Month: January 2016

Food, glorious FOOD! Both Oliver and I agree……. Food is glorious! It’s the center of our culture, our gatherings with family and friends, it’s a comforter and motivater to exercise and to top it off the Word even tells us; “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”Revelation 3:20 NLT The Lord Himself will sit down and share a meal together with us in Heaven!

Now I’m from New Orleans! Enough said! I don’t need to explain my love for food! We definitely LIVE to eat down in da bayou sha! It doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it is, if you come by to visit someone in Louisiana they will brew you a fresh pot of coffee and chicory, heat up the leftover jambalaya or gumbo and serve you a piece of homemade chocolate pie with mile-high meringue! I am salivating as I write this and perhaps may have a small tear in one eye!😅

In my adult life I have allowed food to control me in both positive and negative ways and everything in between! I’ve had an OBSESSION with it! In less than 3 months I gained 20 pounds when I went off to college and feasted on every carbohydrate ever created, loaded with some kind of cream sauce, cheese and or butter! I then got a job in a Mexican restaurant, no less, and the pounds continued to stick to my petite 5’3″ body! I didn’t feel good, had no energy and had a terrible body image as I was 40 pounds heavier than my normal weight! I met my dear husband Joe during this time and was amazed that he fell in love and then married me in my “more to love?” state!

Shortly after we married, we moved to Los Angeles, home of the beautiful people! Everyone was thin, ate healthy and exercised and the women wore no makeup! Boy did I stick out like a debutante at a hockey game! I enrolled in dance classes in “Hollywood” and thus begain a huge food pendulum swing! I became anorexic thinking the thinner the better! I would eat only 500 calories a day Monday through Friday, then would BINGE eat until Sunday afternoon! I would go to dance class Monday night with big plastic pants on to cover up my HUGE 105 pound body! I actually SAW fat when I looked into the mirror!

One afternoon as I was with my Sunday school class in the mountains, they were all enjoying homemade apple pie with ice cream and I sat there with my baggie of celery and carrot sticks! Thank God for His Holy Spirit that allowed me to see the absurdity of my actions not to mention the crazy looks from my friends! He showed me I was heading for some serious health, mental and social issues if I didn’t get a grip on my food attitude-foodatude! I prayerfully sought His help and strength and became intentional about a more balanced approach to food!

Since then I have gone from creeping back over to the food depravation camp, though not even close to that extreme , to swinging over to the “throw caution to the wind” foodatude!

Many of my friends from Tyler can still picture me coming at them waving my boney forefinger, as they were drinking a diet soda or eating a donut! I was after all their own personal “food nazi” who was doing this for their own good! Not how to win friends and influence people however! I had also become a group fitness instructor and personal trainer which added fuel to the fire and felt it was my mission to educate people about food and fitness!

Five years ago we moved away from family and friends and this town of 80,000 with a few chain restaurants!  We had lived there for 23 years! We discovered life in a big city that was a “foodies” paradise! Ohhhhhh here comes another pendulum swing! Yep, there it went! All the way to the other extreme! After eating “healthy” for over 30 years and foregoing EVERYTHING fried or filled with sugar, I had had it! We lived in an apartment and tried a new restaurant or happy hour 4-5 times a week! It felt like we were newlyweds and I began gaining weight accordingly! I was rediscovering the deliciousness of all things fried and sweet and I also was not even exercising! I was living to eat!!

Fast forward to last March when we picked up and moved to Houston, yes another Foodie paradise, to be close to our beautiful grandbabies! Of course we had to check out the many eclectic epicurean delights here! And so the OBSESSION with food continued as the pendulum remained stuck on the I don’t care what I eat cause I’m enjoying every morsel! Of course I’ve studied enough about nutrition to know man cannot live on Mexican or Italian food alone! Weak on the vegetables! I continued to feel sluggish, developed sleep issues and just felt as I was aging by the minute! And all of this despite joining a health club and working out 4-5 times a week! Exercise can not offset what we are putting into our bodies!

So what has it taken to yank that pendulum back to a balanced and healthy place? I looked at my precious grandbabies one day and realized I wanted to be here to see them grow up, get married and even have my grandbabies! I want to impart practical and spiritual wisdom and truth to them, but I want and need to be healthy and energetic to do it! I want to be able to able to finish strong, the race set before me! I want to accomplish every assignment the Lord has for me and I don’t want to be dragging myself along to do it! I was abusing my body on both sides of that pendulum! I want to learn to eat to live!

This verse really speaks to my heart! Yes our bodies are TEMPLES! THE Holy Spirit LIVES there! When I read “You are not your own You were bought with a price!”, it made me realize that Jesus paid an enormous price for each of us by giving up His life as every last drop of blood was lost at the cross! Couldn’t I respect my body enough to feed and nourish it in a way that brought health and vitality to it instead of death and destruction?

We are told to glorify God in our bodies! For most of my life I have been obsessed with either not giving my body enough food or being a glutton and overindulging on foods I knew were harming me! Through much prayer, research and more prayer, the Lord has given me the plan that will help me be and feel my best! Your plan will probably be different but if you ask Him how you can glorify Him in your body He will tell you! I’m writing down my goals so I can be accountable!

1. DRINK MORE WATER! 1/2 my body weight in oz’s
2. CARDIO EXERCISE AT LEAST 4x wk; WEIGHTS 2x’s a week
3. EAT CLEAN 5 days a wk; CHEAT 2 days but not going crazy!😜
4. VEGGIE/FRUIT SMOOTHIES 4-5 days (I don’t eat enough of them!)

Some people may disagree with the cheat days and some with serious health conditions should only have 1 cheat meal or none at all for a time! I just know that when I deprive myself, that pendulum flies on over to the overindulgent side! I don’t think God is too legalistic about food and an occasional delicious treat probably won’t harm us! Some of you may be doing a mix of the 2 extremes putting you in the middle, but that’s deceiving! Eating healthy even half of the time is not going to offset the negative effects of the other 50% of your diet. Research shows that even exercise can not offset unhealthy eating, so there goes the idea that if I’m working out then I can eat what I want! 😁

So what’s your foodatude? What’s your obsession that is keeping you from being all God has called you to be and fulfilling every assignment He has for you? It may not be food that’s out of balance in your life, perhaps another addiction? Alcohol, an unhealthy relationship, too much focus on material things, money, your job…..? We can even have an unhealthy obsession with our kids or spouse! What ever you’re OBSESSED with, you can be sure that when that pendulum is way over on one side, there are things being neglected, a big part of you is not able to be and do the things that God has only called YOU to do!

Let’s be accountable to one another, let’s spur one another on to the GREATNESS that lies in the midst of a mess! All it takes is a prayer and a heart that is longing to live a life fulfilling God’s amazing, specific and life-giving purpose! The benefits are out of this world!

PRECIOUS LORD!  WE COME TO YOU TODAY CONFESSING OUR OBSESSIONS TO YOU AND THE THINGS THAT HAVE GOTTEN US OUT OF BALANCE AND HAVE CAUSED US TO TAKE OUR EYES OFF OF YOU! IN SOME WAYS THESE THINGS HAVE BECOME OUR gods! HELP US TO REALLY SEEK YOUR WISDOM AND GUIDANCE AS YOU REVEAL THESE THINGS TO US AND AS WE ALLOW THE PENDULUM TO SWING FREELY AND LAND IN THAT PLACE WHERE IT IS FOR OUR GOOD AND YOUR GLORY! THEN GIVE US THE STRENGTH TO FOLLOW YOUR PLAN FOR US WHICH WE KNOW IS AMAZING! WE TRUST YOU WITH OUR BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT! WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN OUR OBSESSIONS! In Jesus Mighty Name AMEN

LOVE ALWAYS,

tarabella

John 3:30

 

 

We are already in full swing in the year 2016!  I don’t know about you, but I feel as if time is literally flying by! As you look back on this past year, what are your thoughts? Was it fulfilling and fruitful or was it filled with fears and frustrations? Most of us had a combination of triumphs and trials, exhaustion and exhilaration and disappointment and delight!

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19

No matter what 2015 brought you, IT’s A NEW YEAR! We get to begin again! If you felt like you were in a “dry wasteland”, the Lord is creating rivers there for you that will refresh and revive you! If you wandered around last year in the wilderness trying to find your purpose or direction, your Creator, the One Who has already planned your amazing destiny, will show you the path to take to fulfill every purpose for which you were created!

There are a few catches! Well I knew it couldn’t be that easy, you say! It’s actually pretty simple! There are 3 main things we must do in order for the Lord to place us on the path He designed for us before we were even born!

• WE MUST LET GO OF OUR PAST! 
• WE MUST SEEK THE LORD WITH ALL OUR HEART!
• WE MUST ASK THE LORD FOR HIS VISION FOR OUR LIFE!

1.LETTING GO! Now that’s asking a lot! After all we’ve been wronged, things have happened to us that we didn’t deserve, people have treated us badly and there’s just a lot of hurt and pain back there in the past! Or maybe we royally screwed up and can’t get past that! It’s just too hard to forget! Well all you have to do is read Genesis 19 to know God is serious about us not looking back! Yikes! Poor Lot’s wife! She just had to look back instead of looking forward to the promise and provision of the Lord! I don’t think being a pillar of salt is the type of pillar we ought to dream of becoming! She was “toast” and never got to experience God’s vision for her life! She couldn’t let go!

We’ve been bombarded with “that” song “Let It Go” for months and months and months! “I’m never going back, the past is in the past! Let it go! Let it go!” Great wisdom from that famous theologian, Princess Elsa! We only harm ourselves by hanging on to past hurts! Chances are if we are replaying those old tapes in our heads, we are harboring  unforgiveness or anger towards someone, ourselves or even God Himself. LET IT GO for your sake! And because God has COMMANDED us to do this!

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:36

Forgiving someone has nothing to do with the other person, but everything to do with us! Walking in unforgiveness affects our body, soul and spirit, slowly poisoning every part of us!

Quite a number of years ago I was experiencing some major health issues and could not get well despite many trips to the doctor, bottles of vitamins and herbs and eating healthy. In prayer one day as I cried out to the Lord and asked why I had not been healed, He clearly spoke to me about a person I had not forgiven! I was shocked as I thought I had done this already, but as I prayed through, I realized my emotions were still hanging on to hurts in the past! I quickly repented and asked the Lord to forgive me and asked Him to help me see this person as HE sees them! I then chose to truly forgive and my heart was moved with compassion towards them! I truly saw them as He did! Amazingly enough in a matter of days, I was physically healed! Ask the Lord if there is someone in your life you need to truly forgive! If you haven’t forgiven yourself, ask the Lord to give you a revelation of how He has ALREADY forgiven you and removed your sin as far as the east is to the west! Psalm 103:12 He doesn’t even remember your sin! FREEDOM FOLLOWS FORGIVENESS! As you forgive others and or yourself, the chains of unforgiveness will break and sweet freedom will be yours!

2.SEEK THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART! There is only ONE, Who loves you more deeply than any other, ONE Who knows you so well (and loves you wildly anyway😊) that He has numbered the hairs on your head and cares about every detail of your life and ONE Who has created you to fulfill the amazing plans He designed for you before you were even born! He so longs for a close and intimate relationship with you! He wants to walk with you and talk with you and tell you, you are His own!

There is not a relationship on this earth that can fulfill us and bring us true peace and joy, like knowing Jesus! Not with head knowledge of Him but getting to really KNOW Him!! He is so kind, loving, compassionate, wise, holy, full of peace, joy, goodness, patience, peace………He’s absolutely perfect in every way and He wants to hang with imperfect us every minute of every day in spite of us being a mess at times! He says to us we are HIS beautiful mess! So “duh”!! Why wouldn’t we run after a relationship with Jesus?!?! Like Nike says: Just Do It! He’s made us an offer we can’t refuse!

3.ASK THE LORD TO GIVE YOU HIS VISION FOR YOUR LIFE!  At last we get to the fun part and the purpose I’m writing today! VISION! However in order to get to this point, we need to make sure we let go of our past and seek an intimate relationship with the Lord in order to move forward with His vision for us!

The Lord God Himself tells us in His Word that we MUST have a vision or we perish! There is something inside of us that dies when we are not dreaming with God, fulfilling the call He has on our lives and using the gifts He has so graciously given us to bring His message of hope to a world desperately in need of a Savior! I know each year that passes and now that I am entering my sixth decade of life, I am determined more than ever to really seek the Lord for His vision or assignments for me! I don’t want to reach the end of my life and realize that I didn’t accomplish all that He created me to do because I wasn’t intentional about asking and fulfilling HIS vision for my life! I don’t want to be so distracted and busy with the things of this world or my own agenda, that I miss the real purpose of my existence!

One definition of vision is: “the ability to perceive something not actually visible, as through mental acuteness or keen foresight.”  That is a somewhat secular definition. I don’t think we can get God’s vision for our lives by our own mental acuteness or keen foresight! Not so much!! I know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I need heavenly wisdom to give me direction! I do love the part of the definition that says “the ability to perceive something not actually visible.” We can only perceive God’s vision through SEEKING Him in prayer and LISTENING for His answer!

God’s vision for each of us, at first, is not even on our radar screen! If He revealed it all at once or too early, we would probably run the other way!! But He will reveal it bit by bit, year by year. Each one of us has a purpose and assignment as different as each snowflake that falls from the sky. It’s created by God with our individual personalities, gifts, strengths and even our weaknesses in mind! He uses EVERYTHING about us for His glory!

SO HOW DO WE FIND THIS VISION?

All you have to do is ASK Him! He never hides His will from us and He really does speak to us whether it’s His still small voice, His Word as we study and meditate on it or sometimes He uses other people to speak into our lives! When you’ve heard people say the same thing to you several times over, take note! That could be the Lord speaking to you!

Another great place to start is by writing down your own personal mission statement! “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:2 Most all churches and ministries have them and we should too! What are you passionate about? What breaks your heart? I’m thinking about 2 women right now. One is a young mom of 3 in my new hometown of Katy, Texas who is passionate about rescuing young girls out of the slavery of sex trafficking and introducing them to a Savior who can heal their brokenness and shame. Another is a woman in Texarkana who ministers to the homeless and women in a behavioral health center, being Jesus with skin on and giving them the hope of Christ in the midst of their hopelessness!
Most probably your mission statement will be tied to the vision and destiny God has designed specifically for you! Aren’t you curious to find out what He has planned for you? Do you want to waste another year chasing rabbits and running around in circles? Don’t you want to use the gifts He has so graciously given you to make a difference in your sphere of influence? And you do have one!!

So let go of the past, forgive and start anew in 2016! Really be intentional about seeking a close, personal, intimate relationship with the lover of your soul! He really is wild about you, mess and all! Ask Him to reveal to you the things HE wants you to accomplish in order to fulfill the call and purpose and reason He created you! There is no one on this earth just like you! And there is no one on earth that can fulfill God’s vision and purpose for you but YOU! Times a ticking! Let’s find it! JUST DO IT! Vision & Action = CHANGING THE WORLD! And let’s cheer each other on as we live the life HE designed with great love for us! Write the vision! Make it plain! THEN RUN AFTER IT!

FAITHFUL LOVING FATHER, WE ASK YOU TO FORGIVE US FOR GOING OUR OWN WAY, FOR NOT SEEKING YOUR VISION AND PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES! WE KNOW YOU HAVE A DESTINY AND PLAN FOR EACH ONE OF US THAT NO ONE CAN REPLICATE! YOU HAVE GIVEN EACH ONE OF US SPECIAL GIFTS AND PASSIONS THAT WHEN CHANNELED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION CAN YIELD AMAZING FRUIT TO FURTHER YOUR KINGDOM AND DRAW OTHERS TO YOU! HELP US PRECIOUS LORD, TO NOT BE DISTRACTED BY THINGS OF THIS WORLD AND TO LOOK TO YOU THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTOR OF OUR FAITH, FULLY KNOWING THAT YOU WHO HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN US, WILL BE FAITHFUL TO COMPLETE IT! PRAISE YOU FATHER FOR LOVING US SO MUCH AND CHOOSING TO USE US TO MAKE AN IMPACT FOR YOU IN THIS WORLD! WE ARE HUMBLED AND WE SAY ‘YES LORD, USE US TO BRING YOUR LOVE, PEACE, JOY AND HOPE TO THIS DYING WORLD!’ IN JESUS PRECIOUS AND POWERFUL NAME! AMEN

Love Always,

tarabella

John 3:30