Joy Comes in the Morning

Hello everyone! 🙂

Monday January the 15th was officially my halfway point of this Whole 30 journey! I had every intention of getting an update post written and published, but Mondays are my days to clean the house, do laundry, dishes and meal prep. I just ran out of time. Isn’t it crazy that we all have the same amount of minutes and hours in a week, but that’s often our first excuse: I didn’t have time! I’m trying to be more intentional about using my time wisely and avoiding those time traps that take opportunities away from me!

Week #1: January 1st-7th

This week was a breeze. Really. I worked out Monday through Friday and had tons of energy and motivation to meal prep, eat healthy and work out. I had all my meals planned out and I rarely snacked because my meals left me full and satisfied! Goals. By day 5, I could already tell a difference in my body-I was less bloated than normal!

Week #2: January 8th-14th

I should have known. 😉 This week was more difficult than I thought it would be. I went out to lunch with a friend and I chose a place where I could eat well and enjoy my meal: Ruby Tuesday. I ordered a grilled chicken breast with no seasoning, a plain baked potato and the garden bar. I started with a big salad with olive oil, lemon and salt and pepper as my homemade dressing. 🙂 The chicken was great and so was the plain potato. I was full and satisfied.

The battle and struggle this week was all mental. I think this is when the enemy started reminding me of all my favorite things I chose to give up. He called to question my motives. I began to turn things over in mind and dwell on things that really got my spirit down. I was surprised how quickly my attitude had changed in just one week!

It was hard to eat the lunch I had prepared for this week: Turkey Taco Wraps. If there’s one food I love almost as much as mashed potatoes and gravy, it’s tacos. I don’t think you can be sad while holding a taco. You just can’t. I used romaine lettuce hearts as the taco shell and topped them with seasoned ground turkey, avocado, salsa and tomatoes.

But it wasn’t as good as a real taco because it didn’t have cheese or sour cream. 🙁 I couldn’t help but think, “Why am I doing this? Why did I choose to do this?” When you start to think those thoughts, it’s best to remember and think about the reasons you started in the first place and pray right then and there about those things.

We also hosted a conference at our church Friday and Saturday! The conference was amazing! So many truths and encouraging words were taught that ministered to me. But that also meant being extra prepared by bringing my own food. Not so much trouble, I guess. I rolled up Friday night with my cooler and pulled out hard boiled eggs, celery sticks, sliced peppers, pickles, nuts, guacamole, almond butter and grapes, fully expecting to eat a couple of plain grilled hamburger patties instead of the hot dogs, chips and coleslaw that were being served. However, they were all gone. 🙁

I was sad and a little panicked, but I prepared for this. So I ate what I had until magically a pan of warm hamburger patties were pulled from the oven and put on the buffet! Praise God. It really is the little things folks. 🙂

I made my own Whole 30 breakfast at our friend’s house and gladly ate a banana instead of the Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins and danishes at church. Oh man, those muffins are terrible for you, but they taste amazing.

I even made a Whole 30 chili for lunch that I shared with some other people who are also doing the Whole 30 right now! I love to cook. I really think food is the 6th love language. 🙂 🙂 🙂

We came home that afternoon, a little tired, but we went to the store and made dinner that evening: breakfast burrito bowls! Who doesn’t love breakfast burritos? It was actually really good. I love to make breakfast burritos because:

1. they are yummy
2. they are filling
3. and they are really good leftover!

Now on to Sunday. Sunday. My favorite day of the week. 🙂 I had somewhat of a meltdown over dinner you could say. I was struggling to come up with a meal for Sunday evening, but I decided last minute to make beef stir fry! I LOVE Chinese food. I swear I am part Chinese. I could eat it every.single.day. My favorite thing is all the vegetables!! My other favorite thing is the sauce. So yummy! However, on the Whole 30, you can’t have soy anything. So, no soy sauce and no sugar…the stuff yummy Chinese food is made of. My food was fine, but I got so upset making Eric’s food. The wok totally consumed all the oil I put in it and started to BURN his food, all while I was making him noodles and sauteing his beef in a separate pan. It was too much for me to handle! These kind of random meltdowns are somewhat common while doing the Whole 30. 😉 In the beginning, at least.

So, this got me thinking…what is different about me doing the Whole 30 this time? This is my 4th round of Whole 30 as they would say…meaning I’ve done the Whole 30 four times.

So far, I have learned that just because you do something once, does not mean it will produce the same results if you do it again. Duh. The first week was so easy and the second week was not, so it would be easy for me to carry that disappointment the rest of the month, but I’m not. I can’t. I need to remember to focus on why I started this journey in the first place and focus on that!

I have also learned to be a woman of my word. In the past, I have made commitments and said yes to things that later, I didn’t want to do. God has helped me to refine this part of me and I have gotten a lot better at letting my yes be yes and my no be no. When I felt the Lord calling me to enter into this time of fasting and prayer again, I wanted to keep my promise to Him. I needed Him to help me keep my word; my dependence on Him has greatly increased.

I have also learned so much about grace. Grace for myself and grace for others. One of my favorite authors, Lysa Terkeurst, said in her book, Made to Crave: “I am on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self-discipline for the purpose of holiness.” Whoah. I love that so much. Because holiness is a journey, is it not? Every day we either follow our flesh or we follow the Spirit. This is why I do the Whole 30. Because it’s hard and it helps me to rely on the Spirit.

Week #3 January 15th-20th

This week was full of challenges as well, but I found so much comfort and wisdom in God’s Word. I’m reading through 1 Timothy in the mornings and this verse really stood out to me:

1 Timothy 4:8

“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Although I have had the desire to work out, I pray and ask the Lord for the desire to pray and read His Word every day. Righteousness must be sought after! I have been practicing the “SOAP” method of Bible studying. I really think it has helped me to retain Scripture better! It’s been helpful to look back and see how God’s Word spoke to me and encouraged me that day. I find it’s best to take the time to actually write out the SOAP method in a notebook. It really allows you to slow down and not rush through the process.

The SOAP method stands for Scripture, Observation,  Application and Prayer. This is how it works:

1. Start with prayer. I always pray to God and ask Him to open my eyes to what He wants to show me in the passage. I pray for understanding and retention. Then, I start with one chapter of Scripture and read it all the way through start to finish. Usually, a verse will stand out to me, which leads to step 2.
2. You write out the Scripture that meant the most to you. I usually pick one verse to focus on.
3. Then, you write out what you observe from that verse. This step is important because it reminds us how important context is in Scripture. Anyone can take a verse in the Bible and use it to their advantage…good and bad. An observation is not something you relate to yourself or your life, not yet anyway.
4. The next step is application! How does this verse apply to your life? How can you take the wisdom or inherent lesson in the verse and pursue holiness? What changes is God calling you to make?
5. Once you see an opportunity to apply holiness and knowledge, you pray! Pray for God to help you retain that Scripture and the courage to live it out!

Starting my day with the Lord has helped me to pursue holiness all day long. I’m not a morning person, but I firmly believe that when you wake up and before your feet hit the floor, you should pray and give God your day for His purposes. I have enjoyed digging deeper into His Word and I have learned that when you take away distractions, like food, you can focus on what is really important!

Only 8 more days left! 🙂