What a difference 46 Days can make.....

It was the day after Ash Wednesday that I decide to give up social media....Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+.

I am amazed at how much peace, healing and restoration has entered my life since then.  Today is the first day I logged on and I don't plan on doing it too often.  My primary intent to any public postings will serve the purpose of encouragement and share parts of my life that could inspire others in a positive manner keeping my focus on others. As I refocused on how I was spending my time, without any distractions of social media, there has been so much change in these last 46 days........

• I've continued my women's bible study and have had so experienced growth and healing.  As I have completed the last aspect of the study, called Lifegiver. I found out that sometimes to attain the peace and joy of life, you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable, allow yourself to rip off layers of your life to get to the new creation of you.  I could not have done this alone.  I had women in my life who encouraged and lifted me up. With Christ in me, I was reassured the whole time as he whispered truths into my mind, of who I am now, and how I can completely release my past through repentance. This healing part of my life, I am sharing in a separate blog post titled,"My Life Lesson as  LifeGiver."  This bible study has really encouraged me to become a better mother and to my kids.  This class and the other aspects and teachings I'm grasping onto from people in my church, daily devotionals and online sermons, has really helped with the process of restoring my relationships with my children.

• I've completed my 50 hours of training in the Stephen Ministry program!  I am over the top about this Ministry and the potential it has, not because of what we can do as Stephen Ministers, but the impact that God will have as he uses us to do his work in and through us to those who need his love most.  I am so excited to meet my care receiver and begin loving and supporting the person in whatever their need may be in their life. It is going to be a wonderful journey of hope and healing. Over the weekend of March 29-30th my class of 72 students stood before our congregation and were commissioned.  I could not stop smiling and feeling blessed to have the opportunity to serve God and my church family this way.

As for me and physical fitness, I'm doing my best to remain as active as possible, which are the days that my ankle isn't swelling too much or that I'm experiencing too much pain.  Recently, it has been locking up quite a bit.  I'm only two weeks away from my 2nd surgery.  I am praying that this round will be successful in removing the entire PVNS tumor. With that said.......

• I finished my final 10k race until surgery day.  Surprisingly, being that I have not trained or ran much prior to this race I did rather well.  I completed the 6.2 mile race in 1 hour 8 minutes! My daughter and one of my BFF's both were unable to join me as they had planned, so this year I ran it for all 3 of us.  I wore their bib numbers and enjoyed the beauty of the California coast as I ran. I wish I could say the fun was pain free, but unfortunately, it was not. Although, it did feel pretty amazing crossing the finish line with all the other ladies at the She.Is.Beautiful. 5k and 10k race.

• I've had the opportunity to hike up Mission Peak 2x in the last 46 days.  I never get tired of this hike. I find myself surrounded by so much beauty. I always enjoy it regardless if I am hiking it alone or I have company. I find myself thanking God for the ability to do such an amazing thing. It gives me time to reflect on life, listen to worship music, have a breathless conversation on the way up or just exchange a friendly smile with a passer-by's.  Life is good.

•  I've continued my training for the 2014 Tour De Cure Century ride set for May 4th in Napa. Last weekend I rode the 50 mile course in a team ride.  I'm so excited to do this ride with friends, but mostly to do it with my daughter.  It will be a great accomplishment for her and also experience something special together as a family. The joy in seeing the beautiful woman she is developing into is beyond words.  The best way to express it, is by the smile I get on my face when I think about where her path is taking her and when I get opportunity to share where it is taking her.  She is an expression of my love ♥

In addition to bike rides and a few spin classes, I've continued to keep active by challenging myself to another 30-day challenge.  I do my best to complete the circuits daily, sometimes making up a day by doing a double circuit because my ankle hasn't been cooperating with me over the last couple of weeks.  But when my ankle does permit the circuit includes the following exercises:

• Burppee's (Day 1 starts with 5 and Day 30 ends with 100)
• Plank's (Day 1 starts with a 20 seconds and Day 30 ends with 5 Minutes)
• Push-Up's (Day 1 starts with 5 and Day 30 ends with 100)
• Hi Knee's (Low Impact) (Day 1 starts with 15 and Day 30 ends with 50)
• Russian Twists (Day 1 starts with 25 and Day 30 ends with 100)
• Mountain Climbers balancing on a 8lb dual grip Sklz ball (Low Impact) (Day 1 starts with 10 and Day 30 ends with 50)
• Dips with one leg elevated (Day 1 starts with 5 and Day 30 ends with 100)
• Step-ups w/8lb dual-grip Sklz ball over head (Day 1 starts with 20 and Day 30 ends with 100)
• Shaper rotation routine w/5lb weight (Day 1 starts with 5 and Day 30 ends with 20)

Yesterday marked my last day of another 7-day cleanse. With surgery only two weeks away, I desired to focus back to healthy eating habits.  This past week came as a good opportunity to begin implementing those healthy eating habits back into my life.  I will continuously as with any discipline, need reprogram my mind from reaching for those unhealthy snacks and meals and choose healthy ones.

I will need to find the mental strength to deal with my limitations over the next few months.  This can only be done by giving that part to God and reminding myself of his truths.   I am very thankful that my daughter tells me often that, "God loves you exactly as you are Mom."  The low self-image issues I battle with constantly cause me to have a tendency to become obsessive over my fitness capabilities, weight and nutrition habits.  This obsessiveness leads me to a path which I do not want to go down because it is full of prideful behavior and idolization. My Taylor Boo does her best to point me back in the right direction and helps me keep my focus on what is really important; not on how I see myself in the mirror or how others may think I should look like, but on how GOD views me. ♥ 

I love as each day of life shows up, I get to choose the path to take. Perhaps I don't have control over my circumstances, but I can choose how to view each one.  I can choose to sit and pout about it, or I can make it an opportunity to learn, grown and gain wisdom.  Life is truly what you make of it and although most of us think it's about being happy by getting the materialistic things, the perfect job, getting that raise or promotion at work and all the other things we can store up here on earth. I've resolved that the secret to my joy and happiness, is what I'm storing up in my heart, mind and soul - who is CHRIST and all the promises of the Bible.  Learning contentment in what I have, who I am, and the circumstances placed before me have been a key factor in the joy I have in my life today.  

My Life Lesson as a Life Giver ♥

In February of this year, I joined my first bible study group in over 25 years.  The study is called "5 Aspects of Woman" and focuses on the role of womanhood, but more so on the way God views us in that role.  

It has been a pretty tough class but completely worth the time and effort applied to each aspect. After each chapter, with our last called Lifegiver, the women in my group are supposed to write something that is called a Life Lesson.  It's something about the aspect we covered, and how the aspect applied to us, what it meant or how it has impacted our lives.  WOW ~ Can I just share that this one, was by far the hardest and the one that brought up the most raw emotions within me. 

Below is the life lesson I shared with my group of 19 amazing women:

As I began this lesson, it became clear that I had no idea what it really meant to be a life giver. And as we studied this lesson it opened up a part in my life that I convinced myself was resolved.

On the surface when I share the short version of the family dynamics within my household, I always felt as if I was not being completely truthful because in my heart I knew there were many emotional wounds I was ignoring.  I began to realize that the more I tried to ignore those emotional wounds the more I found it becoming a barrier in my relationship with Christ and my relationship with my family. 

The last four weeks have been a struggle as we have been working on this aspect of our bible study.  It has been a time of releasing my past and a path of restoration to the brokenness of my children and me.  This lesson forced me to surrender to the lies I continuously told myself; I was not worthy of God's love or His forgiveness for many of my past behaviors. I found myself crying out to God (literally) to restore me and the individual relationships with each of my children. This lesson helped me realize my need to understand how God views me. What I’ve learned is that I am worthy, loveable and forgivable. I found myself meeting Jesus at the well of life and it was then I found myself, for the first time with a genuine heart of repentance asking The Lord to forgive me of my past and the hurtful words, actions and behaviors I had projected upon my children. As quoted in a book I'm currently reading it says:

 

"When darkness is brought into the light, it loses it's power."

 

I have a 22 year old son named Vincent who went to live with his grandmother in Los Banos at age 18, shortly after he graduated high school. What I often leave out are the details of why he left.  I only share that he didn’t want to follow my rules.  I don’t mention that the home environment I had created became unbearable for him. I had neglected his feelings about the concerns he had of how he was treated, not only by me, but by the man that I was living with at that time. It saddens me that since my son has moved out he lives a life of isolation, that consists of him waking up each day, logging onto his computer and spending about 15+ hours a day playing an internet game called, “Final Fantasy.”

I have a 20 year old son named Ryan who lives at home.  He works, takes classes at a local community college and overall seems to display the typical behaviors of a 20 year old boy. I see a lot potential in him but, I also see his need for love and acceptance, and the desire to be taken care of.  He too was another child I neglected to show love toward for a period of time.  He expressed so much anger toward the person I was in a relationship with at that time to the point of a verbal and almost physical altercation.  I will never forget the look on my son’s face on that day.  At the time of this incident, he was 14 years old.  I was home sick in bed as I heard raised voices coming from another room.  Before I knew it my son was standing in my doorway, with tears in his eyes and full of frustration.  I just remember sitting in my bed saying absolutely nothing.

I have a 16 year old daughter named Taylor. I tend to speak of her most because I spend most of my time with her.  I'm always excited to share how shortly after I recommitted my life back to Christ, she followed. What’s left out is the road she traveled to get to the point where she is today.  It was a road filled with the exposure of my foolish behaviors. I was a selfish and self-centered person. My behaviors in the last six years of that ten year relationship deeply affected some of the choices she made in her early teen years.

Of my three children, my greatest heartache has been the struggles I’ve seen her go through.  Perhaps it's because as I watched her behavior and choices, it was as if I was looking into a mirror.  All my kids have been deeply affected in one way or another, but Taylor was the one who outwardly expressed how my depression, co-dependency, excessive drinking, resentment, anger and bitterness effected them.  After years of denial on my part and I began seeing a pattern of events in her life that I saw in my own.  I realized that if something did not change, the path she would head down would look very similar to the life I was living.  It was not something I wanted for her or my boys.

In April 2010 after several months of counseling I finally was honest with myself and mustered up the strength to end the relationship. The day I came home after being away for the weekend and saw all his things cleared out of my house was the beginning of a new life, not only for me but for my children.

One would think my struggles would have ended there, that I had learned my lesson but almost immediately I found myself jumping into another relationship, repeating similar unhealthy patterns months later.  After two years of ups and down in that relationship, in October 2012, I finally began living up to what it meant to be life giver to my children.  It was when I surrendered my life back to Christ that I could begin repairing the damage of the broken lives in my family through Christ.  Over the last two years (2012 - present) there has been so much progress in the healing of my children and my life.

With the conclusion of the last sermon taught at my church on Love, Sex and Lasting Relationships - God's Prescription to Enhance your Love Life, I found myself feeling convicted about the areas of my life that needed to be addressed with my daughter.  I needed to make amends with her for the things she was exposed to and the behaviors she witnessed by me.  I found myself sobbing on my 25 minute drive home from church that evening because everything that was taught in that series, following the Hollywood formula, and all the pain and lies that are attached to that type of relationship was my life up until about a year and a half ago. As I reflect back on those years of my life, I clearly see the damage it caused in my life giving abilities.

This aspect really tugged at my heart.  I had been praying for an opportunity to speak to my daughter and as the fallen aspect of Lifegiver came up, I found myself procrastinating to even begin the lesson.  I forced myself to work on it one Sunday morning as Taylor attended the high school group. It was then that I gave it all to God; my past, my sin, my guilt, my shame and my children.  It was also the moment that I knew I had to confess and ask for forgiveness from all three of my children with a repetitive heart and spirit. 

  

That evening as Taylor and I were sitting in my room, I shared with her how deeply sorry I was for my behavior and what I exposed to her.  I shared with her how ashamed I was and how bad I felt in how it had affected her life in the last few years. I shared how I felt responsible for the choices she’s made in her own past.  I assured her that God forgives us when we come before him with a repetitive heart and ask for his forgiveness. I asked her if she would forgive me.  She said, “I forgive you mom. We all make mistakes. I love you.”

I choose to share my story openly because I want others to know the redemptive power of God. He is restoring my family from brokenness.  As dark as my past was, the day I turned away from that life and surrendered my life to God’s will He made me clean and He is helping me move out of darkness and into the light. 

  

James 5:16 helps me in my daily walk with Christ which says, "We must confess our sins to one another so that we may be healed." 

My choices have come with very harsh consequences.  But those consequences have strengthened my faith in Christ and I cling to the promises of the bible.  

 Romans 8:28 it says, "And we know God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

As I continue this bible study, I'm learning more about the nature of God; loving, merciful, gracious, all knowing, powerful , good and He wants nothing but the very best for all of us.  But in order to get it we have to be willing to follow his plan, not our own.

I did have the opportunity to speak with both of my boys.  I apologized to Ryan for the hurt I caused him. I addressed how he may have felt when I didn't support him in the many times he came to me about his feelings and I asked for his forgiveness.  I also spoke to my oldest son Vincent.  He happened to be in town and decided to stay at my house unexpectedly for a few days.  After Saturday evening’s service I made time to sit with him.  I apologized and asked for his forgiveness as well.  For the first time in the 4 years since he moved away, he asked if maybe he could move back home so that I could help him get a job and enroll in classes. He turned 23 on April 2, 2014 and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to start again with my children.

Happy Birthday Vincent!

As I completed the redeemed aspect of Lifegiver I went back to the beginning of the chapter and found this sentence to be a source of hope in my own redemption ~

♥Love is the heart of lifegiving, but only CHRIST can re-create loving Lifegivers from fallen, selfish death dealers.♥
  

I can't go back and erase my past, but I can keep pressing forward and share Jesus' love through my actions toward my family and others.  We have to be the light in their life so they can see and be the light in this dark world.  

  

I am thankful to each lady in my bible study.  I am thankful that they share their struggles, fears, wisdom and faith.  I am thankful they have made this group a safe place to openly share my growth and healing.  It is encouraging to be connected with women who love Jesus and seek Him continuously.  Each one of them is a Lifegiving gift to me.