Blog Moving

I have decided to move this blog to the Wordpress site, because I have move my other blog and it seems to be a better platform.  You can find my new blog at http://misplacedramblingsofthemind.wordpress.com/

Health Inventory

Melanie from Only a Breath started a new blog called Real Food Experiment.  Deciding that she needs to make some changes in her life and her eating habits she has decided to take an inventory of where things are now.

Her story here:
http://www.realfoodexperiment.com/2013/01/my-before-story/

Exercise

• I don't

Eating Habits

• Recently gave up soda when I am at home (last month)
• Replaced Soda with Kool-aid and Flavored Green Tea
• Eat a lot of junk food, processed food, and sweets
• Eat almost no veggies or fruits
• Skip meals
• Eat out at least 4 times a month

Experiencing

• Overweight (205.5 pounds)
• Clothes don't fit or look right
• Physically unfit
• Takes little to tire me out
• Hyperthyroid issues
• High Cholesterol

Things I am reading/working on

I am trying to live more this year, instead of spending as much time on the computer.  But I haven't forgotten about my promise to blog more on this blog.

So lets look at what I am reading these days:

• Amanda Ackers and The Deep Forest Elves 
• Greater

I am also trying to finish cleaning up my room that I mentioned was a huge mess because of my last major depressive episode.  I am seeing great progress there!!!

I am also working on improving my prayer life, digging deeper into the Word, and hope to start my in-depth study on Heaven soon, which I will probably blog about on my other blog.  So excited about the possibilities for this year.

Getting rid of labels

This year I have decided to part with labels.  Since I am doing this I wanted to repost a blog post I shared on my other blog last year....slightly edited to take out the irrelevant parts that applied to the bible study on Unglued by Lysa Terkuerst.

Labels, well they can be pretty damaging.  I have labeled myself over the years, and allowed others to label me.  Labels such as

•  Depressed
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Lazy
• Worthless

Labels can be very hurtful, and using those labels as the way we identify ourselves can be very dangerous to our sense of self.   I know that for me I have allowed labels to define me before, and my guess is that you have as well.

I think from the few I mentioned above the one that did the most damage was the label of worthless.  I believed this label for many years.  It changed how I approached life, how I approached others, and how I approached myself.  But instead of writing about the mess that created for me, today, I would like to focus on something Lysa says in her book....

"A soul who believes she can't leave.....doesn't"

I can so relate to that statement because I found that when I felt so worthless, and felt that I didn't deserve anymore....I never tried to break free.  Lysa goes on to say that some prisons don't require bars, just the persons perception that they belong there.  That was so true for me....because until I started to realize my own worth, and my worth to God...I never tried to change things, even in my mind.  I was very much a prisoner to myself.

Lysa goes on to tell us how to break free from the labels.  I think that this is also very important to go through the steps to do this, because until we start to quit being defined by our labels, we will never be what God has called for us to be.

I am looking forward to seeing what other things Lysa has to share in her book.  Hoping today that you start to see the labels by which you define yourself.

   

Prayer for 2013

As I was being intentional and writing out my prayers this morning (one of my goals for the New Year).  I wrote this:

I ask you Father, to make this a year of truly living and enjoying life, as you would have me to enjoy it.  I also ask that you would bring me closer to you.  Help me to soak in your word and make it change my life.  Help me to leave the comfort zones and really live for you.

Now my prayer was a bit longer and included more personal stuff.  But this one part really sums up a lot of my desires for this new year.

No More Resolutions

Last year I gave up New Years Resolutions.  Instead I chose to do One Word.  I saw great growth doing this.  So this year I am going to do the same thing.  For more information on my One Word for 2013, please visit my other blog http://thepuresacrifice.blogspot.com/2012/12/one-word-2013.html.

Progress Report

Sorry I have been spending more of my time lately away from the computer with the holidays and all.  But I did want to say that I have not forgotten you.

I am also going to be spending the next few days trying to finish cleaning my room.  My goal is to be finished by January 1st.  I am making great progress.

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and that everyone has a Happy New Year.

My Thoughts on Sandy Hook Tragedy

For my thoughts on Sandy Hook, please visit my other blog.  http://thepuresacrifice.blogspot.com/2012/12/one-step-away-from-evil.html

Meaning of the Christmas Tree

Green is the second color of Christmas.  The stately evergreen, with its unchanging color represents the hope of eternal life in Jesus.  It's needles point heavenward as a reminder that mankind's thoughts should turn heavenward as well.

The star was the heavenly sign of promise.  God promised a Savior for the world and the star was the sign of the fulfillment of that promise on the night that Jesus Christ was born.  God always fulfills his promises and, wise men still seek him.

Red is the first color of Christmas.  Red is deep, intense, vivid.  It is the color of the life-giving blood that flows through our veins.  It is the symbol of God's greatest gift.  Christ gave His life and shed His blood for us that we might have eternal life. When we see the color red, it should remind us of the most wonderful gift.

Just as lost sheep are guided to safety by the sound of the bell, it continues to ring today for all to be guided to the fold.

The glow of the candle represents how people can show their thanks for the gift of God's Son that Christmas Eve long ago.

Twinkling lights symbolize, each one representing one of God's precious children, their light shining for all to see.  Let your light so shine before people that all may see it and glorify God.

The Candy cane is a stick of hard white candy: white to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock the foundation of the church, and the firmness of God's promises.  The candy cane is in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth.  It also represents the Good Shepard's crook, which he uses to reach down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.  The original candy cane had three small red stripes, which are the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed, and a large red stripe that represents the shed blood of Jesus, so that we can have the promise of eternal life.

Wreath made of fresh, fragrant greenery tied with a bright red bow.  The bow reminds us of the bond of perfection, which is love.  The wreath embodies all the good things about Christmas for those with eyes to see and hearts to understand.  It contains the colors of red and green and the heaven-turned needles of the evergreen.  The bow tells the story of good will towards all and it's color reminds us of Christ's sacrifice.  Even it's shape is symbolic, representing eternity and the eternal nature of Christ's love.  It is a circle, without beginning and without end.

The Tradition of the Pretzel

Pretzels began in the 6th century at an Italian monastery.  A Monk was preparing unleavened bread for Lent and twisted the scraps of bread dough to resemble arms in prayer.  He named his creation Pretiola, a word meaning little reward, and gave it as a treat to the children who recited their prayers.

Making Progress

I believe that I mentioned that this month I was making it my goal to work on my room.  I have made great progress.  Oh there is still plenty to be done.  But I am so incredibly impressed with the progress that I have made recently.

Just to show you what I mean 2 samples:

 

The stack in the beginning

Didn't flip this one, but the stack after doing some work awhile back

 

What is left from that stack after working in there lately.  Most of which I hope to have a home for soon.  I just need to go through some of it and then assign it a home.  The rest of the room is also improving greatly.

Also 1 week Soda free!!!!

The Holly Wreath

The holly wreath symbolizes the crown of thorns worn by Jesus at Calvary.

Its red berries represent the blood He shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

The endless circle is eternal life obtained through Him.

Realizations

So last night/early this morning while trying to get to sleep I was thinking/praying/reflecting and I realized 2 things.  One thing is that I am making small progress working on cleaning up my room each day, and I will be able to finish it!!!!  My room is a total disaster area and has frustrated me to no end for a long time now.  I have just recently begun working on it to get anything accomplished.

The other may sound simple to you, but for me it was huge, and this is that my desire to move and cut the family off is diminishing.  Those that have read this for any length of time know that my relationship with my mom is rocky at best and I can't remember but I may have mentioned here before that my biggest desire was to be able  to move and get my own place.  I usually followed that up with saying that I would be cutting off all contact with my family for my own self preservation.  I realized that the urge to do that is much less these days.  In fact, I'm beginning to wonder whether that would be as beneficial to me as I once thought it would.

The Legend of the Poinsettia

On Christmas Eve a small child had no gifts to give the Baby Jesus.  When she prayed an angel appeared and said, "Whatever you give from your heart will make Jesus happy."  So the girl picked some weeds and as she took them to church they changed into a brilliant red bouquet of poinsettia flowers.

Christmas in 50 Words

Christmas Season

There is so much to the Christmas season.  Shopping, family gatherings, music and movies.  Sometimes it can weigh heavy on a person, and I have honestly spent many Christmases kind of down in the dumps.  I hope that this year will be different.  But in the past I would get disgusted at Christmas time because I would look  at my life, and feel like it wasn't where it should be.  I am 34, still single and no kids.  This was not how I pictured life.  In fact, I thought I would have been married and at least have had someone I loved to spend the holidays with.  That has not been the case.

But more and more I am looking at what I do have to be thankful for and the real reason for Christmas.  I am hoping that intentional focus this year, and the fact that depression isn't prominent, will keep me from not enjoying my holiday.

E-books and Life

This has been a crazy week and I have not gotten to work on my story, but to be honest I have lost some of my motivation.  I am thinking it is because I have pushed for 25 days writing all the time and I hope that a break will cure the lack of motivation.

As we go into this Christmas Season I hope to have some good Christmas posts for you.  I know that in the past I have tried to keep my faith as a minimal part of this blog and save all that for my other blog.  But that is hard because you can't compartmentalize your life.  So that will no longer be the case.  I will save the deeper digging into scripture for my other blog.  But you will see some of that here as well.

I received my Nook simpletouch in the mail this week.  I am so in love!!!  I have also been looking for places to get free e-books.  At some point I will add a page of these links to my blog.  But for now here are a few of the ones I have found.  Of course Barnes & Nobles has lots of free books.


Vessel Project
Scribd
Ebook
Many Books

December Goals

I have made up my mind about my priorities for December, and have set some goals.  You may have noticed that I added a ticker to the left hand column.  That is because I decided that I would for one of my goals for December is to give up soft drinks.  I have heard that this is a great way to take off weight, which is just an added benefit.  So I am going to track my weight loss as I do this.

My other goals for December are:

• Clean My Room
• Get Out My Computer
• Find A Job
• Finish Writing my Story
• And cut out soft drinks (and most of my caffeine)

In dropping soft drinks, I am not going  to refuse them completely, but I will save them for a treat, like if I go out to eat.  But drinking them all day every day at home, I am going to quit.  My drink of choice is Mello Yellow, one 12-ounce drink is 180 calories.  I usually drink 6-8 drinks a day.....that is 1080-1440 calories a day.

I would love to have some of you join me in dropping a bad habit this month.  If you would like to join me leave me a message.  

Current Projects.

I haven't formed a schedule for posting for this blog because NaNoWriMo has kept me crazy busy.  But I have decided I will start posting all my writing stuff on this blog, as well as thoughts on what I am reading and  my crochet projects.

So right now I am between a few different books, but not actively reading any at the moment.  Pinterest was a major source of inspiration and recreation, but November has found me straying from that because I have been spending most free time writing.  I look forward to getting back to pinning soon.

I am currently involved in two different online bible studies, and I am enjoying both.  One is an advent study that starts back on Sunday, using the SOAP method.  The other is a "So That" study with Wendy Blight.

I was increasing my time crocheting prior to November.  I even found a great website.  Ravelry which has lots of great patterns and forums to explore.  My current project is a wrap with slits.

Only I am doing it in Magenta.  

Happy Thanksgiving

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving there will be no blog post.  But I did want to take the chance to wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving.  Can I make a recommendation?  Do something different this year, perhaps invite someone different to dinner, or carry dinner to someone who will be alone, or maybe just spend some time alone, a bit longer tomorrow with God thanking Him for all that you have, and the many blessings that you have been given.

We should have gratitude daily, and while I try my best, I am sure that many can relate to the fact that sometimes it is easy to get caught up in all the bustle of life and forget.  So tomorrow I am making a renewed effort to be aware of the blessings, of each and every person, even the difficult ones, as I celebrate with some of my family.  There are many who chose to do individual family dinners instead.  I don't begrudge them that.  But I will be thankful for each one that shows and the fact that we get the chance to celebrate together.

May we also use this time to pray for those who do not have the relationships with God that we do.  That God would draw them to Him, and turn their lives around.

Enjoy a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!!!