The message from my church on Sunday has been sticking with me this week. The pastor preached from Genesis 12:1-3 and it had a wonderful perspective about how we should look for blessings in our hardships. He spoke about how we all have ways in which we are "cursed" and deal with hardships and in those times it is often very difficult to see in what ways we are truly blessed.
Many times our first instinct is to ask "What is wrong today" or "Why am I sad today" instead of "Where am I being blessed today?"
Now that doesn't mean we have to deny the ways we are cursed or pretend that those things don't exist, but we do need to make an effort to acknowledge the ways we are blessed even with the hardships we are going through.
We have to get in the habit of seeing blessings in the midst of our obstacles. And one of the important things he shared is that we need to remember that we are blesses so that we can be a blessing for others.
"I will bless you and make your name great, SO THAT you will be a blessing."
This whole message spoke to me in several ways but it really made me think about the things I have seen in this group lately. I see people who only a few months ago were really struggling and now they are thriving, feeling more confident, and encouraging others. I am so grateful for all of you and how encouraging of a place this has become, it's been a huge blessing to me and I hope it is for you as well.
Also if you are currently struggling try to focus on the blessings you do have, and think about the ways you do have the ability to be a blessing to others.
If you want to listen to the whole message I will link the recording below, but today I encourage you to think about the ways in your life you are blessed, and how you can be a blessing to others.
Cheese is good! I ate a block of chipotle oven baked cheese with lunch yesterday and it was divine. I love it, but know that it halts any progress I'm making, and will even trigger eating in excess to where I'll gain weight. It's sad but I have accepted it. If I eat it in small quantities with a meal, it's ok, but I really have to work to keep it in check.
What's your favorite cheese? How do you incorporate it? Do you see negative results when eating it?
Happy Sunday! Sharing a video today from our week, one of the highlights. This was Wednesday evening church, normally they have a more casual prayer meeting where someone plays the guitar, but they were doing some construction in the fellowship hall so they had their prayer meeting in the sanctuary. No one was there to play the piano so my my Grandma did it, she's been playing the piano in church for probably 80 years.
For context, she's 88, she had a really bad fall 5 years ago now and hit her head and ended up with a lot setbacks, similar to having a stroke. She has a lot of dementia like symptoms also (I am sure related to her Type 2 diabetes), she really can't read music anymore, and she has trouble seeing well, and she needs to wear hearing aids to hear but hates wearing them, so on this night she didn't want to wear them. My 93 (almost 94) year old grandpa takes care of both of them on their farm. Anyway, on this night she sat down on the piano and led worship as people called ...
Happy Saturday! I hope you are all doing well. I know some people in the group have had some recent tough news for themselves or family members. It really puts the day to day issues we face into perspective, and reminds me to just focus on doing the best I can to be as healthy as possible. To those who are having a hard time, we are all here for you and sending you some prayers and support. 🙏🏼🙏🏼 Just focus today on doing the best you can and remember that food isn't going to bring you the comfort you are looking for.
Here is a little video of Penelopes performance from her piano recital l last night, she's been taking lessons for about a year and a half. 🎹🤍🖤
*Livestream Monday night at 4pm pst/7pm est
Happy Friday!! I finally got back to walking yesterday. Our entire week in WV I didn't get many steps in, we took some walks in the woods but not a lot of miles. Since I came back I've been so busy and tired, at least that's my excuse, but really it's just hard to get back into the routine after not doing it for over a week. That's the hard part for me about exercise, the more I do it the easier it is to keep doing it. But as soon as I have a few days in a row where I don't make time to exercise, I just lose all motivation for it. However yesterday I got back to it!! 💪🏼💪🏼 I walked about 6+ miles during the day while working and hit 15k steps. Today is going to be very busy but I plan to get started early in the day.
How are you planning to get some movement in today?
Happy Thursday! I am all thrown off this week on what day it is. 😂 It's been good to be home but busy getting back into our routine. Chris and the kids started getting things organized yesterday to kick off their school year. They always start by setting some goals for the year and mapping out a plan on how to accomplish them.
Normally I like to focus on short term goals and daily non-negotiables, but I thought it might be fun to set a longer term goal for the rest of this year.
What is one thing you want to accomplish still in 2025?
Started my 7 days off yesterday. Today we are in Lafayette, California. I feel every time I am off, I have to travel somewhere else. 2 weeks ago was Texas. Today is California. Not long ago it was Missouri. This is not over yet. In 2 weeks is back to Texas and from there to Colorado and Back to New Mexico and Arizona to work.
I gave myself a headache typing that.
The thing is, it's really hard to keep it Carnivore when you're on the move. So I followed @Lauraespath's advice and packed some beef jerky and beef sticks to keep me loyal. For meals out I have been eating burgers with no bun. Just mustard and cheese. Delicious no matter where. Specially when you're hungry. Now, I need to say this. What is the meat in California made with? $30 a pound!!!??? And I thought NM was expensive.
I left pics of Lafayette's reservoir and the kids.
Oh well. I hope everyone is having a good week.
