Tune-In-Tuesday: July 3, 2018

Happy 3rd of July, everyone! What's the 3rd of July, you ask? It's the day before the 4th of July. :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. The past week was better for me walking-wise than the week before, so I'm thankful for that! Every day seemed to get better than the previous - progress, I love it! I'm not saying that the week was without issues, there's always going to be issues, but as I think back over it, it was good. God provides. ALL THE TIME. God provides. I laugh when I think back at all the times He shows up. Maybe I shouldn't phrase it like - He's ALWAYS there. I love when He allows me to see that He's always by my side. The things I worry and fret over, He's already got the answer to. So why do I worry and fret? That's the million dollar question. I worry and fret because I'm human and sinful, but God's already got the answer to each and every worry and fret - Do not be anxious about anything!!! (Phil 4:6).

I got an INSANE idea this week. First, let me back up a little bit. As I've been doing yoga weekly, I've gotten to know my yoga instructor better (duh, if you hang out with a person, you tend to get to know them a little - haha). Anyway, a couple of months ago she mentioned that she was doing some self-care of her own. She was seeing what she could add or subtract from her life, for a week, a month...however long she desired. Like, could she give coffee up for a week? She wanted to practice doing handstands. Stuff like that. She inspired me. This past week as July was approaching, I got an insane idea. For the month of July, I want to practice doing push-ups. See, I told you it was an INSANE idea! Who is this person that's overtaken my body? Really - push-ups?!! I've never wanted to do push-ups in my life - never. And yet, all the sudden I want to do them. And let me tell you, it's NOT going to be easy. I can BARELY and I do mean BARELY even do 3 right now. But, I'm going to try it - to give it my best shot. No, I'm not going to try. I'm going to DO. Yes. I'm going to do.

I had yoga tonight and told my instructor of my plans. I said I needed someone to keep me accountable - which is the truth! So now, I can't go back on it. One very, very good thing about me wanting to do push-ups is that I don't know how to do them. So she doesn't have to undo bad habits that I may have learned from doing them, if that had been the case. So, tonight we began training on the push-ups. Ya'll, I'm terrible. TERRIBLE. But, I have the desire and that's 99% of it, right?! (I'm trying to build myself up here - ha!)

This whole push-up thing brought back memories of my very beginning days of exercising. I had (and still do have) a stationary bike. When I decided to try exercise, I couldn't do more than 5 minutes on the bike. Seriously, I was DYING trying to reach 5 minutes. And it was torture - TORTURE. But, in reality, I didn't die and I made it through and I felt so good about myself. So, I worked out for 5 minutes every day for a week. The next week, I raised it to 10 minutes and I was dying all over again, but I stuck with it. And now, it's no big deal for me to do an hour. I'm NOT saying that to brag. Truly, I'm not. I'm saying it to remind myself that if I'm consistent and committed to something, I can tackle it. So, for July it's push-ups. I probably have no idea what I've I gotten myself into, but here goes nothing!

I must, must, must strengthen my core, if I'm going to do push-ups, so that's what we worked on tonight. It's going to be hard, but it's going to be worth it, when results start taking shape.

My other goal for July: read my Bible, specifically the Old Testament. I'm taking my dad's challenge to read the Old Testament this year. And yes, that's not a misprint, I said this year. And yes, we are in July. And yes, I'm just starting. I've confessed. You can be a preacher's daughter and still not do what you're supposed to! My friend, Kristen, found a chart to get us through the entire Old Testament starting July 1 and ending in December. And one more confession: I'm already behind. So tonight, I've got two days worth of reading to do. It's amazing though what reading through the Bible can do for you. My yoga instructor and I were talking tonight about what it means to be strong. What it means to be strong can mean a million different things and being strong is different for everyone. You can be physically strong. You can be emotionally strong. You can be spiritually strong. So while I'm trying in one way to be physically strong, I'm also prepping myself to be spiritually strong by building my core foundation: going back to the "basics" and reading my Bible. I hate to admit that, just like in physical strengthening, sometimes I slack off on spiritual strengthening. So it's back to God's Word I go.

As long as we have breath in our lungs, it's never too late to start something new. It may be challenging. It may be hard. We may think we're going to die doing it, but in ALL circumstances...God's God This!!