Monday, September 26, 2011

Do It As Unto the Lord

I invited my sister Jill over for lunch today. It made my day that she came to eat lunch with me. We just had vegetables: squash, roasted green beans, steamed kale, corn on the cob and sliced fresh tomatoes. Squash cooked whole in the microwave then cut up and topped with a little onion powder and butter is unbelievably good. For dessert we had Greek yogurt with honey with slices of frozen banana. You should try this because it tastes like a nice gooey dessert --so good! While I was preparing the meal I was thinking about how the Bible tells us to do everything unto the Lord. This led to the sweetest thoughts about preparing a meal for Jesus. What a wonderful thing to think on whenever cooking a meal for anyone. I really hope I can begin showing more Christian hospitality.

I've started memorizing Scripture again which has re-awakened my love for it. God's Word is invaluable and so rich in beauty and encouragement. I don't see how people can choose not to read the Bible. Maybe they need someone like you to tell them wonderful things about God's Word. I'm memorizing a long passage from 2 Peter Chapter One beginning with verse three. Verse three says we are called "to glory and virtue" I did not even know that this was in the Bible and it is so exciting to find it! I told my sister about this and recited 2 Peter 1:3-4 for her. We had a great conversation about it.

Jill: "What do you think virtue means?"

Me: "I think it's all the great things about being a Christian."

Jill: "That is a beautiful definition."

I told Jill I remembered her son memorizing this Scripture when he was younger:

2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. KJV

He's a senior in college and has done wonderfully. I said I bet this scripture has something to do with it!


I've been convalescing nicely lately. I'm wearing oxygen almost all of the time. I'm not walking for very many blocks but I'm building up gradually. Saturday I took a walk and didn't have to make any rest stops. I was thinking --wow,this is a lot of walking. I've started an exercise routine besides walking and it makes me feel great. I need those endorphins exercise gives me, which makes me feel great. The endorphins plus getting my heart beating faster help me feel like doing the things I need to do. Getting things done is a major plus and is great for my mood.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

A Lovely Day

Today has been a beautiful day. I went swimming at an indoor pool where I have a membership. The inside of the pool has been totally redone. It looks so nice. It was great to be swimming again! I want to start swimming a lot and taking lots of walks too. There are many good reasons for doing this, one of which is to help me sleep better.

When I was returning home I met my mom and stepfather walking Drew, their Scottish Terrier. Drew got all excited when she realized it was me in the car, when she recognized my voice. Although she's a dog she has a big wonderful personality.

I keep getting ideas for cooking using yogurt! So far I made a marinade/sauce for grilled salmon with plain yogurt and just a few other ingredients. I like it. I want to make some yogurt cheese and use it to make chicken dip, and maybe some chicken enchiladas. Yogurt cheese tastes kind of like a cross between sour cream and cream cheese. I'm not fixated on yogurt-- these are just some good ideas I think and I really want to try them and see.

I had a really nice visit with Mom this afternoon. We sat on the porch until it got too hot. Drew, Mom's Scotty, wanted lots of love and attention. She's like that when it's been a while since I visited.

I'm looking forward to church in the morning. I've already picked out my clothes and even chose which makeup and earrings I'm going to wear. Having these decisions already made makes getting ready a lot easier.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I Want A Disciplined Life

These are some disciplines I want to maintain each day in no particular order. However I need order in my life or I'll get to feeling bedraggled.

(1) Do elastic band arm exercises, which keeps my shoulders from feeling tight in addition to helping to condition my upper body.

(2) Keep my apartment as neat as a pin. When I don't it just gets to looking worse. I'm so much happier when my apartment looks nice.

(3) Read the Bible online following Prof. Horner's Bible Reading System, reading at least half of the ten chapters each day. I love the staying in the Word and I miss too many blessings if I don't stay in the Word.

(4) Blog about what was most meaningful to me in my day's Scripture reading.

(5) Earnestly work on memorizing a Scripture acrostic. Knowing God's word well enough to recite it any time floods my mind with transforming spiritual truths.

(6) Eat 1,500 to 1,800 calories of healthy food each day. I can't feel my best if I don't eat healthily and I want to lose weight. Knowing I'm genuinely working on losing weight makes me more cheerful and optimistic.

(7) Walk or swim everyday if at all possible, unless I'm really tired and need to rest. Exercise makes me feel great and I want to stay at the top of my game. Aerobic exercise burns fat too.

(8) Avoid procrastinating on anything I really need to get done-- make it a priority. I think procrastinating can keep you from flourishing.

I may be adding more things to this list.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Spring Weather!

We've been having some absolutely wonderful spring weather. I've been enjoying it so much, especially being that it's right on the heels of some very cold winter weather. I've really been enjoying taking walks and am walking about 33% farther each time-- four laps around the park instead of three, which is about a mile. I really want to keep walking farther and work up to two miles or more. With this weather I think I'll try walking twice a day. Today was real overcast and damp so I didn't walk. I find that my energy level is so vulnerable to rainy or overcast weather. I had plans to clean and grocery shop today but about all I could aspire to was a long nap and running an errand. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny with continued spring weather. I'm so glad that the warmer weather because now I won't be afraid that the indoor pool will be too cold to swim in. I can't wait to go swimming!

In the midst of trying to diet, I feel like I've gained a little weight. I do weigh but the scales usually really fluctuate a lot. It's been difficult to stay within 1,800 calories lately and I've been eating my mom's sugar free cake pretty often, which adds atleast 250 calories I can't afford. I think I'm not going to let myself have any of my mom's cake unless it's on the weekend. I'm going to make a renewed effort at counting calories.

I was so glad to write another post for my Scripture blog. After being hospitalized recently and being on medicine that elevated my blood sugar, I really didn't feel like myself at all for a week or so. It was frustrating to think that I might just be stalled in writing the Scripture blog, so I'm real happy to get it going again. I wrote a new post yesterday and am going to try to post every day if I can.

I really want to memorize some more Scripture acrostics. I'm going to try to work on this more and try to get on the internet less. I've been wanting to write a book which would contain my Scripture acrostics. I've decided to write an e-book! It will have my Scripture acrostics plus two or three more chapters related to God's Word, memorizing, and how to write Scripture acrostics. I plan to begin working on this soon and I can't wait for people to have access to it. I think it could really be helpful to people because the Scripture acrostics have helped me so much. Hopefully I will do a second edition of this e-book which will have exhortations for each Scripture acrostic.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

A New Puppy

My sister brought, Abby, her new Malti-poo puppy to my mom's house today to get her groomed. The groomer does home grooming but doesn't operate in my sisters location. First we had lunch. Mom cooked us wonderful omelets with ham, mushrooms, green onions and tomatoes. I brought the mushrooms and tomatoes and Jill brought the green onions, ham and light sour cream for a topping.

Peggy the groomer arrived. We're friends with her. The name of Peggy's business is "Precious Paws" which she has written on her car doors. She was so good and gentle at bathing and grooming Abby. Abby looks even cuter now. She wasn't all for the grooming process but she really seemed to be adapting well. As Jill says "She's real, real good some of the time." Jill also told us about how fast Abby is at running and how she jumps and leaps. She can already climb the cellar stairs and she's so tiny. Mom's Scottish Terrier, Drew, got to watch Abby get groomed. Drew is usually always locked in her kennel when Abby comes over. Today Abby was poking her nose between the wires of Drew's kennel. Drew likes Abby's company. It's sad to me that we can't let them play together. It's not that we think Drew would try to hurt Abby but Drew likes to pounce on things with her two front paws, which could injure Abby.

Afterwards I went home and had a good nap. I got up and took a mile walk. I want to go swimming soon and as soon as I get some bills paid and housecleaning done I'm going to. After my walk I wanted to go somewhere-- really to the library, but it was going to be dark soon and I don't like to go after dark because of the area of town it's in. I was kind of unhappy about this but I quickly got over it.

I started working on my recently acquired practice of online Bible reading/blogging. I love doing this. I'm following Professor Horner's Bible reading system. However since I started making blogging a part of this I only read about half of the ten chapters a day. Professor Horner's Bible reading system is a wonderful plan. You should check it out! For my Bible reading/blogging I copy the scriptures, that speak to me the most, from my online Bible reading for the day, into my scripture journaling blog and write notes about what God is saying to me through them. This is helping me so much spiritually and it's so good to be able to go back and read what God has been saying to me. It helps me stay focused and gives me specific things to pray about.