can We Talk?! It takes NO thought, effort, or energy to be sedentary and to eat whatever you want whenever you want it. But eating healthfully and regular activity takes thought, energy, effort, and preparation, and the D word DISCIPLINE. Christ can teach us to be disciplined in every area of our lives, including a healthy lifestyle. We have to ask ourselves, am I really worth all of that? Is the legacy of a healthy lifestyle for my children worth all the effort and energy? God says…YES! I say…YES!!! What do you say? 

Here is our question for today. Please feel free to drop your temple related (emotional, spiritual, relational, financial, physical) questions to me. Glad to answer and share with the group! Got a recipe you would like to share or a testimony, please send them.

Dear Aqua

Help me understand: We should eat a balanced meal…and get in our correct servings of each food group; however we should stop eating when we are full. What happens if you get full before you finish, like what if I don’t get all of the servings in for that day?

Dear Operation

Great question! In general feeling full is a good “problem” to have because so many people don’t KNOW that feeling, because we’ve have ignored the signal for so long that we have silenced it. There is a long answer and a short answer. The short answer is nothing. Remember we are looking at a lifestyle of healthy eating, not just a day or two when we think we can do it. Also we are incorporating these lifestyle changes a little a time so that we can stick to the changes and not create an unrealistic plan that we cannot maintain. SOON, you will love the planning process, you feel out of sorts when you have not planned adequately, and your thinking about healthy eating and exercise will be more natural and automatic. Remember, to change our lives we have to change the way we think. Be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind!

The long answer is really more complicated. I will answer as succinctly as possible, but I have to elaborate just a little. According to the USDA, A “healthy diet” is one that:

• Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
• Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts
• Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.

Even newer guidelines released at the end of 2010 have a more effective and comprehensive focus.

 “Because more than one-third of children and more than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight or obese, the 7th edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans places stronger emphasis on reducing calorie consumption and increasing physical activity. The new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on balancing calories with physical activity, and encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium, saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains”.

As long as you are eating healthfully as described above CONSISTENTLY (more often than not) the couple days here and there that you feel full and stop eating are not a big deal. Your body is going through changes to adapt to the plan you have introduced. If this is happening frequently, you’ll need to investigate further. You might also add a multi-vitamin to your diet if you are concerned about getting all your recommended vitamins and nutrients.

Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!

I’ll Have the Salad!

God afternoon all!

I hope this week finds you well and walking in the marvelous light of Jesus. No matter where you are right now… at this very moment, He loves you with an undying and unfailing love! His passion for you greatly exceeds anything you can ever imagine. Are you certain of this fact?

This week (hey and it’s ONLY Wednesday) I had no less than 5 conversations about salad as a healthy meal choice. My antennas went up when some of those I spoke with told me what they were putting IN and ON their salads. Can We Talk?! Salads can be a healthy choice, but salads can also be very deceptively high in fat and calories if we are not careful as to how we LOAD that salad down. For example, the salad at a local fast food restaurant is 650 calories…OUCH! (No wonder that salad was so good). How is that for healthy eating? Three major factors for keeping a salad healthy (low in fat and calories) are the amount of the salad, the toppings, and the dressing. We wanted to provide you some tips about salads to keep your salad light, healthy, and working for your new lifestyle.

1. Make your own dressings. You control the fat and calories.

2. Having chicken or fish on your salad? Put the chicken or fish on the salad while it is still warm. The greens will start to wilt and less dressing is required.

3. Use pecans or other nuts instead of croutons for texture and crunch. Careful of the amount.
4. Use a light extra virgin olive oil with a dash of lemon pepper seasoning instead of salad dressing.
5. Use less dressing. Add a squeeze of lemon to the salad and use less of your favorite low-fat dressing.
6. Need some variety and need to increase daily fruit servings? Add fresh fruit to your salads.
7. Check out WebMD’s tips for healthier summer salads.

If you have tips for healthier salads send them to me or post in the comments section of the blog. DearAqua4HisTemple@gmail.com

Make your food choices COUNT! LESS is the new MORE. Eat LESS…move MORE!

Your body is the Temple of the Living God! Live Well in Him!

Passion Project ~ 4 His Temple

Hi all

Been a long time. I know. With God’s guidance I am starting a new passion project. Here is the opening email. If you want to get on the distribution list, please email me @ DearAqua4HisTemple@gmail.com. The “Dear Aqua” as you will read is a place for sending ALL temple related questions. Your body is a temple of the living God. For now I am combining the blogs, we will see how God evolves this project. So…in the spirit of this blog…Can We Talk?

God day Conquerors!

Welcome to 4 His Temple! Thanks for signing up for this email group. Please feel free to forward this to anyone that you know who wants support and encouragement for feeding their temple. Some of you did not sign up, but I just wanted to inform you of this new passion project and invite you to participate. If you reply with your request to be added to the email group, I will add you to the distribution list.

A little background…I have been informally encouraging people to start eating and living healthier lives to the glory and honor of God through diet and exercise. I got started in 2009 because I was overweight and unhealthy really with no plan to change. Until I stepped on the scale…Ouch! What a reality check! I decided that I would get myself in shape and get my swagga back…ha! Ya feel me?! Seriously, not just that, but how much more could God use me (you, us) if I (we) were healthy and fit? I knew that I could not do it without God’s instruction, guidance, and support. We will talk more about that part of the journey as we grow. I just want you to know that you need Jesus if anything I share with you and that you share with one another is going to make any sense. In order for us to be successful on this journey we need a new way of thinking about how we treat our temples. We have to change the way think before we change the way we live. Agreed?

I am just starting with the email, because I felt of sense of urgency in my spirit to get this message out there. We will develop later with how to vblogs, in house clinics for fellowship and support talking about everything we feed our temples including the Word of God. Haha! I told you already that we need Jesus. Did you think we were not going to crack open the Word to accomplish success on this journey? My hope is that we build an online community that translates to real life support and encouragement for those looking to incorporate healthy eating and fitness into their everyday lives.

I don’t have all the answers and I don’t have a magic bullet, fairy dust or anything that can turn this into a quick fix journey. You may not be able to use everything that I share because it does not fit into YOUR lifestyle. However, your commitment is necessary to look for ways to tweak the information to change your own life and impact the lives of those you love by pulling from what I share and what is shared here by others.

Are you eating well? Do you exercise? Have you surrendered your life to Christ? All of it? Even the part that loves to lie around doing nothing for hours on end? Whew! OK, confession is good for the soul. Let’s move on!

So what do YOU do? For now, reply this message to be added to the group. If you are on twitter follow me Favored1Aqua and search for the hashtag #4HisTemple. Send your questions (all things temple related) to this email address DearAqua4HisTemple@gmail.com. We are going to talk about food, exercise, the Word of God, loving the body you have right now and more all in the context of living a life that pleases God. 4 His Temple is your place to be inspired, encouraged, supported, and loved and to give the same as God guides.

What do I do? Send encouragement, support and information about getting started to staying motivated. I’ll take your ideas for building and supporting this community. Remember this is YOUR PLACE. I’ll share your health and fitness tips, recipes, ideas, struggles and successes with the group and I will answer your questions and share them with the community.

Here is our very first question:

Dear Aqua

What is better choice? Turkey and cheese on wheat or tuna on wheat?

Dear Operation…

Always depends on how much you have. When we think about food, quantity is as important as quality. 80% of weight loss and maintenance is what and how much you eat, exercise counts for the other 20%. You cannot use exercise alone to change your body and maintain health. Are you eating half the sandwich? Turkey is probably the best bet if the tuna has mayo. TIP: Only eat half the cheese. You won’t miss the other half in terms of taste, but half the fat and calories are eliminated. TIP: Drink a full glass of water before you eat. TIP: Stop eating BEFORE you are full. The signal from your stomach to your brain that says…”I’m full” is delayed. If you keep eating until you really are full you will feel stuffed.

Okay everyone, that’s all I have for now. I am excited about this journey. Can’t wait to hear your success stories and hear how you in encouraged others to live and eat well 4 His Temple. Until next time.
—
Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!

Season of Success (S3) Day 5-Time for Sanctification

God Morning Conquerors!

Whatever God showed you this week about yourself KNOW that He already has a plan to help you change…IF change is your desire! The apostle Paul said that God chose us to become like Jesus and that we were called, justified, and glorified by God (Romans 8:29-30).

Justification is the work of the cross. Jesus died on the cross so that we would have a relationship with God and so that we could live full, rich, abundant lives…right now, today!

Glorification is the work of God. Our glory is the essence of who God created before the world got a hold of us. Before we were born He had a plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). Are you living in your purpose?

Sanctification is the work WE must do WITH God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is the process of being cleaned up and living a saved life daily. It is the stripping off of those attitudes, behaviors, habits, ways and turning away from sin, accepting the newness that Christ’s death and resurrection afford us. It is what the old folks called “working out your soul salvation”. The process helps us get back to the glorified self that God created. Sanctifying ourselves pleases God and draws others to want to know the God we serve.

Justification and glorification were done without our help. Sanctification REQUIRES PARTICIPATION.

We can die justified, never being cleaned up and never getting to our glorified selves, AND still go to heaven. Chances are we will also live in HELL on earth, our lives in disarray. Jesus did not die JUST so we could go to heaven. The work of the cross promises us a life of peace, love, prosperity, and joy on this side of eternity. Are you ready to live your best and blessed life NOW?

Gotta run…time for some sanctification! Anybody?

See you at the top!

Randomness about Grace

I watched the Olympics for the last 2 weeks. I enjoy watching figure skating and ice dancing. The 2010 Winter Games did not disappoint and had all the talent, excitement, and drama a spectator could want. “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”!

During one of the skating events the commentator explained what the judges were looking for in terms of scoring one of the elements of the program, the jumps. A “clean” landing is crucial on a jump in order to receive maximum points for that jump. He said… the judges will review the videotape and if there is any doubt as to whether or not the jump was landed cleanly, the judges give the maximum points to the skater. In other words, the judges err on the side of skater. This made me start thinking about grace and how God extends His grace to us. Should we also choose to err on the side of grace? I’m glad you asked, can we talk?! 

Many of us know that we do not get “do overs” (Some people still think they do). Once we have done something or said something that may hurt someone else it is out there. The damage is done and we cannot take it back. The person we hurt does not get the chance to review our videotape to determine what we really meant to say, what our intentions really were, or what we really meant to do. In that moment, they (We) have a choice. We can choose to respond in anger and retaliate or we can choose to err on the side of grace.

In our relationships, on our jobs, and in all of our interactions with others (our jumps in life) we will not always have clean landings. We may say and do things that we do not mean, but the behavior was the only arsenal and ammunition we were carrying at the time (our unresolved stuff). Our intention may have not been to offend another, but because of their unresolved past, baggage, and issues something we said or did “felt” offensive. In those moments of regret, most of us want to experience grace (We want that elusive do-over).

The best we can hope for is the person that we offended is willing to forgive us, extending grace. We cannot take it back and they cannot pretend as if it did not happen. God also extends us His grace when our landings are not clean. In fact, He extends His grace in abundance. In the 6th chapter of Romans, Paul asks the question should we sin more because grace is available to us. No, we should not. Likewise we should not take advantage of the grace extended to us by those we have hurt or offended.

So I had some random thoughts about grace…

Hold your tongue! If you have the chance to retaliate with words or walk in humility, choose to take the high road and hold your tongue.

Err of the side of grace! Grace always prevails!

(Like an Olympic athlete) Practice your “jumps” and make your best attempt at “clean landings”. Be transformed by renewing your mind.

We are all in different places on this faith journey; we have to meet people where they are.

Grace is not a 50/50 agreement. It often means giving more than 50%. You cannot meet a person half way when you extend grace. Go the extra mile.

We are all unique. God designed us that way. Embrace the differences and uniqueness of others.

Do not always look to assign blame. Blame leaves no room for grace. Sometimes things happen, simply things happen. Stop looking for a scapegoat!

Do not keep score or tally of the wrongs you have experienced.

Extending grace does not come naturally to most of us. Look for opportunities to extend grace. You will surprise the person AND surprise yourself.

You never know what other people are going through and dealing with in their lives. Very often, their behavior and bad attitude is NOT ABOUT YOU. Do not personalize everything.

Do not use your humanity as an excuse for your insanity. “I am only human”. Seriously?!

Grace is a gift. Do we keep gifts or do we give them away?

Feel free to add your own random thoughts about grace by leaving a comment. Until next time… 

Pruned for Greatness! Part III

On the heels of our corporate fast, there is much excitement and anticipation in the air. We except that God will do something spectacular for us individually and as the body of Christ. Some of us have already received blessings (non material) too rich to compare to anything material that God has for us. (Oh, we still want our blessings, don’t judge me… just keeping it real). Fasting and prayer changes your perspective on what really is important and what really matters.

As the fast ends, I want to close the discussion we started at the beginning of the fast…“Pruned for Greatness”. In our first talk, we said that God prunes us for our greatness and for His glory, then we chatted about the reasons God prunes us. In this final post in the series, we discuss WHAT God prunes FROM our lives. (Ouch!!) Yes, it can be very painful to lose the relationships, places, desires, habits, plans, and attitudes (After all, that’s just how he/she is… I am sure you have heard or used this excuse to justify someone’s bad behavior or someone has used it to describe you… behind your back, hmmm) in our lives that WE hold (and hold to) so dear. The truth is what we choose to hold on to may not have a place in the Kingdom and these blessing blockers keep us from living in God’s will. And so…God begins the pruning process. When God prunes one thing, His plan is to replace it with something better, something more useful to you, those you interact with, and the Kingdom.

God prunes our selfishness in exchange for generosity, anger in exchange for kindness, worry in exchange for faith, arrogance in exchange for humility, fear in exchange for Holy Ghost boldness, bitterness in exchange peace and love, and worldly friendships (relationships) in exchange for Godly friendships and relationships that support, sustain, and encourage our spiritual growth…just to name a few.

Friendships and relationships are painful to release when God starts the pruning process, but very important in terms of spiritual growth. We should choose carefully the people we allow in our circle of friends and even more selective with the inner circle. Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens the wits of another”. (Who are you letting sharpen you and what instrument are they using?) We have to partner with people who challenge our spiritual growth and help us along in the transformation process. Some people that we have connected with have no interest in our God or our salvation. Anyone not actively involved in helping us seek God and His will for our lives, is ultimately against what is most important to us. When we consider our friendships and relationships, we must remember that quality is more important that quantity.

God will use pruning to direct our time. What are we spending our time doing and do these things matter to the Kingdom? God will redirect our time towards Kingdom building and rebuilding our lives. (Lives that I am sure where pretty much in chaos before we turned them over to Him. OK…so I’ll speak for myself).

God will also prune away our sense of self-reliance and security and replace it with dependence. God wants us to rely on Him, to do this He may even prune away our earthly positions, possessions (STUFF) and status. Many of us are doers and we like to be in control of every aspect of our lives and the lives of those around us. We find it difficult to relinquish control to a God that we cannot see. (I know what you’re thinking…How do I know that He has it all covered? Maybe He needs MY help! Ah, been there…done that! Relax!) Believe or not, He does have it ALL covered and when He needs our help, He will provide us with clear directions for our part in HIS plans. Our job is to listen THEN obey! We have to learn by faith to believe.

IF WE ALLOW HIM…
God prunes anything that keeps us from intimacy with Him.
God prunes anything that keeps us from Kingdom living and Kingdom building.
God prunes those attitudes, attributes, behaviors, relationships, and habits that keep us from being healthy and that destroy or compromise our testimony.
God prunes away the things that keep us from keeping God things…or first things first.

You’re probably thinking if God prunes away EVERYTHING that is important to me, what will I have left? What about MY dreams, plans, goals, and desires?

God does want to fulfill our dreams, plans, and desires. Our dreams, plans, and desires, matter to God. WE matter to Him! He loves us with a deep unwavering compassionate commitment. He promised us a future with a HOPE (Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus came so that our lives would be rich, full, and abundant. The dreams that we pursue should be the dreams that God placed deep within us and a relationship with Him causes those dreams, plans, and desires to surface AND line up with His will for our lives.

“True beauty comes from the deep and often painful pruning of OUR hopes, dreams, and desires.”

Sharing some of the pictures of the Block Party which ended the Sacred Season of Success. Serving at the Bread of Life.