Hi Julia! Welcome! I hope you like it here , there is also the encouragers post and prayer post that might interest you too. You can see that Ryanne , Trish and I are all on the road to a more healthy life , with God leading us. So happy you have decided to join us!

Julia, it is so nice to have you here! I can't wait to get to know you. Post as often as you would like and have fun!

Julia to the group and to recently becoming a new member of the family of God. We are so glad you chose to join us. We look forward to getting to know you. Just jump in and share any time.

Ryanne Thanks again for reminding me of the book Battlefield of the Mind. I went and got the book off the shelf immediately. I am going to read it while the dvd is fresh on my mind.

I was just reading the Introduction to the bookand she reminds us to never give up because we are constantly changing. I realize that we may not always see that we are changing, but if we are trusting God and doing what we know we are to do then there is change going on as we are growing in the Lord.

I want to share a few things Joyce said on the dvd. She said that 2 things happened the day before Joyce got to that particular meeting that had upset her and she didn't handle them as she did and had to repent. The devil was beating her up and she felt so guilty. Then the Lord said to her "What about the 150 things you've done right today?" I think we all have a habit of beating ourselves up when we don't do things "perfectly". I've heard that a lot of us overweight people are perfectionists and that is why we beat ourselves up so when we have a slip. Another thing I like that Joyce said was that a fall does not make us a failure. We are only a failure if we give up and quit. I like that. I know I don't need anyone else to beat me up when I mess up, because I do a good job on myself.

Bootsie I am so glad that you have the plan that will work for you. It is so wonderful how the Lord has lead each of us to the plan that He has for us. I feel like that is a good sign that we will succeed because this time we have found God's Way for us to eat. God is so Good.

God blessed me today with a wonderful experience when I went to Steak & Shake to eat. I had the plan ahead of time what I was going to eat. When the waitress came to take our order, I just gave my order. Ordered the slad with no croutons, ranch dressing and water. I saw the other foods on the menu, but I had my mindset for the salad and nothing else tempted me. I saw something that I would have liked, but I already had my plan in my mind and had no desire to change it. I figure the other item I saw I can have another time. Thanks Ryanne for the suggestion of making up our minds about things ahead of time.

Well,I better close off and go spend time with my dear hubby. I stayed up so late with him last night, but I can't do that to night. I have to be at church for BSF at in the morning by 9:10.

Have a good evening. Till tomorrow.

Ryanne loved the sign off because we are sisters.

Good Morning Girls

Just wanted to start my morning telling you hello and to have a marvelously blessed day.

I started reading The Battlefield of the Mind. Only got to read a small section, but maybe this is how I should read it this time. The scripture is Ephesians 6:12 " For we are not wrestling with fles and blood [contending only wih physical opponents], but against despotism, against powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

She brings out the fact that we are at war with evil and that these evil spirits have had time to really know us. So he begins to tell us things about ourselves and others that are not true. He is patient and he takes time plan his strategy against us. We must remember that he is a liar and the father of lies.

This reminds me that we must remember the One who is Greater lives inside of us and we that gives us the ability and power of the Holy Spirit living in us to get through this day successfully. We are truly blessed because we are daughters of the Most High God Who loves us so much that He walks through this weight loss with us. He said He would never leave us so we know that this is true.

Love you girls. I am truly blessed to have you in my life.

BTW Ryanne I live in SC, but I'm a TX born girl. Can't take the TX out of me.

Later girls.

Hello everyone, it has been quite a night as I explained in Christian Encouragers Oct.
I fixed up my dog Lee pen today and put him in a cleaner pen and he hated it. I will never understand that dog. The pen I put him in was 20 times bigger dryer, so much more room to run but he did not like it . He just cried that whine, he wanted to go back to his pen in the mud. I thought well that has just become his comfort zone and how I am so much like that too, especially tonight. I like to feel safe and I don't like changes either.
My border collie she is differnet, I fixed her a place to get out and run and she just had so much fun today! If she could talk she would say about Lee, That silly old boy is just plum silly! I have another male dog the same way, he don't like changes either done the same thing for him and he climbed over and went back to his old dog house. Oh well tried to make it better.
Worked in the garden and all my beans are blooming! As I was pulling weeds Harry my cat who follows me everywhere decided he would play a trick on me. He saw me going through all the beans and he hid under the beans ready to grab my hand, that little rascal!
I started planning on the cat house for the cats while I am gone next month. Dug up around and found some wood panels and now I need to find some wood to frame it with. Should not take me to long to fix it . Plus I need to fix the chickens doors where something tried to get in, before i got my monitor. Have to cut the grass around the store tomorrow. Well best go .

I am late here today because I slept in this morning which throws everything off. Thursday isn't really the day to do this as I have a lot of reading to do on Thursday mornings with the notes from BSF and my regular devotional time. Anyway, I did it.

While I was reading my Bible this morning during devotional time there was something that really jumped out at me. Jesus had gone to the garden of Gethsemanee (sp) to pray. The disciples feel asleep. Then the last time in Matthew 14:38b Jesus says to them " The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak".

When we were born again, we became a new creation in Christ Jesus. Our spirit was born of the Holy Spirit. But our personality and attitudes did not change. The Holy Spirit came to live in us to do that change in us. We have to be submissive to God's work in us that He is doing through the Holy Spirit.

What I saw is that from the time we were born in the flesh that our flesh was taught to be in control. We cry our Mother fed us etc. We learned to get what we needed according to the flesh needs. Now as new creations in Christ, our spirit being wants to be in control and is very much willing to be. We have to now feed our spirit being and it starts with feeding our minds the Word of God. The more our mind begins to think on the Word of God whether through reading the Bible, studying the Bible or hearing good teaching on the Word and meditating on that word (like when we make our confessions of the Word in prayer) we are changing our thoughts and causing our spirit being to grow and become stronger so that it can control our flesh.

I had a day of really being hungry yesterday, but this morning my weight was down. It is so amazing to me how this all works. I do Low Carb/Intuitive Eating combination. Some days I eat more than others. They stress to eat only when hungry. I have found that when I eat very little because I want to cut back, I show a gain the next day. When I eat when hungry and get satisfied like I did yesterday, I show a loss the next day. I wonder if any of you have had the same experience.

Ryanne Thanks for sharing the word like you did and then sharing your story of your life. I too love Jesse Duplantis. I also like Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar. God has really turned your life into something beautiful. Praise God! He is soooo good.

Bootsie I love your stories of things that happen with your animals. They are so cute. My deceased husband and our children and I had a little farm when we lived in Gatesville, TX. I absolutely loved living in the country. We raised chickens, turkey and ducks. Your bring back so many cute things that happened. I am a city girl who moved to the country to make my husband happy. It was one of the best experience of my life. The first year we ordered 200 baby chicks and they came early before we got the chicken area ready. I had 200 hundred baby chicks on the floor in my living room. Another time we had 200 on the floor of our bathroom so they could stay warm. We had a duck that decided she was going to sit, but she had no eggs. But you didn't go near her as she would hiss at you when you walked by her. Lots of happy memories from that time of my life.
I know from experience how you feel about your DH, so yes I will be praying for him.

You girls have a great evening.

That book was total confirmation for me! I read it all yesterday, and am planning on reading it again today, God Willing!
I am ONE HAPPY GIRL!
I hope this day finds you all well and happy, too!
I want to encourage you to encourage yourselves in the Lord! Remember, the JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!
We are harder on ourselves than God is with us, and HE loves us soooo much and He will help us with anything and everything we need help with. Just ask Him and then receive His help and thank HIM!
He is for you. Who can be against you? Jesus said "Cheer up! In the world you will have trials and tribulation, but I have overcome the world and deprived it of power to harm you!" (The Amplified Bible states the latter, "I have deprived it of power to HARM YOU".
John 16:33 "NIV© "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

So CHEER UP!
Did you know LAUGHTER is like a MEDICINE? It does your heart and body good.


Trish: I also like them, too.



JUST FOR A LITTLE LAUGH: My sister sent me an email about the funny things KIDS say in Church. I think you might get a chuckle out of it.

3-year-old Reese :
'Our Father, Who does art in heaven,
Harold is His name.
Amen.'
....
A little boy was overheard praying:
'Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.
I'm having a real good time like I am.'
...
After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied,
'That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home,
and I wanted to stay with you guys.'
...
One particular four-year-old prayed,
'And forgive us our trash baskets
as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.'
...
A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they
were on the way to church service,
'And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?'
One bright little girl replied,
'Because people are sleeping.'
...
A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.
Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.
'If Jesus were sitting here, He would say,
'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'
Kevin turned to his younger brother and said,
' Ryan , you be Jesus !'
...
A father was at the beach with his children
when the four-year-old son ran up to him,
grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore
where a seagull lay dead in the sand..
'Daddy, what happened to him?' the son asked.
'He died and went to Heaven,' the Dad replied.
The boy thought a moment and then said,
'Did God throw him back down?'
...
Hope this blesses you, it's cute.

And one thing about my youngest son, he is 4 yrs. old. One day I took him walking with me and my husband. He kept complaining that his "feet were tired"...but yet he was running and jumping...then complaining again. I got tired of it, so I thought he would stop saying it if I told him something he wouldn't like, So I told him, "well, if your feet are tired, then I guess you need a nap, maybe daddy should take you home so you can have a nap." He looked at me, and said, "Oh, Mama, MY FEET are tired MY FACE isn't tired, I don't need a nap!" LOL

Ryanne I have been in my book all afternoon and I had forgotten all those things. I actually used to do those things that Joyce said to do and I was losing weight. I even saw some things that I marked but don't really remember them at all. Why didn't get some of those things. Like when you exercise regularly that it can keep your metabolism working for at least a couple of days. That gives me a whole new attitude about exercise and also tells me why I did so well back then with my weight loss. I exercised 20 minutes 3 days a week which she says is enough to keep our metabolism revved up. I read somewhere that was not enough and I can't do more because of my back so I just gave up and quit. Obviously they were wrong, because Joyce wouldn't lie to us. I am reading in the chapter about Balance now. I think I am going to get more balanced food and balance in my life. I can do that and still stay low carb, just have to choose quality carbs.

I loved the jokes Ryanne. Thanks for sharing them.

Bootsie Hope things are going well for you.

Y'all have a great evening.

I thought I would tell you a little about myself. I was born and raised in Waco, TX and lived many places in TX over the years. I lived in Dallas area for a number of years and married my first husband when I was 19. When we were 21, he had a staff infection and pneumonia that killed a lot of people that year and he was one of them. When I was 27 yrs old, I married my old sweetheart that I dated when I was in Junior High and High school. We were married for almost 31 years and he had congestive heart failure and died in November, 2000 the Monday before Thanksgiving. He was probably the love of my life and my very best friend as well. We raised 2 sons and a daughter together and also her 3 children. I have 3 grandchildren 2 boys and a girl and 2 great grands. I miss them a lot because one son lives between Galveston and Houston in Webster. My other son used to live in Dallas area, but we all lost touch with him because his wife doesn't like any of us. My daughter and her companion and his son lives in Arkansas. Her children live in Waco area except one son lives in Japan the last I heard while in the Navy.

In 2002, I met my present husband online through ChristiaNet.com. He lived in southeat FL at the time. He and his wife were married 31 years and she died in Sept, 2000 two months before my husband passed away. We dated on the telephone every night, all night long most nights. I used to say I had to marry him to get some rest, because we would talk on the phone all night and then I would get a quick nap and then get up and go to work. The important thing to me was that Tony is a born again Christian. We talked things out and I finally decided that I had raised my grandchildren and enjoyed them, but Tony's grandchildren were little so when we decided to marry I moved to FL. God really blessed me with his grandchildren especially the ones who live in FL. They knew right off that I wasn't trying to take the place of their Grandmother and they were allowed to talk to me any time they want to especially the son who remembers her. They called me Nannie from the moment they met me. The cute thing that happened the night I met them was that Tyler came to me and whispered to me "Do you know about my Meemaw?" I said, "I sure do and and I know how close you were to her and how much you loved her." I told him that I had been that close to my Grandmother and I missed her too. I said "So any time you want to talk about her you can talk to me about her". We've had a very special relationship ever since then. He is a precious Christian young man. Tony's son and his wife and 2 children live in IN.

Well, Tony's Mom who lived with us died and we moved to SC with the plan that when his daughter and her children could that they would move here. Obviously God had other plans because she married a man who would love to move here but can't leave his son who lives with his ex-wife.

My 86 year old Daddy and his 82 year old wife live in TX. My Mama who was my best friend other than hubby bill, went to live in Heaven in Sept, 1992. I still miss her and being able to talk to her. I have 2 sisters who live in TX and I miss all of my family but Tony trys to take me back home to visit every 2 years. Don't know if I'll be able to do that next year with the economy like it is.

I love SC because it is almost like being back home with the 4 seasons. I love my church, but I miss having family around especially for the holidays.

So that is my story in a nutshell.

Catch y'all tomorrow.