What Motivates You?

Welcome to all of my Momentum Fitness Center blog-buds...It's time to get this party started UP IN HERE! What's great about blogging? Many things, but amongst those many things is that we have a forum that we can call our own, with no limits on how many words, how many posts, how many different topics we want to post about..well, about WHATEVER!

So, as the first of many posts relating to our passion for fitness, and in particular out passion for being a part of Momentum Female Fitness Center's special community of women, I'd like to pose a question:

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU TO BE A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY?
We wanna know! So, let's all talk..um..i mean BLOG about it, shall we?

Rho

it's been awhile.

haven't blogged in - LITERALLY - years! time seems to be the real reason for the end of my blogging career. it will also be the real reason that i'm ending this blog right now.

see you in a few years. maybe.

:)

are we there yet?

so tired of the drive....it's long, and hot, and so many times i can't see out the windows for all of the fog that my breath makes on them...constantly talking and wondering and praying aloud makes for alot of steamy windows. talking talking talking, drowning out the pretty music on the radio. bad thing is, i'm in the backseat...absolutely no idea where i am going, and i have that out-of-control feeling...that one that comes over me so many times when i try to crawl behind the wheel and take myself where i want to go, only to realize that i can't drive worth CRAP. every single time i take the wheel, i crash into some tree, or drive over some majorly huge bump in the road..taking it at 90 miles an hour. so. here i sit. in the back seat where i belong..hot, cranky, and absolutely unsure of where i'm going.

are we there yet?

Stripped

here i am again..in the middle of a period of testing. obedience is so hard when your heart is broken. but that's what God wants. my obedience, no matter how much it hurts or how hard it is to choose Him. the bleeding starts when He begins to strip away my securities..one by one, He peels them away, like layers of skin. ouch...know how it feels to fall down and get a wicked little brush burn on your knees? yeah. that's it. that's the feeling. one of the biggest securities that He strips away is Confidence. it's hard to hang on to it when all that you put your confidence in is shaking, like an earthquake beneath your feet. He is telling me - no, wait a minute, make that SCREAMING at me - to stop trusting in anything that this world offers...job, church, relationships, dreams, desires..
all of it, apart from Him, amounts to rubble and ruin. and the peeling continues..layer after layer of gods. big ones, little ones, ones i never knew i had. it's amazing how strong and confident and spiritually mature i feel when all is going my way and the ground beneath my feet is solid. but let one little tremor happen and the story changes. it's amazing though...in the midst of it all i cry out - begging Him to save me from the impending disaster..and lo and behold, He does it. a peace that truly passes ANY and ALL understanding washes over me and through me, and i hear a gentle whisper..'trust in me..with ALL of your heart, and lean NOT unto your own understanding...in all your ways acknowledge ME..and i will direct your paths..'

yeah. you will, won't you?

deconstruction

deconstruct (de/ken strukt') - 1. to break down into constituent parts; dissect; dismantle 2. to analyze by deconstruction. .... yes. exactly. i am there. have been there for several years, and am in the hot seat of it at this very moment. Thanks, God...really. change my mind, change my heart, change my thoughts, change my priorities, change my judgements, change my right and my wrong. thank you for pricking the tough skin of my upbringing and making me tender to those who have never experienced anything even remotely resembling you. continue deconstruction.

the pain of pruning

man. when God decides He's gonna break us down..change us...rearrange us...and make us take a long and hard look at ourselves, He doesn't mess around. i have found myself saying the words, 'break me'...'change me'....'stir me'...without realizing that my loving Heavenly Father would take me up on the offer. ouch. shaking me to my foundations is what the Lord does best..but i don't often ask Him to do it..because it hurts. a deep, unimaginable pain that eats away at my spirit, like some flesh-eating parasite. but the wildest thing about God is that, in the process..there is peace.

the word says in john 15:2 that,..'He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful..." freakish thang, that God-pruning. i feel the clippers close to my dead branches...i shudder with the fear of the pain of the clipping, but am thankful for the reminder in His word that He prunes us lovingly and purposefully, with the end-result being a beautiful, strong tree that produces fruit; more fruit than it can handle! man..that's what i want! i have been desperately seeking the Lord's hand in my life..asking Him not to leave me to fall asleep again..asking Him to fan the flame of passion that burns within me and to keep stirring the waters of my soul. this pain..this stirring..this crazy restlessness, is all so much better than feeling like i am trapped in a world of irrelevance and useless doctrine...but that's another thought for another day and another blog:o)

for today..i am thanking and praising God for the pruning process...anxious for the beautiful fruit that will grow and be used to nourish the hungry souls of others.

to joy, or not to joy?

cool thought for the day, ya'll.

JOY.

'joy is not hypocrisy nor pollyannaism..joy is REALISTIC. it knows that life is painted in light and dark colors - that it has its contrasts - but that growth can come in all of these moods and times.'

*fred smith, 'you and your network'

so..my thoughts on this subject? this just means that whether i have a smile on my face that doesn't make sense to anyone but me and Jesus, or whether i'm deep in thought and completely distracted and not looking particularly 'engaged' in the things of this world - it's all good...

cuz it's ALL JOY:o)

i'm out!
rho