December 2

Hi!

Well I just got a fabulous deal on Venus razor blades online, MAN I'm a good shopper :-D I got 16 blades for $24, free shipping... doesn't get any better I don't think, unless you steal them :-D Mom said I could buy them with her credit card for Christmas :-D razor blades are something you can really always stock up on; in fact, today I think I will change my razor blade and shave my legs to celebrate.

Ummmm... today I did Cardio Party Mix 2 which has proved itself time and time again to be the most fun workout EVER. I used my weighted gloves. My back is a little bit sore from the intense punching I did yesterday, so I said no to my planned upper body strength training for today. I find that if I punch intensely during my workouts, I give my upper body a great workout as it is. After that I did the 20 minute lower body segment with resistance from one of Leslie's newest workouts... the NEWEST of which comes out today; I ordered it from Amazon for $10 along with the last Turbo DVD that I don't have yet (Cardio Party 3!!) and I should be getting both of those today, it's going to be like CHRISTMAS! Already! I am looking so forward to it! After that segment (BURN) I did 9 minutes of straight abs, ouch. They're getting ripped, though, each week I see more definition.

Today's Our Daily Bread focused on living out our God-given passions, whatever they may be, for Christ and not ourselves... the text for today came out of 1 Corinthians... some of my favorite verses!

"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (5:16-17)

I needed that reminder. I need it every day! Each day is a new battle for me against my old self. All those little reminders of what I've done, how I used to think of people, myself, and Jesus... from a human point of view, they still haunt me.

Like in verse 16, when I stopped evaluating others from a human point of view, EVERYTHING CHANGED. That which attracted me before appears to me like flowers that have been crushed into the earth. Once beautiful to me, but not anymore. "How differently we know him now!" Boy I tell you what, it's like I took off my rose-colored glasses.

I guess its kind of like weight loss and fitness... you have to find what works for you, something you will stick to. I have found an exercise form I LOVE and look forward to, and it's keeping me strong. Likewise, to keep those wicked memories of my old life at bay, I gotta stick to what works: staying in the Word.

I try to start and end each day with it. Mornings obviously go better than evenings, but before I go to bed at night, I like to open up that nice (not dusty, for once) book and just read.

Last night I read Song of Songs. I just felt like crying about it... the love expressed in those pages is so... genuine. Mutual... the Beloved and her Lover want to be with each other so badly, so earnestly, so purely. It just really struck me. They had nothing but loving words to say to one another and they clearly considered each other to be the most beautiful and perfect creature. I feel like that is how God sees us, the most beautiful and perfect creature that ever walked the planet, he wants to be with us all the time. In my ponderings about relationships and what I should be on the lookout for, I've come to the conclusion that God could only want for us the kind of love that most closely mirrors His love for us. Therefore, my Mr. Right is someone I see through God's eyes before I see him through my own. I want to love that man like the Beloved loves her Lover in the Song of Songs. And you can bet your bottom dollar he's going to feel the same way about me.

No, this isn't asking too much. It isn't unrealistic to expect someone to think you are THE most beautiful woman on the face of the earth, inside and out. Someone is out there really gets me. Someone that is wonderful just the way God created them. How could I ever settle for anything less?