Faith

Our pastor has said for the longest time "faith is doing what we have to do and letting God take care of the rest".  And sometimes I just do whatever I want or have to remind myself that I need to do something. Lately my eating habits have been a little on the crazy side. Not watching what I've eaten as closely as I should have or complained about going for a run. God is so reminding me right now that I have to do what I need to regardless of my feelings. If I don't do what he needs me to do how can he bless me or how can I encourage someone else.   So tomorrow is another day and another starting point. Here's to God's oh-so-gentle reminders of what we need to be doing. 

Blessings,

Jean

Friends

Some times you just need lunch with a friend. Some times you just need to eat and talk and eat and talk some more. And that is exactly was I did today. I met a sweet friend for lunch and had a nice "eat & chat". Come to find out I needed as much as she did.   

Point of this is God knows what you need regardless of what you think. I thought I was doing a friend a favour getting her out.  Thank goodness for God knowing what we need regardless how small or big. 

Blessings & friends

Jean 

Our Strengths

Do you ever wonder what your God given talents are?  Do you question if you are using your strengths to glorify God?  I do, every day. I think about what I could be doing better or what God's will is for my life. So today I pray for wisdom and courage to be fulfilling God's will in my life and hope that people can be encouraged by what they see me doing. If my weight loss is encouraging, great. If my running or yoga helps someone else then I am grateful. I've been blessed in so many ways, I prayy life can be a blessing to others. 

Blessings & Talents

Jean

Running, Shopping & Eating

That about sums up the things that I love to do. And Jack and I got to do all of the above this past weekend in Charleston. I so love that town. History, beauty and hospitality. Not to mention a gazillion places to get yummy things to eat. One of the first stops was to get pralines. Oh how I love those things. Nothing but sugary goodness. So glad that they don't have a place around here to buy them. I'd have no teeth and be as big as a house. And of course we tried a coue of different bakeries we had never tried before. So love a local sweet shop!  And shopping on King street. I could walk up and down that street for days looking in all the stores. Oh my. What a wonderful weekend. So grateful to have been able to get away. 

Blessings and time away,

Jean

Special Friends

Do you have a friend that you can just sit with and not say a word. One that you see once or twice a year. One that knows your deepest secrets and you know theirs. I am blessed to have such a friend. God put her in my life about 17 years ago and I thank him every day he did. I was so excited this weekend that I got to spend time with she and her sweet family. Jack and I met up with them in Charleston and we saw her finish the Charleston marathon. Yep, she's a crazy runner too. And then had dinner and shopping and lots of treats with them. I am so grateful right now that I spent time with all of them. God is good. I am truly, truly blessed.

Blessings and great friendships,
Jean

And WHAM!

Just when you thing this are going smoothly WHAM. Yep, I got a wham this week. In the form of a dead cell phone. It happened on the way home yesterday and of course I went straight out to the verizon store and bought a me one. I mean it was past time for me to get a new one but this month ? Really? I was so looking forward to being able to shop in Charleston. Oh we'll, I'm determined that there is a lesson in all of this. Still stinks that I have to get a new armband for my runs though. Things could be seriously worse though and that's what I keep telling myself. There are many with no home, no food, no money right now. So I have counted my blessings in abundance and thank the good Lord that I had the money for the phone. Many didn't have dinner tonight.

Lesson - remember your blessings and all the needs God has provided for you every single day.

Blessings and a new toy,
Jean

The Weekend

How many of you were thinking "thank goodness, a weekend with nothing to do holiday related" this weekend.  I know I was.  I have to say that I'm glad the holidays are over and things can get back to something that looks normal, or at least my normal. 

So what does normal for Jack and I look like.  Well it looks like getting up early (by 7am at the latest) on Saturday morning and going for a run, lunch after we clean up and shopping on Saturday.  Church, groceries and yoga on Sundays.  And things went pretty well to plan this weekend, except for the monsoon that came through on Saturday, so our morning long run ended up being treadmill time and another yoga class Saturday morning.  Not a bad trade off.  We did get out of the house after the rain, which was nice.  Hopefully the weather reports hold up for this week and we can get some good runs in.

So the sermon at church has been with me all day today.  In a nutshell it was about are we leading other people to Christ and that being our real mission during our time on Earth.  What are we doing to lead and encourage others.  It made me stop and think about what I'm doing and what others are seeing me do.  Because I can tell you that people watch and see, whether we know it or not.  So my goal for the week is to really be more aware of what I'm doing and saying.  Not just in public but at home too. 

Blessings & Awareness,
Jean