Semi-Charmed Kind of Life

Meet my pooch, Storm. He's pretty much the coolest quadruped I know.
Today I was at lunch with a dear friend of mine and she admitted that she "stalked" me and read back through my blog. My heart rate sped up a bit as I pondered what I'd blogged about over the last couple of years. That stopped almost as quickly as it started, because really, she already knew most if not all of those things already anyway. =)

I like that.

I like that God has managed to blow my puny little brain matter yet again by giving me such awesome friends. If you've a) kept up with this blog as I've done it over the years, or b) gone back through and read it, then you know that I fairly well crave people. That was one of my biggest fears of moving back home to VA, was not having friends. Because really, at the time, I had very few friends here (not that they weren't amazing!). I decided to peruse through my blog entries (hence why I'm still awake instead of being in bed an hour ago like I promised I would...) and as I read I felt so many emotions it was like a teen movie: sadness, excitement, happiness, anger, frustration, joy... The whole gang of emotions was there. Memories swelled up in me as I read back through entry after entry of hurt and hope, depression & God's faithfulness, words spoken to me and over me that I had since forgotten. . .

I'm still doing the Daniel Fast, and I've already lost 4 pounds since Tuesday! I feel like I might actually get a handle on my life this time. And by my life I mean my weight. But things seem different this time. I don't crave sugar right now. I don't crave fried food. I don't crave much of anything. If I'm hungry I eat fruit or veggies or organic Multigrain chips (SO good!). I've been finding great recipes online. God is doing something big with me and my health. It's unfortunate that I did the whole bulimia thing for so long- eating healthy and exercising regularly isn't as hard/awful as I used to think it was. Don't get me wrong; I would not trade my eating disorder & depressive years for anything. Sounds strange, but it's true. Think of the people that I can now relate to because of my experiences. There's no way I'd have been able to do something like that if I hadn't gone through what I've gone through.

I'm thankful for friends who push me to do things (Daniel fast & exercising). I'm thankful for friends who pour into my life and build me up with legitimate, fulfilling words of affirmation. I'm thankful for a family who loves me and supports me. I'm thankful for leadership opportunities in ministry even though they're not paid. I'm thankful for an amazing job that has allowed me to buy a car and pay off my credit card.

I'm thankful for God being a breathtakingly beautiful God.

I'm thankful beyond measure that my parents are attending Dave Ramsey's financial peace class at church. As in my unsaved father is going to church every week.

I'm thankful for a God that doesn't do things in a conventional manner.

"You are more, You are more, than my words will ever say.
You are Lord, You are Lord, all creation will proclaim.
You are here, You are here, in Your presence I'm made whole.
You are God, You are God, of all else I'm letting go."

Psalms 33:21 "In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name."