dare to hope

This jumped out at me this morning and filled my heart with faith.  It's in Lamentations 3.  That's after Jeremiah (def had to use the table of contense ;)  Last night I was asking the Lord, who are you?  Do I even know you?  Coming from a place of bitterness, even when things aren't even terribly bad.  I don't want to be bitter, I want to be excited about the Lord.  Because first of all I am nothing without God.  (love Galations 2:20...it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me..)  He has saved me and continues to save me from sin and death and fills my heart with overwhelming joy so faithfully.  Def not deserved, but to know he thinks I'm worth it is unreal.  Maybe that is why people have such a hard time recieving grace sometimes?  They know how ugly sin has made them and it's just too good to be true.  I say "grace, YES PLEASE!"  Or maybe no one has over loved them with the love of Christ?  Scared from religion and rules and regulations, wounded and surpressed hurt beyond measure.  You just can't fully love without Jesus and his forgiveness in your heart.  Without forgivness, there's conditions.  Deep down I know he has a good plan.  But really... 'THIS', this is what it looks like???  The Lord def cares the most about the condition of my heart.  I just Love him and how he answers....

It starts out to say:
18.  Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!...
19.  Bitter beyond words...

21.  Yet I still dare to hope

            when I remember this:

22.  The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

              His mercies never cease.

23.  Great is his faithfulness;

            his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24.  I say to myself, "the Lord is my

                    inheritance;

         therefore, I will hope in him!'

25.  The Lord is good to those who depend

             on him,

         to those who search for him.

26.  So it is good to wait quietly

          for salvation from the Lord.

27.  And it is good for people to submit at an

              early age

          to the yoke of his discipline:

28.  Let them sit alone in silence

           beneath the Lord's demands.

29.  Let them turn lie face down in the dust,

               for there may be hope at last.

30.  Let them turn the other cheek to those

               who strike them

          and accept the insults of their enemies

31.  For no one is abandoned

                by the Lord forever.

32.  Though he brings grief, he also shows

             compassion.

          because of the greatness of his

              unfailing love.

33.  For he does not enjoy hurting people

           or causing them sorrow.

Summer Tennis movie!

I SO love teaching the little ones how to play tennis.  Check out how awesome they are...

Demo Video

Wow, so here we go!  Here is a little sneak peak at fit 'n 5 video blogs I am working on.  I have so many fun things coming and can't hardly wait to share with everyone.  Set some goals today, shocking, I feel not so overwhelmed.  Putting things in perspective and setting goals that are do-able.  Thank you!  To my oh so patient friend, John, who sat with me and helped me plan out this whole new adventure.  'Reaching the Nations' I am calling it, through fitness and lifestyle training.  On a daily basis I sit and help others plan out how to reach fitness and lifestyle goals.  Then provide the tools to get there.  It really is nice to have someone help you do that.  Even though I squirmed at the idea of making goals.  After seeing that this can happen, my attitude went from 'this is to much' to 'i can do this'.  I can hardly wait to blog about 'how to set goals'.  I'm telling you, this is such a great thing to be able to do.  Anyone can set a goal, but are you reaching them?  If you are reaching them was it worth it?  Does the satisfaction leave you fulfilled or empty, striving for the next big thing.  Was the process in a nut shell......I don't have words there!!??  What is your process and where are you going with the goals you are setting?   Are you thinking now?  Or are you like me and tune out as soon as you hear the word 'goal'.  You know what you want and whatever happens, happens.  Whatever.  Whatever is SO one of my favorite words.  I have been known to dive into projects with a huge vision and lack of direction.  Whatever, I have goals now :P

Check out the super rough first video blog...

GREEN smoothie

For real they are good!

• unsweetened almond milk- 1 cup
• unsweetened apple sauce- 1/4 cup
• strawberries- 5
• banana- 1/2
• handful of stemmed kale
• 1 packet stevia
• ice cubes

Watch this youtube video on how easy it is to de-stem kale.  I just rip it off, ha going to have to try this!

amazed, still

With his love, he will calm all your fears. Zephaniah3:17

This song came on my Pandora yesterday and I'm in love!  When we don't even realize it the Lord is delighting in us.  Our thoughts might not line up, but God.  But God is there and I'm not even going to try and tell you how he loves ...He's better at it than I am :)

Sitting and being vulnerable in his presence.  The walls come down and it's messy, and totally cool.  I have had a relationship with the Lord for a handful of years, and honestly it's still new.  I didn't even realize it but I have not sat and opened up my heart to the Lord in, well, long enough.  Hence, facebook hiatus.  I need to hear the Lord.  More than anything I need to hear the Lord.  Even if its quiet and I'm waiting, I need to hear the Lord.  I'm so lost without God.  Facebook was becoming such a suction cup to negative fruit in my thoughts and time.  I got sick of it.  Basically.  Yeah.

thats all :)

cool chick!

Just came across this girl and I LOVE HER!!!  She totally squashes self-rejection and really taps into speaking life over yourself.  This is so so huge.  If the enemy is going to get me its in this arena.  Take thoughts captive, yes I know.  Oh now that's a good blog topic for a later date! 

Anyway, liked this video :)   Reminded me of Psalm118:24, This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Cute website too!  http://www.nicholekellerman.com/

Totally inspired by how she is impacting the lives of others and running her business!!

a typical busy day

So basically I'm just super pumped about InstaCollage and have nothing better to take pictures of!  Exciting I know!  This pretty much describes my typical day fitting in quick meals and a quick workout.  Get up grab pre-made breakfast.  Teach a tennis lesson.  Workout in my room.  Yes, on a beach towel, a fan going, and using the stop watch on my phone.  Foam roller always close at hand.  LOVE that thing! 

Workout was:  Squats, pushups, and sit ups.  start with 2 reps and increase 2 each round.  So 2, 4, 6...for 15 mins.  I got up to 20 reps.  had that goal in my head and went up to 16 mins, forgot to look at my phone.  Quick mile jog outside tracked on RunKeeper app.  25 min workout.  Sweet! 

Actually I was super sweaty and rushing to make lunch and shower before heading to the gym to train.  Pulled it off. 

Lunch was:  Sun dried tom basil wrap (100 cals so crazy), 2 brown scrambled eggs, couple pinches of mozzarella cheese, broccoli lightly steamed, red onion, and some salsa.  New fave dish!

Brought protein mix with me to make shake at gym between clients.  Stop at store on way home to grab din.  I am pretty worn out by now.  In and out of the store, make din and back off to gym.  One late night a week training a super sweet lady.

Dinner was: Salmon, Spaghetti Squash, and homemade sweet potato fries. 

day over heading home.

Okay I can't lie.  This pic was after late night the week before.  I looked more like a wreck prolly after a day like this one :)   Everyone seemd to be having a rough day including sweet Linda.  There was no picture taking this day but we did laugh it out and have a great workout!
Wanted to update with a pic of the short hair.  It's already growing so fast!!

chocolate coconut banana...whats not to love!?

So a whole day off in the middle of the week with no plans or commitments.  Hope everyone has enjoyed the day dedicated to freedom :)  Mine consisted of a long jog, painting nails, and baking with gilmore girls on in the backround.  Bliss!!  I have been wanting to experiment with some stuff for a while.  These turned out super yummy and I'm not sure I remember exactly how much of everything I put in the recipe.  Best part of this.. didn't have to make a trip to the store and used what I had!

2 mashed bananas
3 brown eggs
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1 cup coconut flour
3 Tbsp carob powder
1 tea baking soda
1 tea baking powder
3 Tbsp coconut oil
white chocolate chips

-mash the bananas
-throw in eggs, walnuts, coconut flakes
-sift in coconut flour, carob powder, baking soda and powder
-add melted coconut oil
-mix
-spoon into liners
-add white chocolate chips

Bake 350 20-25 mins

So the white chocolate chips were not as cool as I thought.  Would have been cooler if they were melted and like drizzled on.  I mean that would look like profess.  ha.  seriously yum and def healthy.  Yeah, i'd say healthy.

****

So I have secretly wanted to know how to cook *good* for like ever!  My nannie gave me this pic last time I saw her.  She used to let me make a huge mess in the kitchen and I LOVED it! hehehehe i think I'm 3 here.  Going to have to call and talk to nannie now she will get a kick I put this in my blog!

PRAY

Lord, Free us from the unhealthy habbit of only thinking about ourselves!  There is only one place where we are right with God, and that is IN Christ Jesus.  We are perfect only in Christ, not in the best we have done.  God did it for us.  I know no greater love.  Step into those shoes and begin to pray for whoever God puts in your path.  hmmm.  the inner life of prayer.  That quiet place with the Lord is the BEST!

Are we prepared to purposely disregard ourselves and to laung out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual inner-searching we do in an effort to see if we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, sickly type of Christianity, not the vigorous and simply life of a child of God.  -Oswald Chambers

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.  You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession.  As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light.  1peter2:9

Dear Blog,

We haven't met in a while!  The busyness of life I guess.  Def have once again run myself into the ground before taking a step back.  This time I have learned, ha really!!  Last week I went back to Illinois to visit my family.  Dad has been going through a health battle with kidney cancer.  Being so far has been harder than I realised.  At first I wanted to tune all that out and go about life as usual.  I will 'feel' later, right now I have stuff to do.  You might know how that goes!?  At any rate, I'm so so grateful for the chance to stop and spend some much needed time. 

In the midst of spending hours at the hospital it was shockingly restful and I actually had some fun!  Of course taking pictures along the way :) 
Before chemo started we took a trip to the zoo.  My sis had to leave the next day to work her biggest event of the year, River Fest.  She is a trip, I just adore my little sister to peices.  Even though she is loud and yells at me sometimes haha!!

Cheeky, Daddy, and Me at the zoo

 Bears

Penguins

Mom and I went to see cheeks do her thing.  They gave her a golf cart and she was for sure in charge and running the show like a star.

St. Charles River

So then we watched these dogs dive!  yeah!  Strangest thing, Dock Dogs they are called.  They measure what dog can dive the farthest.  

DOT DOG

Mama and I at river fest

That was cool.  Now I had a bit of a wait in the airport trying to get back to Texas.  Spending a whole day waiting to fly stand by and not getting on was worth it.  I got to see my BFF and spend one more night on valley!

Ian and I at the airport

Basically I have the coolest, sweetest aunt ever!  She met me at the airport the next morning, at 4am, to fly with me back to Texas.  We couldn't get on to houston so we got to fly FIRST CLASS to DENVER!  I was freaking out!  And so wishing I would have done my hair for the occasion :/

Aunt Whitney and I sitting first class :D

That was short lived.  Got to see the rockies only from the plane window.  Right back on another plane.  I was so hoping to get out and explore.  Gods timing is perfect.  I will wait on that one.

Thats the end of my photo journey back to the home base.  I love you family and I miss you more than you know!!!