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~