March 12, 2007

40 by 40

I've got a birthday coming up in a few days. THIRTY-NINE. For the life of me, I can't figure out how I got here. I certainly don't FEEL 39. I'm sure I don't ACT 39. And I don't LOOK 39 (it's more like 45, I think!)

I've been telling friends for the past month that this is the last birthday I'm acknowledging. Not the last one I'm HAVING (Lord willing)...but the last one I'll openly celebrate. During the past week, God started writing something on my heart... a plan which, if I follow it as He's laid it out, will enable me to celebrate the BIG 4-0 with a bang next year.

Are you ready for this?

It's called the "40 BY 40 Plan", & it involves 2 things.

First (and most painful), I'm going to lose 40 pounds by my 40th birthday. I want to. I need to. I've GOT to. I'm giving myself permission to take my time on this, and not set any unreasonable goals or focus on unrealistic expectations. I started Weight Watchers again today, and I know with God's help, I can do this. Well, not God's help so much as Him doing it ALL! The Holy Spirit is going to have to knock me over the head more than once to get the chocolate cravings out of my system!

Second (and most importantly), I'm going to commit 40 Scriptures to memory. And "Jesus wept." isn't one of them. I don't know what they are yet, but He's going to give them to me. I just know He is.

So, I'll be LOSING the weight and GAINING Jesus! How great is that?!

I'll save myself the embarrassment of actually posting my weight, but I might be brave enough to keep track of pounds lost. I'll be posting the Scriptures on my blog every weekend. If you'd like to join me in hiding His Word in your heart, let me know in the comments. Who knows, we may be able to get Boomama to make us a fancy-schmansy icon for our sidebars ;-)

8 comments:

Shalee said...

That has got to be the most perfect plan that I've seen in a long time, Melissa.

Losing weight and gaining Jesus - that could be quite the Bible study too. Losing the weight of the world and your sin and gaining Jesus and his lighter than air forgiveness...

I love the idea of memorizing the verses. I really have no reason that I can't join you on that portion of the plan. (And yeah, I could afford to lose a few of the pounds too...)

Jennifer said...

Glad you're back! Love your plan, too.

I've been in a rut/pit for a while now and maybe I need that book, too. I'm not sure I'm ready to crawl out yet is the problem. *sigh*

Brenda said...

What a great plan! I would love to join you.

So glad you're back. Happy early Birthday!

MizB said...

Weight loss doesn't have to be painful ... and there can be MORE of Jesus, and LESS of you! :o)

The Christian program, "Thin Within, teaches you to relearn to listen to your body's natural, God-given cues of "hunger" and "satiety", and by following these cues -- eating ONLY when hungry, stopping when you've had JUST ENOUGH, and leaning on God to get through the times when you want to overeat -- you drop down to your God-given size!

It truly works, too! I released (not "lost", 'cause then you'd want to *find* it again!) 25 lbs in the first 6 months! It's the only thing that's ever worked for me, in 7 years of trying a whole lot of diets!

I will never "diet" again!

More info can be found on my blog... Intuitive Eating is just another name for the hunger-fullness method taught by Judy & Arthur Halliday.

Oh, and the Thin Within book reads like a Bible study -- it's broken down into 30 days-worth of reading, and it teaches you all about God's grace, and how we are NOT condemned (Romans 8:1), but each misstep is just a learning opportunity... not a failure!

I, too, am aiming to be my "natural weight" by the time I turn 40... I've got 11 years. ;o)

Blessings in your endeavors!

<>< Mizbooks

Diane Viere said...

What a goal!

What a great goal for any age! Having visited 40 12 years ago....you'll do just fine my dear! Especially, most importantly, if you keep gaining Jesus!

Diane

sobeit said...

Glad to see you back in bloggerville. I've been stuck in a pit too....except mine required a lot of writing and editing....my national boards. It's crunch time, but I took a break to blog and I was tagged. So now, if you have time, which I know is hard to find, you can find the tag on my blog! I'm coming up on a birthday too, and I just want to know what happened to the little outgoing girl that I used to be! Maybe this summer, I can find her!!! Anyhow, hope you have a great week!!

Kelli
http://sobeit89.squarespace.com

Dana~Are We There Yet? said...

I clicked over from your comment at BooMama's about not having a lot of traffic. So, here I am! Trafficking away!

I actually did post my weight on my blog, and I'm down 30 from that, but stuck at the moment. Time to get serious again, I'd say. I'll be 40 on my next birthday (January 27, 2008 -- shop now and beat the crowds!). If I lost 40 between just now and then, I'd be in a much better place.

I'd love to know the Scriptures that the Lord instructs you to memorize, if you felt like sharing them...

Take care, and I'll traffic this way again soon!

Speaking Thru Me Ministries said...

count me in!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how do i do this?? is the verse sent to us automatically. I am not very computer savvy.........

thanks!