When You Know You’re In The Right Place

I had an amazing experience yesterday and I thought I’d share it with you all as some of you may be blessed by something similar to what I was.

I went to a church that I’m definitely not a stranger to. I went there all the time as a youth, knew the senior pastor well, and have been teaching for a few years with the pastor’s wife. There are two churches in my city that I consider “home”, and this is one of them. I still go there every so often. But yesterday seemed so different.

When everything was going against me, and the devil truly was trying to distract me as much as possible so I wouldn’t make it to church, I was embarrassed  to find out I was almost 10 minutes late. I hate being late. And so naturally, I was down on myself for not making it there on time. But when I went through the front doors, the greeter who was trying to pay attention to the song service, raced right over, gave me such a welcoming greeting, and offered me a bulletin. I know the greeters are normally nice, but it seemed a little extra today.

I then went over to the doors to enter the sanctuary and a man raced over saying, “Let me get the doors for you.” Wow! Talk about such friendly service today.

I then went and sat down by myself. The row in front of me was full. I was thankful I hadn’t missed all of song service because it’s my favourite part. I seem to connect with Christ the best with worship music. There’s just something about a whole congregation of people coming together to sing praises to God.

Worship service concluded, the sermon proceeded, and everything went well. But it was after closing prayer, as everyone was getting up to leave, that the man directly in front of me turned around and told me what a beautiful voice I had. He waited throughout the entire sermon to tell me that! But to make matters even more special, let me give you a little background.

Someone very close to me used to love hearing me sing. I am definitely a person who needs encouraging words, and so when someone says that kind of thing to me, it means a lot. The past couple years, this person has gone so far as to tell me to stop singing and that I ruin music when I sing along to it. There’s been a lot of hurt over it, but as per everything else, I just learn to deal with it.

Now fast forward to the first person in years, a complete stranger, who took the time and effort to tell me I had a beautiful singing voice. Can you imagine how refreshing that was for me to hear? I almost cried. But instead all I could do is say the biggest thank you. Truly, despite being late, despite the devil trying to prevent me from going to church, church was truly the right place for me to be. ❤

Week 9 Day 2

This morning was just not a good morning. I woke up unhappy, and just couldn’t seem to lift my own spirits today. My husband didn’t have to go to work until late, and so everything was rushed more than normal this morning. I missed being late by literally a hair, and I just felt such a mess this morning.

To continue matters, our worship today was filled with intense sadness. A brother to one of the teachers at a sister-school lost his wife due to some health complication that they weren’t able to save her from. To make matters more complicated, she was 6 months pregnant with their first child. They managed to save the child which of course is what his full attention is on as of now. He knows that his wife would have wanted him to do whatever necessary to keep their child alive, and so that is what he’s focussed so heavily on now. The baby is just over 2 lbs; very tiny and so very young. The problem is, he’s in the states, and as many of you know, this is not going to be an easy road financially with so many weeks to months of recovery for such a premature baby. I am going to ask that you please keep this man in your prayers. You may have no association to him, but these are people who thought little of themselves. In fact, they actually met while both volunteering for relief services after 9/11. The more I hear about this couple, the more unfair it seems. And the whole thing is that we will have no idea why God allows these things to happen to people that seem so good, the kind of people this world needs more of. But it is in my faith that God will wrap His arms around this man and his tiny son, and that He will help that son grow to a healthy state so that he can go home with his dad.

If you feel moved by this tragedy, I will leave the link to the donation site below. I’ve always been in Canada where we have not had to worry about such extreme health care costs. He needs your help. But most importantly, he needs your prayers.

Anyways, worship left me in a continued saddened state. The next stop was taking attendance and getting my students upstairs for our Remembrance Day ceremony. This assembly allowed me to take a breath, and to really contemplate things in my life, and realize again that I am so fortunate and blessed to have what I have. Even if my car needs work done, even if it’s extremely cold outside, even if my house is so trashed that I’d be embarrassed for anyone to see it, I still have things that other people do not. I need to be more grateful.

I’d love to say the rest of the day went much better, but no amount of reflection could have prepared me for the energy the kids brought today. They did so well containing it during the ceremony, but after finding out it was -25 Celsius outside, and so recess was inside, all of their energy was coming out in my room! Oh the madness! I was so glad when the day was done.

After school, I was not done work. In fact, I stayed at work until 8:00 p.m. I then came home, got ready, and went to the gym. I needed the gym tonight.

Tonight’s workout was supposed to be three circuits for back and biceps, but the gym was so packed! It ended up being supersets instead of full circuits just whenever I could find available machines or benches. I skipped cardio tonight because my mind was not in it. Instead, we came home and I continued to work on school related things until after 1:00 a.m. and even then, only went to bed because I knew I needed to. Definitely looking forward to an uplifted mood tomorrow!

If you’d like to donate to the tragedy described above, please click on the link below. I know he would very much appreciate any bit of help he can get to help his son fight for his life! Thank you in advance!

http://www.youcaring.com/memorial-fundraiser/ashley-picco-memorial-fund/260229

Week 7 Day 5

I could barely get out of bed this morning. I am past the point of physical exhaustion, and well into mental exhaustion. I think the flag football tournament last weekend really messed me up. I’ve had no down time with the meetings and work I’ve been trying to catch up on. Not to mention my husband’s time with me has decreased and my house, well, let’s just say there is no way I’m letting anyone come through my door. I’m embarrassed. Somehow, I have to find time.

Today was a pretty normal day at work. Although the kids still had lots of questions and conversations they wanted to talk about which is fine. After all, it is Thursday and we don’t have school on Fridays so their minds are prepping for the weekend.

After work, I had another long meeting. I am also on the Social Committee which we’ve renamed InReach. We’re in  charge of planning staff retreats, monthly staff encouragement activities, spiritual growths, as well as any staff parties. Oh my goodness… and I thought my plate was full already. I’m starting to get scared of the workload, I really am. But it will be through God’s strength that these things get done, not my own. I know that for a fact.

This evening, somehow, we made it to the gym. It was my second leg workout of the week completed in three circuits. Legs kill me every time; every time. So I was more than happy when it was time to come home and go to bed.

My Wake-Up Call

Sometimes, things get out of hand and you realize it. Sometimes, they get out of hand, and you don’t notice it. I’m incredibly ashamed to share this with you, but this was an instance of the out-of-hand without realizing moments.

I have been out of the gym for roughly 3 weeks. And to top it all off, I was away at an Outdoor School camp with my students relying on the camp food. The day following my return, I had booked a body composition assessment. Last year, I was at 22% bodyfat. I know I had dropped from that at one point, and yet without me entirely noticing (yes I noticed it was going up slightly), I landed at 30% bodyfat on Thursday. I died a little inside. I was so embarrassed.

But you know what? I can either beat myself up about it, or I can realize that I have the power to change that. And that’s what I’m choosing to do. I hit the gym pretty hard last night, and definitely killed myself tonight. I could barely walk out of the gym, let alone even finish my workout. I feel accomplished and feel like I’m back on track.

I hope this message finds you to tell you that if you’ve gotten off-track with your diet and exercising, it’s ok. There is time to change it RIGHT NOW. You can get rid of any weight you put on, you can then down to that body you’ve always wanted. Fitness is a battle of the mind, and you are capable of doing it. I hope that you’ll be encouraged to make changes today!