That’s right, I said HEALTHY BROWNIES! As I was walking through a street fair over the weekend, I stumbled upon a company that makes various bakery products that are free of gluten, dairy, soy and egg but NOT free of flavor! I tried their Salted Caramel Brownie and was in heaven. I also tried a really yummy sourdough bread. Amazing! The company is called Fancy Free bakery and their web address is www.FancyFreeBakery.com. You can also purchase their product at Savrika Tea in Kirkland, WA. I’ll definitely be ordering from these folks in the future!

Other than that brownies, my other food-related comment is that I have found that some days I’m not eating enough and man does that make me feel bleh! I’ve started keeping a food journal and one day last week I as eating throughout the morning about one piece of fruit every 90 minutes and then I went for a little over two hours without eating and I felt sick. So, I’ve got to be sure I’ve got an apple on me or something that I can eat in between my actual meals. Crazy, never thought I would have the problem of not eating enough!!

As far as the biking goal, I haven’t made any real progress other than I am walking more just trying to get my body moving and muscles building. I’m walking 3 days a week right now for about 30 minutes and will be building that up here in the next week. I’m not sure I can add more time right now so I’m going for adding more days. I need to venture up to the little fitness room we have here in my apartment complex and see what it’s like. If it’s not that great, which is what I’m imagining, I may need to join a gym. Oh, and actually USE the membership! 😀

Praising God all the way through these goals! Only through Him will I be able to make any of them happen. I’ve decided that they all take will power but not the kind I’ve been used to in the past, not just relying on me. My WILL and His POWER are the way to success!! Are you working on any goals right now? Share them with me and let’s work through them together!!

Live in God’s love, grace, peace and mercy.

KA 🙂

Scales

I dislike the scale immensely!! (I try not to use the word “hate” but I’m coming close to using it!) I don’t know about you but I can have a week where I feel like I’ve deprived myself of every single thing I wanted to eat and know I shouldn’t and yet the scale barely moves. Grrrr! So, in order to keep my spirit up, I’ve decided I’m only going to weigh myself once a month. My spirit needs a bigger bang for the buck and I need to see more impact.

Do you know people who weight themselves daily? I’ve heard of this torture and have occasionally fallen into the siren’s trap of daily weighing and have found that it nearly crushes me against the rocks of despair. I recall reading an article once where a woman said that weighing herself daily helped keep her on track. Um, I don’t know what kind of track she’s on, but weighing myself daily would put me on the track to a large bag of potato chips and a 6-pack of pop with a candy bar on the side. No thanks!

Part of the desire of documenting the next 12-months and my goals is to encourage us all to live differently. Sisters, we must stop feeling shame about our weight. God isn’t looking down on us pointing His finger saying, “You know Kellyann, I would love you more if you weighed 140 pounds.” God loves us no matter what we weigh and yet I think He wants us in healthier weights in order to live healthier lives. If food has become your source of comfort or your place of peace, I challenge you to turn to God instead.

We have to stop judging ourselves and each other and start turning to God. I am convinced that what will happen once we look up to God instead of down to the scale is that we’ll love ourselves and each other more. 🙂 We’ll be able to share with each other our challenges and our success, our sadness and our joy…our lives. (ps….this all also applies to my sisters who face the other side of the food challenge: not eating enough. Being underweight and undernourished is just as much a health risk as being overweight. This issue here is about being healthy and looking to God for comfort and love.)

Other Stuff

Bikes are crazy complex and expensive! I went into the bike shop last week feeling like I could just stroll in and say, “Hey, I want to ride in the STP next year!”, and the sales guy would hook me up for $500 bucks and I’d walk out a happy camper. WOW! That is so not what happened. After a 20 minute conversation on the 3 variations of bike that I should choose from, we started talking about being fitted for the bike, the helmet the seat; when and why to use fenders; which handle bars are the most comfortable. To say I was glassy-eyed and overwhelmed would be an understatement. Not to mention that he said it’s going to cost me more like $2500 bucks to get fully set up! YIKES!

Ok, so once I stumbled out to my car and breathed for a moment I fired off a text message to a friend of mine who is a bike rider and confirmed that yes, I would most definitely be needing her help in this purchase. My picture of going to K-Mart and just buying any bike that was the color I liked was clearly misguided. So, I’ll start of slow, purchase a used bike and good equipment and work my way up to the bike I will need for the STP next year.

Do you remember your first bike? Boy I sure do! I was in the 3^rd grade and it was a 3-speed. (That’s right, I said 3-speed. That’s just how I roll!) It was beige with brown and red racing strips and it rocked. My grandparents sent me money to buy a bike so I got to pick this awesome cruiser out. At the time we were living in Beaverton, OR. There was a little park not far away where I could ride around this paved path. I remember there was a hill that felt HUGE, though I’m sure that if I look at it now I would realize it was actually a speed bump. (I am always sad to see how little things actually are when my memory from childhood is bigger.)

Ok, that’s my update for last week. Thanks for journeying with me!!

Heavenly Father, bless my friends reading this blog. Encourage them to turn to You and not food or starvation. Remind us all that we need to feel fully confident that you love us no matter what our bodies look like. Help us join together in a supportive family and not judge each other or ourselves. Help us make the right choices to live healthier lives. Help us start a revolution where we live fully in Your love with each other in complete support. We love you, Amen.

Live in God’s love, grace, peace and mercy my friends!! As always, if you need a prayer partner please email me at kaprayingforyou@gmail.com.

Love you,

KA 🙂

Wow…it’s been a while since I wrote in my blog! So when I started this blog, the sole purpose was for it to be a devotional blog. All of the entries started with a verse and then my life’s application of that verse or how God spoke to me through that verse. I love writing devotionals because my heart is to encourage people to turn their full faces toward God. Devotionals help me do that and I hope the encourage you to do that as well.

July was a great month for me. I took off from some of my ministry work and rested in Christ. I practiced the art of being instead of doing. It was a lovely time of rest and I fell more in love with Jesus. During this time, God really spoke to my heart that His call on my life is to encourage people and to make my life an example of an inextricably reliant relationship with Him. To that end, I’m changing the blog a little.

Starting today, I’m going to add to the blog my journey through the next 12-months and I’m calling it “Journey 1314”. I have set some lofty goals for the next 12 months and I want to share how God is moving me through these goals and causing my to change and grow. These goals will only be accomplished by God moving through my life and my circumstances to bring me to His success. My heart’s desire in this endeavor, and the reason for documenting everything, is to give Him the glory and encourage you to live inextricably reliant on Jesus.

Here’s the plan: I’m going to list out the goals and then each Monday, at the minimum, I’m going to update you on my progress. I’m also still going to do devotional entries so I’ll start using tags for easy following. If the entry is about Journey 1314, then it will be categorized that way. If it’s a devotional entry, then it’ll be categorized as such. (I think you get the picture!)

So, without further ado…..JOURNEY 1314:THE GOALS!

Goal 1: Vegetarian Eating

For the last 10 days of July, I chose to do a fast that’s called “The Daniels’ Fast”. Based on the book of Daniel, it is primarily eating only plant-based foods and drinking only water. In a nutshell, it’s a raw vegan diet. I have LOVED it! I feel so great it’s crazy. So, I’m planning to modify a little but still basically stay vegetarian. Actually, I’ve renamed it “Veganatarian” because my diet will really be a hybrid of the two. One awesome help I have found for this endeavor is the website, www.conveganence.com. This site has awesome recipes and also has a service where they will send you weekly menu ideas, shopping lists and recipes! It’s fantastic!!! Of course my biggest help in this will be God because He’ll need to help keep my car from pulling through the McDonald’s drive-thru.

Goal 2: Lose 50 pounds

So, I’m going to break a HUGE female rule right now…you ready? You sitting down? I weigh 262 pounds. (Whew…transparency is awesome!! And scary!! YIKES! Did I really just put my weight on the internet?) Of course, we as women try to hide our weight all the time. We either want you to think we weigh less or we want you to think we weight more. As Americans we have this preoccupation with our weight and so by sharing mine, I’m hoping we can start tearing down some of the silly little “laws” we put up, like not telling anyone our actual weight. It’s a number ladies, it’s not the value of your worth! 😀

Anyways, coming off the soap box now, I need to lose more like 100 pounds or more but I’m just starting with this 50 pound goal. With the better eating, LOADS and LOADS of prayer, and more activity, this goal is easily attainable.

Goal 3: Ride in the Seattle-to-Portland

Every year, hundreds of bicyclists ride from Seattle to Portland. It’s kind of crazy and kind of awesome and I want to be part of it next. Now for me, the crazy part is that I don’t own a bike right now and the last time I rode one was um……..not sure. This is a definite stretch goal and success isn’t based on speed. I will be successful if I show up and start! I have no preconceived desire for any length of time it will take me to get there and I don’t care if I’m last. I just want to get in the mix and show myself that while I feel like a lump, I can actually be athletic. Again, this one is going to take LOADS and LOADS of prayer and support.

Goal 4: Get “Reliant” devotional published

I’ve been working on a devotional book based on my blog and right now have the manuscript out for editing. I’m very, very excited about this project and very much aware that this endeavor is ALL God. His words working in my life spurred the blog and I’m praying will flow out beautifully in book form and encourage others. My prayer through this editing process has been, “God, these are your words, not mine. Please don’t let my heart feel hurt at other’s input because it’s Your book.” As I move from editing to seeking publishing, that will continue to be my prayer. My hope is that I can start to “shop” the book by the fall but since this is my first book, I have no idea if that is realistic so I’m keeping it a Jell-O timeframe.

Goal 5: Speak to Women

God has blessed me with a natural storytelling personality with humor. I don’t say that in any amount of arrogance. I know I’m funny and yet I know I’m not the funniest person out there so I don’t have any pride about it. I know I love to talk to people and reach out and I know that I want to bless women (and probably a few boys along the way). People are hurting.  I was hurting, and through Christ and Christ alone I have been set free and I want to share that as loudly as I possibly can. My heart’s desire is to speak in front of women and shine God’s light into their lives and help them draw closer to Him.

As you can see, it’s going to be a busy and exciting Journey 1314!! I’m excited to be sharing this journey with you and pray you see God’s hand in my life as clearly as I do. I welcome comments and covet prayers. My prayer for you is that something I write spurs you to draw closer God and see what He wants to do in your life.  JOURNEY 1314…here we come! 😀