Faith & Fitness Challenge - Week 1 (Water and the Word)
Monday, June 17, 2013 at 8:32AM 
I've missed you, friends!
If you’ve regularly read my blog in the past, you know that I stepped back from posting weekly for a season to launch a second daily radio show I’m a part of: Everyday Relationships with Dr. Greg Smalley. Tune in if you need a good laugh and some encouragement in your everyday relationships.
Starting today, I’ll post every week for the next six weeks (and I'll give away 2 copies of my book, Balance That Works When Life Doesn't. Today marks the beginning of a fun six-week faith and fitness challenge. Here’s how it works:
Sign up for FREE at: http://myfaithradio.com/commit-to-live-fit/
Every Monday I’ll post on this blog and share a bit about the physical and spiritual discipline for that week. Every Wednesday you’ll receive a reminder email to encourage you along the way. At the end of the six weeks, we’ll draw two names to win gift baskets filled with fitness goodies.
Each week you’ll add a very easy and life-giving physical and spiritual component to your daily routine. These disciplines are easy to do, but they’re also easy to let go of. These very doable disciplines add strength and vitality to our lives if we can make them a part of our everyday routine.
So here are your two disciplines for this week:
Physical Discipline:
Drink Water – Many experts suggest we need 8-10 glasses of water a day. My husband added this one discipline to his daily routine and lost 10 pounds in one month! Fitness expert Wendie Pett suggests we drink the equivalent to half our body weight (in ounces). So if you weigh 200 pounds, you need about 100 ounces of water a day. Either way, it’s time to up your water intake and here’s why:
- · Great for hair and skin
- · Helps digestion and metabolism
- · Helps muscle function
Dangers of Dehydration:
- · Muscle spasms and cramps
- · Neurological impairment
- · Digestive issues
- · Dry skin and hair
- · Headaches
- · Water retention
When we drink too much soda, we lose our taste for water. I challenge you to find a fun water bottle and raise your water intake starting today!
Spiritual Discipline:
Read the Word: If you don’t have a regularly established quiet time, take that first step. Set aside 10-15 minutes each day, open the Word and prayerfully read. If you’re new to reading the Bible, start with the books of Psalms, Proverbs, or the Gospel of John. If you already have an established quiet time, the challenge to you is to extend your time by adding a few extra minutes each day dedicated solely to reading God’s Word. Scripture is living and active and will change your life! Here’s why God’s Word is so important to us:
- · It’s living and active and brings life, strength, and direction to our soul
- · It offers us wisdom and reveals God’s heart
- · It teaches us how to live and brings clarity where there’s confusion
John 4:13 ~ “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Matthew 4:4 ~ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Ephesians 6:17 ~ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews 12:13-14 ~ For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
Dangers of doing life apart from the Word:
- · We lose our way
- · We adjust our theology to match our lives (rather than the other way around)
- · We’re easily deceived by the enemy
I’ll be praying for you as you add these healthy yet simple disciplines to your life. Also, each week I’ll give away 2 copies of my book, Balance That Works When Life Doesn’t: Simple Steps to a Woman’s Physical & Spiritual Health’ to someone who posts on this blog.
Let’s do this!
May you flourish in health, both physically and spiritually!
Blessings to you this week~
Reader Comments (44)
I am so very excited for this challenge! I have been struggling with the last 20 lbs for two years and I hope to shed some unhealthy habits and weight with this challenge. I am more excited to pick up some new spiritual disciplines. Thank you for taking this on!
Jennifer
Taking this challenge. The water is ready to go. I know I drink too much coffee and too much tea and sometimes diet drinks so here goes Week 1.
Excited about this challenge and easy ways to better my health!
Thanks for the reminder to drink more water...flush those toxins out and keep the digestive tract flowing naturally. A friend of mine has the most beautiful skin and I really think it's because she drinks water all day long, carries a bottle with her almost all the time.
Thank you! I am so needing this. I have had a crazy busy year trying to work, single parent during the week while myhusband works out of town and balance the rest of life. i make sure my kids get enough exercise and proper nutrition but have neglected myself and gained 10 lbs this year. Thanks for rhe help to refocus. I need it and would live a copy of your book. Blessings!
Can you confirm for me if the water intake is counting water ONLY, or can we include other beverages. For example, coffee, juice, or milk? I know I need to drink more water, but for some reason this one has always eluded me.
I am looking forward to reading your blogs - I struggle with staying motivated, and I know through your beautiful words of encouragment and scripture I will be inspired to try harder. Thank you God for Susie Larsons gift.
Susie, I am taking your 6 week challenge and am excited about doing this as a group effort with you. I am looking forward to some good stories to come out of this. Thank You !
What a fantastic encouragement. Simple but vital reminder of the parallels between the physical and spiritual world.
This is just what I needed. Thank you for the encouragement. I am drinking water right now!
I am enjoying your blog. I would love to win your book.
God Bless
Dear Susie, I am taking your challenge! I already put my coffee cup down and am drinking a glass of water! I so much need discipline in my life and I need to start today. Thank you for your encouragement and guidance!
I love this! I can't wait to see the fruit of this endeavor :-)
Hi Susie! I love this book! I purchased it when I seem you speak
At lake Geniva a few years ago. I brought it to my brothers girlfriend
while she was in jail for 45 days to read. Once something enters the jail
it is property of the jail. So it is still at the Stillwater jail blessing other women.
Thanks you for doing what God has called you to do. (-:
Looking forward to getting on a healthier track. Needed to find some accountability and hope this will be it! :)
I just brought a bunch of limes to add to my water, woo hoo! I'm on my way .
thank you Susie for doing this post, it will help so many.
Tammy
Thank you for doing this! After living a life of basic self-destruction, I'm ready to take care of His temple. Praying that it's not too late.
Your challenge couldn't come at a better time. I look forward to the journey. Thank you!
I can't wait to start this challenge. Since becoming a mama of 5, one of which is special needs, I have totally slacked off in my quiet time and exercise. I have my water bottle in hand and am now going to read the Word while my kids swim.
This is exactly what I need! Both my faith and my fitness regimen could use a good shake-up, so thank you for this opportunity. Praying for help in staying committed to it for the full six weeks!
Hey! Susie!
Sounds like a fun thing! I should drink more water. When I drink especailly Mt Dew pop, I will get excessive muscle cramping. Someone told me and I am sure this is true that pop actually dehydrates you. When we trail ride out in the BadLands in the summer we are advised to always have plenty of water and no soda pop just because of the dehydration issue. I have to have a water bottle with me at all times if I am gona get any where near the amount I should drink every day! Spiritually, I do have my quiet time every AM I may miss once in a great while but as a whole it has become a real discipline for me.
Betty M
Awesome. I just turned 50 and......well, use your imagination. The past couple years have been very challenging for our family and I have neglected myself. NOT A GOOD IDEA! I'm getting back on track.....perfect timing to release your new book. You must have been thinking of me. lol I'm joining in and winning a copy of your book would be really Groovy!
Thank you, Susie, for this wonderful incentive. I'm so excited to begin this 'new normal'. I love the Word and know that I need to be in it each and every day as well as choosing to take care of my body as Christ asks us to do in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. This commitment will surely compel me to do just that. Thanks for all you do on Faith radio. I love listening to Live the Promise as well as Everyday Relationships; so much to take away and use in our daily lives. Looking forward with great anticipation to the next six weeks :)
I first met you in Vienna, Austria at a mom's conference when my husband and I were serving as missionaries and I had just become a mom. The wisdom that God had taught you thru suffering were exactly what I needed to hear as I was struggling and feeling alone. Now, my daughter is 8 and we are back in the states. God continues to teach me so much thru you! I was just told that my joint problems could possibly be cured by drinking water....your challenge couldn't come at a better time for me.
Thank you for your faithfulness to His calls on your life! I have been blessed by them.
Looking forward to receiving these little reminders for stepping up my faith & fitness levels. Thank you so much for these great suggestions that are so easy & yet... so easy to set aside.