On your mark... Get set...

• So I read this sentence while sleepily proofreading... "Officer, thank you for being here today," and my mind very immediately went to Julie Andrews saying that and doing the royal wave in Princess Diaries. :) Ridiculous! lol


• That has nothing to do with anything else in this post, but for some reason, I still wanted to throw it in.


• "Success is not final; failure is not fatal... it is the courage to continue that counts." ~Winston Churchill


• So back in the day, CHA had a summer program called the "Athlete's Course," and for some reason I cannot fathom now, I signed up for it.  Our football coach's arrogant son was one of the trainers - problem #1 - yelling and showing no mercy was right up his alley!  It was held in the old tin gym building with no AC, and it included all manner of intense conditioning exercises!  Aww, memories. lol  Anyway, one thing I loved/hated was running with the resistance band... when it was working against you, running took all the strength you could possibly muster!  Then if you turned around and ran as it pulled you, it felt like you were flying! :)





• I'm cheesy and I like having mental pictures for things.  For me, weight loss has felt like running a marathon with that stretchy resistance band attached to me... I get very determined and I make great progress.  I can feel the finish line in the distance, and I so want to get there and celebrate!  But when I get so far down the road, the pressure on that band starts to build and build and build.  It gets harder and I get slower, until finally it hurls me backward and knocks me down.  (That part is both painful and humiliating... in real life and in the lovely metaphor.)  Then I'm forced to either give up... or start over from further back than before.  Disheartening?  YES.  Running the 'marathon' is hard enough, and I certainly don't need the added pressure and guilt and condemnation that I have been tormented with.  So my goal this time around is to "cut the cord" and stop obsessing about it.   To change the way I think (or let God transform it)... and to run my race FREE from that mental drama (bitterness and blame and comparison and overanalysis and guilt and shame), which is the only way I'll ever cross the finish line!!


• It is still a marathon, and still feels overwhelming without small goals.  I'm still starting behind my original starting line, and it will still become more difficult the further I go.  But it is no longer the impossible dream - it's just one foot in front of the other, one pound at a time.  Plus, I believe that if I truly line my thoughts and words up with God and stay positive and full of peace about this, it will have the opposite effect, like He is standing at the finish line pulling me along, cheering for me. =) 


• As Joyce often points out, I am not fighting FOR victory but FROM victory!  And that mindset makes all the difference.  The only thing I need to focus on is Jesus.


• aaaaand GO!!!  (finishing the title) :)

"What a moment You have brought me to,
Such a freedom I have found in You.
You're the healer who makes all things new...
I'm not going back; I'm moving ahead
I'm here to declare to you the past is over.
In You, all things are made new.
Surrendered my life to Christ,
And I'm moving, moving forward
You have risen with all power in Your hands
You have given me a second chance!

You make all things new, yes,
You make all things new,
And I will follow You forward!"
~Moving Forward by Israel Houghton