He has a funny sense of humor...

Today's message at church was all about denying yourself and focusing on God and His plan for you. It's really hard to sit and listen to your preacher discuss things that you know you struggle with. I began back-tracking to a few weeks ago when we were discussing trusting God and whether or not He can trust you. My attention span was not very good this morning because all I could think about was how pretty it was outside and that all I wanted to do was walk around and enjoy the sunshine. That led to me thinking about wanting to learn to "run" and then I began stressing over losing weight. Those two things never go well together - stress and weight loss. (SQUIRREL!)

Gary sang "Beautiful," by MercyMe. If you've never heard it, you can find the lyrics here. I wish I could play this song everyday in my classroom. I have so many girls who just need to hear this, daily! It's a very moving song with simple lyrics that make a huge impact.

So it all got me to thinking...God gave us our one body. He trusted us to care for it, keep it in a healthy condition, and when we mistreat it, it suffers. We suffer. So then I got to thinking about a few weeks ago with trusting God and Him trusting us. If God gave me this one body and trusted me to take care of it...I'm not doing a great job of that right now. I starting thinking about changing my focus when I work out - in a sense, work out for God and honoring Him for what he's given me and not for my vanity of wanting to "look better." I'm sure there are other people out there who focus their workouts on a more spiritual path but I just felt like a light bulb "clicked" when this all came together. I want God to trust me like I trust Him. So my goal now is not to reach a super skinny figure by summer but rather to reach a healthy goal in His honor.

As my mind was racing 100mph this morning, I started thinking about abilities. Tonight, God's sense of humor returned during the Super Bowl. Denny and I went to our church to "play" with the youth and watch the game. Instead of half time, we watched an inspirational video about professional athletes who kept their spiritual integrity throughout their careers. It was very cool to see top performers talk about their struggles and praises received from their team mates. They discussed how they were given these talents and abilities and wanted to use them by glorifying God. This really got me thinking about my "abilities." I am blessed to be able to get up and move around without problems. Yeah, there are those pains here and there that come from 20 years of dance but as I looked around, a sense of selfishness came over me.

We are blessed to have a member of our Youth who has recently gone through quite a battle with cancer and has just received some not-so-great news that it might be returning. You can read Sarah's story here. I started thinking about how this sweet teenager would probably give anything to be able to run around with her friends and participate in basketball or dodge ball...but with her recent illness, she's unable to. I really had that "punched in the stomach" feeling because I make lazy excuses of why I don't want to get up and go walk/run/workout when there are people in the world who would just like to have the opportunity TO have that option. So not only did God totally do a number of convicting my heart today but then I sat watching Sarah interact with her friends, keeping a smile on her face the whole time never knowing what tomorrow might bring. She's been on my heart a lot lately and I really feel like a lot fell into place today.

So now...a new focus in life. It's not all about fitting back into those clothes. It's about focusing on the abilities I've been blessed with, entrusted with, and using them to my full potential.