Art & Exercising Faith

So quickie update: workouts going well, even for how crazy this week has been. Didn't end up doing the interval workout Tina & Best Body Bootcamp had planned and took Ride class instead, but I'm going to try and fit it in (at least partly) today...were going to see how I work things out next week with Thanksgiving and the MUST Ministries Gobblejog!  So excited by the way :). Side note my bodyfat has improved again with weight remining normal, so so far so good though!

Wednesday my lifetime best friend had her Fall Senior Art Exhibit at Kennesaw State University which I got to go to (after my very quick workout) and it was totally worth it!  She has such amazing talent and has worked so hard to get that far, with a soon-to-have degree (come December) and a beautiful, expressive, and curious little red-haired girl to show for it. 

Walking around taking in all the artists work, it was awesome. Taking in the different ways each one expresses themselves. Then we would stand back and observe how others examined her piece, took it in, absorbing it, and then their reactions afterwards. 

I'm so glad I got to be there for her and take part in this memory! As we talked and waited for her family to come, I wouldn't have traded my standing spot to anyone. 

On a different note, something that has been on my mind recently is joy and faith. I've been really praying for a more of a joyous, uplifting spirit (and I've probably blogged about it I'm sure) and working on choosing to have one. Something the Lord really revealed to me recently was that my problem was not just in choosing joy but in faith and trust, and my lack thereof. If I really had faith in the Lord, believed God really was in control, and trusted Him with everything I would have nothing to be down about. 

^" Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." Psalm 42:5 KJV

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him." 2 Samuel 22:31 KJV

"And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." Psalm 9:10 KJV

 "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Psalm 18:2 KJV

 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proberbs 3:5-6 KJV

So now I guess that means I have a new goal! Not just to have a more joyous spirit, and to be more positive and uplifting, but also in trusting in my heavenly Father COMPLETELY and trusting in Him with all of me.

to end on a random note...I have a strange desire to sing old hymns...and also happy Friday!

Ponderings upon God's love

Week 2 of Tina's Best Body Bootcamp & I'm still loving it, although frightened of the next few weeks...first change is always hard for me anyhoo but mixed with her decrease in the amount of traditional cardio is really hard for me.  I cling to my cardio machine workouts, not just because it's what I prefer to but also because I somehow feel this will help me keep my weight down or off and if I stop or lessen too much I have the unrealistic feat that I will suddenly somehow get HUGE.

Silly for normal people I'm sure but true, its my Linus blanket...that and the scale, I weigh myself once a week but honestly I get worried that if I don't I'll start to gain weight and not realize it (which to be honest with myself, is highly unlikely.

Well, we all have things to work on...those are a few of my long-term goals I guess...slowly but surely.

Diet-wise I've rebelled a tid-bit but I'm doing alright, I have an appointment this week (which will also disturb my new workout routine grr....) but I'll be glad to get updated. Hopefully my week of accidental screw-up allergy consumption wont delay adding some more foods. 

My best friend Chelsi's couple shower went well :)  While I did stress a little bit (okay so probably more then a little teehee) she is totally worth it!  And it was fun once it got started.  I'm supposed to go with her and her fiance to look at boots at Horsetown, cannot wait! 

My other best friend Marie is going to have her work displayed at the Fall Senior Show at Kennesaw State University! I'm so excited for her! She's worked so hard. She graduates December 14th and she has me a ticket! I'm so glad she wants me to be there, it means a LOT to me :] I know many people hate graduations, and no they aren't the most exciting things, but to be there to help celebrate this person's hard earned achievement, to know my presence meant that much...

My mother is going to be publishing her life story!  Some publisher is interested so I'm so excited for her!  She has amazing stories to tell, to witness to how many others!

Lastly, I keep seeing people falling away from the God...and He has been putting on my heart a lot lately that the reason is because we focus so much on how we feel and the people around us, instead of the relationship. We look at the people in the church and the rules of the church, and define God by them and their standards. Humanity has added far too much politics for something God intended to be so simple, and while I go I try to stay out of all that stuff and just go for God and for myself, for renewal.
 Before Christ came when all we had was the law, yes there were crazy rules and regulations, but He came to fulfill the law that we couldn't.  He made up for our epic fail.  Afterwards would be the Acts church, which we've taken and tweaked to add all kind of politics and pharisutical crap and honestly its original purpose was for believers and followers of Christ and God the Father to gather together to praise Him, discuss thoughts, and come together in prayers.  That's it. Nothing more.  All of Paul's written letters were him trying to redirect the churches he established back to that from the sinful nature they kept incorporating inside it.

It's kind of along the same lines of the message Dr. David Jeremiah has been preaching about also recently, and I highly recommend listening to anything from him!

I know I've said and wrote it often but...
God is love, Christ died so we can accept that love and live in that love and that's really all we need. 

That's it, seriously.